Boating the Colorado - West of Loma

This was a great trip between Loma, CO (map) and Westwater, UT (map). We had a two nights on the river. The kids had a riot in camp and in the boats and sometimes just swimming. The picture to the left captures Julia and Garett paddling. Suprisingly they even look sychronized. Thanks to Chris & Bob for the boats and to Chris for setting things up and organizing the equipment. Slideshow is here! Pics are here!

Crestone Music Festival

Crestone is a pretty special place for music. The music could suck, which it didn't, and it would still be great! We were there for day 2 of 3 and saw Eileen Ivers and others. Mia was just getting over her plantar fasciitis and blew her foot out on the first dance. Imagine the disabled (me) helping a cripple to the health center .. Mia wouldn't let me toss her over me shoulder. She had to hop! It was like a 3 legged race at a county fair. More pics here!

Julia's First Day of 1st Grade

A few more pictures of Julia's first day are here!

Chalk Creek Pass and a Marmot

After climbing at Monitor Rock and a stop at Princeton Resort Hot Springs we looked for a camp up Chalk Creek. All four National Forest camps had signs out - Campground Full. Luckily we don't need any smoky official campground to stay in. We headed higher and passed St. Elmo, an old mining town. We took the junction toward Hancock Lake. After many bumps, we started to find sites but they were taken. I was the master camp finder and not worried but it was getting late! I found a side road and put the truck into 4x4 for a bumpy but worthwhile cruise to one of the best campsites of recent memory. Certainly the best of this year. The picture shows us at timberline, about 11,500 ft. with a little receding sunlight. It doesn't get much better. The next day we hiked up Chalk Creek Pass. A visitor suprised us at lunch. It hesitantly approached as Julia shot pictures. She captured the marmot pretty well, I'd say. One more amazing thing we saw is a collapsing mining structure. This thing was just about to fall on the road! See this and other pics here!

A day hike to 12,316

Julia wanted a story. So I told a story about Rebecca, the miner's daughter, all the way to the summit. The story revolved around an old miner and a harmonica. Of course, the miner taught her how to play it. We took a wrong turn so we didn't see Rebecca's cabin, though. I've seen it in the past on ski tours. We'll have to do another hike to find it or maybe a ski tour when Julia gets older, as it's a tough descent. The summit, 12,316, is in the background of the picture here. Beautiful day. Lot's of green but not like the green we experienced on our recent trip to Bavaria. It felt great to get high again. Colorado mountains are good too! Peak 12,316 is just south of Vasquez Peak between Berthoud Pass and Jones Pass. More pics here!

Cuenca and the exit from Spain.

Cuenca's old center bristles with medieval buildings perched above the deep gorges surrounding the town. The hanging houses, casas colgadas, are architecturally unique. They date from the 16th century and hang out high above the river below. Cuenca (map) was a fun town to stroll around. Lot's of old buildings and even gargoyles to look at. I wish I had this door at home. More Cuenca pics here! Later, on the outskirts of Madrid, we found a hotel near the airport. Hotels near airposts are expensive but we found one that was reasonable. It was the fanciest hotel we've stayed at - and the toilet had 2 buttons. One for a big flush (left button). One for a small flush (right button). Not the first time I've seen this in Europe but the first time I thought - Why can't we do this in the Western US (where water is precious?) Madrid's Barajas airport's rental car return was a nightmare. We missed what turned out to be the only road to return the rental car. We spent spent the next hour trying to find our way back. There was only one road and you had to hit the master combination! The trick - Stay right and don't commit to a right turn until you see the small orange sign. Spain was fun and such a huge, beautiful country .. we'll be back.

Montanejos & beyond

1. Julia climbing at Montanejos, 2. Cliffs above the gorge, 3. Yikes, I think there's a reason for the NO TRESPASSING sign. Let's get out of here!, 4. Puebla de Arenosa above Montanejos, 5. Double aqueducts in an amazing location, 6. An aqueduct that was Montanejos is a cool little town perched on the side of a hill. There's paved paths all over town. They are well used - especially to get to the warm springs. We stayed at the Rifugio at the base of a canyon. Climbs were just a short walk from here. West of town is an amazing water project (#3 above). I haven't seen anything like this. Here's another pic which has a link to the corresponding satellite view. Leaving Montanejos, we traveled the small and windy road towards Cuenco (the next post). Incredible scenery on the way - note the 2 lower pics above. More Montanejos pictures here!