Weekend Recap: Doin' the Butte

Last Thursday morning, Peggy and I came to the realization that we didn't really have anything planned for the President's Holiday weekend. And with Peggy having off from work on Monday, and Chloe having off from school, as well, we thought we had to do something. And preferably, that something would involve some skiing at a resort in a part of the state we haven't been to yet. Having been to just one ski area up until now, that didn't really narrow down the options, but we knew anything involving Interstate 70 would also involve sitting in a multi-lane traffic jam.

So, with some furious searching online, we looked for availability at ski resorts that were off the beaten-I-70 path. To our glee, we found some at Crested Butte, which is in the central-western part of the state, and west of the Continental Divide (which usually translates into more snow!) So, after making sure we found "lodging" for Chamberlain for the weekend, we booked our stay at the Grand Lodge in Mt. Crested Butte (technically, the name of the "town" at the base of the ski area; the town of Crested Butte is 3 miles away.) Now, all there was to do was prepping and packing, all the while keeping it a surprise for Chloe until we picked her up from school on Friday with the Explorer loaded up with luggage and ski gear.

Friday afternoon came, and our plan worked wonderfully. Peggy and I went to Chloe's Valentine's Day party at her school, after which we all walked to the car, with Chloe complaining the entire time about just wanting to go home. But when she opened the door to the car and saw all of the stuff, her eyes got big and asked "What's THIS?!?" When we told her that we planned a mini-vacation at a ski resort (one that has an indoor/outdoor pool, of course) she was no longer interested in going home right away.

It's about a 5 hour drive from Boulder to Crested Butte, and we did a little over half of it done during daylight. One of the areas that stuck out was the South Park basin (yes, it is tangentially related to the animated cartoon.) Here we saw a herd of approx. 75-100 elk, and were viewing vast pasture lands situated below snow-covered peaks on all sides. Another part of the drive that was great was as we dropped down into Buena Vista... the views of Mt. Princeton and some of the other Collegiate Peaks were amazing. After dinner in Buena Vista, the rest of the drive took place at night, including the climb and descent over snowy Monarch Pass. We arrived at our hotel at around 8:30p.

Saturday and Sunday were spent either skiing, hanging out in the outdoor pool and hot tub, or heading into town (i.e. Crested Butte) for dinner. Skiing on Saturday was OK... snow was coming down, but the light on the trails was pretty "flat" making it difficult to pick up terrain and contrast at times. During one run on my own, I think I was spared certain injury when a guy in front of me right over a 5 foot drop-off from an access road that bisected the trail. I'm assuming he didn't see it, for he went flailing. Lucky for me, because I definitely didn't see it, but his mishap gave me those precious seconds to turn slightly and slide down the embankment sideways, just barely being able to keep the skis snow-side down.

Sunday, though, was perfect: new snow, sun, clear-blue skies, and no wind. (I actually got a little sunburn on my neck!) The story of the day, though, was Chloe... her ski lessons were definitely paying off. We spent most of Saturday on Beginner/Green trails, occasionally taking an easier Intermediate/Blue. On Sunday, though, after 2 warm up runs on some Greens, she was actively seeking out some more Blues! She negotiated her way down some sections that were by far steeper and longer than anything she had done at Eldora. We skied from 9a - 4p, and were secretly hoping for an overnight snowstorm that would prevent us from leaving on Monday.

(Pictures amidst the text above, top to bottom: Chloe at the top of Paradise Bowl; Peggy and Chloe at the top of Paradise Bowl; a view from the deck of the Paradise Warming Hut; Chloe and I enjoying lunch outside; Peggy and Chloe taking a lift back up the mountain; a view of Crested Butte peak (l); one of the many views available from the ski area.)

*** A note about pictures: As is the case with all pictures in this blog, click on them to view a larger version. ***

A close up of The Shredder

Chloe kicking back at an outdoor rest stop.

Another spectacular view.

Chloe with Crested Butte peak in the background.

A view of Mt. Crested Butte (the base-area town) and surrounding mountains.

Family picture at dinner after a day in the sun and snow

A view of Mt. Princeton (2nd peak from the right) and other Sawatch Range peaks.

A close up of Mt. Princeton (center peak; 14,197 ft.)

Another video of Chloe

Chamberlain vs. A Cougar

As has been posted before, cougars (a.k.a. mountain lions, pumas, panthers) are not foreign to Boulder. In fact, earlier today there was another incursion. A baby mountain lion had been trapped in a neighborhood not too far away from both our home and Chloe's school, and the mother was believed to still be at large. Neighbors were advised by the Division of Wildlife to keep their children and animals inside.

While we acknowledge the situation is one not be shrugged off, it nonetheless got Peggy and I wondering how things would transpire if Chamberlain ever crossed paths with a cougar (and I'm not talking about Demi Moore.) Peggy thought Chamberlain's loud howling would dissuade the cat from advancing, but that if it did get within striking distance, he could hold his own.

I thought differently. I reflected back on the several run-ins he had with my parents' Abyssinian cat, Scooter. Scooter was (maybe) 8 pounds, but packed A LOT of fury into his little paws when 35 pound Chamberlain came to visit. Despite being undersized and weighing considerably less, Scooter beat the snot out of Chamberlain every single time, and would even sometimes attack him as he was retreating with his tail between his legs, just to get in a couple of more good swats for good measure. So, with that as my reference point, I thought that if Chamberlain ever did tangle with a cougar, I guess the best I could hope for is that he would somehow channel some of Scooter's fury and put up a good fight.

6 Months in the Books

It only seems like yesterday we were driving through Illinois commenting, "Man, there are a lot of cornfields here!" but to our surprise, it's been 6 months to the day since we moved here.

The biggest concern for Peggy and I with moving was the impact it was going to have on Chloe. While in PA, it was a good several days for her to begin to understand what was involved and how things were going to be different. (A side note: if any of you plan on moving or even visiting here with small children, be careful on trying to explain to them the fact that there is less oxygen at a mile above sea level. Once you let that cat out of the bag, it might take a while for you to get your point across that people can still live and breathe at that altitude.) It pleases me to no end to report that, much to the delight and comfort of Peggy and I, she has taken the change in-stride and is off to a great start here. She's doing really well in school (AND enjoying it to boot), has developed a great group of friends in the neighborhood and at school, and has enjoyed the new experiences like skiing and Spanish classes.

So, what are our thoughts about living here? We love it here. We really do. We've made some great friends already, which has gone a long way in having us enjoy our lives out here. I know some people thought the major factor in our decision to move here was so that we could be in a cycling, skiing and hiking mecca. I won't lie... The relative ease of being able to do those things is great, for sure, and part of the reason why we love it here so much is the outdoorsy stuff we like to do – I'm biking more and have joined a team, Peg's running and hiking more, and we're skiing, biking and hiking as a family.

But it's more than that.

A lot of it has to do with the day-to-day things, like: not having to wait 3 cycles to get through a traffic light; or having kids in the neighborhood for Chloe to play with; or being able to cut the grass in 20 minutes (vs. 2 hours); or being able to walk/bike to places and not having to use a car for everything; or not having to get dressed up to go to a nice restaurant; or the ability to get in to town easily if you want to, or to get into the mountains easily if you want to.

Yes, there have been some eye-opening incidents (e.g. wildfires, mountain lions and coyotes "foraging" in town, house-rattling winds) and we suspect there will be more of them in the months and years ahead. But we've quickly come to accept them as the "new realities" of life in the West. And we do miss getting together with family and friends back East, but this blog, along with e-mail, Facebook and Skype, have helped bridge the distance.

We've been asked if we have any regrets about moving out here. After factoring in all of which I just wrote, Peggy and I can think of just one: That we didn't move out here sooner.

Chloe's 6!

At 3:34p local time, Chloe joined the 6-year-old cohort. And none too soon, either... had she had to contain her excitement another day for her birthday, Peggy and I were afraid what might have happened to her!

When I went in to her room to wake her up this morning, she was already awake – wide awake – and practically bouncing off the walls. I made her a special breakfast of french toast, and after she got dressed for school, Peggy put a "Today's My B-Day" ribbon on her. It was then off to school where she was greeted by the birthday puppet "Hairy" in her enrichment program, and in her Kindergarten class, she read to her friends (as all classmates are called) the "My Life Story" photo-and-caption-book she created.

After school, it was back home to eat some cake, eat some more cake, and open up the gift we got her. Over the last week or so, she's been pining for a camera and a pogo stick. Seeing that we just got her a RipStick for Christmas, we thought there would be ample time for skinned knees and bruised limbs, so we got her a Disney digital camera.

The rest of the night was filled with ethereal blue dots in the eyes for Peggy and I as Chloe was taking pictures of practically everything and the auto-flash was turning on. And we got off lucky... due to the number of photos she took of Chamberlain, we can't imagine what the world was looking like to him. (Picture to the right: Chloe's Disney camera has the ability to include add-ons in the photos. Her favorite thus far is the crown. In addition to being "placed" on me, it's been on Chamberlain, the kitchen table, and a chandelier.)

From the Hands of Babes

Chloe's been learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. recently at school. For her one assignment, she and her classmates were instructed to begin with "I have a dream..." and then continue with what they thought MLK was dreaming about. Here's what Chloe wrote (followed by the "translation")

I hav a jem. Chret bran pepl lik pech pepl
I have a dream. Treat brown people like peach people.

She did a pretty good job, yes?

Revisiting an Earlier Post

Back in an August 2008 post, I posed the question, "Why is cycling in Pennsylvania better than cycling in Colorado?" The answer I gave at the time was "Because in Pennsylvania, you don't need cold weather gear when going on a ride in August!"

Well, I'm going to have to revise both question and answer.
Q: Why is cycling in Colorado better than cycling in Pennsylvania?
A: Because in Colorado, sometimes you don't have to wear any cold weather gear when going on a ride in January!

Presently in Boulder, it is 72 degrees. I got away with wearing "summer gear" for my ride earlier today. I never would have imagined being able to do that prior to moving out here. But, in fact, as I hear from neighbors and friends, it is not uncommon in winter for the Boulder area to experience a stretch of some very mild days.

This little gift from Mother Nature isn't expected to last though. The forecast is for one more day in the 60s, and then snow on Friday. Just in time for skiing on Saturday!

I'm on YouTube...

... but not in a Jerry Springer or Johnny Knoxville kinda way.

I signed up for an indoor cycling class at a local bike shop and had my 2nd session last night. Apparently, the bike shop owner (who also blogs on behalf of his shop) took a short video clip of the class to post on the shop's blog. Follow this link to see it... I come into the frame at about 8 seconds into clip (white shirt, not a lot of hair on the head, looking down and gasping for air.)

Christmas & New Year's Recap

All of the excitement from last week has passed, allowing me to a quick recap of what we were up to from late-December to early-January.

On the 30th, we got an early jump on the day as we needed to drop Chamberlain off at the "spa" before making our way to the airport to fly back East. For late December, it was a warm day (temps in the low 50s at 8a) but a particularly windy day. I didn't count how many, but I ran over several tumbleweeds on the way to the airport. The same winds that made the drive to the airport such a challenge proved to be pretty helpful once airborne — we took off about 25 minutes late, but the nice tailwind allowed us to land on time in Philly.

It was then up to the Lehigh Valley area to visit family and friends for the next several days. Some of the "friends" we had yet to see; namely, the 3 female beagle puppies from a litter born about 2.5 months ago. (Pictured to the right is Chloe holding TomBo Chloe's Princess.) Despite occasional pleas from some in our party, we came back to Colorado with the same number of dogs we went to Pennsylvania with. We did, however, come back to Colorado with well-founded hopes that we'll be getting more visitors out here in the months ahead... awesome! Come on out folks!

January 5th was notable for 2 reasons: 1) it was our last day visiting in PA for this trip, and 2) it was Peggy's last day of her "sabbatical." On the 6th, she became "Peggy Schrammel, Vice President - Registries and Post Approval Development, United BioSource Corporation." What's her job? I'm not 100% sure, but I think, based on the title, that part of it has something to do with helping soon-to-be-married couples pick out everyday stemware at Crate and Barrel.

On morning of the 7th, it was back to the routine for everyone: Peggy slapping the snooze once before going downstairs to get her cup of coffee and start work in her home office; me trying to dislodge Chloe from her bed so she can get moving and eventually/hopefully catch the bus; and Chamberlain following me around, anticipating a visit to the dog park.

Blazes around Boulder - part II

Well... we're back home.

After a so-so night and complimentary breakfast at the Best Western, Chloe and I ventured over to her school to get her school day started. Clearly, the wildfire was THE topic of conversation, and I was able to catch up with some neighbors to see how their nights were. Once the kids were in the school, a neighbor and I got back in the car to go see what the neighborhood looked like. And it didn't take long, though we were still about 1.5 miles away, to see that the fire had spread quite a bit since we left our homes last night. Thankfully, no homes were lost in our neighborhood, but fire did creep right up to the northern and western borders. Some homeowners will come home to charred grass right across the street from their home.

Once Peg checked out of the hotel and came home, we drove north out of town to see the extent of the fire and couldn't believe our eyes... about how much of the foothills and adjacent plains burned, and how great of a job the firefighters did in protecting homes, businesses, barns, etc. given the strong winds. (For a great video clip showing what the firefighters were up against with the wind, watch this.)

It was then back to the house to unpack what we loaded in the cars about 15 hours prior. At this point we had a lighthearted moment as we found out out some of the items Chloe thought were key to take along for our evacuation. In her backpack, we found these items: a couple of Chamberlain's chew toys, math flash cards, a miniature football, bracelets, stuffed animals, and lip gloss. (Peggy packed the other "essentials" for her... clothing, toiletries, etc.)

The latest news reports had these figures on the fire:
- Approximately 1,400 acres, within a 3,600 acre area, burned.
- One home and one large structure completely lost, one home partially damaged. Three barns and several other outbuildings and small structures were also consumed in the fire.
- One police officer and two firefighters have been treated for minor injuries.

To view pictures I took:
- click here (I posted them on shutterfly... you do not need an account to view them.)
- then click on "View Album" (near the bottom of the page)
- then click on "Detail View" (near the top of the page) and read the captions on the right.
- then click on the left/right arrows to scroll through.

Blazes around Boulder

I know I skipped right over the holiday period, but I promise I'll do a recap in the near future. The reason I can't do it now is that KnPnCnC are holed-up in a hotel room, evacuees from a wildfire that is burning at the northern tip of our neighborhood.

I heard earlier in the day about a wildfire several miles north and east of town that was started by high winds knocking down an electric transformer, and it catching the grass on fire. I didn't pay much attention to it since the westerly winds (gusting over 80 mph locally, and over 90 mph in the region) were fanning the flames away from us.

Then, when I picked up Chloe from the bus stop, I received a call from a friend asking me if I could take her kids back to our house because she's stuck in a traffic... the police shut down roads north of town. I thought that strange since the fire I knew of was pretty far away. When Susie arrived to pick up her kids, she said there's another fire, this one just north of our neighborhood and on the other side of the ridge.

After Susie left, I took a drive up to the northern tip of our neighborhood to see what I could see. There was plenty of smoke, and I could see some flames. But again the west winds led me to believe the fire would stay away. I came back to the house, and took Peggy and Chloe to see the fires, and in that short time, the winds spread the fire quite a bit. It was about 5 pm at this point.

Again we returned home, to see what news could be found online and on TV. It was about that time that we began to see evacuation notices for area neighborhoods, but not ours. We looked out our bedroom window to the North and saw A LOT more red and orange outside our neighborhood then we saw 15 minutes prior. We jumped back in the car to see what was going on, and what was a lot of smoke and some flames 45-60 minutes ago, was now covered in flames and inching slightly southward. It was then a Fire Dept. official came up to our car to ask us to clear the area as they are going to start evacuating the neighborhood... our neighborhood.

We drove back to the house and, within 30 minutes, loaded up what we think we'd need or - worse case scenario - want... photo albums, computers, important files, clothes, pet, etc. We took calls from friends offering a place to stay, and a reverse 9-1-1 call from the Boulder Sheriff's Office, officially telling us of the mandatory evacuation.

At about 6 pm, after a final glimpse around the house for things we'd want to take with us, we got in the cars and, before finding a restaurant for dinner, drove up to take another look-see at the fires. Thankfully, the winds had subsided substantially, and the flames had lessened in intensity. But by no means were they out.

After dinner, we found our way to a Starbucks for its wi-fi. Peg got on her laptop and read that our neighborhood was still under evacuation orders and that it would probably be so for the night. Though he is an easy pet, we thought taking Chamberlain into a friends house for the night might me problematic. So after two "no room at the inn" calls, we lucked out and found a pet-friendly room at a Best Western (which is where I am typing this now.)

We caught some news tonight, and here's the latest: 1,000 acres burned; 2 structures lost; 2 minor injuries to firefighters; the fire near our neighborhood is not officially contained, but officials are hopeful that once the winds die down after midnight, firefighters will begin to take the upper hand. The news reports cautioned viewers that there still is cause for concern... the winds, despite waning, still occasionally gust to 45+ mph, and utility poles that caught fire might topple, potentially putting live wires in contact with dry grasses and igniting another fire.

More updates and pictures later. Now go hug a firefighter.