9 miles. 3500ft in Elevation climb and back down. A bunch of hours. Countless switch backs. That’s what we call a day of fun in the high country. No crossfit or long run can compare to this. It was hard. There were times I wanted to turn back. According to Stephen, I had a spell …
Colorado
Up early, off to church, then back on the road. And we weren’t the only ones. The Ride the Rockies bike event was going on in Gunnison. We saw several hundred riders of all shapes, sizes, and ages sharing the road with the cars and trucks. What impressed me was the high number of retired …
Our next stop is an overnight stay in Salida which is on the way to a long stay in Telluride. On this drive, all I could do was stare at the sky and land. These pictures are SOC—straight out of the camera. No cropping, contrast, photoshop, etc. Most of my pictures have very little post-processing …
The weather driving through 19 hours was uneventful except for a brief severe thunderstorm outside of Oklahoma City. I was checking the radar and it looked sketchy. I saw a distinctive hook and that usually sets off warning signals. Instead of second guessing whether to take shelter or keep driving, I sent a quick tweet …
And I’m not in Oklahoma as I stated in the last post. We left the house at 1:30 am. Stephen started driving. I took an Ambien and said nighty-night until I woke up somewhere in Arkansas. That’s how we do this. I get to miss the first 6-7 hours of driving and he gets to …
I can’t believe it’s finally here. We take one big vacation each year and it’s always been to Colorado. This year, we are spending 14 days hiking, driving, eating, running, and exploring all over the state. However, there is one thing on both of our minds. We have a “bucket list” item we want to …
Last day in Yellowstone Frozen lake in June Pools Grand Teton lake Old Faithful The one day I didn’t wear a hat The house we rented for a week. The balloon on the morning we all packed up and went in 3 different directions even though we all live within an hour of each …
This is my second time to do this race, but this year I went for the half marathon. This is one of those that advertise as a “flat and fast 10K, but not really fast for the half”. Very accurate description. I remember the 10K being tough because we had not been in elevation long …
We were driving around early, and I happened to see a sign for a Friday Farmer’s Market. I had researched each town we were scheduled to visit to see if there was a market nearby. I adore farmer’s markets. I did not find this one because it was technically in Dillon, which is a stone’s …
After we waived goodbye to Telluride, we travelled over the river, through the woods, a little carsickness from reading Kindle over 10,000ft passes, and quietly landed in Breckenridge. Whew! What a day. Cottonwood Pass The winds make these cool structures in the snow. That was pretty much the the whole day. Driving. Snow. Great …
On our first day, as we sat during lunch and looked at the views, Stephen saw this scene and casually said “I wonder how far that zig-zag trail goes”? THAT zig zag trail leading up to that waterfall and beyond. Well, we found out. Far. But oh so much fun getting there. Street view of …
Rico is a small town outside of Telluride. After our last trip, we decided to stay out from town and make use of the various lakes (fishing) and trails (hiking) that we did not try last time. Built in 1925 as a resting place for the employees of the Rico Argentine Mining Company, the Rico …
We knew from the day before, that we had about a 10 mile hike ahead of us. We packed enough supplies for a full day hike, filled our water bottles, grabbed the trekking poles, and set off for the top of Alta lakes in the San Juan Mountains. While enjoying this beautiful scenery and hiking …
Any morning that starts like this is a great morning. This is the free breakfast from our hotel, the Rico Hotel. I’ll have much more to say about this hotel later. But you see this table….it has inspired a nice little project for our house. That’s fresh marmalade and butter. Love love love fresh …
There are a couple of legendary stories of the origin of Telluride. Ask any native to the town and you’ll usually get a combination of these two stories. 1. This is a town that got its beginning in the gold rush era. And it was actually more successful in silver mining. But due to it’s …
While on the road to Telluride, we found a neat cafe called the True Grit cafe in Ridgeway, Co. If that name sounds familiar, a remake of the original John Wayne film was recently released in theatres. Stephen happens to be a fan of John Wayne. By “fan”, I mean that he would tatoo JW’s …
Sigh Due to some wildfires, the whole day was a hazy shade of yuk. This is what today looks like on top of my favorite mountain, Pike’s Peak. Fortunately, I have pictures from the previous two years at Pike’s. This is what it is supposed to look like (2010 picture) There is snow in …
This is the third year that I’ve sat in the HoJo in Colorado Springs looking at my favorite mountain and taking a great big sigh of contentment. I’m not sure how it’s planned this way, but it seems we always start out going to Pike’s Peak. It’s almost like a good luck charm from hundreds …
Colorado. In less than a few hours, I’ll be on a plane headed back to my favorite state (not counting my home and family states, of course). Since I can’t sleep, I’m going to do a quick don’t blink or you’ll miss it review of the past few days. It’s a big ol’ mixed up …
The picture on my title banner on this blog….came from Crested Butte, Colorado. If I could live anywhere else other than Alabama, this would be it. The weather (ie…snow) is one big plus, but the main reasons are the beauty, the trails, and the food. There are not many places to eat along Elk Ave, …