Keep your sunny side up!
Good advice from Matt's Big Breakfast (painted on the side of their building). Food was yummy from Matt's & my latte from The Grand was too. Pic taken downtown yesterday.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
8-29-16
Good morning, Phoenix!
Playing tourist in our own city! Bob had a Phoenix layover last night & since the AA pilots were put up downtown we took advantage of the free room. The Renaissance Hotel even upgraded us to a room with a view on the 17th floor!! Bob & I had a good time going out for supper & got a new perspective of Phoenix. We were impressed with the new buildings & architecture, clean streets, renovated old brick buildings, museums, galleries, trendy restaurants plus Chase Field (Diamondbacks) & Talking Stick Arena (The Suns). It was a great weekend celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary!
Monday, August 29, 2016
8-28-16
1999 & 2016... with a lot of wonderful in between!
Blessed to have a guy that lifts me up in so many kind ways!
Celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary today; August 28th.
Bob put a sweet post on Facebook with the following pics & quote...
"Oh the places we'll go"... Happy 17th Anniversary my love!
Family photo in front of Tahoe Cabin. :-)
Cradle Mountain hike on Tasmania Island, Australia.
The Subway, Zion National Park.
Saturday, August 27, 2016
8-27-16
Bob is home for 30 hours before heading back to work tomorrow at 6am. He went on the Lifetime ride this morning while I worked with Howard training for his 4th Ironman.
Howard swimming laps at the indoor Lifetime pool. Ironman is November 20th!
After the ride there was a nice cyclists brunch at Lifetime Fitness. I joined Bob & friends for that. It was a treat to visit & eat outside on such a nice morning.
PS: Tomorrow is our 17th wedding anniversary & we're going out for a fancy dinner tonight to celebrate! :-)
8-26-16
Bob's photo of the day; thunderstorm clouds outside Kansas City. They took their 737 wide around 'em!
Thursday, August 25, 2016
8-25-16
Stopped over to see baby Ellie! She's saying "I'm soooo big!" :-)
2 & 1/2 months old. Ellie is a cutie & a little sweetheart. Parents Abbie & Mike are enjoying her a lot!
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
8-24-16
Yesterday I found out this is me. ^ I have a fracture of the Coccyx. :-( Apparently it happened 2 weeks ago when I was making a quick decent down Mt. Missouri. 4 of us slid down on a very steep slope of loose rock of all sizes. I was scooting down fast on my butt & bracing my slide the best I could with my hands. However, there was trauma to my back-end evidenced by holes in my tights & a very black, blue & purple butt. It didn't stop me from continuing our vacation fun & hiking more 14ers!! Even with a constant dull pain while in Colorado I figured it made sense considering.
It was on our 12 hour drive home that I really noticed how much I was having a hard time sitting. And since being home any sitting at the computer or in the car is difficult. I had a Monday appointment with my primary care doctor, they took x-rays & I found out yesterday there is a fracture. The good news is no bones are displaced! I can do swimming, yoga & hiking if it doesn't make the pain worse. No biking allowed & I need to take pressure off sitting by using a Coccyx cushion (purchased that today). Full healing can be 2-3 months but should gradually feel better & be able to do more. It's a crazy bummer but it certainly could have been worse. :-/
8-23-16
It's great to be home with our #1 mutt! Harley is happy to be riding shotgun again while we drive around town. I think she missed us too! :-)
8-22-16
MARMOT: Our 14er hiking club MASCOT. :-) Aren't they cute!
We see a lot of marmots on our Colorado hikes. They are brown, plumb & make a loud whistle noise which gives them the nick-name "Whistle Pigs". Marmots are large squirrels (but cuter :-)) that live in burrows often within rock piles (this is where they hibernate through the winter). They live high on the mountains in the green grassy areas. They mainly eat grasses, berries, mosses & flowers. On our Mt. Massive hike we saw a rare white furred marmot. It was the first blonde marmot we've ever seen. The above pic was taken from the web & some of the information is from Wikipedia where you'll see a photo of our 14er group titled: Marmoteers ;-)
These little guys are cute too!! Pica (pronounced Py-ka)
Pica are also very plentiful on grassy mountainsides. They are a small mammal & member of the Ochotonidae family which also includes the Leporidae (rabbits & hares). The Pica is also known as the "whistling hare" due to it's high-pitched alarm call when diving into its burrow. It's whistle has a similar sound to the marmot. The above photo is from the web but below is our pic of a Pica on Mt. Massive.
Click on the photo to get a better look at this cute little Whistle Hare! :-)
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
8-21-16
Good-bye Aspen...it's been grand!
We're now home in Phoenix! Here are a few left over shots from our Colorado vacation...
The Rodeo!! The 1st week we went to the rodeo with Rich & last week we took Dana & Bill. It's every Wednesday night at Snowmass Village. A very entertaining show!
Double rainbow seen from our condo patio! What a beauty!
Bob, Scott & Rich after they raced part way up Aspen Mountain. Definitely inspired by the Rio Olympics! :-)
"Creepy Naked Baby Forest"!! Had to show friends this crazy sight which we accidentally discovered 4 years ago. 30+ dolls hanging from trees? Yikes!
Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs.
Lovely!! Rich, Bob & I did an easy hike to this tourist attraction.
After Hanging Lake we found a local hot springs to soak our tired 14er legs. This is not the hot springs...just a nice CO waterfall.
25 cent Coca-Cola vending machine!? What a deal!
8-19-16
Yesterday started early! 3am alarm went off & by 3:30am we left Aspen & drove towards Leadville (almost 2 hours) to the trailhead for Mt. Massive. Bob, Dana & I were hiking at 5:45am. At sunrise we were treated to a view of Mt. Elbert (above). Surprised to see snow on the top of this peak! BTW: Mt. Elbert is the highest 14er in Colorado (14,433 ft; hiked in 2013). Mt. Massive is the 2nd highest CO peak at 14,421' & today we intended to reach it's summit.
The sky was blue, wildflowers were plentiful, we saw 4 mountain goats & 1 rare white furred marmot. All of which distracted us from a very steep climb.
Grass + wildflowers on a mountainside = pretty
Rocks + snow on a mountainside = pretty.
And what a cool contrast to the earlier flowers.
Bob & Dana on the home stretch to the top.
Nice work, Dana!! Looks like you're on top of the world!
So fun to summit Mt. Massive with our niece.
Wahoo!!!!!! The 3 Marmot-eers!
Mt. Massive
14,421 ft
August 18, 2016
14er #26 for me.
8.5 miles round trip. Took us 3 hours to reach the summit. 3,900 ft of climbing.
Taking in the view before the down hike.
We had good weather all the way to the car but on our drive back to Aspen a rainstorm came over Mt. Elbert making it's way towards Mt. Massive. It pays to get up at 3am!
Sunday, August 21, 2016
8-18-16
Mt. Massive
14,421 ft
August 18, 2016
Dana was a rock star hiking up Mt. Massive today!
Congratulations on your 4th 14er!
This was Bob's 17th 14er!
We'll be married 17 years this month so it will be easy to remember the year Bob got his 17th Colorado summit over 14,000 ft!
Mt. Massive is my 26th 14er! And easy to remember since I just turned 26 yrs old. ;-)
What a bonus to have a fresh dusting of snow on the peaks...it made for a magical morning!
PS: I'll post more pics tomorrow from our hike up Mt. Massive (the last peak of our trip).
Saturday, August 20, 2016
8-16-16
Today our niece, Dana & her boyfriend, Bill came to Aspen. They live in Denver & we're excited to spend the next 3 days together. Tonight we took the Snowmass Village gondola up the mountain to a great "Farm to Table" dinner event. The food was delicious, the games were fun & the live music was perfect for a wonderful night.
Dana & I have the same sunglasses so we had to take a few pics with our blue & green Ray Bans. :-)
___________________
I missed posting a few pics from Sunday with Danielle (Dana's sister) & her kids.
After our Mt. Antero hike Bob & I met them in downtown BV.
Being goofy in the retro camper photo booth!
Watching the local burro race. It was pretty funny when the runners couldn't get their stubborn mules to move.
Wading in the Arkansas River.
Can't pass up taking a pic of some pretty local flowers. :-)
After lunch & a few games of bean bags we said good-bye to Danielle, Brooke, Ashley & Tyler. So nice to spend time with them in Leadville, camping & Buena Vista!
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