Great Hikes

We decided to head into the mountains this Memorial Day to hike our first 14ers of the year. Three 14ers main trails start at the same trailhead so we figured we’d backpack in, spend the night and go up at least two of the three the following day. Now, my co-workers mainly said I was crazy, there would be too much snow in the mountains and we’d never make it up but we were pretty anxious to get into the mountains. We hiked in, and got varying reports from the people hiking out. Some said it was too snowy, some said it wasn’t. Anyway, we went ahead and hiked up Mt. Belford no problem. There were a few snow patches but no big deal. Unfortunately, the traverse across to Oxford was pretty icy. Since we didn’t have ice axe or crampons and we had a geriatric dog with us, we elected not to cross. The third mountain, Mt. Missouri, was just way too snowy/icy for non-extreme folks like us.
Anyway, it was wonderful up there. The mountains look amazing all white and we were happy to finally have climbed a fourteener as residents of Colorado. This also made me realize that I am pretty mountain-crazy. Most people who live here will tell you they love the mountains, but there were very few people out on the trails yet. Maybe we are still ‘new’ so we are a little more anxious than others to get into the wilderness and hike up mountains.

The view of Belford from our campsite

Views from the top

Mt. Princeton from on top of Belford

Molly made it to the top! Extreme close-up

Me on top

We have finally had a few weekends with good weather, so we are taking advantage of it. For the first two weekends of good weather we started our hiking for the year, picking 2 small mountains to go up (small enough that most of the snow is melted). We first hiked up Windy Peak in Golden Gate Canyon State Park (it’s around 9,300 feet or so). I forgot my camera on that one, but I took my camera for our second hike of the year up Bergen Peak (around 9,800 feet). For our 3rd weekend of good weather Glen and Kelly were up from Houston so we went sightseeing and caught a Rockies game. We’ll be taking a weekend off to go to Missouri and get the rest of our stuff (including the cat) but hopefully when we return more snow will be melted. I’ve got a beautiful new pair of hiking boots and am ready to put them to good use.

Views on the hike up Bergen Peak. The higher mountains are still very snowy!

Dave on Bergen Peak.

Kelly and Glen pose along the road to Blackhawk.

Dave and Glen, and the corner of my car.

Beautiful views along the way.

I was thinking about our travels this morning while I got ready for work. I was thinking about how lucky we were to see the things we saw, do the things we did, and just have all those great experiences. That made me think about the people who made it possible, and that while I’ve tried to let them know how much we appreciate everything, I should give them public recognition. So like acknowledgements for a book I thought I’d just write a little thank you to everyone who helped make it possible for us to take nearly two years off and travel.
First, obviously, our families have been great. Not only were they supportive, they also took care of our pets while we were overseas (and some still are). So the Theisens and the Carters deserve big thanks for that. Someone asked me the other day how our families reacted when we told them we were quitting our jobs to travel. I said, ‘Oh, they were really excited for us.’ He couldn’t believe it. Not all parents would be behind an idea like that.
Then, in order of where we visited:
First, Mery came through at the last minute and provided a temporary home for Squeakie when previous lodging didn’t work out, even though it meant having 4 cats in her house. Very much appreciated!
In Hong Kong Ray took us out for a nice dinner (the buffet was crazy big) and we watched the fireworks. Awesome.
In Thailand Pareena’s family not only gave us an apartment to stay at in Bangkok and showed us around the city but also took us to parts of Thailand most visitors never get to see and showed us an absolutely wonderful time. Anytime any of the family want to visit Colorado, you are more than welcome at our house.
While we were in Bali our house sold, and Shane got a hand cramp from signing the closing papers for us. When we closed on our new house a few weeks ago I remembered how many times you have to sign!
In Perth Anthony and Jesse were wonderful. They opened up their home for us and even picked us up at the airport. Thanks again, guys. And thanks to Bob for taking us out for beer.
Back in the States we’ve managed to visit Dave’s aunt Lori and uncle Bud and my aunt Lori and uncle Jon. My sister and brother-in-law, Sadie and Matt have taken us back and forth between our hometown and the airport in St. Louis a couple times, and my brother Kenny and his wife Heather gave us a place to stay when I was on my way out to Colorado for an interview. We got to visit Brice, our North Dakota connection both summers we were vagabonding and not only enjoyed fishing, canoeing, and honky-tonk dancing but also saw the northern lights. We also came through Denver to visit Carin both summers we were traveling and that may have helped cement us ending up living here. We got to attend Hank and Kirsten’s wedding in Vegas, stop by their house in Albuquerque and also visit with them in Colorado Springs before Hank went off to Afghanistan.
The friends we met in Malaysia were great, and made us feel at home while we were there. We think of the good times we had there often.
In Africa we had a great time with Skova (thanks Melanie for recommending him) and met some new friends on Kilimanjaro and in Zanzibar and Pemba who email occasionally.
Anyway, I think this is getting long and disorganized now so I’ll just leave it with: all our family and friends, please come visit us in Colorado! We are anxious to extend the hospitality everyone gave us while we were traveling.

Since we moved here a lot of people have asked if we’ve been to Garden of the Gods yet, so since we didn’t go get the rest of our stuff over the 3-day Easter weekend we decided to go down on Friday and check it out. According to the forecast, Friday’s weather was supposed to be fairly nice, it wasn’t supposed to get bad until Saturday. But of course they were wrong. We had a good time anyway, hiked around and saw lots of deer and even a coyote, but it was pretty cold and rainy/snowy.

There are lots of amazing rock formations in the park. The land was donated to the city of Colorado Springs under the condition that they never charge an entrance fee.

Molly and I in front of a neat hole in the rock. On a clear day it’s supposed to be a great photo op, you can see Pike’s Peak through the window in the rock. Unfortunately we didn’t have any visibility.

It’s very beautiful there so we plan to return this summer when the weather is better and hike all the trails. Of course, it will probably be crowded then. The nice thing about going in bad weather is having the place pretty much to yourself.

Although we woke up to a white and snowy Easter morning, most of the snow had melted by afternoon. By request I’m putting up more photos of the house, and I’ll also post some photos from our unexpectedly snowy trip to Garden of the Gods.

The house from the front.

My living room. We have blinds for this room ordered, but they havn’t arrived yet!

This is the family room with fireplace. As you can see I don’t have much furniture in here!

Well, it’s official, we are once again home owners. We are very happy with the house so far, and we have plenty of room for visitors so everyone is welcome (encouraged, really) to come for a visit any time. We have 2 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms upstaris and another bathroom and bedroom in the basement.
I’m just putting a few pictures up for now, some of the rooms are still a bit empty but we are working on it. I got a great desk at a thrift store yesterday and we bought a big TV today. So here are a few photos…I just realized I don’t have a picture from the front, but it’s too dark to take one now so that will have to wait for a future update.

This is the back view

My beautiful kitchen! I’ve never had a kitchen this nice and I love it!!!

Isn’t the front door pretty?

As you all know we went on a cruise to celebrate Hank and Madeline’s 50th wedding anniversary. It was a lot of fun, we had a great time, did a little scuba diving and probably gained 10 lbs. Yes, the food was very good. I can’t believe how big cruise ships are, they are just rediculas. When we were docked in Galveston we were as tall as the tallest building. And the ships go fast, I think the top speed of our ship was 23 knots. After riding the PGS Ramform boats 23 knots feels like a sports car. It was good to spend time together.

Our ship, the Carnival Conquest.

Madeline and Hank at the lifeboat drill. Safety first!

Ice carving demonstration. They have a lot of activities onboard so you don’t get resteless during the time at sea.

Hank and Madeline on the first formal night.

Dave and I on the first formal night.

Hank and Kirsten (formal night).

Our dancing waiter. Yes, they really keep you entertained.

Hank and Kirsten on the shore excursion in Jamaica.

Me, acting like a clown fish.

The anniversary couple!

Sharon and Bill, Tam and Doug, and Madeline and Hank on the anniversary night.

Dave and I got each other snowshoes for Christmas this year, and didn’t wait for Christmas Day so we could try them out. We drove up Mt. Evans road to where the road is closed and started on one of the trails there. There were several other people snowshoeing in the area but we went down an unbroken trail. Talk about a lot of work! We were really worn out after a few hours! Molly, too, since she doesn’t have snowshoes but we didn’t make her break trail for us. 🙂

Dave takes a rest along the trail.

Winter wonderland.

I love how the rivers look in the winter!

Happy couple at Xmas.

Girls being goofy.