Sunday, June 29, 2008

Durango to Boulder


We had breakfast with Eileen, and headed down the hill. We saw the train headed up the valley, and Richard stopped to take a picture.

After a stop to return some carpet to Home depot, we headed east. The drive through Bayfield and Pagosa Springs seemed slow, with somewhat heavy traffic. We stopped in Pagosa Springs for coffee and bread, and crossed Wolf Creek Pass to South Fork, where we stopped at the quilt and gift store. The quilt store there sells completed quilts, not fabric. Then we went to the quilt store in Monte Vista, where Marianne bought some fabric on sale.

While we were at the quilt store, Richard's cell phone rang. It was the guy who left the fly rod at Delaney Buttes. He saw the note we left and called. He said that he got talking with his friend, who was fishing from the dock, and just forgot the rod until a couple of days later. He was very happy that the "right person" had picked up the rod. Brian said that the reel was what was important to him, as his grandfather gave it to him. That made sense, as the reel was kind of a collector's item. He lives in Vail, but will have one of his relatives in the Denver area come pick it up.

The rest of the drive was more heavy traffic, some rain, and even a bit of hail.

We arrived at home to find Jim relaxing, waiting for Karen to come back from her class. They are staying here for a few days, although they left to spend Saturday night with friends in Fort Collins. We had dinner with them before we left for Durango.

Friday, June 27, 2008

A Day at the Lake


After breakfast, Richard drove into Durango to buy material to pad the concrete column of the boathouse, to protect the ski boat. He also picked up a WIFI router for Eileen, so that she could share her internet connection with visitors. Marianne and Eileen went for a walk.

After a nice lunch, Richard and Marianne went down to the boat house to install the padding, indoor-outdoor carpeting strapped to the column. A successful installation.

Late in the afternoon, Eileen and Marianne went to the practice of the Electra Trio. Eileen plays the violin. Marianne reports that it was very beautiful.
Richard went for a quick spin on the lake, in the fishing boat.




We all went to the clubhouse for a nice dinner. The mountains were very beautiful.

Trail maintenance, and Anna to the airport



In the morning, we had a good breakfast, and then did some maintenance on the trail leading from the cabin to the water. We removed stones, and set a few stepping stones into the ground at strategic points. All three of us were out there with rakes, brooms, shovels, pruners, sledgehammers, you name it. It was tidier and safer when we were finished.

Around lunchtime, Anna came back from a sleepover with triplets her own age, 9 years old. She was very tired, took a shower, and then went to bed.

Around 4 PM, we left for the airport. Anna's flight back to Phoenix and her parents was scheduled to leave at 6:15, but when we got to the airport we found that the flight was delayed. Because Anna was an unaccompanied minor, Eileen needed to stay until the plane took off. Anna is a very experienced traveler, as we could see when she went through security. The plane took off around 7:45 PM, and the tired crew went to the Doubletree Hotel restaurant for a bite to eat, with a view of the Animas river flowing strong.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Boulder to Durango

We got up early and got on the road around 7 AM. We took the car, since we would be staying with Eileen. We took the US285 route, through the San Luis valley, Del Norte, and Wolf Creek pass.

The drive was straightforward, with relatively little construction delay. We had a picnic lunch at the highway rest area between Del Norte and South Fork. The rest area is very tidy, maintained by a couple who work for the Department of Transportation. The decor was a little quirky and homemade, with horseshoes and cowboy cartoons in the bathrooms. The lady who maintains it said that they are more or less allowed to do their own thing. This time of year, they have lots of flags, for the 4th of July, since the VFW ladies use it for their picnic. They have other decorations for other holidays.

Eileen was happy to see us. We sat and watched the sky and the lake, cool and pleasant.

More fish, and then home

We fished in the morning. Richard caught a couple of good fish.

We left around noon. We went home via Granby, Berthoud Pass, and I-70. The traffic on I70 was bad, typical for a Sunday afternoon.

All in all, a good trip. Nice to get away from the city.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Fish at last, Lord, Fish at last


We went out after breakfast, rigged to go down ten feet or so. Richard caught and released an 18 inch rainbow, perhaps the biggest fish he had ever caught at Delaney. The girth was especially impressive, a big fat rainbow. Then Marianne caught a good fish, 15 inches or so. Richard kept fishing as the day went on, and caught and released a total of three big trout, including one at twilight.

It was kind of a relaxed day, more or less focused on fishing. The weather was sunny and beautiful, with minimal mosquitoes. Very nice.

Marianne had a catch of another type, a rod and reel left on the bank. No one came back to claim it; we left a note with a phone number in case they eventually come back. Marianne thinks that it was a couple of young men. The rod was on the ground, with the line spread out, kind of strange. Marianne was thinking about writing a story about this rod and the frustrated bank flyfisherman, who tangled his rig and threw it away in disgust, and then put rocks in his pockets and walked out into the lake, a la Virginia Wolff. We looked up the rod and reel; the rod is worth $500, and the reel is a collectible.

Friday, June 20, 2008

No fish for us

We woke up to a very nice day, ate breakfast, and got to fishing, but without success. It was particularly frustrating to see big fish cruise by, expressing no interest in our offerings. We watched a guy in a cataraft pull in fish after fish. We finally knocked off, without even a nibble for our trouble.

We headed over to the North Platte River, where we have fished before, but the river was very high. We made a few casts, but could not see a reasonable way to fish the river, except perhaps by casting right next to the bank that we were on.

After that, we went into town and did a little shopping. Marianne put together some very nice wraps from the “Fort Garland Cookbook”, which we picked up on our trip a few weeks ago.

After dinner, we rigged up to go down to 8 feet, where we were told the fish were. We had some difficulties, and then a front blew in, so we came in, having only gotten in a little fishing.

We closed the evening with a few games of Skipbo.

We hope to have better luck fishing tomorrow.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Boulder to Delaney Buttes Lakes

We got underway around 9:30 AM, and headed north, via Longmont, and took a lunch break at Fort Collins. The Poudre River was running big, a mocha color. We saw many rafts on commercial river trips. It is a slow drive over Cameron pass, but all downhill on the west side. The lady in the liquor store in Walden said that the weather had been bad, but it is a beautiful day today. The forecast for Denver was in the 90's, but cooler and pleasant here.


There are a surprising number of people at South Delaney Buttes Lake. We were not able to camp on the west side of the lake, where we would usually camp, so we camped on the east side. Not sure if the fishing will be as good here. Richard fished for an hour and a half around sunset, but no luck. He saw a few fish on the surface, and a muskrat. We watched the lightning flashes of a thunderstorm far to the east.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Canon City to Home


In the morning, the girls played in the pool, and we packed up and hit the road about noon. The drive home was uneventful.

I should note that Canon has an ~ over the first n, but I am not sure how to do that on this system. Maybe ñ will work, Cañon City.

Richard

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Marianne's Art Opening

Saturday morning, we got up early and headed out, getting on the road about 8:15. We arrived at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park at Royal Gorge around 11:15. The kids headed for the playground.

This is our first normal internet access in a week. What you have received has come off our cell phone. Also we have been running the computer on batteries, and of course it uses a good part of the battery just to boot a windows computer, not leaving a lot of time to get work done, whether looking at pictures, working on the blog, or checking email. But here we have a good WIFI connection and AC power. The kids got to check their email for the first time on the trip.

Marianne, along with 15 other fiber artists, is in an art show at the Fremont Art Center, and the opening coincided with our trip, so we decided to attend. We were able to meet some of the artists, see what other people had done, and talk shop. We all snacked on the excellent hors d'oeuvres prepared by one of the artists. Richard enjoyed talking to the only man in the show, who made a superb weaving.


After the opening, we headed for Royal Gorge, built in 1929. It claims to be the highest bridge in the world, at 1053 feet above the river, but the Millau bridge in southern France, opened in 2004, is 1125 ft high. We had hoped to walk across the bridge, but entrance to the private park was $20 each! We settled for the scenic overlook. It is about 1000 feet down to the river and the railroad track.

One of the Royal Gorge Rangers suggested that we take Skyline Drive, which runs along a knife edge ridge, and ends up in Canyon City. The dinosaur tracks were interesting, as we were looking up to them as if we were underground. It also provided us a good view of the town of Canyon City.

In camp, Erica and Ari played in the pool until Richard noticed Erica's swimming had gone downhill, and took her back to the camper, over Ari's protests. Erica fell asleep on the couch by 9 PM; as Richard knows from personal experience, the cold water just sucks the energy out of you.

Richard stayed up late, updating the blog and catching up on world news.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Crestone, Ashram, Monastery, and Pool




On Friday, we headed out to Crestone Colorado, a center for a wide range of spiritual groups, and a place that Richard had been wanting to see for a while. We had a picnic in the forest, and then went off in search of Stupas and Ashrams.

The Baca Grande development, just outside Crestone, was developed by the Strongs. Hanne Strong was very interested in Buddhism, and began to offer land to various religious groups, from Catholics to Zen Buddhists.

The houses in the development tend to have solar panels and adobe walls, in the pinons, very pretty. Ari noticed that a high percentage of the houses were for sale; we were told that many people only make it though one winter, too cold and too isolated.

We saw a sign for the Haidakhandi Universal Ashram and gift shop. We went up the steep driveway, and were greeted by Ramloti. She invited us to visit the gift shop and temple. We chatted at some length with a Finnish lady, who explained to us something about the Ashram. This particular Ashram was neither Buddhist nor Hindu, although the statues in the temple were mostly Hindu. They believe that their spiritual leader, Shri Babaji, was a reincarnation of a previous spiritual leader. (The belief in reincarnated leaders is apparently common for eastern religions, based on the book we bought on the religious groups in Crestone).

Their daily schedule includes getting up very early, 7 AM and & PM prayers, as well as work. They referred to their work as Yoga, but not meaning the poses that most of us associated with the word Yoga. They believe that their work is a form of prayer. Richard was very interested to hear how much their daily schedule and religious practices were very similar to that found in Catholic monasteries.

She indicated that the various religious groups in Crestone are very supportive of each other, with the Catholics attending their annual festival, and everybody going to the Monastery for Christmas mass.

We bought Indian bracelets for the girls, and then went to their temple. The sign in the vestibule asked that women cover bare shoulders. The girls had tank tops, so we wrapped them in their visitor saris. They had pictures of their spiritual leader, as well as a statue of the Divine Mother.

We drove to the Catholic monastery, and spent some time in their chapel. Unfortunately, no one was available to talk to, but Richard read their Friday evening prayers aloud. If we had stayed for another half hour, we could have attended a memorial service for a local woman.

After a brief detour to pick up Erica's glasses, left behind at our lunch rock, we headed for the Dunes Pool, in Hooper. The pool was a busy place, but there was room to swim. The girls enjoyed diving, while Richard kept a close eye on Erica, who needed four tries to swim the width of the pool unaided.

We drove home, where Ari prepared dinner for us. We watched the sunset and closed the evening with the usual Skipbo game.

Jeeping Up Medano Creek

We woke up to heavy overcast, temp in the 40s and intermittent rain. Not a good day to climb the dunes. Ari made good omelettes for herself and Marianne.

We decided to jeep up the road that parallels Medano Creek. We had to let air out of the tires so that we would not sink into the soft sand. We went up a few miles, and stopped to look at the creek.

Richard and the girls decided to cross the creek and climb up the steep dune wall. The water was ice cold, and Erica decided to turn around before we got to the other side. Ariana went part way up the dune, while Richard and Erica went back to the car. We saw a guy snowboard the steep dune, closely followed by his dog; pretty impressive.



We drove up further, and got into real jeeping, bouncing over the soft sand, including the truck's first stream crossing. In some places the trail threaded between two trees, with six inches on each side of our dualies. We saw a lot of deer, and bear claw scars on the aspen trees.

When we got back to the paved road, we added air back to the tires, and drove into Alamosa for some shopping. After we got home, the sun came out, and we saw blue sky for the first time that day.



Hi, It's Ari, just giving you a different look on the day, When I woke up it was fairly windy and insanely cold. We went jeeping and on the way up it was amazingly fun. We stopped to get a view and I insisted that we go climbed, Grandma said no way but the rest of us went. The lake was so cold it was like knives stabbing into you, so we ran. About 2 more crossings and Erica Chickened so Her and Grandpa went back, while i went on. I was going to go to the top while waiting for Grandpa, but then looked up and it looked like it was going to storm with lightening and thunder in that package, so i stayed mid-center on the dune, when I saw Grandpa I got ready to go then a guy on a snowboard came rushing by and his dog, Godard, following close behind. We then went down the path more where Grandpa started to Chicken because of the river, but we forced him to go. It was fun but by the look of Grandpa's face, he was scared out of his mind!!! We went back, pumped up the tires, then went to a nice little town called Alamosa. We went shopping and then went home. We played Skip Bo and got ready for bed. A Great day, but could have been better if it was a warm afternoon. But hey!, That's Colorado for Ya!!!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Fort Garland

The weather was somewhat windy and cold, so we decided to drive to Fort Garland and visit the museum there.

Fort Garland was commanded by Kit Carson, and founded 150 years ago, 1858. The troops there played a role in the Civil War, in the battle of Glorietta Pass, north of Santa Fe. The photo is of General Sherman, with Ari copying his look.

We had a good lunch at the pizza place in the town of Fort Morgan, bought some groceries, and headed back to the Dunes. We drove to the end of the road for Zapata Falls, but decided to leave the hike for another day.

Richard and the girls went to the creek and dunes, but found the water ice cold and the wind sandblasting us. On the hike back, we saw a couple of deer.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

San Luis Lakes to Great Sand Dunes

We had a leisurely morning at the San Luis Lakes State Park, and then headed over to the Dunes. We arrived around noon, and found a pretty good campsite, easy to get into.

Richard, Ariana, and Erica hiked over to the dunes and Medano Creek, which was running bigger than we had ever seen before, but still wadeable. The girls played on the first dune wall, and then we hiked back.

We drove to the visitor center and the store, and then headed back to the camper. We went to the 7 PM Ranger talk, mostly handing around Indian artifacts, such as arrowheads.


After the talk we played dominoes with Fiona, the little girl in the next campsite; she was from Boulder and goes to Bear Creek Elementary!

Boulder to the San Luis Valley




We got up at 6 AM Monday and packed up, leaving about 8:15 AM. We picked up the girls and got on the road about 9 AM. It was a slow ride down US285, with a stop in Fairplay for lunch. We realized that we did not have enough junk food, so we did a little shopping. We headed over to San Luis Lakes State Park. We went to the state park for the first night, because we figured that we could not get a good campsite at the sand dunes that late in the day.


Last year at this park, there was a deafening roar or frogs, and the girls went to the lake to capture frogs. So we headed down to the lake to look for tadpoles and frogs. Unfortunately, we found nothing; we were later told that the lake may have frozen solid this winter and killed everything. It did not get above zero all of January.

We did a little bike riding and walking, and had chicken, rice, raw veggies, and green beans for dinner. A couple of girls approached Richard because they could not start their camper. Richard took the generator over to charge the battery, which seemed very dead. The ranger came by and loaned them a battery charger to charge the battery overnight; hope that will get them into Alamosa and to a mechanic.

We closed out the night with Skipbow. Everybody won a game.

On Tuesday we will make the short drive to the Sand Dunes, and hope to get a prime campsite.