Estes Park, President's Day Trip

We took our annual trip by car to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Great time was had by all. Our small camera stopped working after a few pics were taken so, not much to post on the blog. The cabin was great and we found out it was built in 1904 and was the first cabin in that area. The cabin has obviously been added on to, as it was quite big. The snow level was so low we hiked using our grippers instead of snowshoes. The area the kids went sledding was very snow packed and there was some gravel in that area. We also saw very little wildlife. Instead of 3 to 4 feet of snow minimum we could see the trail and rocks on the trails, probably less than 1 foot of snow. The wind was incredibly strong too. So, not the best winter conditions. As usual Estes Park was fun, we had our annual walk around town.

Florida Trip

I had a great trip to Florida to see the in-laws. Traveling with Erin, my daughter, and Ellie, my granddaughter, was lots of fun. Below are some pictures.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Heading out tomorrow and leaving for Florida on Wednesday. A quick visit with the in-laws. Traveling with my daughter Erin and granddaughter Ellie. Should be able to soak up some sun and spend some time at the beach.

Jim worked with Kelley and replaced the water and electric connections on the outside of Sugar and capped off the old refrigerator propane line.

Winter Hikes and Sacred Trees

Jim and I have been going on winter hikes the past few weeks. I took these pictures at Fox Run Park. There was an article in the paper last week about these twisted trees. I always wondered how trees grew in such an unnatural way. Turns out these trees are sacred and were cut this way so the Ute tribes prayers would be heard for 800 years, and that the trees are twisted to point to Pikes Peak. As you can see we found a few of them on our usual trail. When these trees were cut to form these twists they would have been much shorter and closer to the ground. many of these sacred trees have been destroyed during development and our recent forest fires.

New Years Day

Went for a winter hike. Not enough snow for snowshoeing. The temp was just around 30, or a little lower. It was good to get outside, no wind.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013

Christmas 2012

I took a few pictures of Christmas decorations. We went to Gustavus, AK a few years ago. The gas station (only one in town) looked a lot like the little ceramic gas station we have on our mantle. The Santa Face was made with the help of my mother-in-law Emily in 1986 or so. Erica gave us the knitted Mr and Mrs Claus. Erin gave us the snow people. Plus a few pictures of the lights.