Final Days

The high energy level of the younger visitors left us deciding to relax the remainder of the trip. We did several more rides including riding down the other side of Vail Pass into Vail. It was a strenuous ride even though most of it was downhill. We loved Vail, it is such a pretty town with beautiful flowers everywhere. We even passed a cluster of three or four houses which had grass for the roof and stunning flower arrangements!

We enjoyed the ride from Keystone down to Dillon which is adjacent to Frisco as well as a Vespa ride up into the hills near our site.

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We did travel into Denver on Monday morning as Hubby had a meeting with an expert on a case. It gave us the opportunity to pick up some paneling and cupboards for our little shed. We had a wonderful time with a nice balance of high energy and relaxation. Can hardly wait for our trip back next June. 

Family Arrives

Wednesday, noonish, my brother and his family arrived to visit with us until Saturday. We prepared a pasta salad and bbq'ed chicken for their early afternoon arrival. After a leisurely lunch, we worked through the logistics of getting 7 bikes to the top of Vail Pass for the ride down. We loaded up all the bikes and the Vespa carrier on my brothers truck and off we went!  Hubby drive the Vespa to Frisco where it was dropped off and then all 7 squished in for the 14 mile ride up to the Pass. Once at the top, we unloaded and set off with my nephews leading the way!  A little too tame for them but we always enjoy the ride along the creek and lakes. We had a short stop over in Copper Mountain for coffee and frappachinos. Once we reached Frisco, we split off from Hubby as he rode over to the Vespa to ride it back up to the Pass in order to retrieve the truck.  It always scares me to think of him out on I-70 competing for space with truckers and motorists. He says he can go 70 mph on the flat with the wind at his back but slows down considerably on the hills and into the wind.

Meanwhile, the six of us rode back to Tiger Run. It was a little difficult for my niece but we were proud of ourselves for all making the 250' climb over 6.5 miles. While doing the ride my brother and I challenged each other to ride the much more difficult reverse path to Copper Mountain the next morning.  After a yummy dinner of pulled pork poutine (fries, gravy and pulled pork) we did a campfire and pool time.

At 7:30 the next morning my brother, sister-in-law and I set out for the 14 mile ride up the 700' elevation change. There were several 5 minute rests along the way and my capitulation about 2 miles from our destination. With encouragement from my brother we finally made it!  We rewarded ourselves with lattes and bagels or muffins. And then began the ride back. Although it was primarily downhill to Frisco, the few hills and those from Frisco back to our starting point were a struggle indeed. When we finally arrived I immediately laid down for a nap. 28 miles, an amazing accomplishment for me given the high altitude and little training on hills!

After recovery we decided to walk around the historic area of Breckenridge while the two older boys tried out local beers. We also went up to the ski hill and either played mini golf or rode the chairlift. We enjoyed a steak dinner that night, played an energetic card game (my reaction time is seriously declining) and had a second round of pool volleyball or hot tubbing.

Friday brought another beautiful day and a morning breakfast bike ride up to Breck for breakfast for the four adults. We picked out the Columbine Cafe based on Yelp reviews and were not disappointed. Hubby did well on the ride in spite of his difficulty with catching his breath even while resting due to the much higher altitude, his sore shoulder, bad back, and bad knee. He is a trooper and kept up extremely well considering all his ailments. Upon return to Tiger Run, we got the kids going to drive back up to the ski hill for a downhill mountain path ride from the top of the mountain. The views were stunning and we ran across a lovely young woman who offered to take a group photo!

The descent did not turn out so well!  My brother blew a tire about a third of the way down requiring him to walk the bike down the mountain!  A little further down, my SIL lost her balance and fell on some sharp rocks. Amazingly no serious injuries!

After meeting up at the bottom, we decided to ride down from the ski hill to where we had parked our trucks. Storm clouds came in quickly and about half way down it began hailing. It was a hard decision to choose between flying down the hill with the hailstones stinging us or go more slowly and get soaked but we decided to do the quick plan. Breathlessly waiting at the bottom, Hubby, one nephew and I waited out the storm in the truck. The rest of the group made it down after the storm stopped having taken cover under a bridge.

We did dinner out at Chipotle as our Canadian visitors had never experienced the challenge of building monster burritos. Just as we entered the restaurant we were able to see a beautiful double rainbow which was so vibrant that it was breathtaking!

 We finished up our time with them around a campfire eating peanut butter cup s'mores (yummy!!!)   We said our good byes having enjoyed the time we had together which was not juggled with the usual myriad of people when we go up to Calgary. Such a very sweet family and I hope they enjoyed their time as much as we did!

Early Days

We spent the first few days (Sunday through Tuesday) cycling from the Vail Pass down to Frisco, 12 miles, mostly downhill and landscaping our site. Our contractor was finishing up the roofing on our shed and cover that we had him build. We of course had to get a photo of him as he is a Wisconsite as is our son-in-law to be!

We are thrilled with how the structure turned out and were eager to put up lights and our flags.  We hauled large pave stones to form a border for a new flower bed. It is our hope to have wild flowers growing in it but our timing is probably off, maybe next year.

 

We did take time out to go to the Breckenridge Distillery for a tour and tasting. It was amazing that such a young bourbon could hold its own against $1000/bottle Pappy Van Winkle in a blind taste test. Even I who doesn't like bourbon was amazed by its smoothness.

Breckenridge August 2015 - The Beginning

August 7th, we are on the road with "23" and Breckenridge is our one and only destination for two weeks!  We both met up in Oklahoma City on Thursday night and in the morning while waiting for my sweetheart to finish a work related accident investigation, I did a bit of shopping at a Disney outlet store. Having amazing success I was able to find my sweet grandbaby's missing Duck (Donald that is for the rest of you) and his love which obviously caused him to stray, Daisy! We set out at about noon in the 104 degree heat and 460 miles before we stopped for the night at the Raton Pass Camp & Cafe. Fortunately the trip was uneventful and we arrived at about 7 pm. After settling in, we had a quick dinner, wound down and had a wonderful sleep in the lovely cooler weather. In the morning we strolled about 40 feet over to the cafe where we had a delightful homemade breakfast and were thoroughly entertained by the owner. She gave us advice as to which path to travel and then proceeded to tell us how she has seen changes in the attitudes of people over the past few years. She said that She encounters many more bullies who demand preferential treatment no matter the circumstances. She doesn't allow them to behave that way with her. She is an amazing woman who works from 5 a.m. until 10 p.m. with an amazingly cheerful disposition while her husband works far away and only comes home on the weekends. We were also entertained by a lovely older couple from Austin on their way to tour the Durango area. Meeting new people and hearing their stories is one of the things I most enjoy during our travels.

 We pushed on to Breckenridge through Hoosier Pass which is breathtakingly beautiful but not for the feint of heart with its winding, steep descent. I am always thankful that I am not the one driving!  We  arrived at our site at around 1 p.m. which gave us plenty of time to settle in. 

Homeward Bound

We wrapped up some minor landscaping work at Breckenridge on Wednesday before pulling  out early Thursday morning.  It was a beautiful morning as we pulled said good bye to the rugged Rockies.  The morning sun was just starting to kiss the earth exposing a beautiful blue sky and a soft pink hue reflecting off the snow capped mountain peaks.

We headed south through the Hoosier Pass (elev 11,542') which had breath taking hair pin turns and views. The trip was uneventful as we passed the Royal Gorge, Pueblo (ok we stopped for Starbucks), and Raton. As we made our way into Texas, it became evident we weren't going to be able to take the most direct route to spend the night in Lubbock. Lubbock was surrounded by horrible storms- tornado watches, flood warnings, hail and three 18 wheelers overturned in the ditch or across the freeway. We went to the west of Lubbock before working our way down to I-20, threading the needle between strong storms to spend the night outside Abilene. After arriving at a RV park on the east side at 8:30, we devoured a quick meal of rice and beans, enjoyed a glass of wine before falling asleep inspire of the loud thunder and unbelievable lightning. About 800 miles (600 was planned) over 14 hours. Will be soooo glad to get home!

Breckenridge

We left Grand Junction Monday morning and moved on to Breckenridge. It was a relatively short drive of about 200 miles. We arrived at our RV site, Lyle was able to see it for the first time since we purchased it last summer. Although it isn't the most picturesque site in the park, the location is in high demand and we had it rented out all winter long which covered all of our operating expenses. It is the place that we have felt most at home on the trip. We are definitely mountain people. The snow capped mountains and the crisp fresh air are wonderful. We settled in and then went exploring in the nearby town of Frisco. Everything is very quiet here, very early in the season. Kemosabee Sushi was one of our stops and we enjoyed several rolls amongst the locals before going and picking up a Redbox movie and settling in for the night. It got colder and colder and then it began raining although the weather app said it was snowing!

Yesterday morning after going out for breakfast to the Butterhorn Bakery, we decided to drive up to nearby Keystone. A lovely resort area but it was like a ghost town, even the Starbucks was closed! The shops and restaurants all appear to reopen June 5th when the summer season begins. After returning to our site, we did a little spring cleaning. I have figured I have observed 5 springs so far this year. 1. Houston. 2. Norfolk 3. Calgary 4. Grand Canyon 5. Breckenridge as observed by this photo:

Today we will check out Breckenridge and then get ready for the 1100 mile trek home leaving early tomorrow morning. We are worried about all the bad weather not only for the  drive back but for our family, friends, and fellow Texans going through such unprecedented weather. We are so sad at the loss of property but mostly for the loss of lives. Praying for the rain to stop!

Grand Junction, Colorado

The 23rd was a laid back day, it was rainy and overcast for most of the day.  We went for a lovely breakfast at Main Street Cafe which had Canadian content but didn't have the opportunity to figure how/who as they were so busy.

I later had the opportunity to READ...it felt very decadent!  After a short walk over to a local grocery store in Hurricane, Utah, my sweet hubby made a lovely dinner of shrimp pasta.  The other outstanding event was that our new next door neighbors were from California and turned out to be conservative, similarly concerned about the future of our grandchildren and who was going to pay for everything in the future...

Today, after much analysis over routes and weather, we chose to move on to Grand Junction, Colorado. 380 miles later we arrived at a small KOA campground. Not as nice as our prior home but still lovely. After settling in we went on a winery tour. To me, this was one of the highlights of our trip, meeting with local business owners, learning their struggles, who they are, and where they are from. Our first stop was Whitewater Hill, a lovely winery that was hopping with activity. Squeezed in amongst other patrons, we found it the most commercialized of the three we visited and the one that was the least intimate. The second winery, Hermosa, was a convenient hop, skip, and a jump down the road. Much more interesting, more character and fabulous Cab Franc. More rustic as the tasting room was in a converted garage but we felt great affinity with the vintner. An electrical engineer (Dirk has his origins in civil engineering) AND he lived in Conroe and commuted to Sugerland back in the days before he declined fed he wanted his children to have an agricultural upbringing. Great personality, loaded with personality, and loves people!  The final winery we visited was an older couple who had bought the winery 7 years ago and unfortunately and uncharacteristically lost their vineyards two hail and frost during two of those years, a catastrophe for anyone in the agricultural business without crop insurance. We spent the most time with them, meeting a neighbor vintner with a geology background who explained extensively the balance of water wllocation of the Colorado River water rights with California. Stable at the moment but certain to get ugly if the drought continues. Maybe another night here...we shall see whether the campground has space to extend a night, what the weather window is for Texas and whether we face snow in Breckenridge. Having a fabulous time but missing family, especially our Alli Mae!

Zion National Park

Zion is a beautiful park!  We parked outside the park and took a shuttle in (the drivers were much nicer here). The weather is so very odd, the leaves were just starting to bud in the South Rim of Grand Canyon and here in Hurricane, Utah, (200 miles to the north) the trees are fully out, Spring is well along its way. I have been through 4 springs in the last two months. 1. Houston. 2. Norfolk 3. Calgary 4. This trip.  And we will miss spring in Breckenridge as it is still snowing there. It is warmer in Calgary, Canada than it is here right now.

Anyway, we did a bunch of hiking through the park, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, had a picnic lunch, and boarded the shuttle out of the park just as it began to rain. On the bus we met a lovely young lady who is working as a traveling nurse in Grand Junction in ICU. Originally from Florida, she came out here and is making the most of her time here. She was a great source of info for the next leg of our trip. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Grand Canyon 2 and Moving Day

Skipped blogging yesterday so I will combine two posts in one. We spent yesterday with 'The B" hiking the eastern part of the South Rim. It was exhausting, I think we are still struggling with the altitude change (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) but the scenery was amazing!  We stopped at various spots to rest, snack and gaze in awe. We took a shuttle bus to the last spot and two minutes after we disembarked we had the bus driver chasing after us to twice threaten us that she was "calling us in" for bringing a "dog" on the bus!!! We did NOT hide B when we got on the bus and didn't realize pets weren't allowed. Everyone surrounding us were drop jawed at the confrontation and then proceeded to tell us about their bad experiences with drivers!  It was discouraging as most of these people were European and I felt embarrassed by the lack of presenting our best front to these guests of our country at arguably one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We didn't let it affect our mood but we faced a longer walk back to our truck than anticipated as we were now on the 10 Most Wanted List of the Grand Canyon. We finally made it back to The Village and decided to stop at The Tovar Hotel for a light lunch in the bar which was supposed to have an amazing view of The Canyon. Trip Advisor failed me...the nachos were an embarrassment., unmelted shredded cheese, no jalapeños, salsa was scarce, major landscaping was going on in our view, no need to go on! BUT the views we had earlier more than made up for it all!

Today we moved on to southern Utah!  On our way out of Grand Canyon, we stopped at several points along the rim and were most impressed with Lipan Point!  We were able to see more of the Colorado River  and there was virtually no one there!  We are staying in a lovely, mud free RV resort at the Willowwind RV Resort in Hurricane, Utah.  Although we are across from building construction in the resort, we feel like we have improved our position in life immensely!  

Tomorrow we will visit Zion National Park!

The Grand Canyon!

I am updating the blog for yesterday as I lay curled up in bed. It is 28 degrees outside and we have no water...it is frozen. We are discovering that maybe May is a little bit too early to travel north.  We arrived at the Grand Canyon area last night after leaving Santa Fe.  We are realizing more and more how lovely is our spot in Breckenridge. All of the campsites in the Grand Canyon Camper Village (private campground, not associated with the national park) have been little more than gravel parking lots, the nicest being the one in San Angelo. I will include a photo of the current one when I gather enough courage to stir from my covers. It makes me realize that in life you need to look for the beauty and not the ugly. Ok, we are staying in a mud pit, strewn with cigarette butts, right across from the shabby restrooms and ugly dumpsters. The entrance to the campground backs up to restaurants so all of their trash is haphazardly stored there BUT it is the closest campground to the park and reservations for the park were made a year ago and there are beautiful poplars or aspens lining the entrance.

Looking forward to viewing the Canyon for the first time ever and declare it in Ben Rathwell fashion "yup, that is a hole" as he declared when we had suggested a trip here 15 years ago, we promptly regrouped and drove to Disneyworld.

Well, it was everything we imagined!  We drove to the park, got on our bikes and road to various points along the way. The rude was uphill both ways, or it sure felt like it!  One of  the signs on the return trip warned of the steep 6% grade, no wonder we struggled!  The views were majestic!  A quiet steak dinner tonight in "23" and more exploration along the east side of the park tomorrow.