Hiking & biking in Arizona

Steve & I flew to Arizona last Thursday.  We stayed with our friends, Bryce and Lori, in Tucson from Thursday until Sunday.  The weather was SO nice for hiking and biking and just sitting on the back patio.  Wow!  We had so much fun with Bryce and Lori and all of their friends.  Sunshine, blue sky and warm weather!  Shorts and t-shirts in January!  I think I could totally be a Colorado person for most of the year, but an Arizona "snowbird" in the winter!

Sunday (yesterday) we drove up to Cottonwood and had dinner with good friends, Ron and Patti, at their home in the Village of Oak Creek.  Today, the weather was much cooler and cloudy and it was supposed to rain.  Steve & I decided to go hike, anyway.  We were rewarded with a beautiful hike in Sedona.  We hiked for 4 hours and hiked nine miles and never saw another person!  So nice!

Random thoughts

I know that when I started this blog I wanted it to be about our adventures.  Sometimes I think our life is a big adventure.  Yesterday we spent some time hiking in the foothills by Boulder with Stefan and Rachael.  The day wasn't as pretty as I would have liked ~ not the typical blue sky, sunny Colorado day that I LOVE!  It was cloudy, but warm.  We started at the NCAR parking lot and hiked west towards the Flatirons and Fern Canyon and Bear Peak.  The trail was muddy.  I was amazed how many people were out hiking and running the trails.  The best part of the hike was walking and talking to Rachael and Stefan.  Steve & I love our kids!  I have loved every stage of their lives, but I honestly really like having "adult" kids now.  They are amazing and really fun to "hang out" with!  I never thought we would have any kids who would ever like to hike.  We joke alot about how much we liked to hike and how we "made" the kids hike with us!  Sometime, ask them about the "famous" hike we took them all on at Bandalier National Monument in New Mexico!  Anyway, now it is fun to hike with the ones who like to hike and do other activities with the ones who don't! After the hike, the four of us went to Southern Sun brewery in south Boulder to have a beer and talk some more ~~ About Pearl, Colorado!


After spending the afternoon with Stefan and Rachael, we headed to Broomfield to spend the rest of the day with Ryan, Kari, Coranelle and Sheldon.  Kari and I went and picked up a friend and we headed to the Broomfield Rec center for a fun hour of Zumba!  The rest of the evening was spent playing and reading and listening to two very talkative and FUN grandchildren!  And the highlight of the night for Steve was rocking Sheldon to sleep!  He loves that! 

Today was off to work in Estes Park.  We truly loved the fact that it was a bank holiday ~  MLK day!  We always get so much done at work when the bank is closed!  I guess everyone assumes we are taking the day off, too!

I am off  to go shovel the inch of snow that has fallen since we drove home from work!  Happy January!

Snowshoe to Ouzel Falls in Wild Basin in RMNP

What an incredible day!  Steve & I decided to snowshoe to Ouzel Falls today.  We were supposed to get snow yesterday in Longmont, but didn't get any.  After church, we drove up to Wild Basin in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP).  We figured there wouldn't be as many people enjoying the outdoors, because of the Denver Bronco playoff game.  We managed to get the last parking space.  The road hadn't been plowed and we had forgotten that in the winter, you park about a mile from the regular trailhead.

The weather couldn't have been any nicer.  Sunshine, Colorado blue sky, lots of new snow ~ perfect conditions for snowshoeing.  We made it to Ouzel Falls.  We were the only ones at the Falls.  We ate a late lunch just as the sun was going down over the ridge line. 

I love the new app on my iPhone.  It is the GPS MotionX app and I use it for all our hikes now.  It tracks our trail and I can add photos along the way.  It gives us the exact distance of our hike.  It tells our elevation gain, too.  Today we snowshoed 7.83 miles and our total ascent was 1,416 feet.  Fun!

Steve & I were reminiscing that 25 years ago (on a Sunday) we were the only people at Stanley Park in Estes Park. (There was a Denver playoff game that day).  He was there with Rebecca and Amanda and I was there with Stefan and Kari.  The kids started playing together. Steve & I started talking. Most of you know the rest of the story!  This Wednesday, January 11 we celebrate the day we met 25 years ago!  Wow!

"Play more ~ Work less"

Happy New Year 2012!

We went on our first hike of 2012 today - Sunday, January 1st!  We have wanted to go back, again, to one of our newer favorite hikes, close to home.  We hiked on the north side of Ralph Price Reservoir in Button Rock Preserve near Lyons, CO.  One of our favorite things about this hike is that we hardly EVER see anyone on the trail.  The very beginning of the hike takes you right next to N. St. Vrain Creek on a dirt road.  People walk this part with their dogs.  Once you go about a mile, the dog walkers thin out and there are just a few of us who continue on.

Today, we not only enjoyed the hike and the solitude, but also talked about our expectations and goals for the new year!  Steve & I really like to hike and talk......  about anything and everything. 

Some of our thoughts from today:  I will turn 58 this year.  My dad retired at 58 and mom was 56.  This is the year they retired to Estes Park.  They loved Estes, the YMCA of the Rockies, and they loved to hike!  I have many fond memories of spending summers in Colorado, hiking the trails.  I am SO glad that my parents passed on this love of hiking & love of the outdoors in me!  Thank you, mom and dad!

Steve & I have decided that we want to "play more and work less"!  We are really going to work on this "goal" this year.  Our playing more is going to include hiking, biking, backpacking, taking photos, traveling in our motor home AND spending as much time as possible with our "growing" family!  We will continue to work, of course, but when we aren't in the office, you will have to come find us on the trails! Or...  with our kids and grand kids!

Christmas adventures

I have been pretty delinquent in keeping my blog up to date.  Steve & I had so many adventures in 2011.  I will try harder to keep this updated in 2012!  Meanwhile, I am going to post some pictures of our family 2011 Christmas!