Fall Colors in Salida - Saturday

After our last trip to Salida, Chris and I made plans to return this weekend to catch the fall foliage. We timed it perfectly.

After spending all day Friday in the Springs looking at property, we drove to Salida for a couple of nights. We stayed at the Salida Inn and Monarch Suites. It was a bit older property, but gave us plenty of room to spread out.

We arrived in Salida after picking up some Chick-fil-A in CS (Colorado Springs) after it was already dark. It would have been awesome to see the beautiful canyon we drove through, but I imagine we will have plenty more opportunities for that in the future.

We slept in a bit on Saturday morning and then got ready to go for a hike to Boss Lake Reservoir up the Monarch Pass. 

Chris wanted to drive up the 4-wheel drive road but after going a bit, I wasn't too thrilled about the road or about driving the Pilot on the road. 

I made him back up down the hill. He wasn't pleased.

Instead, we climbed the 1.2 miles to the parking area and then an additional miles from the actual trailhead to the reservoir. 

We had been listening to the Saturday morning session of General Conference but lost our signal once we started hiking.

The trail was strenuous but the trees and mountains were beautiful.

We finally reached the lake and stopped to enjoy a lunch along the shore. It was quite a busy destination with one person canoeing and lots of people fishing all around the lake.

We opted not to continue the additional one mile to Hunt's Lake and returned to our car.

If you have never driven through Monarch Pass in the fall, it is a must-do. We cut off of US 50 onto the unpaved Forest Road 237 also known as Old Monarch Pass at Sargents. That was awesome and so colorful. We passed quite a few vehicles coming the other direction.

Fortunately we were able to listen to the afternoon session of conference.

Kristen Camping

Pretty sure that Kristen doesn't love camping all that much, but when your friend group is going...

You just go too.

Kristen and friends had a quick overnight camping trip, had fun, probably didn't get all that much sleep, and some packed up early Saturday morning to get back to attend General Conference at the conference center.

Looking for Property in the Springs

We spent all day Friday looking at properties and homes in Colorado Springs and Monument and making sure that Craig C. was registered as our realtor so that he would get credit for a future sale.

We talked with home builders from Alliance, Colarelli, SaddleTree Homes, and Jayden.

We really love the views from this property with Alliance.

And we love that there are already some established lodge pole pine trees on the lot. There's lots of scrub oak as well that we would have to have cleared out. 

Before leaving, we went to look at a home that Jayden had built for a couple. They graciously opened their home to us. It is so much easier to visualize a plan in person than from just a floor plan on a piece of paper.

So much to think and pray about. You can imagine we are both praying earnestly to know if this is the right choice for us.

Dinner with Misha

On our way to the Colorado Springs area for the weekend, Chris and I got to stop and have dinner with Misha in Denver.

We met for Chinese food at Pepper Asian Bistro. 

Misha drove over after work to meet us. Free dinner! Yes, please!

Old Soup

I noticed a bunch of soups in our store room that are pretty out of date. Some expired before 2010!

My friend, Jamie, has pigs and goats on her farm and said that she would happily take the food to feed to her animals. At least it isn't going to waste!

Dahlias

I love the look of Dahlias. I have three plants growing and two of the plants have flowers that are huge. Big enough that sometimes I come outside and the plant has totally toppled over.

These flowers are quite a bit smaller.

This flower is called a dinner plate size.

I added stakes around one of the plants and a tomato cage on the other. I think I will look for dahlias that aren't quite so heavy for my next attempt.

I have seen some jumbo bumble bees on these flowers!

I picked some of the flowers just to keep the plants from toppling over again.

They look pretty great with a few hydrangeas from my garden.

Lemons

I love my lemon tree. I love that I can grow lemons. These lemons started growing last November. I have two more lemons still on the tree that started in February. If the tree follows its pattern, it should start to flower again in October and November.

Yard Revitalization

Our neighbor, Mike, has had some of his landscaping crew working on a few updates for our yard. The patches are from bare spots in the grass where the rabbits like to leisurely eat. Stupid rabbits!

The biggest change came from adding new mulch to the front flower beds.

It looks and smells fantastic.

Crazy Bug

I woke up from the sound of some crazy bug. It didn't sound like a cicada, but it was intense and trilling and non-stop.

I thought it was outside, so I closed the sliding door in our bedroom.

The bug was smart enough to stop making noise when I moved around the room. Mind you, it is 5:15 am.

I could still plainly hear the bug with the slider closed and finally just got out of bed. I wasn't going back to sleep!

When Chris got home, I heard the bug again and had him be quiet to hear it too.

During the light of day, we followed the sound and realized that the crazy bug was in our room.

Chris was resting and texted me, "Got him!"

I took a pic of this tiny bug that made so much noise. I think it is a narrow winged tree cricket. Google the name and sound it makes and you'll hear just how annoying it was!

Chris to London and Belgium

Chris had a week-long trip to London and Belgium. 

He left on Saturday afternoon, the 16th, and got home the following Saturday, the 23rd. I have to admit, it was kind of lonely.

I kept pretty busy during the day, but around dinner time until I went to sleep, it was quiet around the house.

As per usual with Chris' travel, it was a whirlwind of meetings and dinners and catching trains and planes...and a few missed meals.

Belgium in the evening.

Chris arrived home mid afternoon on the 23rd. Since it was a Stake Conference weekend for us, he was able to get the link to watch at home. He was asleep halfway through the meeting!

Misha's Assignment for Illustration

 

Misha shared an assignment that she created for her Illustration II class. Pretty cool.

Kristen Sick

This was Kristen's first time being sick away from home and it was not fun for her at all. I think it was the first few moments when she has felt some significant homesick. There's nothing like being home and having mom around to take care of you.

Kristen skipped her Monday classes since she wasn't feeling so hot. She did take a bus to Wal-mart to get a few supplies and meds.

On Tuesday evening, Amy and Chelle surprised Kristen with a care package full of apple juice, treats, snacks, and ginger shots.

The ginger shots are pretty powerful but are supposed to be helpful. Amy sent some videos of all three girls taking the shots.

Here's a pic of Kristen after the ginger shot!

Kristen was pretty touched that Amy would drive 45 minutes one way just to surprise her and bring her stuff. I am grateful for girls who are so good to each other.

New Window

During the last hail storm, the frame on one of our windows was shattered.

Insurance paid for the new window, however, the company that created the window kind of went rogue and built a double hung window instead of a crank window similar to our other windows.

While the window itself was nice, it looked completely out of place with the rest of our windows. The manufacturer wasn't too thrilled to have to make a new window...and it will take another three months probably.

Until then, the new window was easily installed and will be a filler until the new window is done.

The owner and the installer guy both tried to tell me that double hung windows were by far a better choice and what they would recommend. I, however, like that my crank windows have the screen on the inside of the window and when the wind blows, dirt doesn't blow in the screen as it would if if the screen was on the outside of the window.

We had those kind of windows in our Monarch house and they were always filling with dirt when we had wind storms. 

Plus, when the wind blows, it seals a crank window tighter so that air and dirt aren't getting in the house.

No double hung windows for me!

Kristen Off to Amy's

Just for fun, Kristen took Trax to Amy's for an overnight stay. She arrived on Friday evening and Amy dropped Kristen back off at Trax on Monday morning so Kristen could ride back to SLC.

Unfortunately, Kristen woke up sick on Monday morning. 

Fingers crossed that neither Amy nor her roommate, Chelle, get sick. And here's hoping that Kristen feels better quickly.

Besides being sick though, it is fun that Amy and Kristen get to spend so much time together.

Misha's Teeth

Misha texted after visiting the dentist: "Dentist said that my teeth should be on a poster for what teeth should look like."

She does have a beautiful smile. 

Crazy Day at the Nail Salon

I visited the salon this morning for a pedicure.

While there, I kept up to date on social media while half-listening to another patron who was getting her face waxed while her fingernails were drying.

She talked about knowing there were hairs growing on her chin but she just couldn't see them.

I had also noted that my salon professional was not in a good mood. Her face was like stone and what usually would take about 45 minutes to an hour for a pedicure, she finished in 35 minutes.

As she finished my pedicure, the owner's husband walked into the salon and my salon lady just started going off on him.

She was speaking in Vietnamese, so I didn't understand a word, but she was ANGRY.

After she walked away, the owner's husband walked over and apologized to me. Kim, the owner, apologized to me and the salon lady came back and apologized, but then she tried to tell me in broken English something about her license and not being allowed to do something.

During all of this, the older lady, who had her face waxed, was having her nails finished and tried to break the ice with some crazy statements.

She started talking about getting older and having hair just start growing in crazy places. She had the audacity to look at me, point, and say, "Ask her. She knows."

I looked at one of the other salon workers and said, "She just called me old!"

It was a crazy morning. I got a lot more apologies before I left.

Chris Washing My Car

 

You know your husband is pretty awesome when you come outside to find him cleaning your car because it was so dirty. If he's wearing a cowboy hat, all the better!

Misha's "Clean" Apartment

Misha texted a picture of her apartment after she spent some time cleaning on a Saturday morning.

On another note, there was a quiz on the radio show Chris and I listen to in the morning that said: 1 in 4 people say they bonded with their family as kids doing this...?

The answer: Chores!

Flying on Sept. 11, 2023

Chris left early for his 8 am flight to Austin, Texas this morning.

As he arrived at the airport, he was impressed with the commemorative moments throughout the airport to help remember 9/11/01.

A table was set up in honor of all of the United employees that perished on 9/11.

A moment of silence was announced over the PA system at the moment the first airplane had hit the Twin Towers.

All security was stopped for an Honor Guard. The guy standing close to Chris in line at security started to cry.

And people were just a little more kind. A little less pushy. A little more willing to let someone go in front of them on the escalator. A little more respectiful. 

A Trip to Colorado Springs

Chris and I spent the weekend in Colorado Springs. We went down for the Parade of Homes and wanted to begin looking around at homes, prices, and location.

We are "considering" a move. We have LOVED living in our home at Pelican Shores, but with just Chris and I at home, the work to maintain an acre and a half of property is overwhelming. We hired a young kid to help with yard work and even he got overwhelmed because when he was done, there was still so much weeding that he didn't do.

Chris and I spent about six hours trying to get that caught up.

We don't spend as much time on the water and with the fees that we pay to the HOA, we definitely aren't getting our money's worth there. BUT, we love love love the view. That would be hard to leave.

Are we crazy? Maybe. 

At this point we are just looking. When you think of Colorado and mountains, Colorado Springs is probably what comes to mind. We both love the lodge pole pines that grow there and would love to find a home that had a view of the mountains and was set in a stand of trees. We could probably get use to that change in scenery.

Anyway, we drove down on a Thursday evening. Chris had meetings Friday morning, but from noon on Friday until 6 pm on Saturday we were on the go looking at the Parade of Homes homes.

We will keep you updated.

Mountain Biking with Friends

Chris had been planning a mountain biking adventure with a few of his previous co-workers. Since we were also planning to spend a few days in Colorado Springs and Morrison was kind of on the way, I came with him.

He dropped me off at Colorado Mills Mall. I walked through the mall and Target and then walked over to Panera where I sat and caught up on some blogging.

He had a blast biking. The guys he went with had great trails within their neighborhood.

Steamboat Springs - Day 4

Chris had Labor Day off! Yay. We checked out of the hotel at 10 am and headed to Fish Creek Falls for today’s hike. Gotta be honest, my feet and glutes were pretty tired after the previous two hikes.

This hike would prove to be just as taxing. We walked to the view area for the lower Fish Creek Falls, and then set off on a 4.5 mile round trip hike to the upper Fish Creek Falls. 

I remember that we did this hike with our girls when they were much younger. In fact, Chris carried Kristen in a kid backpack while I helped Misha and Amy along. The older two did not enjoy that hike at all. Kristen, however, says she remembers it fondly (I think she slept most of the way!) back when she first started out as a passenger princess!

The weather was lovely when we started out. In fact, Chris and I had both been wearing pants and opted to change into shorts. 

The hike, as most mountain hikes do, started with a brisk uphill climb that never really leveled out much. Those are the moments when I wonder why I like hiking so much!

We first made it to the bridge where we must have stopped and turned around when we were with the girls. From there, the trail continued up, even to some precarious granite ledges along the edge of the mountain. 

The weather turned cold, such that I could see my breath, and Chris and I were both wishing we were still wearing our pants. We made it to the second falls, stopped for a bite to eat, took some pictures and started back down.

The weather was colder, but the rain didn’t actually start until we had settled into the car. Good timing.

We drove back down to Steamboat and stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. It was yummy but not as quick as we thought it might be.

Thinking that the route that would take us on I-70 might be packed with weekend travelers on their way home, we opted to drive back through Poudre Canyon. Proved to be a wise choice as an accident closed the I-70 freeway and we encountered very little traffic.

We even stopped to try and find some moose that were supposed to be frequent visitors in the area. No luck except for this large metal specimen.

We made it home just after 7 pm.

Steamboat Springs - Day 3

Church in the Springs wasn’t until 10 am. Can you believe I slept/dozed until 8:30 am? That doesn’t happen very often.

This ward was bigger than the Salida ward, but probably 1/3 of the people were visitors.

There was a missionary from Brazil who shared his testimony and then helped a Venezuelan investigator share his testimony. The bishop had to cut things short, because the testimony went on and on and on.

Chris and I planned to enjoy another day in nature hiking Gold Creek Trail from the Slavonia Trailhead. The drive to the trailhead was about an hour outside of Steamboat. It rained for much of the day, and we wondered if the trails would even be passable.

We ate a packed lunch as we sat in the parking lot at the trailhead and then headed out as the rain stopped. This trail was about 7 miles with 1500 feet of elevation gain. But it was much more enjoyable than the lack of shade on the Mad Creek trail from the previous day.

We had just crossed a river balancing carefully across a huge fallen tree when the rain started in earnest again. Chris and I pulled out our rain jackets and waterproof backpack covers and decided to hang out under a tree for a bit to see if the rain would ease up.

A couple coming down the trail, joined us under our tree and asked, “Have you heard about the hornets?”

We hadn’t. They proceeded to tell us that the hornets nest was marked by two hiking poles next to a downed tree. The rain eased a little so we continue on.

After a mile or so and a number of switchbacks, we spied the hiking poles. Chris opted to walk through the forest and I just passed by on the trail. I figured, if hornets were going to attack, I didn’t want to be trying to run through the undergrowth of the forest to get away from them!

We finally reached Gold Creek Lake and the rain started again. I got some pics of the calmness of the water and then it was pelted with rain drops. After having a snack and resting a bit, we headed back down the trail.

We weren’t even near the hornets nest when all of a sudden I felt a bite on my arm and then another one. A hornet had attacked me. I read later that they are pretty aggressive. Man, that thing burned and hurt.

We hurried down the trail, past the hornets nest again, and made it back to the car with another burst of rain.

Whew. Done.

We saw some pretty great rainbows.

Steamboat Springs - Day 2

We planned to enjoy nature with a lot of hiking over the weekend. 

But first, we perused the community farmer's market. We bought some rolls and pastries and enjoyed the warm Saturday morning. Before heading out to our first hike, we stopped to get some lunch meat and cheese.

Our first hike took us about 40 minutes outside of town to the Mad Creek Falls Trailhead in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness.

This hike was 9 miles round trip with 1700 feet of elevation gain. The elevations was spread out between the first mile or so of the hike and then the last mile. Most of the hike in between was on pretty level ground.

We saw and heard cows as we sat to enjoy our lunch and saw a number of people riding horses.

Before hiking back to the Pilot, we stopped at the Mad Creek Barn and took a few pictures.

We didn't have a lot of time since Chris had made reservations at Strawberry Hot Springs. We drove back to Steamboat, grabbed a quick dinner at McDonald's (meh), and then drove for another 20 minutes up the mountain to the springs.

Our reservation gave us a two-hour window. After that, and at sunset, the springs became "clothing optional". I did see a bear meandering through the trees as we sat in the hot springs.

Labor Day Weekend in Steamboat Springs - Day 1

Chris and I enjoyed a getaway for the weekend to Steamboat Springs.

It is about 3.5 hours away. We drove up past Fort Collins and then through Poudre Canyon. Such a beautiful drive. There were some areas that had been affected by fires but we did catch a quick glimpse of a moose along the way.

We arrived in Steamboat around 6:30 pm at the Sheraton. The hotel was built right next to the mountainside and in the winter, hotel guests can catch the gondola right outside the hotel.

Chris and I had a quick dinner at the hotel. It had started to rain just as we arrived. 

The hot tub was directly below our window just off the 2nd floor. We were on the 5th. We enjoyed soaking for awhile before bed.