Posts
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| This little gem entered our world and changed our lives 9 years ago today. |
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| Here she is fully enjoying cake at her first birthday party. |
1.28.2012
9 Years Already?
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.
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| TN Pass Cookhouse (Jan 2012) |
1.14.2012
On the 8th Day...
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| 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.
12.31.2011
One for the cage, and one for the stable
Chloe and I did some shopping today...
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| My New Ride |
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| Chloe's New Hamster |
12.25.2011
11.28.2011
Thanksgiving recap
We went to our old stomping grounds of metro Boston for Thanksgiving this year, visiting some friends we haven't seen in quite some time.
Unfortunately, Peggy was befallen by a nasty, nasty head cold for a bit of it and missed out on some of the activities we had planned to show Chloe the sights, namely the aquarium, Duck Boat tour and a visit to the observation floor of the Prudential Center. But she rallied in time for Thanksgiving Day and beyond, and we spent a wonderfully fun Thanksgiving Day up in Manchester, MA, and the following day on Newbury Street, at Quincy Market and along the Waterfront, and in Lexington.
Unfortunately, Peggy was befallen by a nasty, nasty head cold for a bit of it and missed out on some of the activities we had planned to show Chloe the sights, namely the aquarium, Duck Boat tour and a visit to the observation floor of the Prudential Center. But she rallied in time for Thanksgiving Day and beyond, and we spent a wonderfully fun Thanksgiving Day up in Manchester, MA, and the following day on Newbury Street, at Quincy Market and along the Waterfront, and in Lexington.
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| Thanksgiving Day in Manchester, MA |
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| Duck Boat Chloe |
11.14.2011
A Weekend in Moab
Because of the 3-day weekend, we planned an active weekend for ourselves in Moab, UT. We began the weekend, though, by picking Chloe up at school on Thursday afternoon and beginning the 6-hour drive across Colorado and into Utah.
Friday morning we got ourselves over to a local bike shop to rent some mountain bikes for Peggy and I (we brought Chloe's bike along), and then over to the trailhead for our ride. The plan was to do the 10 mile (approx.) out-and-back ride -- and the approximate 1-mile roundtrip hike into Arches National Park -- in the morning and early afternoon, and then head onto over to another trailhead to do an 8-mile ride there. But first things first... we had to get this first ride in the books first.
So we set off on our bikes, bundled up a bit due to the chilly temps, but excited to have this little adventure ahead of us. The first part of the ride was mostly jeep road... wide, relatively smooth and easy to navigate. After a couple of miles into it, we got on the slickrock that this ride (and Moab) is known for. This section was definitely wide like before, but more challenging in that it was a gradual ascent for a couple of miles, and required more bike-handling skills to negotiate the various idiosyncrasies of the rock surface. These "challenges" aside, this section was definitely a highlight of the trail for marked by circles of rocks were dinosaur footprints! There were probably about 15 or so footprints marked... though many required some "interpretation," there definitely were others were we found ourselves saying "Wow!"
We continued our way up and along the slickrock and eventually made our way back onto a 2-mile long jeep road that would take us to the border of Arches National Park. Once there, we had to lock our bikes up to a rack and walk the remaining half-mile or so into the park and our scenic lunch spot. And just like our reaction to some of the dinosaur prints, we once again found ourselves saying "Wow!" We were in the Klondike Bluffs area of the park, and the rock formations here seem other-world-ly. They are unlike anything else we've seen. We were exposed to the cool breeze of the day now, so while we enjoyed the view for a bit, we also felt it was a good idea to not stay too long and get too chilled. We walked back to our bikes to begin our descent along the roads and slickrock back to our car.
By this point, I could definitely see the increased confidence and bike handling by both Chloe and Peggy... I've done such riding just once before so am by far not an expert, but I knew some basics about riding mountain bikes and what they can handle. They haven't, so it was all pretty new to them. On the descent, they really impressed me – Chloe's bike doesn't have a rear suspension so she got jarred around a lot, and Peg's bike's front brake was acting up – and began to look comfortable riding their bikes in this environment.
We made it back to the car around 2:30p, quickly loaded up the bikes and headed over to the next trailhead. Once we got there, though, the brief rest from the car ride seems to have germinated some concerns about doing this next ride... Chloe's legs (and butt) were pretty tired, and after some feeble attempt to improve it, I couldn't do anything to improve Peg's bike's brake (and doing another 8 miles or so, while "active" wasn't "fun.") We gave it the ol' college try nonetheless but after a little over a mile, it became evident it wasn't worth going on... Chloe was lagging behind, and Peg's front wheel was making sounds akin to the communication groans of humpback whales.
I once again loaded them on the car, and we headed back into Moab to return the rental bikes and enjoy some post-ride nourishment at a local eatery. And of course, toast a great family bike ride.
The rest of the weekend, though, didn't pan out as active as we had hoped. The plans for Saturday was to do a 7.5 mile hike in Arches, on a trail that would take us by several of the rock formations that are the park's namesake. During Friday night/Saturday morning, though, Chloe got wicked sick and vomited over a fair portion of the upstairs of the house we were staying in. Peg and I were definitely "active" during this portion... she scrubbing carpets, and me driving into town at 1:00am to visit a laundromat. The rest of Saturday was spent just hanging out... I was able to watch the Pitt v Louisville football game online, and thanks to Hulu, we were able to catch up on episodes of "The Office" and watch several episodes of "Ugly Betty."
We hoped we would be able to do a little of Saturday's hiking on Sunday, but Mother Nature had other plans: As we entered the park, it began to drizzle... and it drizzled the entire time we drove through the park viewing the sights visible from the road. As irony would have it, the rain stopped as we were exiting the park and heading back to Boulder.
Oh well... we plan on heading back to Moab again some day, and who knows... maybe there are mountain bikes in our future!
Pictures from this trip can be found here.
Friday morning we got ourselves over to a local bike shop to rent some mountain bikes for Peggy and I (we brought Chloe's bike along), and then over to the trailhead for our ride. The plan was to do the 10 mile (approx.) out-and-back ride -- and the approximate 1-mile roundtrip hike into Arches National Park -- in the morning and early afternoon, and then head onto over to another trailhead to do an 8-mile ride there. But first things first... we had to get this first ride in the books first.
So we set off on our bikes, bundled up a bit due to the chilly temps, but excited to have this little adventure ahead of us. The first part of the ride was mostly jeep road... wide, relatively smooth and easy to navigate. After a couple of miles into it, we got on the slickrock that this ride (and Moab) is known for. This section was definitely wide like before, but more challenging in that it was a gradual ascent for a couple of miles, and required more bike-handling skills to negotiate the various idiosyncrasies of the rock surface. These "challenges" aside, this section was definitely a highlight of the trail for marked by circles of rocks were dinosaur footprints! There were probably about 15 or so footprints marked... though many required some "interpretation," there definitely were others were we found ourselves saying "Wow!"
We continued our way up and along the slickrock and eventually made our way back onto a 2-mile long jeep road that would take us to the border of Arches National Park. Once there, we had to lock our bikes up to a rack and walk the remaining half-mile or so into the park and our scenic lunch spot. And just like our reaction to some of the dinosaur prints, we once again found ourselves saying "Wow!" We were in the Klondike Bluffs area of the park, and the rock formations here seem other-world-ly. They are unlike anything else we've seen. We were exposed to the cool breeze of the day now, so while we enjoyed the view for a bit, we also felt it was a good idea to not stay too long and get too chilled. We walked back to our bikes to begin our descent along the roads and slickrock back to our car.
By this point, I could definitely see the increased confidence and bike handling by both Chloe and Peggy... I've done such riding just once before so am by far not an expert, but I knew some basics about riding mountain bikes and what they can handle. They haven't, so it was all pretty new to them. On the descent, they really impressed me – Chloe's bike doesn't have a rear suspension so she got jarred around a lot, and Peg's bike's front brake was acting up – and began to look comfortable riding their bikes in this environment.
We made it back to the car around 2:30p, quickly loaded up the bikes and headed over to the next trailhead. Once we got there, though, the brief rest from the car ride seems to have germinated some concerns about doing this next ride... Chloe's legs (and butt) were pretty tired, and after some feeble attempt to improve it, I couldn't do anything to improve Peg's bike's brake (and doing another 8 miles or so, while "active" wasn't "fun.") We gave it the ol' college try nonetheless but after a little over a mile, it became evident it wasn't worth going on... Chloe was lagging behind, and Peg's front wheel was making sounds akin to the communication groans of humpback whales.
I once again loaded them on the car, and we headed back into Moab to return the rental bikes and enjoy some post-ride nourishment at a local eatery. And of course, toast a great family bike ride.
The rest of the weekend, though, didn't pan out as active as we had hoped. The plans for Saturday was to do a 7.5 mile hike in Arches, on a trail that would take us by several of the rock formations that are the park's namesake. During Friday night/Saturday morning, though, Chloe got wicked sick and vomited over a fair portion of the upstairs of the house we were staying in. Peg and I were definitely "active" during this portion... she scrubbing carpets, and me driving into town at 1:00am to visit a laundromat. The rest of Saturday was spent just hanging out... I was able to watch the Pitt v Louisville football game online, and thanks to Hulu, we were able to catch up on episodes of "The Office" and watch several episodes of "Ugly Betty."
We hoped we would be able to do a little of Saturday's hiking on Sunday, but Mother Nature had other plans: As we entered the park, it began to drizzle... and it drizzled the entire time we drove through the park viewing the sights visible from the road. As irony would have it, the rain stopped as we were exiting the park and heading back to Boulder.
Oh well... we plan on heading back to Moab again some day, and who knows... maybe there are mountain bikes in our future!
Pictures from this trip can be found here.
10.31.2011
10.20.2011
Just because it was sunny, calm and mid-60s in Boulder...
... doesn't mean the same conditions exist just 40 minutes away (but 5,000 feet higher.)
A friend of mine and I snuck in a quick hike today up near Brainard Lake. We were expecting things to be a little cooler than here in Boulder, but we weren't expecting it to be over 20 degrees cooler (and much windier) and most of the trail to be snow covered. Thankfully, someone "broke trail" for us and packed down the snow some, for if they hadn't there easily would have been times where we would have been walking through 6 inches of snow.
Here are some pix.
A friend of mine and I snuck in a quick hike today up near Brainard Lake. We were expecting things to be a little cooler than here in Boulder, but we weren't expecting it to be over 20 degrees cooler (and much windier) and most of the trail to be snow covered. Thankfully, someone "broke trail" for us and packed down the snow some, for if they hadn't there easily would have been times where we would have been walking through 6 inches of snow.
Here are some pix.
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