Saturday, January 21, 2017

Breck

What a great week of skiing at one of the highest resorts in the US. We arrived on MLK weekend and as expected the crowd from the front range had arrived. We caught the early lift and had most of the mountain to ourselves until around 11:30. When the slopes started being covered by rental wearing  people lying on the ground, we called it a day.
Happy legs at this point.

We skied in the clouds at the top and could hear the crunching of the snow under our feet.

Love the corduroy.

Fresh powder on  Centennial early in the day.

This one is for Krista. Chair number 1. We were #2.

She always wanted to ride chair #1 but how do you know if you in #1 are unless you know how many chairs there are.




We were in and out of the clouds with little or no lift lines.

First tracks in the Imperial Bowl in the clouds. This is the highest lift in the US.




A good way to rest the legs at the end of the day.
 
Good thing we packed the biofreeze, ibuprofen and heating pad.
 
No people here.
Or here

Great grooming never gets old
 
A day of laundry, grocery shopping and leg resting were due after 3 days of skiing. While heading to Silverthorne, my stomach started to grumble as we arrived in Frisco. Eggs Butterhorn and a sticky bun were calling. We did share.

A person can't grocery shop on an empty stomach.

On the ceiling


Another blue bird day.
 
 
 
We met with some friends from Colorado Springs. I skied with the boys until we met Renee for lunch. The boys wanted to hit some chutes. My legs were shot so the girls headed out for a nice run of our own. My last run of a fun day with nice people.
We got out early for our last day skiing with friends and were headed to Peak 10's expert runs. We had just gotten off the lift on a green run enjoying the newly groomed snow when Mike hit a divot made by the snowcats and blew out and hit that tree with his shoulder and neck. We find you relax more on the easy runs which gives you less of a chance to recover from an unseen obstacle. I was close by and was able to get to him right away and asked our friends to call the ski patrol which is right around the corner from us.  Until I could get next to him, I wasn't sure if he was unconscious or dead. We got his skis off and released his arms that were held down by the wrist loops of his poles that were under his back and released his helmet that was choking him before the patrolman arrived. After giving Mike a good head to toe assessment, he gave Mike his options for treatment. One that was to refuse treatment. I immediately said that was not an option because of the thoracic pain he was having. He opted to take the toboggan to the clinic at the bottom of the mountain for xrays. He was released with contusions after some good quick care by all.
 
The Ibuprofen, Biofreeze and massage have helped him quite a bit. But will be a few more days before we get back out on the slopes again. Now, we are enjoying just chilling out and having some quiet time. As I always say, "Life can change in a blink of an eye".
 
 
 
 

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Gone skiing

We had been watching the weather before our return to Colorado hoping to avoid some of the wind and ice that had been hitting the country and lucked out. The day before leaving our beautiful campsite and great mountain biking in McDowell, the roads in Flagstaff had black ice but the sun was shining. I mentioned to Mike that I would be perfectly happy staying there riding my bike. We missed skiing last year so he just smiled and said that it was all paid for and we should get ready to be on our way. The wind was to our back, roads clear and driving 75 mph without our trailer, PRICELESS.




We had to drop the trailer off for recall work and get the wheel bearings repacked  which took care of the storage issue for 3 weeks. Then we ran by our storage unit to leave our bikes and pick up our ski equipment before our 2 day, 900 mile journey to Denver.
Spending a couple of days with the grandkids playing Mexican Train and finding a couple of geocaches was very nice. They had plenty of energy at 5 and 8 years old but let us each have a nap in the afternoon. Not at the same time. We had to be responsible since their parents were at work.
Driving I-70 to Summit County on the weekend is not an endeavor for the faint of heart on any Saturday. We managed to arrive on a holiday weekend. The drive wasn't as bad as expected as we left a bit later than most people.


 Eisenhower Tunnel


Our condo is behind all that snow

I wasn't looking forward to the cold but upon arriving, we walked as the snow was starting to fall and remembered how much we enjoy our time in the Colorado mountains. Now to get the boards back on the feet...


Monday, January 2, 2017

McDowell and Hieroglyphs

We have stayed here longer than usual. Surprisingly, it has been good. Don't get me wrong. I am not talking about putting down roots. We had so many things to take care of before heading out again on a year packed full of plans. We had to be sure not only we were all tuned up and ready to go but our truck and trailer too.
Hieroglyph Trail
Since our health insurance deductibles had been met for the year, we went forward with the Dynamic Photo Therapy recommended by our dermatologist to prevent new skin cancers developing. Boy, did we look ugly for a week. Mike looked like a burn victim and I looked like a teenager with bad acne. Now that we have shed the snake skin, we don't look half scary anymore.

Shady place to ground the mesquite pods
We are back on the trails, now that we can be in the sun again, enjoying the hikes in cool temps in the 60s as we prepare to leave Valley Del Oro and head out into the desert.


McDowell Regional Park is one of our favorites with plenty of trails to hike and bike.





After our mountain bike ride, we were having lunch and noticed a Lazy Daze RV across form our picnic table that I thought I recognized. Sure enough, it was Gayle and Jim from Life's Little Adventures. We didn't want to just drop in but did want to say hi. I was placing a card on their window when Jim walked out to assess the situation. We had a fun visit and hope to catch up more when we move over to camp at McDowell Regional Park for a few days soon.




These are a few interesting caches we have found while hiking in the East Valley.
A dove in a mesquite bush (not quite the Christmas song)

We woud notice a lot of cars parked at the Silly Mountain Trailhead when we would go to Gold Canyon. This day we checked it out and found a rather nice hike.

 Papago Park in Tempe near the zoo


It has been another fun year with plenty of new places visited. And has been good to return to others we have enjoyed in the past. We often are asked how long are we in this for and really aren't sure. But after being in one place for 3 months, we aren't done yet. 







Friday, December 23, 2016

Peralta Trail and Weaver's Needle

It had been a while since we had hiked the Peralta Trail to Fremont Saddle with a view of Weaver's Needle. This day seemed perfect since it was a cool 55 degrees when we started the climb. The parking lot on Saturdays can be packed since there are a couple of trails that start here so we got a early start. We didn't see many hikers until we were almost done.
Fremont Saddle
A young lady with a small boy in her backpack asked how much further and then told Joe, the baby, 30 more minutes and continued to tell him stories as she walked by. This reminded me of times that I would load Krista and Michael into their wagon and take them for a walk down the river path near our home when they were small. I would have to pad it with a quilt to reduce the bouncing and pack a lunch. They enjoyed spending the day playing by the river and eventually in the river and a picnic.

I find hiking helps me get lost in my thoughts and go back to times that I don't think about often but are my real treasures of life.
This hike is not only up hill 1900 feet in 2.2 miles but plenty of obstacles to step over and around.




Balancing Rock
There were a couple of opportunities to bag a couple of virtual geocaches on this hike.



Superstition Mountains



Amazing spires along the path

Glad we had a cold drink waiting for us in the Jeep when we returned to the trailhead.



Cuenca, Ecuador

An Expat Destination The morning after returning to Quito we boarded an hour-long flight to Cuenca. Driving up the winding roads would have ...