Even though it’s mid-November, we have had a nice spell of pleasant weather here, and I’ve been enjoying some hikes in the area. Over Veteran’s Day weekend I did two nice hikes along with another trip up the Manitou Incline. One of the hikes was the most challenging I’ve experienced in over 15 years, back … Read more
We’re in the final stages of our basement remodel! Over the past couple weeks we finished out the trim work (baseboards, doors), installed the bar and bath cabinets, and finished up the electrical and HVAC work. We are currently waiting for the cabinet countertops to be installed, and it won’t happen till the 18th. So … Read more
Winter is most certainly on its way! Here in eastern Colorado we’re now experiencing days where the high temperature doesn’t exceed 35F, and the lows are dipping into the teens. Colorado Springs is well known for its very mercurial weather, it could be 70F one day, 20F the next. Dave and I are working with … Read more
This past Saturday night Dave and I joined some friends for a fun evening in Colorado Springs celebrating Colorado craft beers at the All Colorado Beer Festival. I didn’t take any good pictures during the evening, unfortunately, but I did want to show off our take of stickers that we collected. Dave and I want … Read more
Better late than never, right?
Timmy and I enjoyed carving our four pumpkins this afternoon. I’m so proud of Timmy, this year he offered to do everything but got really nervous about gutting the pumpkins. So I did it for him…because I’m a sucker for that stuff.
Colorado basks in their “open spaces”. I’m not sure if it’s a special category of park or what, but there are many in our community, and there are several between Colorado Springs and Denver.
That’s where my latest adventure took me.
Just north of the towns of Monument and Palmer Lake, Colorado is the Spruce Mountain Open Space. Last Friday my friend and her sons invited me on a hike at Spruce Mountain on the boys’ day off from school. My sons were in school so I was joining them solo.
Don’t let the word “mountain” in the name fool you. It’s more of a mesa, and we took a very similar hike at Palmer Park in the heart of Colorado Springs. Just the same, Spruce Mountain gives you some beautiful views that are much more peaceful. I’ll take Spruce Mountain.
I have a lot of catching up to do on my personal blog, as well as with GeekMom, as well as a guest post for my friend The Country Cook’s blog later this week. We’ve been quite busy with wrapping up our basement finish project, and the typical kids’ activities are cruising along nicely too.
Later this morning I have my annual Air Force fitness test. This year I’m taking it at the AF Academy, which should be interesting: the fitness center is at 7000′ elevation. I know I will pass, at least.
In the meantime, let’s get going on our latest Colorado Discovery trip to the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center.
Jacob’s BFF-in-Colorado had a birthday trip to the center, which is located in Divide, Colorado. Divide is about 40 miles west of Colorado Springs. It took us about an hour to get there on U.S. 24 west of the Rampart Range.
The Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center trip was very similar to our October 2012 trip to the Seacrest Wolf Preserve in Chipley, Florida…except for the much colder weather in Colorado.
This past weekend I made peanut butter cookies. In part because I had a jar of peanut butter that needed to be finished off ASAP. It was “natural” peanut butter that had separated during our move to Colorado and didn’t look so hot. I figured mixed into the cookie dough well enough it’d be … Read more
A couple weekends ago our family took a trip up towards Denver to visit the Georgetown Loop Railroad. It was a beautiful early autumn day. I was hoping we’d see brighter aspen, but we were a couple weeks early for that.
The Georgetown Loop Railroad is a remnant of the Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville Railroad from the late 1880s. The railroad was very busy during Colorado’s gold and silver rushes in late 1800s. The line was all but abandoned by the late 1930s. It was reopened in the 1980s for tourist excursions and is still very popular today, thanks to it being less than an hour west of Denver on I-70.