Last Camping Trip of 2008

We got away for what I think will be the last camping trip of the summer. We went to Shadow Mountain Lake which is on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park near Grand Lake. Dan's brother Jason was in Denver working on a project and we were able to kidnap him for a few days. We were a little disappointed with the campsite, it seems the pine beetle has really taken over up there and the park service has had to cut down many of the trees including most of them in the campsite. We decided to drive through the park on Saturday, it had been a really long time since Dan and I had driven through and it was Jason's first time up there. It was a pretty good showing, we immediately saw 2 female moose in the distance. We also got to see about 2 dozen elk and a marmot along with some snow at the top. It was a beautiful sunny day just perfect for the drive. On the way back out (we only drove to the top and turned around) Dan saw a sign for another campsite we were not familiar with so we went to check it out. It was more of an RV park with a nice stream running through. When we stopped to look around we saw another female moose this one with twins not far behind!!! The are really getting comfortable with people they were in the driveway of someone's house!!!

On Sunday we decided to drive all the way through the park and home through Boulder. It was another great day for site seeing! We had great weather again, just a few sprinkles and more moose!!! This time it as a male, big antlers and all... check out this guy! 2 more marmots at the top, lots more elk and of course my chipmunks. We forgot the seeds but they still came up to our hands looking.

It was another story once we got back to the front range. We could see the clouds building and looking scarer and scarer as we headed south east. As it turned out we were about and hour after the hail, wind and even a tornado that touched down just north of Castle Rock!!!

Olympic Time Party

I LOVE this time of year!!! The Olympics are my favorite thing to watch on TV and DVR's are my new favorite inventions. We can watch all the games in half time as we fast forward through the commercials and rewind the best plays of the day. We had my teacher's back to school party at our house last Friday. Dan had a chance to show off the basement and about a dozen people stayed to watch the opening ceremonies on the big screen.

A twist to the visit

Well we had a little turn of events for mom and dad's trip. Dad was not feeling well so we took him to the hospital to get a check up. Well, he decided to check in and stay for 3 days! His heart had an irregular heartbeat and was in A-fib. Well after correcting the problem and doing a complete check up they said he could go home and he was feeling much better. As it was not the trip any of us thought it would be it was great to see mom and dad and spend time together again.

Mom & Dad visit

Mom and Dad Krieg arrived just in time for dinner last night after a long drive across the state. They got to see Arches, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon on the way from Linda's house in Phoenix to our house. While they are here we hope to relax at the pool, play golf, maybe a little shopping and catch up.

Camping Day 5

A good nights sleep, a beautiful morning. After breakfast a game of disc golf sounded like a good idea, little did I know I was surrounded by pro's! It was fun even if I just ended up walking and watching the boys.

Camping Day 4

Moving day! We are heading to Terryall reservior to meet friends Arnie and other Wisconsin friends. We drove through Aspen then over Independance pass, stopped at a lake near twin peaks for lunch and then drove more to Terryall. Upon arrival my instincts were righ, we were in the middle of nowhere, no bathrooms, no water, just wide open wilderness of Colorado! A beautiful open and quite area nonetheless, let's make the most of it.

Camping Day 3

A very lazy day! Dan fished, I read my book and then we played in the water more. It was a clear night and the stars were awesome.

Camping Day 2

After quite a cool night, Dan got up early to fish whild Artimus and I slept in. After lunch we drove around to look at the other end of the lake and again I think we have the best site in the area! However, we did stop to grab a for sale flyer for a georgous house. We decided that spot is better is better but it came with a 1.3 million price tag, so we will just keep camping!! Later that afternoon we sat by the lake for hours taking pictures, building kerins (rock piles) in the water and Dan fished some more. he caught his limit including a 19" trout- his biggest fish ever!!!

Camping Trip Day 1

The first camp site was a pretty cool lake, but only a few trees in the campground so we decided to drive on the our second choice... Oops! the short cut road to get there was washed out by the latest storm, turn around! After taking the long way around we found a great place to call "home" for the next 3 nights

Just after we got camp set up our new sunshade and all the thunderstorm rolled in. Well after the quick storm we saw a beautiful full double rainbow which ended just in front of our campsite, we knew we choose a great spot at that point.

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend Dan is heading to Louisville, Kentucky for an AVP volleyball tournament and I am heading to Atlanta, Georgia to play in at the USA volleyball adult championships. This year I am playing with Shinkara Red again. I am really looking forward to this tournament.

Colorado Colfax Marathon

As some of you know, I have been training with about 10 teachers at my school to run another half marathon. Well the big day was Sunday, May 18 and we all accomplished our goal and completed the 13.1 mile run downtown Denver. I was happy to see at the finish line that I had beat my time from my October race and finished in 2 hours, 31 minutes, 11 minutes faster than last time.

Arizona Visit

The end of April I had the chance to go and visit my sister Linda and her family in Phoenix. I spend most of the time helping Linda with things around the house and entertaining Sydney as Linda was 9 months pregnant and not moving to quickly. Andy took me to boot camp with him, pretty fun but really hard! I also had a chance to visit with my mom as her trip overlaped with mine. Of course it was great to see everyone and the vist was to short.

It was to short for another reason, as Linda had her second baby girl just 3 days after I left. Everyone is doing well and Sydney could not be more excited to have a real baby at her house.

Steamboat

We decided to go to Steamboat for closing weekend this year. The snow was not good, actually quite icy as it was a great sunny day on Friday then re-froze for Saturday when we went, bummer! We did get to visit Strawberry Park hot springs and that was very nice as usual. On the trip we had an animal count of 100+ elk in Castle Rock, a marmot at the hot springs, a golden eagle in Hot Sulfer Springs, and a 9 month old mastiff puppy. A nice relaxing weekend.

Hotel Apol

Wow, the Apol hotel has been crazy busy the past 12 days! Renee came out to visit and promote her new clothing line. Check out www.verticalathletics.com for details. I was really impressed with all that she has to offer and learned more about coconuts and other materials than I ever thought I would! We had other referee friends and a few homeless referees stay with us between the weekend tournaments. Of course it was a great time, but I think I am ready for a quiet house again. We had to say fairwell to our roommate Keith, it was great to have him as long as we did but I know Suz is happy to have her man home too! Dan is off to Atlanta despite the storms for another indoor tournament this weekend.

Happy Easter to everyone!

Hugs, Bonnie & Dan

Weather

Denver and most of Colorado reached record high temps yesterday, yea 74 deg. in Denver!!! We decided to take advantage of the georgous weather and go to Copper Mountain where it was 50+ degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Classic spring day, we even had to break out the sunscreen... it felt great!

Knowing the weather was going to change and the prediction of snow when we woke up came true. It is blowing and snowing like the weather guy said. I guess we will stay in today.

Getting Started

I was imspired to start this blog today, well see how it goes