Mad amounts of snow

Lots and lots of snow! Snow everywhere! Big fluffy piles of it! Yeah, I'm never getting my furniture out of Lyons. :P  But Logan and I had a great time last night in the snow! I walked to the Rock in the middle of the storm and they made me and Bob dinner before closing about an hour after they opened. Mark and Jen showed up for a beer, but since they were closing, they drove me to get Logan and up to their place for another puppy play date. Glad they picked me up, I don't know if I could have gotten anywhere - Mark had chains on his truck and he was still having trouble. Remind me to get some of those!

Dave came over to enjoy in the puppy fun and watch Northern Exposure, drink gin and tonic and eat Amish cheese and chocolate turtles. He went to leave and lo and behold, his truck was stuck in the snow, which was up to mid-thigh at this point. So I took pictures with my cell phone and laughed as he and Mark dug his Toyota out. Logan pranced around in snow drifts over his head. ;)  I'll send my cell phone pictures to my email and post them on here soon.

Logan had a vet appointment this day; he's a fine looking puppy, and the vet thinks he'll be on "the larger side of shepherds". Looks like I've got myself a big dog!

Tim is on his way back but I'm guessing he's not going to make it back very easily. The roads are close from Denver to Kansas; he won't be through there until tomorrow, but we are supposed to get MORE snow tonight and maybe through Sunday morning. I hope he can make it back for New Years!!

 

The boys and I taking a break at Beaver Creek. Tom's caption: "Goggles for all. Lisa wonders why the rum is always gone." More like Jack Daniels, but he's close. ;)

 

From Keystone, Chr...

Logan the wonder puppy, and happy holidays!

Happy Holidays and all that good stuff!!

Last Friday, I drove down to Longmont to pick up Logan and finally take him home after all these months of waiting - from before the parents were even bred, through the pregnancy and the whelping and watching him go from a little piggy-looking baby to the mini-shepherd he is now! He said bye to his parents and siblings and up the canyon towards Estes we drove... And he buried his little head in my lap and cried, and cried, and cried! And got car sick, of course. I brought him to my still-unfurnished cottage and he followed me everywhere! But I was amazed to see that he's already potty trained, at 8 weeks old! He scratches at the door or cries when he needs to go out. We didn't have a single accident for the first day that I had him, and only after he got sick (I gave him too many new treats at one time) did he ever mess in the house... and that's because he couldn't hold it in his cage and went all over everything (including himself) when I went to work at the Rock. Poor guy! Thankfully things were back to normal soon after, and I've been pretty lucky that he knows to go potty outside! ;)

That first day, I took him to see Rocky, who is Jen and Mark's wiener dog. Logan was very shy and a little scared of this little bouncing barking hyper pudgy-puppy at first; I would be too, since Rocky literally bucks and jumps like a rodeo bull! Logan warmed up a little later on in the evening, but it was a big scary day for him and I knew he'd gain confidence as the days go on.

I hoped that Rocky tired him out sufficiently to ease his first-night-away-from-home jitters and maybe I'd get some sleep. I put him in his crate and for the first couple hours, it was fine. After that, he'd wake up and cry for 5-10 minutes, then sleep for an hour or two. Repeat. All night. Ugh. That, and the fact that my furniture is still stuck in Lyons and I'm currently sleeping in my sleeping bag on the floor in Estes... I was a little bit tired the next morning. Logan made sure I was up at 7 am to let him outside. Looks like I'll be an early riser for the next 15 years or so... ;)

Saturday was the day he got sick in his crate while I was out grocery shopping. I gave him a bath and was busy cleaning out his crate, and created even more trouble for myself when I didn't let him outside soon enough... He was all wet and cold and I didn't want him outside in the blowing wind (it's been howling on and off the past few days) and freeze, but that let him to pee on my floor for the first time. My fault. It was just one of those days, where you're busy trying to fix one thing and something else breaks or goes wrong, one of those chain reactions... Kept me on my toes, for sure. I worked at the Rock Inn that evening doing dishes. It was weird seeing all of my friends sitting on the other side of the bar, drinking and having a good time while I was running around washing dishes and prepping pasta. I had a few visitors back in the kitchen though which was nice. And some free food and beer... I'll be working there tonight through the 31st, then on the 3rd... Then, unemployed again unless I decide to do some tree work.

Saturday night was Logan's second night with me, and when I came home from work I told him to go to bed. He obediently walked into his crate, tail wagging, and plopped down and went to sleep. I had a sock that smells like his mom in there, and added a tshirt that smells like me. He didn't make a peep all night. How cool is that?! Except my back just isn't digging this "sleeping on the floor" thing, and I didn't get any sleep again. At least the dog seemed comfortable. :P

Sunday was Christmas eve. Dave (Tim's roommate) had nothing to do, just like me and a few other folks that were around town. I was supposed to go to the bar with Stephanie, but ends up it was closed for a private party, so instead Dave baked a turkey and made homemade garlic mashed potatos; I whipped up some peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate (5 cups powdered sugar, 1 cup peanut butter... no wonder they were a childhood favorite) and ate too many (believe me, 3 is too many)... Logan and I went over and ate dinner and were going to have another puppy play date with Rocky that night, but I took Logan back to my place for his dinner and I went out the door and he didn't want to go with me. So I asked him, do you want to go see Rocky? Come outside! And he sat there. So I asked him, do you want to go to bed?? And he turned around, went into his crate and layed down. I shut the door and he didn't care. I went outside and started the truck, then went back inside thinking he might be crying to come out now. I opened the door, and he was just laying there. I asked him again just to be sure that he wanted to go to sleep, and he didn't make a peep. Smart little bugger! Ends up Mark was sick anyway so I went over to the other Mark's place (Mark and Amy) and brought the nice bottle of wineI got from Bruce and Kerri for X-mas. So those two, Dave, Smitty and I sat and drank PBR and wine and watched Billy Madison(never seen it, and it's so freaking stupid) and Ice Age, and laughed at the "movie' on Cinemax called "Kinky Kong" instead of Donkey Kong... ha ha you can only image what kind of movie that was! That was definitely a first for all of us on Christmas Eve...!

Here's an interesting side story: I was talking with Mark about hunting in Montana and I mentioned I worked at a wildlife refuge there. He asked which one, and I didn't expect him to know which one I was talking about; nobody has ever heard of it. So I tell him, Red Rock Lakes. He says, "No shit... I turned down a maintenance worker job there last November." This is crazy, because the refuge only has 7 permanent employees, only 1 of those is a maintenance worker. He told me to tell him about it, and well he now regrets not taking the job after I told him about the peaceful solitude, the bald eagles, moose and owls in the front yard; the grizzlies and wolves hiding out there... and all the hunting! It is a small world. That job is actually the job my friend Howard retired from last year, the 60-something year old guy that taught me how to weld and I visited him just this past fall up in Dillon. Mark will be bummed when he sees pictures of just how beautiful that place is!!

Anyway, Logan was a sweetie and didn't yell at me for coming home late on Christmas Eve, or that I smelled like wine and PBR. ;) I curled up in my sleeping bag next to his crate and tried to sleep. He made cute puppy noises in his sleep and chased rabbits that he's never seen before. I tossed and turned.

Woke up early and realized it was Christmas morning. My first Christmas away from my family. It was eerily unceremonial and quiet. For years, we'd always wake up ridiculously early and harass my parents until they'd get out of bed... hurry up, get the camcorder ready, we want to start!!... They'd turn on the lights and we'd read the letter from Santa (yes, I still read that letter last year, even though I was 24 years old...) while Dad would mess around with the camcorder... The dogs would know it was a special morning too and would sit in anticipation of opening their presents too... Of course, the past few years, everybody else was up and harassing ME to wake up, ha ha! Then later, my sisters and I would go over to our Dad's house ("real" dad, haha) and he'd be busy cooking tons of foodand turn on the Christmas music, he too would have to set up the camcorder (that's a lot of Christmas movies between the two sets of parents!) and we'd open presents, then get harassed the rest of the afternoon to "Eat more! Take some leftovers! Eat more!" Yes, those are the crazy noisy hectic Christmas days that I am used to. I'm so glad I had Logan there, he made it a little less traumatic.

I walked out of my bedroom into the living room and saw my tiny 7" tall living Christmas tree (with lights, ornaments and everything) on the window ledge, and my little treasure pile of presents on my end table, stockings for myself and Tim hanging randomly from some nails on my loft, Christmas lights around my windows. It was too quiet, and I realized I left my Sintra/Crosby/Jazz Christmas CDs in Michigan. Bummer. So I dug out my little shower radio and found a fuzzy station playing holiday music... It was the best I could do to recreate something officially Christmas, a small shadow of what I was accustomed to; I sat on the floor with Logan's head in my lap, tin-can music coming out of a single speaker, and opened my presents, which had been mailed to me from the many people that care about me back in Michigan. Salt and peppercorn grinders, lots of socks, some underarmor, a dog trick book, a couple CDs (White Stripes from Debbie and Pat; Yonder Mountain from my family), a photography book, an ornament of a german shepherd angel, plus the dog supplies my sisters gave me that I opened early... There are still a few things that haven't been shipped yet from Amazon.com (hoping it's a certain couple DVDs... Northern Exposure, Grey's Anatomy or Deadwood perhaps??)  but I was very happy for everything.

Once that was done, I didn't really know what else to do with myself. I was so tired that I risked it and decided to take a nap in Tim's bed and hope that Logan would let me get some rest without disturbing Dave. I think I slept for 3 hours, and it still wasn't enough, but the puppy let me do my thing peacefully. He's such a good dog!

With nothing else to really do, I left Logan in Estes and drove to Lyons to try and dig my way up the driveway... which is challenging because it's a long steep gravel/dirt driveway with 2 feet of snow. It took me about an hour but I did finally get my Focus out, then almost go my truck all the way up. Close enough. Filled a load up, then went back to Estes and made my place as homey as possible, minusthe furniture. Tim and I played phone tag all day, but it was nice to hear from him. He'll be back by Sunday, maybe Saturday night. Then I'll be going back to Michigan for 2 weeks in January, then he's doing to Las Vegas for trails training in February... Then come April, whether or not I have the lead hazard tree job or not, I'll probably be living in Grand Lake for the week for 4-6 weeks again, then he'll be in the backcountry doing trails work for weeks at a time...

Anyway, I went over to Mark and Jen's with Logan later that night for another play date. Guess what? Logan's not so shy anymore. He had Rocky a little upset for jumping all over him! I think those two are gonna be good friends. Fortunately, Rocky likes big dogs, because in a few months he is going to be Logan's mini-me! I really like Mark and Jen too, it's nice to have an excuse to see them. :)  Mark works for trails for the Park and Jen works in town. For their wedding, she wore a bright red cowboy hat and cowboy boots with her dress; he wore a western shirt and cowboy hat. Very cool.

I decided to try sleeping at Tim's all night with Logan. He's been so well behaved it erased most of my fears of him either barking all night and ticking Dave off, or going potty all over the floor. It would have been the best night's sleep I'd had in a while, except I'm getting a head cold!! But Logan was an angel. Tonight my friends Tina and Travis may be staying at my place, and I have to work.

And one more bit of news: CONGRATULATIONS BRIAN AND MELISSA! Brian Mount proposed to his girlfriend while underwater scuba diving I think in Australia!! How clever! Woooo hoooo! Ha ha so that's 3 ex boyfriends in the past year that are either getting married, or already tied the knot! Jason, Brian, Steve... who's next?? Ha ha!

So that's my holidays in a nut shell. Now time to go back to the pup and give him lunch! Happy holidays!! And I am uploading my photos from Keystone and Christmas to a new location to see how I like it. It's called Picasa, through Google. If anybody wants a Gmail account let me know and I'll send you an invite.

Keystone, Christmas, and Logan Dec. 2006

Logan on Christmas Eve

Our view from our condo at Keystone

Let it snow... and keep snowing... and keep snowing...

I'm sure nearly everybody out there heard at least something about "that big snowstorm in Colorado." Well, I'm just hanging out in our rented condo in Keystone with Kevin, taking a break from the insane amounts of snowboarding in beautiful, plentiful powder all week, looking out on the slopes of Keystone Resort... wondering if I'll actually be able to drive back to Estes tonight like I am supposed to, or if the roads that I need to take will be closed. I could stay here another night with these guys... but alas, spending the past 5 days with 9 guys has been more tiring/frustrating than going on a wildfire in a tent camp with 15 guys at times. Maybe if Beth had made it out here, I'd be ok. ;)  It's been a lot of fun and so good to see everybody, and a total blast riding the different ski resorts around here - in all this nonstop, FRESH POWDER - and hanging out in Breckenridge and Keystone... and watching the inches of snow pile up. Of course we hit the outdoor hot tub, drank Jager Bombs, Cabo Wabo and Brugal Rum, and made asses of ourselves on shuttle busses/ski lifts/public places. Last night we went to the Goat in Keystone, which was the most happening place in town, and played lots of South Park Pinball, drank PBR and watched one of the guys kill everybody in pool. There was some whining about "there's NOBODY here" - which translated to, there's not a lot of drunk girls to hit on - and more whining about no "dance music" and calling it a "dive bar"... Guess what guys? You're at a ski resort in the mountains of Colorado! It's all about bluegrass, PBR, fleece jackets, and casual/comfortable atmospheres - not techno music, trendy-yet-totally-inappropriate-for-the-mountains dance clothes, and a meat market. That stuff is in Denver... ya know, a big city?? :P  It was pretty annoying to hear those criticisms, because that's not what the mountains are about... and it was everything that I love. Sometimes, the culture/values difference between myself and that of which I left behind in suburban Detroit is so blatantly obvious, it makes me continuously thankful and assured that leaving Michigan and coming to Colorado was one of the best decisions of my life!

Amadeo flew out here with his little brother instead of driving with the rest of the guys because he is leaving for Dominica for med school on Jan. 1st. However, with this huge storm, the airport closed yesterday and won't be opened until tomorrow... and even then, he can't fly out any sooner than Christmas. I know many other people too who were stranded in Denver on their way back to their families for the holidays. It looks like he is going to have to rent a car and drive back, assuming the freeways open any time soon! Here in Keystone, we've gotten just over a foot of snow over the past 2 days (on top of a couple inches we got earlier in the week); up in Estes, my friend tells me it's about 20", with up to 26" possible by tomorrow. It's gonna make that 2 1/2 hr drive from Keystone to Estes into an epic half day journey! But I really need to get back up there and TRY to move more stuff from Lyons to my new cottage, since I am picking up Logan tomorrow around noon. The biggest problem is that my driveway in Lyons is steep, mud and stone... and nearly impossible to get up when it's covered with snow, even with 4x4. Not to mention moving my motorcycle... Yikes. I love this blizzard, but it certainly picked one hell of a time to hit!

I've been tearing it up on my snowboard, and totally sore from head to toe! The runs out here are so long, and the powder is so great to carve in but can be so tiring when the snow is mounded up like mogels. We went to Keystone Monday, Beaver Creek Tuesday, a few of us took Wednesday off to recover, and Breckenridge yesterday. At Breck, they got enough fresh powder that they opened up a few bowls up at the top of their highest Peak. Kevin, Jeff and I went up the Imperial Lift - North America's highest ski lift, at  - and decided to try and do the Imperial bowl... a DOUBLE black diamond... above tree line, with rocks and cliffs scattered around... in a blizzard... hardly any visibility, just a swirling continuous WHITE... could hardly tell where the sky ended, the mountain started, and just how steep this crazy thing was... oh did I mention those rocks and cliffs again?? Really I'm not double black diamond good... heck, even some black diamonds are just too much (though I was loving the ones at Beaver Creek!) but hey, it sounded like crazy fun. Or maybe just crazy. We took lift after lift until finally we were suspended above the alpine peak on a chairlift that we couldn't see 3 chairs in front of us, our noses running and snow and ice covering us, not even able to see the outline of the peak or even hardly which route was open. Once at the top, there was only one way down... so we made our way, ungraceful and uncertain in the white-out, down the steep part, between the rocks. Even people who are really GOOD at skiing were having a hard time getting down... Then there's me, carve a couple turns then SLIDE and stop. Slide a little more. Carve a couple...Slide. Jeff even lost a pole or a ski or something and had to hike back up to get it. That steep part wasn't very long though and soon it was just drifts of powder to explore. It wasn't a very long route but once was enough for me. ;)

Well the snow is still blowing outside and, though I'm feeling tired and lazy today, it just looks like too much fun to not spend one more day on the mountain with my friends. Starting Saturday, I am helping my friends out at the Rock and doing dishes over the holidays while people are out of town... spending time with the puppy... moving... Lots going on! So that's all for now. Off to our winter wonderland!!

Tags: keystone, snowboarding, skiing, colorado, ski trip, vacation, blizzard, snowstorm

Counting down for so many great things!

Busy busy! So much is going on. Tim left for Pennsylvania this morning and I won't see him until New Years Eve! Bummer for me but sounds like he's going to have a good time seeing all of his friends... and bummer because I am starting to move into my new place today! My friends leave MI today to drive out here and I'll be seeing them Sunday - and they are supposed to bring some Bell's Winter White Ale and Kevin's homebrew for me! They leave the 22nd and then I'll be getting Logan! Looks like I might be spending Christmas Eve at the bar with Stephanie, her friend and maybe Dave. It's a different approach to the holidays for me, but there's enough people around here that it should be a good time... even though I'm totally going to miss the mass quantities of food at the annual Christmas party at my parents' house!

Enough sitting around... gonna jet down to Lyons and pack as much crap into my truck as possible. Woop de freakin' doo!

Another picture of Logan!

Moving again!

Yes, that's right, I'm moving again. No, not across the country. T. and Chuck have a cabin for rent that just opened up in Estes. Since my lease is up Dec. 31st, and the price is lower, and the place is bigger/nicer... Why not? Yeah, it's annoying packing everything back up and actually having to move my stuff... But it's worth it. I'm up there almost every day anyway. The best part? It's maybe a football field away from the Rock Inn. ;)  It's a 1 bedroom with a loft, next door to a guy named Bob that just moved in from Telluride. He has 2 beautiful wolf/malamute mixes. Those dogs, plus Bruce and Kerri's dogs, will be a great little pack for Logan to join. It will be so nice not having to drive up to Estes almost every day to use the gym, hang out with my friends, and check my mail!

I went and visited Logan today. He's a big sweetie! The dogs alternated between playing and sleeping every 5 minutes. :)  All but 3 of the puppies have been sold. In less than 2 weeks he will be coming home! To my new home! After a week of skiing with my friends! Wooooooo hoooo!

Speaking of which, Parkie is in Vail with his friends this weekend. I spent Friday night out there. Parkie crashed early so Max, Kenny and I went to downtown Vail and went to "The Club." It was a great place to be, with a solo guitarist that was so good he had the whole place dancing, and the rodeo on TV! At one point, some random person bought the whole packed bar a shot... nasty, horrible tequila shots. Add that to the Jager Bombs and PBR... It was a fun night. ;)

Saturday we went to Keystone. Parkie was the only one skiing; Max, Isaac, Will and Kenny all were on snowboards. The snow was decent - some parts icy, some parts powder. I did pretty well, going pretty fast... until I accidentally went over a little cresh and found myself launched in the air. No, I didn't land very well. ;)  We were all sore and I was done by 5:00... at which point Kenny was also done but went to retrieve his board from the lodge we were resting at... and it was gone. Yes, his crappy $100 board was stolen. Since it happened to me, I know just how he felt when he looked around and it was just... gone. Bummer. I didn't stay Saturday night because I wanted to see Logan and check out that cabin today. I might go back out there tomorrowmorning for the less crowded slopes. We'll see if we wake up.

Now, I'm watching Winter Passing with Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrill. A drama. Good so far!

Go here for pictures of Logan and the other puppies, Vail and Keystone with Parkie, and some from when Matt and Alex were in Breckenridge.

Bandelier National Monument and Breckenridge

I know I have this tendency to write a lot, then drop off the face of the planet. It usually means that I'm traveling, or just really lazy. ;)  Last Monday after work, Tim tells me that he just found out the next day he was being sent down to Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico to do some trail assessments - which means per diem and a paid hotel... Sounds like a free vacation to me! He used to work there years ago and told me how neat it is, so I just had to go down there and check it out. Tuesday I finally got my truck back, and it's a good thing I brought it in  - we'll just say that there were some "other" things wrong with it, and I would never had made it to Glacier National Park, yet alone Alaska. Burning oil, it ends up, was the cheapest and easiest problem I had. Tim drove out early that day and by the time I got the truck back and was on the road, that huge winter storm had started its way into the Rockies and it looked like I just might need my 4x4 on the 8 hour drive. Fortunately, I took a different route than Tim and avoided the snow for the time being. Click on the photo for more pictures from my trip!

Tim worked all day during the week while I had the chance to explore the ruins of the Ancestral Pueblo people. It was pretty cool seeing the petroglyphs and remains of houses carved into the soft "tuff" rock - condensed volcanic ash, and to climb up all the slippery, snowy ladders up into the Alcove House and look out into the valley of Frijoles Canyon. The first day, I did the interpretive ruins walk that is a must-see when you visit; then I hiked down the snowy Falls Trail along the Frijoles River, which ends at the large Rio Grand River. The white snow was so beautiful against the contrast of the red rock and green cactii and agave, and the Falls Trail had the most memoriable scent of strong juniper and sagebrush - that was probably my favorite part of the whole trail was that smell. I also checked out some separate, unexcavacted ruins (which means, harder to see and coveredin plants at this point) to the northeast of the main park, and the overlook at the town of White Rock gives a great view of the mesas, canyons, and Rio Grand. It was a short, cold day of hiking and I "only" did about 9 miles of relatively easy hiking in the snow.

As soon as Tim got back from work, he exclaimed, "Let's go to the hot springs!" Ends up there are some undeveloped hot springs nearby in Jemez Springs that he used to visit when he worked for Bandelier a few years ago. It had started snowing pretty heavily that afternoon and town was just chaos - apparently New Mexicans have no idea how to deal with snow, and it seemed like there are only 2 plow trucks - but we were determined to drive the twisted road through the mountains and avoid bad drivers to enjoy the hot springs. Tim mentioned that he didn't exactly remember where it was, since the parking lot and trail are essentially unlabeled, and as the sunset early we started to wonder if we passed the lot. Finally after a few "it's gotta be right over this hill and around that corner", we reach this unmarked parking lot. The sign says it is closed after dark and "nudity prohibited", but who's gonna be out in this crazy snow storm anyway? ;)  It was getting dark when we decended and then ascended the newly rehabilitated trail to Spence Hot Springs, a short 1/4 mile down to the river then up the mountain. And there on the side of the mountain were two hot pools - undeveloped save for some man-made rock ledges and mild improvements to make it more comfortable - the upper of which was warmer at the very source (which was just behind some large boulders) and probably 98-99 degrees (we would have liked it a little warmer, but then again, it was probably 18 degrees outside and snowy!), which then cascaded down into a smaller and little cooler pool. It was crystal clear and did NOT smell like sulfur like most of them do, the bottom was smooth with sand and pebbles and it was just AWESOME! The moon was bright and the sky cleared as we enjoyed the hot springs in the dark for about an hour or so.

It was freaking COLD when we got out and immediately Tim's beard and my hair froze. The road was just a snowy mess but we blew by everybody in his 4x4 and went into town for dinner at the Blue Window Bistro, which was a little pricey but excellent. As we sat and ate, we watched the snow just pile up outside. Town was pretty quiet, probably since people don't know how to drive. ;)  I'd say we got at least 8" of snow just that night.

In the morning, we woke up and the sky was bright blue and it was beautiful! There was quite a bit of snow but we both have 4x4 so we drove out to Bandelier by 9 am... onlyto find that they were closed while one guy plowed the whole park. I was planning on going on a long hike so I needed to hit the trail early if I wanted to be done before they closed the gates at sunset... but they let us in and I was on the trail by 9:45. I planned on about a 13-14 mile hike up to Frijolito, another ruins site up on top of the mesa, then hiking along the mesa to the start of Frijoles Canyon, decending down into the canyon and following the river back to the trailhead at the visitor center. It was cold but I was dressed well and the sun was bright and warm; I trudged up the switchbacks and along the trail in 4-6" of snow, the only other tracks along the trail from the elk, deer, rabbit, and some unknown animal (seemed like a wildcat to me). Really wasn't much to see of the ruins up here because they too were unexcavated and covered in vegetation, but it was a great view on the excavated site down in the valley. I did finally see the four elk that I had been "tracking" as I hiked, which were the only living things I shared the trail with the whole day.

I was warm and ambitious for the first 5-6 miles... then I started getting tired of the uphill/downhill rambling before I reached the point where the trail decends into the canyon. The snow made it harder than I thought it would! But finally I dropped down from the relatively open sunny mesa-top down into the cooler, shaded canyon bottom. I was still pretty warm until probably mile 8-10, when the lack of sunshine, the dense trees and the dropping temperatures made my jeans freeze. Still though I was doing pretty well, just getting tired... and it seemed like I would never get out of that canyon! The trail crossed over the river at LEAST 15 times, and there were never any real bridges - either a log or maybe a couple stepping stones, sometimes just a leap of faith - which was even more challenging because the snow hid the shape of the rocks, which were sometimes too pointy and slick to stand on, or it hid the river bank so I wasn't sure how far I had to jump, or it just made the logs really slick... How I avoided falling in at all is beyond me!

The canyon was very dense with some pretty big ponderosa and douglas-fir, and at points the canyon walls were relatively close together bare rock cliffs. It was a good trail that I probably would appreciate more in warmer weather. ;)  Finally I reached the Alcove House which was perched up the canyon sides far above and knew thata warm shower wasn't far away. At about 3:15 I reached the trailhead, a mere 5 1/2 hours to do almost 14 miles in the snow and cold. It was a beautiful day and the solitude and quite was great... but well I don't know if I'd do it again, ha ha!

That night we went over to see Tim's friend Wendy, who had worked with him at Pinnacle National Monument in California and was now a ranger at Pinnacles. In the morning we hit the road and took highway 285 up from Santa Fe through Alamosa and ate lunch in Salida. I think that will be my new preferred route going south, since it takes you right along the mountains and is much prettier than staying on I-25.

Then just on Sunday I got a text message from my friend Matt in DC (I visited him in Keystone a few weeks ago) saying he was in Breckenridge! So I watched some really bad footballs games with the boys in the morning and drove the 2-2 1/2 hours out to Breck that evening. Matt and his friend Alex - both of which I went to college with - had a room at the Great Divide Lodge right on Mountain 9. We immediately whipped out the rum and coke then took the free taxi into town to hit up the bar to watch football and play lots of erotic Photo Hunt util we got a high score. Then we went back to the hotel and tried desperately to find a way into the hot tub after hours... which was literally impossible. Trust me. We tried everything. Instead, we went back to the room and filled up the bath tub and took turns pretending it was a hot tub. A poor substitution!

It was a late night so we got a late start and got room service breakfast before gearing up to hit the slopes. It was a beautiful sunny day and on a Monday, it was pretty uncrowded. We all went our separate ways on the mountain but I did much better on the steeper stuff than I usually do so it was a good day. I was tired and sore and hit the road by 2, and was back up in Estes at Bruce and Kerri's to watch the Eagles win (finally!) by 6:00.

View of mountains around Breckenridge. 

Alex and Matt on the ski lift

So now, I am enjoying a lazy, sunny day and will probably be at the Rock Inn by 5 pm tonight. ;)

Ryan will be in Vail on Thursday so I'll probably go out there for a night or two this weekend... Tim goes to Pennsylvania on the 15th... Friends come out the 17th... I'll probably be spending X-mas relatively alone except with my puppy... And I will hopefully get a call to do some tree work somewhere in between.

Colorado is so much better than Michigan. ;) Life is rough, I'm telling ya!

Oh and my boss called to tell me he is posting the GS-6 term Hazard Tree crewleader position soon. It's no guarantee at all that I will get it, and if any veterans put in for it I'm totally screwed... But at the very least I have rehire status for the GS-5. Wish me luck that I get that term position (with benefits!) because I freaking would love that job and I love the park!

Logan is getting big - about 12 pounds!

Another pic of the troublemaker...

...and by troublemaker, for once I don't mean myself. ;)

My first Thanksgiving away from Michigan and my family was... full of GUNS! The night before, I whipped up my little yams side dish for the huge party at Tea and Chuck's (Tea is sisters with Kerri, whom I watch the Eagles with Bruce and Tim every Sunday - for some reason, lots of people out here are from Pennsylvania, including all those guys and Tim). I guess a lot of people really don't have family or anything else to do on Turkey day, so they just start inviting people over... and suddenly there's 15-25 people showing up at their place. Since I had my "kitchen duties" taken care of, instead of slaving away and doing the domestic thing with the other girls all morning... I got to go out shooting with the guys! Yeeeee haw! Hey, I have a little bit of Pennsylvania in me too so I guess it's in the blood or something. ;)  Mike, Doug, Chuck, Scott, Bruce, and Tim... and little ol' me. We had pistols, revolvers, shotguns, rifles... specifically, an AK 47 assault rifle. As in, do some damage. IT WAS FREAKIN' SWEET! (Thanks dad for making me part redneck.) I was RIGHT ON with that rifle and took out all the targets we set up. Heh heh heh. With the shotgun, Tim pulled the clay pigeons for me... and I've never ever hit a moving target... And I hit my very first two! I impressed/scared the boyfriend... But then when I couldn't hit anything else after that, he felt a little better. ;)  He was probably one of the better shots of the day.

We showed up to the house smelling like gunpowder and PBR while the girls were still busy peeling and chopping potatos. It was a great dinner, with 4 turkeys and just insane amounts of mashed potatos... lots of alcohol of course... It was just a great way to spend thanksgiving, with many of my new friends out here. As the night went on, people started getting tired and leaving, but the real troopers stayed and eventually Celine started a dance party in the living room - the best of Squeeze, the Buggles, 80's hits mix - and soon it was just Chuck, Tea, Tim, Celine, Melios, and myself still bouncing around while the kids were upstairs trying to sleep and the rest of us (except good little designated driver me)got schnockered.

The next night - the biggest bar night of the year, of course - we went to the Rock Inn for the post-Parade party (we didn't make it to the parade... sick of tourists!!) and it was freaking insane. Needless to say, it was another late night. Saturday, Tim and I didn't even get up until almost 1:30 and spent the day watching Seinfeld and Northern Exposure. It's been a pretty sweet weekend...

Until I came down with the flu on Saturday night. Figures - everybody else is getting drunk and I'm drinking water... and I'm the one that ends up puking. It's just not fair, ha ha! So I didn't get to watch the Eagles get annihilated by the Colts last night, but I did discover this great online "Game Center"  on CBS - I don't have TV channels, but I did get to watch each drive and it even announces fumbles and touchdowns. Pretty handy! Pretty depressing game from what it looked like. At least Tim can't say they always lose when I watch the game with him! ;)

I just might be working for a couple weeks here soon... getting a job with Mike's Tree Service helping out with a thinning project if I'm lucky. A little extra $$ never hurt anybody. Besides that, just keeping busy, working out, hanging out, and watching lots of Northern Exposure. The finer things in life. :)  I did have a dream last night that since I spent all my vacation money on fixing my cars, I decided to hike from here to Glacier in the winter. If you've ever read "A Walk Across America", it was kindof like that.

We haven't had any snow in quite a while now. Sounds like MI has gotten more than we have! Nothing is even on the ground. But over in Summit County, they're constantly being hit. Which is great, because my friends are officially getting that huge condo and at least 8 of them will be out here to party and ski. That's about all for now!

GO BLUE!

Ok I might be shot for sharing top secret MMBones (Michigan Marching Band trombone section) literature, but I just saw this and it's A. Really funny, even if you don't know what is going on and B. I miss those guys. Here's the Leaky Bugle.

Ironic that I haven't driven the Focus all summer, but the weekend of the big game and I'm cruising around with Michigan plates and a University of Michigan sticket plastered across the back of my hatchback. Coincidence? Fate, my friends. Fate.

I'll put more pics of Logan up too. It was hard to get any good ones cuz they kept moving and then my batteries died!

Last night Jessie and I went to see Hells Bells, an ACDC cover band... I didn't even realize they were all chicks. They freaking rocked hard! Jessie had met the guys in the opening band, Fall From Grace, and got us on their VIP list so we got in for free and got to hang out upstairs in the "private" room (really, not much to brag about) and on the balcony (ok, that was kindof cool). Jessie is now officially a groupie. ;)

Now, I am going to show these mountain folk how to cheer for a real football team! GO BLUE! I passed a bunch of Michigan fans on my way up the canyon today, so I honked and waved and made an arsch out of myself... then blew by an Ohio car in town, just to make a point. I love this rivalry. Gonna be one hell of a game!

Bo Schembechler!! :(

On the eve of the HUGE Michigan-Ohio State football game, Bo Schembechler died! He was the winningest coach for U of M. I got to meet him once while I was in the Michigan Marching Band in 1999; he gave one hell of a motivational speech. Not that I'm like hardcore about these types of things, but he seemed like a good guy and I am SUPER pumped for the game on Saturday.

Latest puppy picture, at 3 weeks old!

Well Focus got fixed, now it's Yota's turn. I forgot just how fun that little car is to drive!

Stephanie and Jessie are back in town so I might be going to Hells Bells (an ACDC cover band) tonight, perhaps snowboarding this weekend... and of course watching that football game tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm watching Jaws. This movie is so freaking good. If you haven't seen it in a while, I highly recommend it. ;)

 

A picture of Logan from my visit earlier today!

Detour...

Colorado National Monument with Tim was a lot of fun, we did some 4x4ing on BLM land to Rattlesnake Canyon, then went on a 5 mile hike into and on top of the canyon to check out all the arches. Tim's big on photography, so he snapped quite a few that I'm sure will turn out fantastic. Mine... well they're ok, and they're posted on my Shutterfly site with the rest of my road trip pictures.

Yesterday we both drove back to Estes. I wasn't planning on coming back, but I had a few things I had to take care of. Was planning on leaving for Glacier NP today, but well plans have changed and we'll just say my heart isn't really into being on the road for another 3 weeks. I'm really not happy about it, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. :(

So, going to hang out at Kerri and Bruce's today and figure some things out...

The Adventure Continues! And the sweet coincidences of a good road trip

Greetings from Grand Junction, Colorado!

Thus far, this fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants roadtrip is turning out even better than I had planned! Let me back up to my reunion with Maria in Flagstaff...

Although she is down to the punch line with finishing her thesis and defending on Nov. 13th, she graciously invited me out for the weekend. I hadn't seen her in 3 years, and she was one of my best friends in Colorado when I moved out there right after college in 2003. Our lives almost crossed path many times - from trying to get in with the same professor for grad school at Montana State, to me being offered a last minute grad research position (that I obviously didn't accept) that would have landed me in the same office as her at Northern Arizona - but it was now or never if I wanted to visit her in the city I almost called home.

After a 12-13 hr drive from Lyons, I rolled into Flagstaff on Friday afternoon and it was like no time had passed between us. That's the sign of good friends. :) We spent the evening strolling through downtown and around campus, catching up on everything and enjoying the warm, moonlit evening. Flagstaff is beautiful, and the campus reminded me more of the University of Michigan than even Boulder does. I would have loved living there; but it's a good thing I didn't take the offer because the advisor is overloading the poor student she picked and she's having a stressful, terrible time. It was also the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) and downtown was having an Art Festival Open House - so we ate dinner for free, feasting off the goodies and enjoying the display at local art shops.

The next morning, she took me down to Sedona for a hike in the Coconino National Forest. There had been a fire there earlier this year and a few trails were closed due to flash flooding/rock slides, but we did a nice little hike in the Red Rocks district (don't remember the trail name) and I decided that I need to convince my dad to move out there - warm in the winter, but still has deciduous trees that are beautiful in the fall and just beautiful country.

After we stopped and bought Apple Cider and Maria bought a turquoise ring (it's all the craze out there, since it's abundant and important to the local indian tribes), we went back and took a nap. Isn't that great?? We haven't seen eachother in years and we took a nap. ;) But we needed it. That night we went out and at Karma Sushi - good place - and went to bed early again so we could be ready to head to the Grand Canyon on Sunday.

The Grand Canyon = just as breathtaking as you can imagine. We just stayed on the South Rim Trail (as opposed to hiking down to the river) so I could see as much of the park as possibe. I think we probably hiked about 9 miles (flat and easy) and watched a beautiful sun set and a full moon rise simultaniously over the Canyon.

Monday, Maria had to get back to reality and I needed to be on my way. She'll hopefully be moving back to CO in the next few months and we'll hang out again. :)

From Flagstaff I drove 6 hours to Moab, Utah where I knew I would have free camping on the river. I decided to watch some football and have a quick bite to eat at the Moab Brewery. As I'm sitting there, sipping my beer by myself, I glanced over to the door and in walks a very tall guy and a short girl... It took me a second to register that I KNOW THESE PEOPLE... I work with these people... They look at me with the same sort of astonished "I should know you but you're out of place" expression and say, "Lisa!" I say, "Oh my gosh!" It was Travis, a maintenance worker on the west side of the Park, and Tina his girlfriend, who worked the gate on the west side. What a totally random and pleasant coincidence.

We sat down and caught up; their season ended about a week ago and were on a 2 month road trip before she heads off to grad school in Texas. They invited me to camp and hike with them the next couple days, which I was thrilled to hear. The Colorado River had flooded a few weeks previous, so the road to our free camping area was an absolute mess and only those with good 4x4 and who knew the way around the deep ruts in the road could get back there; needless to say, we had that whole area to ourselves for the whole time. We had a bonfire, drank boxed wine, and watched the nearly-full moon come up over the canyon walls and illuminate the river. I love that camping spot!

Tuesday we went to Arches National Park and got a pass to hike in the "Fiery Furnace" - a maze of rock pillars and arches, with fragile "cryptobiotic crust" that we aren't supposed to walk on ("What we're following is NOT A TRAIL" - a favorite saying as we followed some well worn cryptobiotic crust, which you're not supposed to do but it's impossible in some spots) - and we clambored through "Crawl-Through Arch", squeeze between tight slot canyons, scrambled steep rock jumbles and sat on top of large rock bridges. Travis knew the area well, so he showed me neat rock formations and areas that I would have probably never found by myself... or at least gotten severely lost in the process. ;)

Wednesday, Travis used his knowledge as a winter local to find us this "No Name Canyon" that supposedly only locals are familiar with. We went through a gap in this fence and bushwhacked our way through the jumble of trees, shrubs, rock washes and debris that had been jarred around by the same flooding that gave us our solitude at our campsite. It was wet, humid and relatively lush at the bottom of this canyon, and at the end we reach this deep pool underneath a tall rock face that spouts a temporary waterfall when it rains enough; it was dry now but was probably a sight to see when it was flowing. We even brought Travis' dog Chewy and she climbed up the slickrock with us like a pro. We kept going from one canyon into another, alternately travelling on the striated sandstone slick rock, and walking along the sandy washes in the bottom. I'm so lucky I ran into those guys, because I would never have seen this "hidden treasure"!

In the meantime, Tim had invited me to come out to the National Monument in Grand Junction, Colorado for a few nights for some hiking and off-roading. Met up with him and the trails guys at a sushi place last night and today, I went to town for an oil change and some online errands while he is finishing his last day of work here. For most of his crew, it's the last day of the season. When he gets back to CO, he is going to start "Blaster Training" - training to blow rocks and crap up with explosives for trail work. I'm mildly envious. ;)

Now, I will just post a link to my pictures so far (click on "Epic Road Trip" - no captions yet, maybe in a few days), pack this computer up and head back through the busy town of Grand Junction up to this little pocket of rock arches and canyons - Colorado National Monument. It's awesome that this little park is a neat little contained area of geologic wonder, all the while looking down on busy cities.

I'll be here until Saturday probably... then, off to Glacier National Park in Montana, most likely!!

Wish me luck! ;)

The latest puppy picture:

 

ps: Tara if you really wanna meet me somewhere, we'd just split gas money and stay in hostels... Just say where and when! ;)

Roadtrip gone EPIC

I'm sitting in Macy's Coffee Shop in Flagstaff, AZ, going about my usual routine... Checking email, harassing people on Myspace, looking up weather in Moab; Great Falls, MT; Calgary, Canada; Tok, AK (high of 7 degrees!); Anchorage, AK; Seward, AK; Vancouver, Canada; Seattle...Checking out maps of my possible routes north, finding out which cities have Hostels I can stay in if it's too cold to camp...

My intentions were innocent enough from the start. Visit Maria in Flagstaff. Hang around Arizona and Utah, see some new sights, maybe visit Tim at CO National Monument. Be back the 9th or 10th. But sometimes, plans change.

Now, with the blessings of many friends and family, a few useful phone numbers of people along the way, it looks like I just might be on my way on an epic journey across the US, British Columbia, and... Alaska.

Crazy?? No. Maria and I decided we are both at huge "crossroads" and sometimes, travel is the best therapy. In 7 weeks I will have a puppy; next spring I may have a term position with the Park Service; right now, what do I have?? No commitments. Lots of spare time. A little bit of money to spend. And really... why not??

We'll see just how far I get. I'm going to take my time, see the sights, camp when it's not too cold, stay in hostels when I can't camp, and make this the roadtrip of a lifetime. I've wanted to do this since high school, and although Steve can't come with me like we used to dream of, it will still be EPIC. It's not even so much about the destination, but the journey. I might not make it; I might turn around at Glacier National Park. Who knows. But I'll try to keep ya'll updated along the way. When I can, I'll stary with my photos from Sedona and the Grand Canyon.

Now, off to Moab!

PUPPY!

Got my first baby picture of my puppy! Well, ok it's one of two that I will probably pick from - I do have pick of the litter, SWEET - but he's only a week old. Really not much to see but a fat little black body, but it's SOOOOOO  CUTE!

Probably going to name him Logan, but my mom said it's a good name for my first born son... if I ever have kids... And I have to agree, I'm kindof keen on Logan! ;)  But that's way off in the distance, ha ha. (To my poor mom's dismay; I think she's getting used to the idea of having grand-puppies instead of grand-children!)

I just rode my motorcycle the 1/2 hr from Boulder to Lyons back from the shop, she runs like a DREAM! But did I mention it's all of ohhhhh 35 degrees outside at MOST; throw in the shade and the wind; my fingers literally HURT from thawing out. I thought I was going to lose at lease one of them. Needless to say, I don't exactly have the right gear to ride in anything colder than this (nor do I have the desire to do so!). The windshield on would have helped; finding my warmer gloves would have helped; not having it break down in the first place would have helped a lot! But they did some stuff to it to make it run better here at altitude and it needed to get done anyway.

Time for a warm shower. It will hurt too much if it's hot. ;)  I've got puppies on my mind and can't wipe the grin off my face!!!

Bachelorette night at home

Yep, that's right. Tim's out of town. I'm watching a CHICK FLICK. Failure to Launch. So far, pretty freaking funny for a chick flick. I've decided I really like Zooey Deschanel - as an actress, and as the bitter beer drinking roomie in this movie. The cynicism is right up my alley. ;)

Found out tonight that one of my friend's wives has the same heart condition I do - mitral valve prolapse. She's younger than me and her symptoms can be much worse than mine... but she explained a lot of things that the docs never told me. So hey, maybe it will get worse, maybe it will stay the same... but I'm not gonna stop doing what I do - firefighting, mountain climbing, getting into trouble - and if it freakin' kills me so be it! At least I'm having fun. ;)

Motorcycle is fixed! I went down to Boulder to pay for my bike (picking it up tomorrow) and they started her up... and boy she sounds freakin' fantastic! I didn't know my bike could sound so good. Bob's Motorcycle Shop did a great job.

Just found that they updated the Bassetts Fire webpage with a lot of really sweet photos - not from anybody I know, but they are definitely worth looking at!

I didn't take this but it's a pretty neat picture of the fire before dawn.

Besides that, just looking forward to visiting Maria in Flagstaff this weekend!

 

Hillbilly Ball and puppy news

Bettie Page

Paul and I at the Hillbilly Ball

The Halloween party at the Rock Inn was fantastic! Here's a few pictures from that, and from visiting Matt at Keystone. Whitewater Ramble played and there were some fantastic costumes - the winner was dressed as Steve Irwin... complete with a sting ray coming out of his chest. Yeah, it's a little twisted but at least we all knew who he was. Needless to say, most people didn't know who Bettie Page was, but those who did said I looked just like her. It was just fun running around with a riding crop and 6" stilettos, ha ha!

My puppy was born on Wednesday, but unfortunately there were no solid blacks. There are some very dark ones and that's fine by me, and it might look like Scout, one of their other dogs:

I'll get to pick one out in about 4 weeks, take it home in 8. Woo hoo!

I was so psyched my friend Matt was in Keystone, and even more pumped for that snow storm we got! Matt had tried to warn me before I drove out there, telling me to be careful in the snow. I just figured there were some flurries or something on Loveland Pass... I showed up at the Inn at Keystone and still had no idea. We sat in the bar next door to the hotel, drank a little bit, shared shots of Jim Beam, and caught up on the last year of our lives. The Avalanche were on tv - LOSING! - and then the Wings came on - WINNING! - and somebody mentioned the huge snowstorm we were supposed to get.

"What snowstorm?"

Matt laughed and said "What, you thought I was just talking about some flurries, that I don't know what a lot of snow is since I'm not from Colorado?! We're getting hammered tonight!"

And we sat in the bar, laughing and drinking and remembering the past and musing over the strange places we seem to cross paths... watching the snow pile up... I tried really hard to convince him to blow off the training he was in town for and hit the slopes at A-Basin instead. All that fresh powder...!! And what goes better with a late night blizzard than hot tubbing?! The front desk guy said that hot tubs are required to close at 10 pm in Colorado (seems strange to me)... I pleaded that well that's just silly, I'm sure there's some way to get some hot tubbing in, and he was cool enough to mention that "Well, the nigh man already made his rounds...I'm the only one here at the front desk... And the locals, well they just jump the walls!"

Cool guy. ;)

We went downstairs and poached the outdoor hot tub, snow piling up outside. I love this time of year!

The next day Matt had to go to training and I was going back up to Estes. Of course, when I tried to leave is when I found out I-70 was closed! Darn, I was forced to snowboard at Arapahoe until it opened. ;)  I went back to Estes that evening; I was going to go back down to Keystone on Friday night, and hoped Matt was coming up to Estes for the Hillbilly Ball, but plans changed and we didn't get to meet up again. It was still great to see him though, and we joked about the next place we're going to hang out... Alaska? Maui? Always an adventure, that's for sure!

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Here's the link to the photos from the party and a few from Keystone/Arapahoe Basin. Shutterfly is being stupid and won't load correctly so I'm back to Trekshare. I have pictures all over the freakin' internet!!

 

Fire and Ice News

A few newsworthy items of interest:

A California wildfire killed 4 firefighters and 1 is still in critical condition - I guess it's the deadliest wildfire since 2001. Very sad to hear, but these things do happen. I did get a couple text messages from people I haven't talked to in a while, making sure I wasn't down there. Thanks guys.

My friend Matt from Virginia (we were in the same program at U of M) is out at Keystone for training, so I went out to visit him (back to the same area that I was this past weekend - a 2 hour drive to Arapahoe area)... he asked if I was ready for the snow... to which I replied, "What snow?"

Shortly after that conversation, we sat in the bar in excitement and anticipation as a blizzard covered everything with about 1 1/2 feet of snow all night. I had absolutely no idea. I guess it's the biggest October snowstorm to hit in years. Rocky Mountain got 2 feet; Tim says Bear Lake got 2-3 feet.

The next day, I was going to come back up to Estes. Needless to say, the freeway was shut down. Know what I did? Went riding (however ungracefully) at A-Basin again. ;)  Life is good, friends, life is good. I'll put a few pictures up when I get a chance.

In the meantime, I'm supposed to go back to Keystone tonite to party with Matt some more, but I'm tired of driving so I might just go back on Saturday morning, snowboard all day, then come back and go to the Halloween Party at the Rock Inn. Trying to convince Matt to go too - and his 6 other coworkers. Tim is leaving for Colorado National Monument on Sunday night (after we watch the Eagles game, of course) and will be gone for 2 weeks, so I might just stay in tonite and watch Northern Exposure with him. ;)  I am going to Flagstaff on the 4th to visit Maria; she is defending her thesis soon though so just going to make it a short visit, then putz around Arizona for a couple days, then maybe see tim at the Monument. I'm so busy! But I am finally getting rid of Verizon and going to Cingular, so I can actually answer my damn phone! Woo  hoo!

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This just in: Puppies were born!! I don't know if there are anyblacks, but there are 7 male and 2 female. I'm a mommy! ;)

Here's a picture off the website of the first male born.

Gotta love my motorcycle...

This was on October 18th, the day we got the first snow that didn't melt off right away. It was so beautiful that morning I just had to drive through the park - like a tourist - and enjoy the fresh clean look of new powder on the ponderosas!

I'm just sitting here, waiting for the bike shop guy to show up in Lyons with a trailer to get my dead little Honda. I think either it's bad fuel, water in the fuel system somewhere or something wrong with the fuel lines. Bummer. I was on my way to gas up and then ride it up to Estes to store in Tim's garage (it was so warm yesterday!) when she started stalling out. I made my best effort to at least get her to the bike shop in town (they only do Harleys but at least it would have been more secure), but she just wouldn't go anymore in this nice new subdivision. Fortunately Tim was on his way to ride with me, so he stopped at my place, grabbed my truck, and saved the day. ;)  Pretty bummed out but that's what I get for procrastinating. Now I have to pay to get it towed to a local bike shop. Not cheap... but gotta do what I gotta do!

So on Friday I got a surprise text message from my friend Ryan Park (aka Kooooooorea aka Parkie), who had moved to Chicago earlier this year. It said "I'm going to Colorado" or something like that. When? "On my way right now." Huh?? I kept asking him questions like where, when, why, how, for how long, etc... What does he reply?

"This is going to be epic."

Heh heh heh... that's Korea for ya! To which I of course replied, "UNLEASH HELL!" (Gladiator quote, from the good ol' days of unemployment and watching that movie way too many times).

He still wouldn't answer my questions. Instead, he writes things like "R U pumped?" and "We are going to A basin." Which really doesn't tell me much.

That was Friday; I didn't hear much else from him. Later that night I went to a "potluck" party and made our family's famous Saucy Water Chesnuts... which were a HUGE blast and always the first to be devoured! There was salmon with terragon, meatballs, a roast, butternut squash, and so much good food... Drew, Sean and Joel's band played, and after a night of trying to talk/yell over the music, I lost my voice. Real sexy too, ha ha! It was a good party with boxed wine, drunk Pictionary, a crunch competition (yes, as in sit-ups... I won with 150! ha ha!), all that good stuff.

Wake up on Saturday and I get a couple more texts from Parkie... like, "1 hr from Denver" and then "We're at A basin". At that point I was confused, not sure where they flew into or where they were staying or why they were here... I mean, there's only 2 resorts that are open - Loveland and Arapahoe Basin - and A basin only has 3 runs open; Loveland has 1. Did they come out just to ski??

That would so be like Parkie, freakin' madman! I LOVE IT!

There was also a party in Nederland that day, an end of the season celebration including a few people from the fire I was on. I hadn't heard from Parkie in a while and was just getting ready to head out there around 6 pm, when Parkie sends me a few texts. Since I was sick, I really didn't plan on doing any boarding myself... but I wanted to see Ryan, so I said what the heck and headed out to Arapahoe, about a 2 hour drive.

Of course, I packed my snowboard and gear... just in case. ;)

As soon as I hit Loveland Pass (where quite a few resorts are located), it was snowing like crazy. All that fresh powder... as I cough and sniffle and my throat is all sore... All this temptation to hit the slopes in Colorado for my first time...

Met Parkie downstairs at the Old Chicago and was both dreading and looking forward to it... Usually, when he says "This is going to be epic" means that we'll be doinglots of shots, poaching hot tubs, and staying up way too late and pretty much wreaking havoc on society as a whole. I didn't know if I had the energy/health to do it! I sat at the bar eating dinner and waiting for him... Here comes Parkie... And he's feeling sick!! Altitude and sleep deprivation had gotten to him; sounded like we'd be sleeping before 10 pm! I was in better shape than he was at that point, but this just wasn't right.

"You're in freaking COLORADO, you're with ME and you went SKIING... YOU NEED TO MAN UP AND GET A DRINK!"  There's no way I was letting him off easy tonite.

With some hesitance he warmed up to the idea; soon he said "We need to do a shot of Jager. It's just not right without it." So the bartender poured us some cold shots from the Yagerator and down they went. About 10 minutes later, Ryan miraculously began to feel better and from that we get the quote of the night:

"I love how I was sick, and now I am cured. Thank you Jesus!" - as he stood there  with a nasty bottle of Kingfisher beer in his hand. "The Jager cured me!"

And really, we hardly drank at all; but we were definately ready to cause trouble. When I asked him what airport he flew into, he just started cracking up. "WE DROVE HERE!"

What?!

Ends up they were at training on Friday and Parkie, being himself, kept saying to his friends "We should go to Colorado." And they'd chuckle and pass it off. And then he thought about it more, and got serious. "Really, we should go to Colorado TODAY." Well, by the time lunch came around, his friend comes up to him and says "LET'S GO!"

So these four guys hop in Parkie's car, grab their crap, and headed West! I love a good pioneering spirit!

18 hours later, they arrive at Arapahoe Basin and hit the slopes. All of his friends were now passed out in their room, exhausted from driving non-stop and then boarding all day, plus the altitude. We didn't care. We burst into the room laughing and being stupid, ranting about going to the hot tub. Kenwas the only one to crawl out of bed/off the floor and go downstairs. It closed at 11 but we went in anyway; which was fine until the jets started pouring out cold water and the hot tub turned into a warm tub... into a COLD tub. After about an hour of Ryan whining about freezing, we got out and just went to sleep. Pretty low-key compared to most of our other trips, but these guys just don't know how it works with Korea and I yet! We'll teach them. ;)

To be continued; gotta meet the tow truck guy.

I'm back, my motorcycle is on it's way to Bob's Bike Shop in Boulder, courtesy of an old German named Rolf. Towing to Boulder: $75. Tune up and carb adjustment: $300. Getting complimented by an old German that works on vintage bikes that I got a great deal on a great bike: Priceless. ;)

Anyway... Woke up in the morning and still felt sick. I really shouldn't go snowboarding when I've got a sore throat and a cold, right? But I drove with them to Arapahoe, just to check it out. Right. As soon as I saw that fresh powder and those beautiful slopes, I just had to go. I was supposed to go to Bruce and Kerri's with Tim, like every Sunday, to watch the Eagles and eat Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches (my veggie version is a Philly Cheese Egg sandwhich), and make some of those Saucy Water Chestnuts again, but I just couldn't stop myself. Stood in a huge line for maybe 20 minutes, 18 degrees outside, rode the SLOW lift up to the top... And did pretty darn well on the way down. Unless you've only gone riding in the crappy Midwest your whole life, I don't know if you can understand how heavenly it was to be on POWDER. Admittedly, I still think a few runs at Boyne Highland are pretty fun, but this one little ride down the mountain at Arapahoe was worth rejoicing about - besides the fact that I was riding before even Halloween, yet alone before Thanksgiving (most resorts in MI don't open til end of Nov or Dec)...

But since I was sick, the cold air hurt my throat and lungs, so after that one joyous ride... I called it quits. Don't need to get pneumonia. ;)  Parkie vowed to come back every otherweekend - maybe a little sarcastic, but sounds like he wants to be back for the opening of Keystone around the 17th. I can't wait!

So I went snowboarding that morning, and by that afternoon I was playing horseshoes in Tim's backyard. Not much snow on the ground. Drinking the last of my Bell's Oberon. And then yesterday, I went for a motorcycle ride. In what other state can you do all those things in less than 24 hours?! Pure sweetness.

What else is new with me?? Not much. Finally getting rid of Verizon so I can actually answer my phone in Estes Park! Going to Cingular, the only thing that works there.

Oh and we think Mommy Shepherd is going into the first stages of labor, so my little Logan/Sula will be born today hopefully! Yippee!!

And I'm going to Flagstaff to visit Maria the first weekend in November, and perhaps meeting up with Tim near Arches or Canyonlands National Parks in Utah to camp. I really like not working. ;)

Snow!

Woo hoo, SNOW!!!

I stayed up in Estes last nite and was totally thrilled to hear we were going to get about a foot of snow! Finally my chance to see how the 4x4 on my truck actually works. Decided that I could use a beefy new set of tires next year, but I definately think my Yota was the best purchase I've made in the past couple years. I passed at least 6 or 7 accidents (mostly cars sliding off the road) in the 16 miles from Estes to Lyons this morning - most of them were SUVs and mini vans. Go figure.

Anyway, finally got photos from Bassetts Fire, courtesy of Dave. Hopefully Lloyd will send me his but we'll see.

Getting psyched up for Halloween! My favorite holiday. So many costumes to choose from... I'm thinking of recycling the Bettie Page costume, since I didn't really wear it anywhere last year. Otherwise, thinking of Jean Grey from X-Men, Tombraider, or some other hardcore psycho chickee. ;)

What do you think??

Lisa Page and Bettie Page

I'm bummed because I just found out Tim will be at Colorado National Monument doing trail work on Halloween, and gone for about 3 weeks, but the Rock Inn is having a Halloween party the weekend before so at least we can do that together.

Last minute addition: Seth sent me the group photo of the Northern Colorado Handcrew. Enjoy! ;)

I'm in the back with the tree coming out of my head. ;)

Unemployed!

So I get back from that fire and SURPRISE! I'm done working for the season at the park. I went in on this past Tuesday and was told my last day was Thursday. Jeez, way to give me some notice. I thought I was working another week longer. :(

BUT it's no big deal, they handed me my unemployment papers and said "See ya in April!"

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!

For now, I'm catching up on sleep and trying to finally get over this freaking cold I've had on and off since the fire. Thursday night my friend Jess was in town so we tore it up at the Wheel; on Friday, my friend Sean was in town giving Arbormaster classes so we met up for a brew at Oscar Blues; Saturday, the trails guys had a big "Thanksgiving in October" party to celebrate the end of the season. I drank beer out of a bowl, tried to box/wrestle a couple trails guys, at some point there were fireworks being lit on the deck, and I woke up with blueberry pie in my hair. It was insanely fun. Today, I watched the Eagles LOSE again (Tim swears I'm bad luck at this point) and somehow the Lions won... I think it's because I put on my Joey Harrington jersey, ha ha!

And tomorrow, I am going to sleep in and start trying to find a part time job. I did buy my Colorado ski resort pass - good for unlimited skiing/riding at Breckenridge, Arapaho and Keystone, and 10 passes to Vail and Beave Creek - AND get 6 friend discounts to whereever. I heard Arapaho is already open! So hopefully soon I'll be riding some sweet powder!

That's all for now.

Done flying until at least next year, I hope!

Jeez, I don't even know where to start. I'll give the people what they want, and then I'll write a bunch of babbling crap that everyone can read at work when they're bored, ok?

First off: Photos from Donna and Jason's Wedding!

It was a very quick weekend - flew in on Friday, had about an hour before I had to be at the rehearsal, dinner at Champps, then stayed up until 1 am with the beautiful bride and Heather playing video games and painting our nails... Saturday, got my hair done, went to Donna's parents' house for photos, then off to Ann Arbor - yes, the same time as the Michigan-Michigan State football game traffic! - to marry my darling off to Jason! Drank too much, danced like a crazy woman, tried to catch up with a ton of people I haven't seen in forever... Then went in my bridesmaid dress to my favorite sports bar in Ann Arbor, the Arena, with a bunch of people... Sunday woke up with a nasty wine hangover and hit up Spicer's Orchards with Tara and Linda... And then found myself back in the Detroit Metro Airport waiting to fly back to Colorado! Hardly had time to sit down!

Tim picked me up and we relaxed while watching Northern Exposure Season 2, slept in this morning and went grocery shopping at Whole Foods. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day/week/month to do everything! But I think I am done with airplanes until at least next January, thank goodness.

My German Shepherd puppy should be born between October 23-38, and ready to come home for Christmas! This is why I probably won't be back in Michigan for the holidays.

Michigan was absolutely beautiful, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect for Donna's outdoor wedding - 67 degrees, sunny, light breeze... I get back to Colorado and find out we should be getting 3-6" of snow up in Estes Park (1-3" in Denver) today. It's been raining none stop since I got back, but I just looked on the mesa across the street from me and it's looking a little dusted! I love snow and winter, but going from fall in Michigan to winter in Colorado in a matter of hours is a shock to the system!

And then there's the fire I was on for the past few weeks...The fire guys had warned me that Sunday that I may get sent out with the Northern Colorado Handcrew, but things were slowing down and I really doubted it. Despite my skepticism, I packed up enough gear to be out for 2-3 weeks and kept it in my truck. Monday the 18th, I was supposed to have an entire crew of volunteers helping me close Bear Lake Road so I could fell a bunch of hazard tree, and the next day I was supposed to have volunteers to help remove beetle trees in Glacier Basin Campground. Since I had all this work to do, it shouldn't have surprised me that I got a call at 9:30 am, giving me one hour to get my gear together and be ready to roll from the Park to the dispatch center in Fort Collins. I'm so thankful my coworkers picked up the slack for me!

We picked up Lloyd, a firefighter from the Park, and met up with 18 other people in Fort Collins - US Forest Service out of Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Sulfur District, Americorps and Forest Service out of Nederland, Larimer County, and City of Boulder wildland firefighters. This was my first time out with a handcrew like this and I had no idea what to expect. We loaded up 5 pickup trucks/SUVs and were quickly on the road to the Pigeon Fire in Weaverville, California (northern California, west of Redding). I drove out with Lloyd, Matt from the city of Boulder, and Hutch from the Forest Service out of the Sulfur District.

We stayed one night in the now-infamous West Wendover, Nevada and made it out to northern California... only to arrive and immediately be reassigned to Bassetts fire near Sierraville, California (another 6 hour drive south, near Truckee). So we hopped back in our trucks and found ourselves in a beautiful area of California with huge 6-7 ft. diameter redcedar and pine trees.

This was my first fire camp experience. Set amidst a farmer's pastures (don't worry, the cows were penned up elsewhere), there were trailers and tents and tons of fire engines and trucks from all over. At one point, even the Midnight Sun Hotshot crew out of Alaska was down there with us. We set our tents up along the woods as far from the hustle and bustle of the main camp area, and this was my home for the next 2 weeks - a small Eureka tent, portable shower trailer, port-o-potties, and essentially meals-on-wheels. Itwas around freezing most nights, and most of us didn't have the warmest sleeping bags and ended up needing two bags to stay warm. We'd wake up at 5:30 am, roll out of our bags into the cold, dark morning, dress up in our boots, Nomex, and hooded sweatshirts (a firefighter trademark, it seems), and line up, single file, to walk across the field by 6 am. Hoodies over our heads, hands in our pockets, and our breath visible in the air, we'd line up outside the food trailers and get served huge portions of eggs, bacon, nasty malto-meal, and whatever else we could stomach, grab some chocolate milk and coffee, and eat in a big cold tent. Ironically, we got heaters in the tents once the weather warmed up. We'd eat pretty fast, since our butts froze to the cold metal chairs, then our two squads would gather our assigned gear - water, lunches, supplies - and we would gather around our 5 rigs and get the morning briefing... somewhere in there, we'd brush our teeth with a water bottle outsides the trucks.

Soon we'd be driving out of Sierraville to Bassetts, I think it would take about an hour depending on which Drop Point we were assigned to. The first few days, we mostly were just holding the fireline - we dug some by hand, but mostly it was dozer line scarring the hill in an effort to contain the fire. It had gone from 500 acres to over 1,000 over night, and the first day they tried to do a burnout operation (backfiring the fire into itself, to use up the fuel between our control line and the fire front) and we just stood there and watched for spot fires in the unburned areas. Another day, the humidity went way low and wind speed was 30-50 mph, pushing the fire towards the direction we were trying to protect. Needless to say, the fire jumped a couple lines, started spot fires all over the place, and they pretty much had to start over and put another dozer line in, 1 1/2 miles long down the hill. I did get to see some pretty sweet fire behavior - trees torching out, 200-250 ft. flame lengths, and that whitethorn bush sure goes up fast!

So for a few days, it was alternating between standing along the dozer line, usually freezing our asses off (that windy day was especially rough) and watching for spots fires, and wading waist high in sharp whitetorn bushes in the unburned area, gridding for spots. It got to the point that we'd have to make warming fires along the dozer line to keep warm, especially on the days we worked 15-16 hr days, working until 8 pm or so. One day we were stuck staging for a while, waiting for instructions... so we whipped out a portable DVD player and watch a couple movies. ;)

Finally things went in our favor, the winds died down and changed direction, and it looked like they'd get ahold of it. It was pretty sweet watching the helicopters and tankers overhead, doing bucket drops and slurry. Hopefully some of the guys from the fire will share their photos, since I didn't bring my camera.

Once the fire was manageable and almost contained, we started having to grid out in the black (burned) area, looking for hot spots. I pretty much spent the rest of the time walking up and down the hills, sometimes very steep and rocky, covered in ash and breathing in so much dust... Quite a few of us got sick, Lloyd actually left the fire very early on because he was ill, and I'm still recovering from all the coughing and sore throat that afflicted me. Part of our job was also to inspect around the homes and cabins that had been evacuated. It was pretty intense to see trees torching out right across the road from these buildings, and there were so many engines and hoses on this fire it was like a freaking circus! I guess that's how they do things out in California. ;)

It wasn't all excitement and physically hard work; I think the toughest part was the mental aspect of repeatedly gridding over the same area over and over and over again, or the down time where not much was going on... keeping myself entertained without driving everybody else nuts, ha ha! I got to know everybody pretty well, considering how much time we spend working, eating, hanging out, driving, and getting sick together. Many people started to get frustrated or grumpy for one reason or another - for me, mostly because I'm just cranky when I'm sick, and because I'm not good at standing or sitting still! - but for the most part it went pretty well!

When all was said and done, Bassetts fire was over 2,100 acres. The wonderful people of that town made dinner for the firefighters every night. We only ate there once, but they were so nice and thankful!

So much more happened, but there is only so much I can say... It's just something that you need to experience to truly understand what it's like. I have to admit that going out on that dispatch rekindled how much I love firefighting, and how much I loved working for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Montana. It was a totally different experience this time around, but something about it... I think it takes a certain type of person to appreciate it, and I can't really describe why I love it. ;)

Finally, they started releasing crews from the fire but we were kept on. We packed up our tents and ended up staying in a hotel in Truckee, where we had our first beers and soft beds in 2 weeks. Which means of course that I couldn't sleep at all in my bed (I actually slept very well on the ground in my tent), ha ha. Up all night coughing! We finished mopping up and rehab, and we weren't sure if they were going to keep us on, reassign us to the Day Fire in southern California, or send us home. Alas, they released us on Monday. This was fantastic news for me - originally we were going to be home on Thursday so I could fly out to Michigan for Donna's wedding on Friday; however, because we were reassigned, it bumped our 14 work days/4 travel days back, and I wasn't going to make it home in time for my flight on Friday! This led to a huge debachle of trying to figure out how I could get from a small town in California to Detroit. Anything from flying from Reno to Denver, or flying from Salt Lake City straight to Detroit, taxis and flight changes and anything else I could come up with... For a while there, I didn't think I would make it back for the rehearsal dinner! It all worked out ok in the end though.

On the way home, we stayed in Reno. Ahhh, Reno. What a sight for sore eyes for a bunch of people that just spent 2 weeks in the woods, made a lot of money, and haven't had any alcohol in just as long! There was a lot of potential for overindulgence and bad consequences, but everybody kept their acts together. BUT... What happens in Reno, stays in Reno, so I can't really say much more on what happened. I will say that quite a few people went home a few hundred dollars poorer, I learned a few new lessons in life, and tried to convince our crew boss to marry me so I could have health benefits. ;)  Needless to say, it didn't happen and Tim's still stuck with me for now, ha ha!

The next night we stayed in Evanston, WY and let me put it like this: Only 4 of us went to the bar that night. You just can't top Reno!

And then just this past Wednesday, I found myself back in Colorado. Exchanged numbers and email address, hopefully have enough people interested to play some pond hockey this winter, and have some year-round Colorado resident friends tohang out with, since all of my seasonal friends will be gone soon!

Thursday I had a paid day off for R & R, and then I flew back to Michigan on Friday. Met up with Looch, one of the Boulder fire guys, for lunch before I left - I am going to do some tree felling with him and, if he likes what he sees, I'm going to be doing fire mitigation side work for him over the winter. This is important, since I may be unemployed as soon as this Thursday (but maybe working until the 24th; not sure yet). Then Matt was nice enough to hang out with me at the Jiffy Lube while I got my oil changed, because I hate sitting there and waiting! :)

I know I've left so much out, but it's probably in my best interest to keep this a little bit censored for the sake of A. readability and B. liability, ha ha!

Now, time to catch up with the life I've neglected back here in Colorado for the past 3 weeks, and to spend all my hard earned money on pro-deals on outdoor gear!

Oh - Breckenridge skiing trip is definitely on for you Michigan folks. I am going to try to look into it, but I know Kevin and Beth are coming out so let them know you are interested!

 

This is the fire camp in Sierraville, CA.

Just a little bit o' fire along the road

We were really bored so Kimsey cut down a little tree and put it in our truck; Matt helped me decorate it with empty apple juice cans.

The Bell's Oberon mini-keg that I was so excited about

Yeah, I was a bridesmaid.

Back from fire, now off to Michigan

Hey!

I'm still alive. I got dispatched out with the Northern Colorado Handcrew on September 18th and just got back yesterday! We were on the Bassetts Fire in Sierraville, CA. Have so much to write, but gotta watch X Men 3 with Tim and get some sleep before I fly off to Donna's wedding in MI this weekend!

Big Lebowski Party, Donna's shower, and Bell's Beer

Haven't been online in a while - spending most of my time up at Tim's, because it's just more fun that way. :)  But for those of you worrying about what I'm up to/how I've been/if I'm still alive...

I am sick of AOL's photo journals because you have to view each photo one at a time, and my mom can't see them at work. I put some up on my Shutterfly site, and also on my Trekshare Travelogue. Remember - on Trekshare, you can view all the photos at one time by clicking the "Index" link on the top of the photo viewer window that pops up. I'm also putting up pictures of Donna's Bridal Shower, our night at 5th Avenue while I was in Michigan, and the Big Lebowski night at the Rock Inn. That's right - they showed the movie and gave drink specials on "Caucasians" (aka White Russians) if you wore a costume. I won the prize for best costume... but that's probably because I dressed up as Bunny Lebowski and wore a bikini. ;)  I wouldn't have done it if another girl hadn't gone back with me to change... we both were like "well I didn't want to be the ONLY girl dressed in a bikini!" so we rallied and made it happen! (No, didn't just wear a bikini - was in a big red robe pretty much the whole time, hee hee!)

I got word last week I might go out with a fire crew from Bandelier National Park... but that didn't happen, so I just heard now that I should be ready to go out with the Northern Colorado handcrew on Monday. FINALLY! It has to happen soon so I can go out for the full 2 weeks - Donna's wedding is coming up soon and I can't miss that! Cisco's last day was last week, so now I have to improvise without a partner until October - I can't cut unless somebody is there to spot me, which is a bummer. I'm trying to recruit bored people to help me for a day here and there. So far, it's working. ;)  Have a few unsuspecting folks lined up to drag brush with me, heh heh! Monday, I have the "Road Hogs" - mostly retired volunteers that are skilled in roads work - to help me shut down Bear Lake Road while I drop trees, and then help me load and haul them. I should have 10-18 people, so we'll get a lot of work done... if I'm here! Then Tuesday I have 6 more volunteers to try and take some pine beetle trees out of a campground. Not sure how that is going to go, never worked with these peoplebefore so we'll see how much I have to yell at them to NOT stand under trees when they are falling. I'm being only HALF joking there. (rolling my eyes)

Uhhh yeah besides that, I am unemployed in about a month and I'm not all that worried about it. A few things I'll hear about in the future - maybe be able to work on Fuels crew in the winter after all, and finally hear about that maintenance job in Grand Lake - and well frankly my unemployment check will be pretty fat so NOT working doesn't sound all that bad! Thank the federal government for encouraging us to go on unemployment instead of giving us non-seasonal jobs and year round employment.

I know I never wrote my travelogue for my camping weekend, or how the shower or Michigan went... but I don't care, I've got more important things to do, like goof off with Tim and watch lots of football! Did I mention that I found a way to bring Bells Beer from Michigan to the Rockies? I made my mom stop to get a 6 pack of Oberon on our way to the airport, unsure of how exactly I would get glass bottles through the flight without being broken (since you can't carry-on liquids anymore)... And by the grace of God what did I see?? A lone mini-keg of Bell's, over 1.3 gallons of the best beer East of the Mississippi. It was the answer to all of my problems! I checked it into my luggage and hours later, it arrived at the Denver airport, still cold! I broke it out today as we watched the Eagles (Tim's favorite team) play a great game and then lose it in overtime... Oh, and did I mention Michigan walloped Notre Dame on Saturday? And that's Tim's other favorite team? I only rubbed it in a little bit. :)

And by the way, it snowed in Estes Park this weekend. It didn't stick in town, but it definately snowed and did stick up high. The wind was howling, the temperature was chilly... I love living in the mountains!