Posts
I headed West a just a tad this morning, and did a short-ish (5 miles) hike around a place called Caribou Ranch to see the fall colors as they are nearing their peak at the higher elevations. This link tells you a little bit about it's mining history (if you click on the "History" tab; this link tells you a little bit about it's music history.)
As in other posts, this is a post where pictures will replace words. Enjoy...
Showing posts with label Colorado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colorado. Show all posts
9.25.2012
2.22.2012
A Telluride Weekend
With it being both (close to) Peg's birthday and a 4-day weekend for Chloe, we loaded up the car and traveled to the southwest part of the State, a part we've always wanted to check out since we moved out here as we had heard the San Juan Mountains were absolutely spectacular, and the skiing could be pretty good, too. A trip to this part of the State is no small undertaking... we luckily had great driving conditions, and it still took us over 7 hours of moving time to get there. We knew within moments of arriving, though, that those 7 hours in a car seat were well worth it (and he hadn't even put on our skis yet.)
I could sit here and give you a detailed day-by-day recap, but each day was pretty much the same: wake up, eat breakfast, take the funicular down to the slopes, ski until the lifts close, grab a drink and/or bite to eat, head back to the condo and its hot tub, then either eat dinner in or go out. Sure, there are subtle differences on some days, but that was basically the (glorious) routine. We had 2 perfect days of skiing weather-wise on Saturday and Monday (with the latter being a blue bird day), whereas the weather on Sunday was cold and windy -- highs in the low 20s and 25+ mph winds. The warming huts were very popular that day, and the gloves stayed on a lot that day, too, so few pictures were taken.
We didn't stay in the town of Telluride itself, rather, in the nearby Mountain Village (the newer part of the ski area) with it's often-times huge single family homes, and larger hotels and condo complexes. The two areas, though, are connected by a free, public gondola system that allowed us to get into town in about 20 minutes time without having to get in our car or worry about parking.
And last, but not least, HAPPY 29TH PEGGY!
Here's a slideshow of pictures from the weekend.
Here's another cool picture I found while writing this post and researching some of the details of the town, mountain, etc. It annotates the visible peaks and their elevations. (Click on the image to enlarge/magnify it.) It was taken near the same spot where Chloe and I had our picture taken atop Chair 14.
I could sit here and give you a detailed day-by-day recap, but each day was pretty much the same: wake up, eat breakfast, take the funicular down to the slopes, ski until the lifts close, grab a drink and/or bite to eat, head back to the condo and its hot tub, then either eat dinner in or go out. Sure, there are subtle differences on some days, but that was basically the (glorious) routine. We had 2 perfect days of skiing weather-wise on Saturday and Monday (with the latter being a blue bird day), whereas the weather on Sunday was cold and windy -- highs in the low 20s and 25+ mph winds. The warming huts were very popular that day, and the gloves stayed on a lot that day, too, so few pictures were taken.
We didn't stay in the town of Telluride itself, rather, in the nearby Mountain Village (the newer part of the ski area) with it's often-times huge single family homes, and larger hotels and condo complexes. The two areas, though, are connected by a free, public gondola system that allowed us to get into town in about 20 minutes time without having to get in our car or worry about parking.
And last, but not least, HAPPY 29TH PEGGY!
Here's a slideshow of pictures from the weekend.
Here's another cool picture I found while writing this post and researching some of the details of the town, mountain, etc. It annotates the visible peaks and their elevations. (Click on the image to enlarge/magnify it.) It was taken near the same spot where Chloe and I had our picture taken atop Chair 14.
1.22.2012
Yurting It
We were supposed to do this overnight trip back in December, but a nasty head cold hit Peggy and we had to reschedule for this weekend. So we had a month to wonder what awaited us at the Tennessee Pass Cookhouse near Leadville, CO. Good friends of ours told us about it a while ago, and I happened to meet a co-owner last summer, so there were some preconceived notions and mental images about what awaited us. But we were absolutely blown away with what we experienced.
Stepping back a bit... The Tennessee Pass Cookhouse is actually a decent sized yurt on a remote plot at 10,800 feet in the middle of the Rockies. It's "off the grid" as they say: lighting is provided by candles and propane lamps, heat by a wood stove, and bathroom facilities by a nearby outhouse. During the winter, the more popular ways of getting to it are via cross country skis or snowshoes as it is about 1 mile back in the woods from the parking lot. (They do offer to shuttle guests to and fro via snowmobile, but, honestly, if one is able-bodied what's the fun in that?) Just this past summer the owners added two "sleep yurts" nearby so guests would not have to make the 1-mile trek back to the parking lot -- and then deal with some so-so lodging in the area -- and linger over dinner and enjoy the experience and area.
Now back to our experience... we made the approximate 3-hour drive out to the the check-in desk for the Cookhouse on Saturday, arriving around 2in the afternoon. We got the low-down on both the dining and sleep yurts, were handed some snowshoes, and began our slow, leisurely walk through the woods. To "get back" a little bit and stay off the groomed nordic ski trails, we opted for the snowshoe trail and gained the 300 feet in elevation to the Cookhouse in about 45 minutes. Along the way we enjoyed the silence of the woods (save for the snowmobile going by to ferry our overnight bags to our sleep yurt) and enjoyed the limited views (a snow storm was approaching for that night so it was quite overcast.)
When we made it to the cookhouse yurt, we happened to cross paths with the one owner I met over the summer. After chatting for a bit and using the adjacent outhouse, we continued on for the remaining three-tenths of a mile to our sleep yurt. And to our surprise and delight, it was not nearly as "primitive" as we had imagined. Inside there was a (very effective) wood stove, 2 low-wattage lights (powered by solar) and "running water" provided by a tiny submersible pump (with solar-rechargeable batteries) in a large reservoir under the sink. It can accommodate six, and has down comforter bedding. "Nature calls" were answered via a 30 foot walk out the door to the outhouse which is shared with the other sleep yurt. The first flakes of snow of the arriving storm began falling shortly after we arrived, putting a nice glaze on the trees. We, meanwhile, unpacked and relaxed inside our little piece of serenity in the Rockies before making our way back to the cookhouse for dinner.
As we left for dinner, outside looked slightly different then it had 90 minutes prior – about over an inch of snow had fallen since. We trudged along through the snowflakes to the cookhouse, and entered a wonderfully dim candle- and propane-lantern-lit dining room. Over the next 2-plus hours we dined and chatted, enjoying courses containing elk and rhubarb, and chats about future travels. It was well dark by the time we left dinner, and the snow was still falling, so our headlamp-guided walk back to our yurt was a nighttime spectacular. We got back to the yurt, filled the stove with as much wood as it could take, and climbed under the down comforters for (what we thought would be) a quiet night's sleep.
I say that because as we lay there in our beds, the snow piled up on the roof. Then every once in a while snow slid off the roof, making a sound as if it was ripping through the roof material. Obviously it wasn't, but it was startling enough to wake us up throughout the night. No complaints from us, though, as it meant there would be a winter wonderland awaiting us at daybreak.
Sure enough, as we and the sun rose, we noticed about 10 inches of fresh snow around the yurt, with more snurries falling. We would have loved to linger around the yurt and/or trekked around the trails for a while that morning, but we needed to pack up and head back to the car as Peggy had a flight out to the UK Sunday night. We were the first ones on the trial that morning so were breaking trail from the get-go. It snowed enough overnight that at one point we lost track of our footprints from the night before and went (using the skiing term) "off piste" slightly and had to trudge about 75 yards through a knee-deep snowed meadow to get back on the trail. We were eventually able to link up with the freshly-groomed nordic trails (our interest in breaking trail for the entire 1.3 miles was low) and had a nice, family walk on a quiet winter, Rocky Mountain morning back to the car.
Click on the photo below to see the online photo album of our visit.
Stepping back a bit... The Tennessee Pass Cookhouse is actually a decent sized yurt on a remote plot at 10,800 feet in the middle of the Rockies. It's "off the grid" as they say: lighting is provided by candles and propane lamps, heat by a wood stove, and bathroom facilities by a nearby outhouse. During the winter, the more popular ways of getting to it are via cross country skis or snowshoes as it is about 1 mile back in the woods from the parking lot. (They do offer to shuttle guests to and fro via snowmobile, but, honestly, if one is able-bodied what's the fun in that?) Just this past summer the owners added two "sleep yurts" nearby so guests would not have to make the 1-mile trek back to the parking lot -- and then deal with some so-so lodging in the area -- and linger over dinner and enjoy the experience and area.
Now back to our experience... we made the approximate 3-hour drive out to the the check-in desk for the Cookhouse on Saturday, arriving around 2in the afternoon. We got the low-down on both the dining and sleep yurts, were handed some snowshoes, and began our slow, leisurely walk through the woods. To "get back" a little bit and stay off the groomed nordic ski trails, we opted for the snowshoe trail and gained the 300 feet in elevation to the Cookhouse in about 45 minutes. Along the way we enjoyed the silence of the woods (save for the snowmobile going by to ferry our overnight bags to our sleep yurt) and enjoyed the limited views (a snow storm was approaching for that night so it was quite overcast.)
When we made it to the cookhouse yurt, we happened to cross paths with the one owner I met over the summer. After chatting for a bit and using the adjacent outhouse, we continued on for the remaining three-tenths of a mile to our sleep yurt. And to our surprise and delight, it was not nearly as "primitive" as we had imagined. Inside there was a (very effective) wood stove, 2 low-wattage lights (powered by solar) and "running water" provided by a tiny submersible pump (with solar-rechargeable batteries) in a large reservoir under the sink. It can accommodate six, and has down comforter bedding. "Nature calls" were answered via a 30 foot walk out the door to the outhouse which is shared with the other sleep yurt. The first flakes of snow of the arriving storm began falling shortly after we arrived, putting a nice glaze on the trees. We, meanwhile, unpacked and relaxed inside our little piece of serenity in the Rockies before making our way back to the cookhouse for dinner.
As we left for dinner, outside looked slightly different then it had 90 minutes prior – about over an inch of snow had fallen since. We trudged along through the snowflakes to the cookhouse, and entered a wonderfully dim candle- and propane-lantern-lit dining room. Over the next 2-plus hours we dined and chatted, enjoying courses containing elk and rhubarb, and chats about future travels. It was well dark by the time we left dinner, and the snow was still falling, so our headlamp-guided walk back to our yurt was a nighttime spectacular. We got back to the yurt, filled the stove with as much wood as it could take, and climbed under the down comforters for (what we thought would be) a quiet night's sleep.
I say that because as we lay there in our beds, the snow piled up on the roof. Then every once in a while snow slid off the roof, making a sound as if it was ripping through the roof material. Obviously it wasn't, but it was startling enough to wake us up throughout the night. No complaints from us, though, as it meant there would be a winter wonderland awaiting us at daybreak.
Sure enough, as we and the sun rose, we noticed about 10 inches of fresh snow around the yurt, with more snurries falling. We would have loved to linger around the yurt and/or trekked around the trails for a while that morning, but we needed to pack up and head back to the car as Peggy had a flight out to the UK Sunday night. We were the first ones on the trial that morning so were breaking trail from the get-go. It snowed enough overnight that at one point we lost track of our footprints from the night before and went (using the skiing term) "off piste" slightly and had to trudge about 75 yards through a knee-deep snowed meadow to get back on the trail. We were eventually able to link up with the freshly-groomed nordic trails (our interest in breaking trail for the entire 1.3 miles was low) and had a nice, family walk on a quiet winter, Rocky Mountain morning back to the car.
Click on the photo below to see the online photo album of our visit.
 |
| TN Pass Cookhouse (Jan 2012) |
1.14.2012
On the 8th Day...
 | |
| Breckenridge, CO |
Out in Breckenridge for the weekend to do some nordic and alpine skiing, and spend some time with some friends of ours who love the mountains just as much as we do.
4.14.2011
It IS still Winter...
... so, I guess we shouldn't have been surprised to have found this outside this morning.
10.24.2008
The "P" word...
Well, we're somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 days away from the General Election, and it's got me in a Politics kind of mood. I know this sort of post isn't something one comes to this blog for, so I'll try to make it enlightening, entertaining and/or quasi-educational.
For those unaware, Boulder city is a VERY left-leaning town. And a right-leaning independent like myself is kind of an oddity around here. I was a on a bike ride a couple of weeks ago with some friends and their friends, and I was talking to one rider (who happens to place himself near the Libertarian part of the political spectrum) who has lived here a while, and his comment was: "It's pretty funny telling people you're something other than a Democrat. They look at you like you're some kind of rare zoo animal... they didn't think that non-Democrats existed in Boulder."
"So, who are you voting for?" you might be thinking. Well, I'm not completely enamored with either of the major candidates, but I do have a weak frontrunner. It's not like there's a dearth of choices, either, because on the Colorado ballot there are sixteen – SIXTEEN, count 'em, 1-6 – candidates for President! Despite my penchant for making things up to get a laugh, I assure you, the following are honest-to-goodness candidates (and parties) on the CO ballot:
Well, this is getting kind of long, so I'll close with these two hypothetical questions I heard recently.
- The first I heard on NPR. Why is it we have only 2 choices when it comes to picking a President, but 50 when it comes to picking Miss America?
- The second came from my brother. Why is it our government can force all broadcasters to go digital by February 2009, but can't force auto manufacturers to make more fuel efficient cars?
Now go vote!
For those unaware, Boulder city is a VERY left-leaning town. And a right-leaning independent like myself is kind of an oddity around here. I was a on a bike ride a couple of weeks ago with some friends and their friends, and I was talking to one rider (who happens to place himself near the Libertarian part of the political spectrum) who has lived here a while, and his comment was: "It's pretty funny telling people you're something other than a Democrat. They look at you like you're some kind of rare zoo animal... they didn't think that non-Democrats existed in Boulder."
"So, who are you voting for?" you might be thinking. Well, I'm not completely enamored with either of the major candidates, but I do have a weak frontrunner. It's not like there's a dearth of choices, either, because on the Colorado ballot there are sixteen – SIXTEEN, count 'em, 1-6 – candidates for President! Despite my penchant for making things up to get a laugh, I assure you, the following are honest-to-goodness candidates (and parties) on the CO ballot:
- John McCain / Sarah Palin - Republican
- Barack Obama / Joe Biden - Democratic
- Chuck Baldwin / Darrell L. Castle - Constitution
- Bob Barr / Wayne A. Root - Libertarian
- Cynthia McKinney / Rosa A. Clemente - Green
- Jonathan E. Allen / Jeffrey D. Stath - HeartQuake '08
- Gene C. Amondson / Leroy J. Pletten - Prohibition
- James Harris / Alyson Kennedy - Socialist Workers
- Charles Jay / Dan Sallis, Jr. - Boston Tea
- Alan Keyes / Brian Rohrbough - America's Independent
- Gloria La Riva / Robert Moses - Socialism and Liberation
- Bradford Lyttle / Abraham Bassford - U.S. Pacifist
- Frank Edward McEnulty / David Mangan - Unaffiliated
- Brian Moore / Stewart A. Alexander - Socialist, USA
- Ralph Nader / Matt Gonzalez - Unaffiliated
- Thomas Robert Stevens / Alden Link - Objectivist
Well, this is getting kind of long, so I'll close with these two hypothetical questions I heard recently.
- The first I heard on NPR. Why is it we have only 2 choices when it comes to picking a President, but 50 when it comes to picking Miss America?
- The second came from my brother. Why is it our government can force all broadcasters to go digital by February 2009, but can't force auto manufacturers to make more fuel efficient cars?
Now go vote!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)