This weekend is my birthday weekend and Dawn has found a relatively easy trail for us this week. Cheyenne was still a little stiff and I was on the verge of a hideous cold so we planned to take it easy. I have always wanted to do Lair-o-the-Bear, I just have never stopped there on my way to Evergreen and done it. It looks much prettier from above in the summer time but also very crowed. We basically had the place mostly to ourselves.
The day was a little overcast but that didn't stop us. We traveled up toward Evergreen on my favorite road and went to the park. The trail follows Bear Creek so there was water involved in our hike which makes me happy. We even had to cross it at a point. This path had some mud but a ton of very slippery ice. Cheyenne was feeling much better and didn't seem to have any problems with the ice but Dawn and I almost fell a couple of times.
There were these crazy birds along the way that would literally dance in the water while singing and then swim in it. It was like a little birdie ritual. Just when I was thinking that the trail was getting a little long and I thought maybe we were going to walk to Evergreen I saw the most amazing thing---a castle.
There is a castle that you can't really see from the road and Dawn said it is nearly invisible in the summertime but we got to see the whole thing! It was amazing! It is someone's house and I doubt you can go inside but the outside is spectacular. It is made of stone with arched windows and doorways. There are crenelations at the tops of the walls and there is even a huge gargoyle statue. There is even a tree house that looks like a turret. It has two ponds with a waterfall in one of them and a bridge over the river that forms half a moat around part of the castle. It was sooo awesome! The trail that we were on was so slick with ice that we decided that it must be a line of defense for the castle as well. Did I mention the castle is right by the road yet hidden from site! I told Dawn that it was the best present ever!!
After we passed the castle, Dawn found a black squirrel that looked like he was trying to hide from us in plain site. He was so cute! We finally went as far as we could go (not quite all the way to Evergreen) and turned around and headed back. Near the castle we saw a hawk soaring overhead on the currents.
Since we were almost there anyways, we left the park and went to Evergreen and got ice cream at Baskin Robbins. For some reason ice cream always tastes better in Evergreen.
We had to get going back down the mountain so we didn't miss our combined birthday dinner at the Sullivan's house.
Journeys of Jenn
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Chau-tau-qua How do you say that again? 2/26/11
We had so much fun at Mount Falcon that we decided to try this again. Tomorrow is Dawn's birthday and she has chosen Boulder for our outdoor excursion today. We kidnapped Nancy and took off to Boulder to hike the Chautauqua trails in the park of that name. It started off a little windy. We found someone nice enough to take a picture and then we joked about following him the rest of the way so he could take more for us. I am not sure he got our humor.
This trail was muddy as well but a totally different type of mud. This mud was thick and black and stuck to your shoes. Nancy looked like she was picking up small trees along the way. This trail wasn't quite as long but it sure did have some slippery spots in it. The snow was slick from melting and refreezing. We saw plenty of dogs along the way and we had a guy who had a cute short dog ask us if he was going the right way. We had no clue so hopefully he found what he was looking for.
As we were heading back down we took a side path to take some pictures. Dawn and Nancy spent sometime playing "find the perfect rock to sit on" while Cheyenne and I waited. As soon as it was our turn to go down by Nancy, I noticed a lot of cactus flattened on the ground. Cheyenne and I maneuvered to the spot and when she went to sit down, she yelped. I have very rarely heard her do that. I am not sure what the final verdict was but she has recovered from the incident. At that point we decided it was time to go.
For lunch we went to Subway and ate in the car with Cheyenne as we watched people in Goodwill shop.
(Pictures to come)
This trail was muddy as well but a totally different type of mud. This mud was thick and black and stuck to your shoes. Nancy looked like she was picking up small trees along the way. This trail wasn't quite as long but it sure did have some slippery spots in it. The snow was slick from melting and refreezing. We saw plenty of dogs along the way and we had a guy who had a cute short dog ask us if he was going the right way. We had no clue so hopefully he found what he was looking for.
As we were heading back down we took a side path to take some pictures. Dawn and Nancy spent sometime playing "find the perfect rock to sit on" while Cheyenne and I waited. As soon as it was our turn to go down by Nancy, I noticed a lot of cactus flattened on the ground. Cheyenne and I maneuvered to the spot and when she went to sit down, she yelped. I have very rarely heard her do that. I am not sure what the final verdict was but she has recovered from the incident. At that point we decided it was time to go.
For lunch we went to Subway and ate in the car with Cheyenne as we watched people in Goodwill shop.
(Pictures to come)
Squishy Mud on Mount Falcon-2/19/11
Squish, Squish, Squish.
I forgot how much fun mud could be until we started up Mount Falcon in Morrison, Co.
Dawn and I decided that we needed to get the first hike of the year out of the way so she looked up some places nearby that didn't look too bad ---on paper. After looking at the list I decided that "steep" was not to be the descriptor word for the day. I chose paths that had great words like scenic in their description. Total mileage was to be about 2 miles on the chosen route. (Castle Trail and Turkey Trot Trail)
It seems that "steep" should have been the description of all the trails in the area. We were going up the side of a mountain no matter which route we took. But back to the mud... the day was beautiful, the sun was melting the snow and there was a bunch of red squishy mud on the trail. At first, the adult in me felt that I should "avoid getting dirty at all cost." But the kid in me quickly took over and I was doing everything but jumping up and down in it. The only problem with it was that it was slippery and slippery and steep do not mix well.
We spotted some deer on a ridge as we were hiking through the mud. The deer were just hanging out til a dog that was running loose headed their way. After the deer hightailed it out of there, we saw a red fox cruising along under the brush further up the mountain on the opposite side.
Cheyenne spent a lot of time sniffing on the way up but as we were headed down it was like she was in a race to the finish line. As we were heading off the trail we passed a couple who were just getting started and the girl did not seem to happy about all the mud. I am sure she eventually found the kid in her too. We were tired by the time we finished but I was glad we had done it. I found out that there is this nifty contraption at the end of the trail to get some of the mud off your shoes with. It looks like three brushes in a frame. Two brushes for the sides of your shoe and one for the bottom. This is the first time I had ever seen this and now it seems I see them everywhere.
For lunch we headed back into town to try out a new restaurant. We went to Cornerstar and ate at Dad and Dude's Brewaria. I thought it was going to be a cheesy pizza place but it turned out to be pretty cool. I have to say if you try anything else besides pizza, definitely get the cheesy Jalapeno bread. It was not what I was expecting it was way better! We started with that then we got a pizza (all meat of course). Dawn tried a micro-brew. They even have beer from Dry Dock here! For dessert we had the most scrumptious s'mores type pizza with chocolate and marshmallows and peanut butter chips. It was truly heavenly and definitely negated all of our hard hiking work but was well worth it.
(Pictures to come)
I forgot how much fun mud could be until we started up Mount Falcon in Morrison, Co.
Dawn and I decided that we needed to get the first hike of the year out of the way so she looked up some places nearby that didn't look too bad ---on paper. After looking at the list I decided that "steep" was not to be the descriptor word for the day. I chose paths that had great words like scenic in their description. Total mileage was to be about 2 miles on the chosen route. (Castle Trail and Turkey Trot Trail)
It seems that "steep" should have been the description of all the trails in the area. We were going up the side of a mountain no matter which route we took. But back to the mud... the day was beautiful, the sun was melting the snow and there was a bunch of red squishy mud on the trail. At first, the adult in me felt that I should "avoid getting dirty at all cost." But the kid in me quickly took over and I was doing everything but jumping up and down in it. The only problem with it was that it was slippery and slippery and steep do not mix well.
We spotted some deer on a ridge as we were hiking through the mud. The deer were just hanging out til a dog that was running loose headed their way. After the deer hightailed it out of there, we saw a red fox cruising along under the brush further up the mountain on the opposite side.
Cheyenne spent a lot of time sniffing on the way up but as we were headed down it was like she was in a race to the finish line. As we were heading off the trail we passed a couple who were just getting started and the girl did not seem to happy about all the mud. I am sure she eventually found the kid in her too. We were tired by the time we finished but I was glad we had done it. I found out that there is this nifty contraption at the end of the trail to get some of the mud off your shoes with. It looks like three brushes in a frame. Two brushes for the sides of your shoe and one for the bottom. This is the first time I had ever seen this and now it seems I see them everywhere.
For lunch we headed back into town to try out a new restaurant. We went to Cornerstar and ate at Dad and Dude's Brewaria. I thought it was going to be a cheesy pizza place but it turned out to be pretty cool. I have to say if you try anything else besides pizza, definitely get the cheesy Jalapeno bread. It was not what I was expecting it was way better! We started with that then we got a pizza (all meat of course). Dawn tried a micro-brew. They even have beer from Dry Dock here! For dessert we had the most scrumptious s'mores type pizza with chocolate and marshmallows and peanut butter chips. It was truly heavenly and definitely negated all of our hard hiking work but was well worth it.
(Pictures to come)
Gianormous Snow Sculptures -1/29/11
Today we embarked on one of our annual trips to Breckenridge to see the 21st Annual Budweiser Select International Snow Sculpture event. Our group has grown so much that this year we had to take two cars! Dawn, *Kathy, Cheyenne and I in one car and *Bree, *Ryan, *Luna, Becky, Jamie and Boo in the other. (*Newbies) Armed with our walkie talkies we headed off to Breckenridge!
Of course we had to stop off at Starbucks at the Dumont exit for a break as usual. It is not quite half way but works for everyone. We were surprised to find that Starbucks has expanded it's parking lot and bathrooms this year. They must be getting a lot of traffic from those people who have been stuck in their cars for two or more hours in bumper to bumper ski traffic. We took our "hey we made it this far photo," saw a couple of sheep and then headed off the rest of the way.
We couldn't have asked for a better day. The sky was Colorado blue with a blazing sun and the temperature was probably 50 degrees. Some of the sculptures had even started to melt. There was water dripping from a snow sculpture bird's beak.
Here is a little bit of information about the event:
The snow sculptures are created out of a compacted block of snow and then artists come from all over the world to sculpt these marvelous creations. They had 15 5-man teams from 8 different countries compete this year. They are only allowed to use hand tools and have 5 days to complete the sculpture. Then on Sunday they are judged on theme, style and technique and that is when they also find out whether or not they won the People's Choice award.
My favorite sculptures this year were "the Spirits of the Aurora" and the "Alebrije." The spirits one was done by a team from Canada. It looked very ghostly and had a crow on a skull in the middle of it. The eye of the crow was made out of ice instead of snow which made it look very eerie. The "Alebrije" was created by a team from Mexico and had a dragon in it which makes it a winner right off the bat in my book. It actually took first place!
We spent a lot of time looking around and then said our good byes to car two because they had to get back down the mountain. After they left we had our picture taken by a real cute guy and then headed back toward the car.
We decided to skip Subway this time and instead we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Frisco. I think it was called Hacienda Real. It had these amazingly long icicles hanging from it. The food was pretty good. They also had these really cool painted pictures in the bathroom of a man and woman dancing.
Walking off lunch was our next priority! We headed back to the car and grabbed Cheyenne and took off on a trail near the restaurant. It took us back into a residential area that had some of the most amazing houses. There were lots of houses with gigantic icicles hanging from their eaves. The snow was so high in some places that it towered above me. Of course we took a ton of pictures!
Once we had sufficiently walked off lunch, we headed back to the car and back down the mountain in afternoon ski traffic.
(Pictures to come)
Of course we had to stop off at Starbucks at the Dumont exit for a break as usual. It is not quite half way but works for everyone. We were surprised to find that Starbucks has expanded it's parking lot and bathrooms this year. They must be getting a lot of traffic from those people who have been stuck in their cars for two or more hours in bumper to bumper ski traffic. We took our "hey we made it this far photo," saw a couple of sheep and then headed off the rest of the way.
We couldn't have asked for a better day. The sky was Colorado blue with a blazing sun and the temperature was probably 50 degrees. Some of the sculptures had even started to melt. There was water dripping from a snow sculpture bird's beak.
Here is a little bit of information about the event:
The snow sculptures are created out of a compacted block of snow and then artists come from all over the world to sculpt these marvelous creations. They had 15 5-man teams from 8 different countries compete this year. They are only allowed to use hand tools and have 5 days to complete the sculpture. Then on Sunday they are judged on theme, style and technique and that is when they also find out whether or not they won the People's Choice award.
My favorite sculptures this year were "the Spirits of the Aurora" and the "Alebrije." The spirits one was done by a team from Canada. It looked very ghostly and had a crow on a skull in the middle of it. The eye of the crow was made out of ice instead of snow which made it look very eerie. The "Alebrije" was created by a team from Mexico and had a dragon in it which makes it a winner right off the bat in my book. It actually took first place!
We spent a lot of time looking around and then said our good byes to car two because they had to get back down the mountain. After they left we had our picture taken by a real cute guy and then headed back toward the car.
We decided to skip Subway this time and instead we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Frisco. I think it was called Hacienda Real. It had these amazingly long icicles hanging from it. The food was pretty good. They also had these really cool painted pictures in the bathroom of a man and woman dancing.
Walking off lunch was our next priority! We headed back to the car and grabbed Cheyenne and took off on a trail near the restaurant. It took us back into a residential area that had some of the most amazing houses. There were lots of houses with gigantic icicles hanging from their eaves. The snow was so high in some places that it towered above me. Of course we took a ton of pictures!
Once we had sufficiently walked off lunch, we headed back to the car and back down the mountain in afternoon ski traffic.
(Pictures to come)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
[Flashback] Girls Weekend pt1

September 10-12, 2010One of our friends, Kathy, came up with a girls weekend to Crested Butte to check out the Chili and Brews Festival. This included a beautiful condo, ski lift ride, side off road trip to see the largest Aspen grove around, souvenir shopping downtown, and a unique restaurant experience.
Unfortunately due to my work schedule, Dawn and I got a late start on Friday for our 4 1/2 hour drive to Crested Butte.We didn’t see much on that drive except 1 deer and a billion stars! At one point we looked for a place to top off the gas but those mountain towns sure do close up shop before midnight.


Saturday morning we woke up to eggs, potatoes and biscuits cookin'. Yummmm! after a morning of being lazy, we all headed to the Chili and Brews Fest. We got there right when they started which worked out really well because it wasn't as crowded. There were quite a few tents. They had the beer tents on one side of the stage and the chili tents on the other. The first thing I got to sample-- Chili chocolate Ice Cream from East Side Bistro. It was delicious! We tasted all different kinds of chili: bison, elk, beef, lamb, vegetarian, red, green, duck and one that even contained beer and absinthe. The bees were kind of pesky and there were only two trash cans for the whole event which was kind of a drag but other than that it was great fun. Everyone in our group got really full except me and Cathy and we went around and finished off the tasting.I am not a beer drinker so I didn't get to try the beer but the girls found plenty that they liked. They seemed to like the Easy Street and the Hoptober beers best. There was beer that had a kayak filled with ice as it's cooling system.We hung out for a while after we were done to let our food settle and talked with some locals.

Afterward we decided to ride the ski lift up the mountain. It was a pretty cool ride in the summer. I guess Crested Butte is a big mountain bike area. There were plenty of people (mostly cute guys) riding with their friends and bikes (on the lift) up the mountain so they could ride their bikes back down.Once we were at the top we spent some time getting photos of the scenery and each other. You never know which pictures might be good enough for Christmas cards.

We didn't get to do the whole thing because the lake at the top was closed off for construction so we headed back down.
Lasagna for dinner and a fun game of Royal Rummy to finish off a great day!.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
[Flashback] Changing of the Leaves
Sept 18, 2010
Our goal this Saturday was to see fall in all of it's Colorado glory. If you have never been to the mountains in mid to late September, you are missing out. This is the time of the year that the Aspens are changing from green to all shades between yellow and red. There are some really great places to check out this beautiful transformation. We chose Kenosha pass for this year's leaf watching. Also on our agenda was Georgia Pass and Boreas Pass.

On our way out we borrowed Dawn's neighbor's (Becky) dog - Boo and went "up."
I was surprised that so many people were up taking pictures of Fall. When we got to Kenosha Pass we almost couldn't find a place to park the car. Once I parked the Jeep in a very narrow spot between two cars that had bike racks on their back ends, we got out and and took some pics and some video footage of the scenery. Next we went to the Colorado Trail for a small hike. The wind was blowing and the leaves were falling and I tried to get it on video but every time I would get everything all ready, the wind would stop and I would get footage of trees standing still-not very interesting on video. I believe I eventually got it but it probably won't be as interesting as it was in person.
After that adventure we got back in the Jeep and made our way to the beginning of Georgia Pass which is near Boreas Pass. We saw some antelope along the way. The road was an easy to moderate off road excursion.
We started up and it really wasn't all that bad. Both the dogs (Boo and Cheyenne) enjoyed the ride as well. We finally got to the top and got out for a bit of a look around because we had officially hit the part that was "moderate" in Dawn's off road book. I was not liking the look of things. You see, my Jeep is my only vehicle and it has "soccer mom" tires and stock clearance. I am also a novice at off-roading and we have been teaching ourselves how to do it by starting easy and working our way up.


Now the pictures do not even begin to show the level of scariness I was facing. As a matter of fact the pictures make it look like a cake walk. We took a break and sat on the hillside to just enjoy the moment of being "up" and took some pics with the dogs.While we were sitting there a truck came up and was bouncing all over the place. At this point I had decided that I wasn't willing to try it.
Boo who had been chewing a stick he had found started acting funny. To make a long story short-Dawn saved his life. It took some water, a couple of borrowed dog biscuits from a German shepherd named Cash and Dawn getting chewed on to make it happened but it did and Boo is happy.
The owners of Cash were also the ones who had passed us in the truck. The guy, whose hands were covered in oil and who had recently been under his trucking fixing it, said there was nothing to worry about going down the trail. His girlfriend kept saying how beautiful it was and how it wasn't "that bad." Needless to say we waited til they left and we went back the way we came.
If I had more clearance under my Jeep I would have done it, but I am still not a good judge of how big of a rock I can climb over(On a recent trip I went through a large puddle and had a rock dent my gas tank).



By the time we made it down, we had decided that we didn't have enough time for Boreas so we made one last stop at a different spot on Kenosha. While Dawn was taking scenery pictures, I was trying to get the Jeep at a good angle with the trees to make it look like it was in a commercial. It didn't work like I wanted it to. Oh well.
And as always, at the end of a good day, we headed home!
Our goal this Saturday was to see fall in all of it's Colorado glory. If you have never been to the mountains in mid to late September, you are missing out. This is the time of the year that the Aspens are changing from green to all shades between yellow and red. There are some really great places to check out this beautiful transformation. We chose Kenosha pass for this year's leaf watching. Also on our agenda was Georgia Pass and Boreas Pass.
On our way out we borrowed Dawn's neighbor's (Becky) dog - Boo and went "up."
I was surprised that so many people were up taking pictures of Fall. When we got to Kenosha Pass we almost couldn't find a place to park the car. Once I parked the Jeep in a very narrow spot between two cars that had bike racks on their back ends, we got out and and took some pics and some video footage of the scenery. Next we went to the Colorado Trail for a small hike. The wind was blowing and the leaves were falling and I tried to get it on video but every time I would get everything all ready, the wind would stop and I would get footage of trees standing still-not very interesting on video. I believe I eventually got it but it probably won't be as interesting as it was in person.
After that adventure we got back in the Jeep and made our way to the beginning of Georgia Pass which is near Boreas Pass. We saw some antelope along the way. The road was an easy to moderate off road excursion.We started up and it really wasn't all that bad. Both the dogs (Boo and Cheyenne) enjoyed the ride as well. We finally got to the top and got out for a bit of a look around because we had officially hit the part that was "moderate" in Dawn's off road book. I was not liking the look of things. You see, my Jeep is my only vehicle and it has "soccer mom" tires and stock clearance. I am also a novice at off-roading and we have been teaching ourselves how to do it by starting easy and working our way up.


Now the pictures do not even begin to show the level of scariness I was facing. As a matter of fact the pictures make it look like a cake walk. We took a break and sat on the hillside to just enjoy the moment of being "up" and took some pics with the dogs.While we were sitting there a truck came up and was bouncing all over the place. At this point I had decided that I wasn't willing to try it.
Boo who had been chewing a stick he had found started acting funny. To make a long story short-Dawn saved his life. It took some water, a couple of borrowed dog biscuits from a German shepherd named Cash and Dawn getting chewed on to make it happened but it did and Boo is happy. The owners of Cash were also the ones who had passed us in the truck. The guy, whose hands were covered in oil and who had recently been under his trucking fixing it, said there was nothing to worry about going down the trail. His girlfriend kept saying how beautiful it was and how it wasn't "that bad." Needless to say we waited til they left and we went back the way we came.
If I had more clearance under my Jeep I would have done it, but I am still not a good judge of how big of a rock I can climb over(On a recent trip I went through a large puddle and had a rock dent my gas tank).



By the time we made it down, we had decided that we didn't have enough time for Boreas so we made one last stop at a different spot on Kenosha. While Dawn was taking scenery pictures, I was trying to get the Jeep at a good angle with the trees to make it look like it was in a commercial. It didn't work like I wanted it to. Oh well.And as always, at the end of a good day, we headed home!
[Flashback] A howling good time
Sept 25, 2010

Dawn and I took off toward the Wolf Sanctuary in Divide in the late afternoon on Saturday. We decided to check out the fall leaves in toward Cripple Creek first. There were a lot of people pulling off the side of the road to take pictures. The leaves looked like they were in the finishing stages for fall and in some places the Aspens were already looking bare.
We then decided to grab a bite to eat. Upon earlier research, Dawn had found that there were only 2 restaurants in the small town of Divide Colorado. Once we got there we were faced with the reality that the internet is not always correct. There was a small BBQ place The Smokin Q and that was it. The place was interesting. You have to go inside this really small building to order and get your food then you sit outside on picnic tables. Under normal circumstance it wouldn't be too bad but it was pretty chilly and the wind was blowing. We managed to make it work. The actual meat I had in my pulled pork sandwich was good but the bbq sauce was more like hot sauce. The baked beans were very good and Dawn said that the cole slaw had a bit of a kick. Dawn wasn't thrilled with the rib tips but all and all at least there was a place to eat.So with full bellies we went to the Wolf Sanctuary for the "Full Moon Tour." We got there a little early and had to wait outside the gate. From where we were we could see some of the wolves and a couple of the foxes. There was a lady complaining that all the fences were in her way of taking the perfect photo with her ginormous camera lens.
We mentioned to her that she wouldn't be allowed to have that size lens in the Sanctuary and she blew us off like we didn't know what we were talking about (we have been there before). When we were finally let in, Dawn and I headed in first. My thought was to get in, pay and check out Calvin the Sanctuary's rescue ferret. He is the sweetest thing(pictured in my profile picture). Instead we were told that they were going to go ahead and bring out a couple of wolves for us to interact with. BONUS!!We head outside and start forming a human circle. The two wolves that they bring out our Tala and Na'vi. They are both Timber wolves although Na'vi is black in color.

They were so cool. We got to pet them and receive kisses. It was amazing. Previously we had been at the Sanctuary and were able to sit with two ambassador wolves and have our pictures taken with them. This was so much cooler! After everyone finally made it out, another wolf was brought out. His name was Timber. He did some serious growling at the other two but we were told that is ears were up and tail was wagging so there was nothing to worry about. I have to admit it was a little scary sounding.
The lady with the huge lens was told to take it back to her car.After the meet in greet we took our flash lights and were led by Darlene and her employees around on the tour of the facility and all the wolves in the dark. It was pretty interesting at night. You really cannot hear the wolves "sneak up" on you. The tour is the same. They talk about how people think wolves would make great pets and when it doesn't work out the poor animals get dumped either on them or someone like them or they get put to sleep. We were told that all sanctuary's and rescue's are full and more and more animals (including domesticated dogs and cats) are being put to sleep because there is nowhere for them to go. They have also received animals from photo farms & breeder farms. The photo farm was interesting because I had no idea there were such places. Basically some postcards that you get when you are on vacation are not actually animals in the wild. They are the "beautiful" version of the animal kept in poor conditions(usually) so that they can be photographed for our pleasure.
We got to howl with the wolves at the end of the tour. It was amazing. At this point the full moon was just coming up. When we went back inside I got to hold Calvin and get my ferret fix. The ride home seemed long but it was well worth it
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