East Coast Trip #1
RI.
Hanging with Pop
and Nan.
Holding new parent auditions with Auntie Michelle.
Meeting Ryan, Nora, and
G. Grandmom Marie!
Beach.
Family dinner complete with Great Uncle Jim.
Cazenovia.
Baby and lobster riding a hippopotamus.
At Caz Lake with Nana.
Rochester.
Smooth operator Mr. M playing it cool with cutie pie Georgia.
Meeting Cousins Tobin and
Amelia.
Getting reacquainted with Papa and Yaya.
Comfortable again and having a blast.
Exhausted from all the fun!
Traveling Man
This week, Emmett went traveling. He had to make a quick trip to Colorado. Here he is waiting for his plane in Redmond.
We flew in the Beaver plane over Mt. Hood to Seattle.
We were terrified going into the trip, but E was very good on the plane.
I ain't handicapped, I'm a baby.
We reserved a crib at the hotel in Denver. They gave it to someone else. Not to worry. Turns out they didn't give our drawers away.
Good thing Em can't walk, or stand, or crawl, or sit up, or roll over, or do much of anything.
In Colorado Springs, John and Karen very generously put us up for a night, thankfully giving the sleep-deprived Emmett somewhere to nap. There was a gathering of babies on Thursday night. This was Em's first exposure to other babies (or, really, any other people for that matter).
Those who can get up and walk are free to leave.
Karen made a beautiful and delicious trifle for dessert:
Emmett and Torin playing:
OK, my turn to stick that thing in my mouth.
The real reason we made the trip to Colorado Springs: breakfast at Urban Steam.
Caprese waffle with two over-easy eggs:
The confusor:
Family photos at the Mesa overlook:
Baby toss:
Return flights went just as well as the flights to Colorado Springs. Waiting for our car seat in Redmond.
Spring has sprung.
Corvallis
M loves his book. He gets lost in it and forgets we are there.
M got a cool surprise in the mail from Trish. We thought he might inch to the inchworm. No such luck.
We went to Corvallis this weekend. We took care of a few things at OSU and then headed to American Dream Pizza. It wasn't our first choice, but it wasn't super busy and it was loud. Prerequisites when dining with M. We had the Dog Running - Canadian bacon, smoked gouda, sun-dried tomato, artichoke, and mushrooms. Emmett had yogurt.
We were done with dinner by 6:15 pm (early bird = no crowds to disturb if M gets loud), so we were able to go to the gelato place that we loved when we were in school there. Kyle had coffee and coconut. I had coffee and maple cinnamon.
M is not quite big enough for restaurant high chairs, but his parents are engineers.
It's February. In most places, that means the plants are dead. Not in Corvallis. Even the trash cans are in bloom.
Smile gallery:
Vacation
No cohesive theme for this week’s post (drool, perhaps)...but lots to share. The food pics are at the end to force you to look at the whole thing!
First some random photos:
Sitting up. (Sort of.)
My mom dresses me funny and knows it and laughs about it.
New Year’s Eve MJD style.
Our entire New Year’s Eve dinner was made using Uncle Martin’s recipes. And one of our guests was dressed in his new outfit from GUM (Great Uncle Martin)
MJD posole
MJD margaritas
MJD styling new hoodie and socks
Smile gallery:
Mini-vacation to the Oregon Coast.
Going to the beach.
The dinner conversation was sparkling, but got a little loud.
Tuna ‘mignon’: Bacon wrapped albacore grilled medium-rare, fizzled onions, pan seared vegetables.
Special - tuna and mushrooms over udon noodles in a spicy cream sauce.
Was the trip a success, Lil E?
Road Warrior
After our closing on Monday morning we hit the road. Each car started with a bag of trail mix like this:
Our first stop was Highline Sate Park on the Colorado/Utah border (~300 mi from Manitou).
This is the view looking back on Colorado from a rest stop just over the Utah border. Bye, Colorado.
Our second night was spent at a campground in the Curlew National Grassland. It was located on the Utah/Idaho border (~700 mi from Manitou).
We stopped to feed Emmett at a ‘gas station’. It appeared to have been converted to a zoo. There were miniature donkeys, a sheep, some alpaca, and a couple of dogs.
Our third and final night of camping was at the Cylde Holliday State Park in John Day, Oregon (~ 1000 mi from Manitou).
Some details about traveling with M. First, the Element is the most amazing vehicle ever and why Honda discontinued it continues to confuse and amaze us. Check out this small person changing station in the back. We would stop every 2 hours and 40 minutes to feed the little man and change his diaper. Although we feel like we are putting him in the rack when we load him into the car seat, he really seems to enjoy it and for the most part was an amazing passenger.
The folks at T@G will probably want Kyle to come to work designing more baby friendly campers when they see this awesome baby loft - complete with bassinet and changing station.
Little M approved.
Remember the trail mix bag from the start of the trip? Bags from both vehicles were seriously depleted, but one more than the other...
So, now we are in Bend and getting our bearings. Our new house was just like the pictures, phew.
Just a five minute walk from the house is the Deschutes River and a very nice trail. We haven’t explored much - a frantic trip to Target was about all we could handle the other day with the little man, but there will be plenty of time to see things - especially when the help starts arriving!
The huge moving truck, along with our furniture, is MIA. Last we heard, our driver was gone and a new individual would deliver our furniture. The details of why there was a driver change were sketchy - perhaps our driver was fired?! Anyway, they claim our stuff will be delivered Monday if the driver can find help on the holiday, otherwise he will deliver Tuesday. No rush guys, no rush. In the meantime, M has more stuff than Mom and Dad.
Road Trip 2015
A summary of our trip. My camera only worked intermittently, so pictures are fairly random.
- Total mileage: 5966 miles
- Total cost of gas: $850
- Map shows route roughly and stars indicate places we stayed.
The trip out.
- States we passed through: Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island.
- Places we stayed: Hain Lake State Fishing Area - Kansas, Cobb Ridge Campground - Missouri, Malone Lake State Park - Kentucky, and Gerald R. Freeman Campground - West Virginia.
Missouri: had the nicest campgrounds and awesome trails going up and down hollows.
Kentucky had mean dogs. West Virginia was mountainous and full of fireflies. We also saw the Kingsford charcoal plant there. Both were humid, so my camera wouldn’t turn on.
New York: Ithaca is gorges :)
Connecticut: introducing Connecticut’s best new chef, Sonata Webb. Look at some of the food we ate...
BBQ - smoked ribs and pork and grilled chicken and veggies:
Breakfast: crepes, eggs, and bacon
Dinner: filet with porcini mushroom sauce and seared scallops
The chef:
I’d like to say we only ate like pigs in CT, but every where we visited, we were totally spoiled and fed amazing meals and waited on!
Kyle did a race while there, so his calories were well used. Mine appear to have gone to my belly.
Rhode Island: we got to swim in the ocean!
We also went to the aquarium. I think we enjoyed it more than Nora.
We celebrated Chief Al’s birthday on Jim’s rooftop patio and got to stay overnight in the amazing Gilded Lily (thanks Jim!).
We had a very special guest while in RI, my nan.
Trip back.
- States passed through: Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado.
- Places we stayed: Storr’s Pond - New Hampshire, Fish Creek Pond - the Adirondacks, Lake Erie State Park - New York, Sugarcreek Inn - Ohio, Jubilee College State Park - Illinois, Randall Creek Recreation Area - South Dakota, Custer State Park - South Dakota, and North Sterling State Park - Colorado.
We also visited Niagara Falls.
One night we camped on Lake Erie.
We also went to the Badlands in South Dakota.
And that same day visited Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument.
Our second night in South Dakota we stayed at Custer State Park. It had a wildlife loop you could drive. I don’t think either of these guys were ‘wild’, but they were cool to see regardless.
Our last night on the road. Don’t be fooled. I wasn’t cooking. I got used to having other people wait on me. This shot was totally posed.
Tico Time
We went to Dominical, Costa Rica for seven days. It is a fishing village on the Pacific Ocean with beautiful beaches and consistent surf. We stayed at Costa Parisio. This was the view from the driveway.
The room we wanted wasn’t available for the first two nights of our stay, so we stayed in the Pelican room initially.
It was nice, but when you sat on the porch, you looked out over the parking lot. So, we moved to the Toucan Nest.
The view from the porch was much better, it looked out over the ocean.
We were not alone in the Toucan Nest. This guy lived on our roof.
We would sit on the porch in the morning and watch ‘tv’. The only show playing was Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. We saw plenty of butterflies, lizards,
flowers,
and birds.
There was even a toucan at the Toucan Nest.
We did not see these guys from our porch. Phew.
We spent every day at the beach. The air and water temperature were about the same, 85 F.
We saw a lot of fantastic sunsets.
Now the food pictures. A typical breakfast in Costa Rica is called gallo pinto (spotted rooster). It is beans and rice with eggs, and it is delicious.
A typical dinner is called a casado. The literal translation is married. In general, it is meat, beans, rice, and a salad. Here is a casado de pollo.
These dishes are what we ate most days. Our hotel had a restaurant that we went to twice - it had ‘fancy’ variations of the typical dishes and cool plates that used lots of local produce and fish. One night we had coffee & chipotle seared blackened mahi mahi, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, mango salsa, guacamole & yoghurt coriander sauce
and local caught red snapper with dijon almond crust, garlic & herb baby potatoes with watermelon feta salad.
The second night we had a pina colada,
coconut curry chicken with mango and pineapple,
pizza with pulled pork and plantains,
and chocolate AVOCADO pie and coconut cheesecake.
Turkey Day
We headed to the ABQ for Turkey Day. Thursday was the delicious food.
Friday was the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.
Saturday night was the San Luis Brewery
And Sunday was the Great Sand Dunes National Park
Finally - unrelated, but we had some visitors at the cabin and I couldn’t resist sharing.
Bad bloggers
We have been negligent with the blog updates. Here’s the past couple of weeks in a nutshell.
At the end of August Kyle did the Buffalo Creek XTERRA.
Then Labor Day weekend we went camping and riding near Taylor Park. One day we rode up Cottonwood Pass.
The other two days we went mountain biking.
This past weekend we went to Fruita for the Desert’s Edge Triathlon. Kyle did the off-road race,
and I did the road race.
We both won these cool gecko ‘trophies’. And you all thought I was slacking all summer!
And now for the food pictures:
Yesterday we went to the Rabbit Hole to celebrate our anniversary. We had couscous balls with curry pesto
chorizo and cider soup,
salad with seared scallops, wilted rainbow swiss chard with truffle bacon butter, red onions, and cranberries,
and angel hair pasta with lobster, shrimp, scallop, asparagus, cherry heirloom tomato, champagne cream sauce, and fried leeks.
It was very good, but dinner tonight may have been better. If you can’t go to Block Island, you can bring the Block to you! Thanks to Lobster Guy we had littlenecks and mussels,
clam chowder,
and lobster from Point Judith, RI. Yes, I buy Kyle presents that I get to enjoy too. Selfish or smart? Maybe both.
Happy Trails
Day 1: On Wednesday, we drove from Manitou to Utah.
On the way, we passed through Vernal, UT, where they have miles and miles of beautiful flower baskets lining the town, and ...
a pink dinosaur.
That night we camped at Soldier Creek Reservoir.
Day 2: The next day, we drove to Boise, ID.
That night, we camped at Grayback Gulch.
Day 3: On Friday, we went and rode the bike course for the Xterra Les Bois on Saturday.
The course was on trails overlooking the Boise River.
Most nights we cooked dinner in the T@G (we won’t bore you with pictures of our pasta and couscous), but we made sure to eat out once in each town we visited. That night, we ate at Fork in downtown Boise.
We had Thai curry mussels,
and trout with mango salsa on a parsnip puree,
and a BAM (bacon, avocado, and mozzarella) sammy.
Day 4: Saturday was race day.
After the race, we headed up into the mountains and camped near Bogus Basin, the local ski area.
We had great views from our campsite.
And, a wicked awesome sunset.
Day 5: Sunday morning, we rode the amazing trails around Bogus Basin.
After the ride, we headed to Ketchum and Sun Valley, ID.
We camped along the Corral Creek with a view of the Sun Valley ski area.
Day 6: On Monday morning, we rode the Bald Mountain perimeter loop. The trails were great and the views were impressive.
Dinner was at the Ketchum Grill, where we had duck
and meatloaf.
Day 7: On Tuesday, we headed to the Sawtooth Mountains.
Where we went for a hike in the Sawtooth Wilderness Area.
We hiked up to Alpine Lake
and then on to Sawtooth Lake,
where we had lunch
and a very cold swim.
Day 8: The next morning, we went for another great Sun Valley ride in the Greenhorn Gulch area.
Along the ride, we saw a family of pterodactyls.
After the ride, we drove to Ogden, UT and camped at Magpie Campground.
Day 9: Thursday we rode from Pineview Reservoir up the Wheeler Creek Trail to trails at the Snowbasin ski area.
That night, we headed into Ogden for dinner.
Tempura calamari,
scallops with squid ink fettuccine,
and pork two ways that, as far as we could tell, only had pork one way - a pork chop.
Day 10: Friday morning we drove to Park City to ride the Mid-Mountain Trail.
That evening we camped along Co-op Creek.
We were quite sad to see it end, so we drowned our sorrows in the official trip drink - gin and juice (laid back - Chris you know).
Washington D.C.
Last weekend we went to Washington D.C. Becca had a conference and Kyle went touristing. On the way out of town we had dinner in Denver. Chicken and waffles:
and lamb parts and pieces:
Some sights from Saturday:
Cuban food for dinner:
Some sights from Sunday:
The other reverend:
Lunch was goat stew:
The Supreme Court:
Sunday night was tapas night:
Kansas and the t@g
We went to Lawrence, Kansas for a race. Kyle raced. I was support staff.
First - check out Kyle’s leg. Oh, yes. He’s racing as a 40 year old. Oh my.
It was a beautiful place and course. I snuck in a ride during part of the bike and run and took some snaps.
After the race we picked up our new ‘camper’ and hit the road. Side view:
The galley:
We were very popular at the campgrounds. That happens when you have the world’s coolest camper. Some pictures from our sightseeing:
Alley Loop 2014
We went to our third Alley Loop in as many years this February. For a while it seemed like we weren’t going to make it. Monarch Pass was closed on Friday night due to avalanches, keeping us from getting to Crested Butte until the following morning after 8.5 hours of driving and a stop over at the cabin.
Becca did the 21 km length race while Kyle did the 42 km, so all the pictures are of him... and food - of course.
We went to Montanya’s for fancy rum drinks, polenta caprese, and pork tacos.
No trip to Crested Butte is complete without dinner at the Secret Stash. Our pizzas (spinach, pancetta, cheese, over easy eggs, and a garlic butter sauce for Kyle and chicken, cheddar cheese, ham, and bbq sauce for Becca) were delicious as always.
Snow Sculptures
We went to the International Snow Sculpture competition in Breckenridge. It was cool except for the crowds.
Back in Business
The computer has been replaced, the pictures ‘recovered’, and we are back in the blog business. Now to get you back up to speed.
We went to Nelson, BC to ski in January. We stayed at the super cool Alpine Motel.
We skied Whitewater Ski Resort a few days. It is on the Powder Highway, which the internet says is:
In short, it’s all of the ski product located in the south-east corner of British Columbia — yup, that’s 65 ski operators:
~ 8 Alpine Ski Resorts
~ 22 Backcountry Lodges (plus 7 Backcountry Guiding Services)
~ 9 Heli Ski Operators
~ 11 Nordic Ski Resorts/Clubs
~ 15 Snowcat Ski Operators
We also spent two days in the back country. One day in Nelson:
And another day at Kootenay Pass:
Where are the food pictures, Nan? Here they are. We went to a great place called ‘The Outer Clove’ and had an amazing stuffed portabello burger and quesadillas with mole sauce. Yum!
We also went to Sandpoint, Idaho for a day of skiing at Schweitzer. No ski pics, it was really good, but too cold for me to take my hand out of my glove. We went to an amazing tapas bar called La Rosa Club and the brussel sprouts were worth blogging about!
Almost as good as this ice cream sandwich.
Vegas, Baby!
The Ironman 70.3 World Championship was in Vegas. I have never seen so many Olympians before! The swim was in Lake Las Vegas:
This is the start of Kyle's swim wave:
The bike ride was in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area:
The run was in the town of Henderson:
We took some side trips. One was to the Hoover Dam:
And the second trip was to The Strip. I bet $1 and won $17.20.
East Coast Tour
We have a lot of great pictures from our recent trip. Too many to post. Here are a few...
And now the food pics! We ate like kings the entire time. I won't bore you with pictures of every meal.
And in case anyone was wondering:
Fruita
This weekend we went to Fruita. We've been there many times to mountain bike, but this trip was for a race.
They have a very interesting road naming convention in Fruita.
More interesting than 11 8/10 Rd, there was also a R 1/2 road. What is 1/2 R?
I was not in the race, so I rode the bike course in search of the perfect picture. While the effort was there, the picture taking skill was not.
The run.
We had some great food and drinks on the trip, perhaps the best named was the 'Fiery Engineer' Kyle had at dinner...
Mexico
We went to Uncle Jim's birthday party in Mexico. We stayed here:
Some of us went to Sayulita a couple of times. It was a good place to surf, paddle board and eat fish tacos.
There was a pool and beach at the house that we all enjoyed, especially Ryan.
We saw whales,
birds,
and Senor Don Gato.
Everyone enjoyed some fun in the sun...
thanks to this guy.
Portland
Last weekend we went to Portland. Kyle was presenting a paper at a conference, and I tagged along for the weekend. We did the essential Portland things:
1. Drank coffee
2. Drank beer
3. Went to the beach
Two races one weekend
This weekend we watched a race, the USA Pro Challenge, and were in a race, the XTERRA Lory. We watched the Pro Challenge from the Garden of the Gods.
On Sunday we raced in the XTERRA Lory in Lory State Park which is near one of the coolest cities in Colorado, Fort Collins. Kyle was able to finish, change his clothes, and go get his camera before I finished, explaining why there are only pictures of me. In my defense, I did start later...
We want to move to Steamboat
Last weekend we went to Steamboat Springs to ride our mountain bikes and do a quick backpacking trip. The mountain biking was great. We rode on trails located on the ski mountain. There were very nice wildflowers everywhere. Here's Becca on Pete's Wicked Trail (sounds east coast doesn't it?).
Aspens that make good skiing in the winter time.
After our ride we went to Mazzola's for happy hour. Half price apps and cheap chianti!
Dinner was delicious.
We camped in the Element that evening and made coffee in the morning with Kyle's new french press - thanks, Chris.
Then it was off to Gilpan Lake.
We camped by a creek. It got pretty cold.
In the morning, despite hypothermia from the night before, we swam in Gold Creek Lake.
This is us.
HITS Tri
Day 1: Becca's race:
The first day Becca did an Olympic distance race (1500 m swim, 40 km bike, and 10 km run). The day started out cool with a swim in North Sterling Reservoir,
but by the time the run came around, it was hot - 100 F!
Happy to be done.
After the race we went to check out one of the many sculptures around Sterling. We like giraffes.
We also played with a stray cat in the park.
Day 2: Kyle's race
The second day, Kyle did a half-iron distance race (1.2 mile swim, 56 mi bike, 13.1 mile run). It started out warmer than the day before. The course was very beautiful, passing through rolling farmland.
By the time the run came around it was much hotter than the day before. This was a road race, how did he get so dirty?
I Heart San Diego
I spent Monday through Wednesday in San Diego. I went for work. The conference was here:
It was 75 and sunny and there was water every where, so staying inside was TORTURE. In the evenings I went to the beach.
I also went to Cabrillo National Monument. There were tidal pools
cliffs
Cabrillo himself
a light house
and views
Memorial Day Weekend 2012
It is Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer and the official start of pictures of Becca and Kyle in stretchy clothes season. This weekend we headed north to Wyoming for some mountain biking. The first day we rode in Curt Gowdy State Park. It was awesome.
We camped (slept in the Element) in Medicine Bow National Forest. It was a beautiful camp spot, but a little windy and it got very cold at night.
A little two-buck chuck, straight out the bottle. Classy.
Day two started out cold and windy. We sat in the car waiting for it to get warmer, but it never did. So we stopped being wimps and biked in the national forest on the Happy Jack trails. They were some of the nicest trails ever.
Day three started about 4 am, when we were sure we were freezing to death. We started the Element and fell back asleep. After an hour or two nap with the car idling (not very green, we know), we packed up the car and headed south. We stopped in Fort Collins, one of the greatest places ever, and rode our bikes in the Horsetooth Mountain Open Space. It was the hardest riding we did, but very pretty. We made sure to have some gelato before heading home.
Alley Loop
Kyle and I headed to Crested Butte this past weekend for the Alley Loop nordic race. We stayed right in town at the Elk Mountain Lodge.
The Alley Loop is a fun cross-country ski race that covers both the nordic trails just outside of town and the streets of downtown. They actually covered the streets and alleys with snow and groomed them. The race start:
Kyle's race was 42 kilometers, I only did the 21 kilometer race, so I was able to run back to the inn and grab my camera for some action shots.
After the race we went to our favorite restaurant, The Secret Stash, for yummy pizza. We ordered stuffed mushrooms and two pies - the race made us hungry! The Woodward - butter garlic sauce, spinach, mozzerella, proscuitto, and eggs is pictured below...
On Sunday we did some alpine skiing at Crested Butte. Here is the view from the top of the lift.
And a self portrait. 
Mountain Biking & Leaves
Last weekend we drove to Uncompahgre Plateau for a weekend of mountain biking and leaf peeping. The plateau is about 5 hours from Colorado Springs in an area of Colorado referred to as the Western Slope.
Day 1: Our campsite is one we've had before. It's a beautiful site on the edge of a canyon.
We were able to do a long bike loop right from our campsite. The first leg of the ride followed a forest road with some amazing colors:
We then took a trail to an overlook that had a view of the LaSalle mountain range in Utah at its end. Here are some pictures from along that trail.
It had started getting cloudy by the time we made it to the overlook, so we didn't get any great pictures of the view. There were some 4-wheelers there who took pictures of us instead of the mountains. I guess they found it hard to believe that people rode their bikes ALL THEY WAY to the view point. We took a combo of multi-use trails and forest roads back to camp. No matter where we were there were plenty of beautiful leaves.
After a 4.5 hour bike ride followed by a couple hours of grading quizzes, we had worked up quite a hunger. We concocted a rather delicious meal from rice, canned pozole, tapatio, and avocado.
Day 2: On the 2nd morning we packed up the car and drove to some trails that were on the way out. Again, the colors and views were amazing.
I had the bright idea that we should take a detour through Aspen to see the colors. Given the town's name, it seemed to me that should be the best place in the state to see aspen leaves. It did not disappoint, but it probably added 2 hours to our already long drive. Oops. This picture is looking down on Aspen from Independence Pass.
Ironman Canada
We went to Penticton, BC at the end of August for Ironman Canada. Penticton is a nice town in the Okanagan Valley, which has several large lakes, all surrounded by mountains, and seemingly endless vineyards and fruit orchards.
Here's Becca at the Japanese garden on the edge of Lake Okanagan:
On Saturday, the day before the race, we drove the bike course, got some fresh peaches from a farm stand along the route, and took some pictures:
We stayed at the Plaza Motel - very classy.
The race was on Sunday, starting with a 2.4 mile swim in Okanagan Lake. Here's the start:
The bike was next. It's a great bike course - very hilly. Here I am on my way out of town:
And again, after a hot and windy 112 miles:
It was a really hot day - mid 80's for the run. Here I am near the beginning of the run. This guy thought Bec was taking his picture.
Highlights from the run: Australian guy saying to me, "You've got a duck in you pocket mate. Could've used that one going up this hill." and the person sitting on ths side of the course with a sign that said, "Worst parade ever!"
I finished in 10:19, which was about as good as I could have hoped for. Here I am at the finish with an Orange Crush:
Penticton seems to be mostly Greeks and Sihks. There were a ton of Greek restaurants, and Sihk temples. Just about everyone working in the orchards was wearing a turban. We went to a really good Greek restaurant after the race. We had Spanikopita
and dolmades
and rabbit stew made from local rabbits
East Coast Bike Rides
As our loyal readers know, we did some bike riding while back east. The rides were beautiful and hilly. We saw a LOT of farms and cows...
It was a little early for a tasting at Jonathan Edwards, but I couldn't resist a picture of their grounds.
Jonathan Edwards Winery
Connecticut ride - Barn 1.
Connecticut ride - Barn 2.
NY ride - Barn 1.
NY ride - happy chickens.
RI ride - happy cows.
CT ride - happy Kyle.
NY ride - happy Kyle.
RI ride - happy Becca
East Coast Sights
A few pics from our wonderful visit to the east coast.
The Boston skyline as seen from Uncle Jim's roof.
A picture from one of my most favorite places on earth, Block Island.
The new little man in the Cullion family.
Stonington roses.
More Stonington flowers.
Marie.
Sunset on Candewood Lake.
Amelia and Tobin taking a swim.
The new little man in the Webb family.
Tinker Falls in the Labrador Hollow Unique Area in Tully, NY.
Caz flowers - part I
Caz flowers - part II
Wildfire, race, and the 505
On Thursday we headed to Show Low, AZ for the Deuces Wild Triathlon.
Show Low is about 70 miles northwest of Wallow fire which is currently ravaging eastern Arizona. We could see the smoke clouds from the race, but thankfully could not smell the smoke.
The race was Saturday morning. Kyle did the Deuce Man, a half iron distance triathlon, and I did the olympic distance race that started later that day. It was incredibly windy, but very fun.
On Sunday we left Show Low and headed to Albuquerque. We encountered smoke that was thick like fog...
lava fields...
and cacti.
We spent Sunday afternoon and Monday morning with Martin, Baxter, and Java.
On Monday we took a hike in the very cool Petroglyph National Monument.
Kyle and Martin on the trail.
A lion face??
Lake City to Creede - Leaf Peeping
This past weekend we headed to southwestern Colorado for some biking, hiking, and leaves. We drove down to Lake City Friday night and camped just outside the town. Saturday morning started with coffee at Mean Jean's Coffee House in Lake City.
When it finally warmed up, it probably dropped into the 30's overnight, we headed out on a bike ride. First we passed Lake San Cristobal, formed by a massive mudslide many years before.
The top of Slumgullion Pass was anticlimatic after the views on the way up.
But, the views on the way down were amazing.
It wasn't all downhill, we had another pass to climb. This one was a little lower.
A friendly Texan called out to Kyle at the top of this pass "Are you waiting for her? She's having some trouble getting up the hill, but she's not that far behind." He found this hysterical.
After some 'recovery' ice cream...
we headed to Creede.
We had tacos and margaritas at Kip's Grill...it was just like the Kip's in Pagosa. Delicious!
We camped in Creede.
And then headed out for a hike.
Imogene Pass Run
Last weekend we headed down to the southwest corner of the state to Ouray and Telluride for the Imogene Pass Trail Race. It's a running race from Ouray to Telluride along a jeep road that crosses Imogene Pass. Here's the elevation profile.
The weather was perfect, and the race was a lot of fun. Ouray and Telluride may be the two most beautiful towns in the country. We stayed in Telluride, took a shuttle over to Ouray early Saturday morning, and ran back to the finish in Telluride. Here are a couple of pictures of Main Street in Telluride.
Telluride has a downtown and a mountain village up on the mountain at the base of the ski area. The two are connected by a free public gondola that runs from 6 am to 12 am daily. We took a ride up the gondola to explore the mountain village.
In this picture from the gondola you can faintly see the Imogene Pass Road that we ran on as it comes down from the pass.
Backpacking Tuhare Lakes
We went backpacking in the Holy Cross Wilderness Area over Labor Day weekend.
We hiked Fall Creek trail past Lake Constantine,
and up to Tuhare Lakes, which is where we camped.
An ermine came to visit us at our campsite, and we saw a bunch marmots like this fella here.
Fort Collins
We went to Fort Collins for the XTERRA Lory Off-Road Triathlon at the end of August. Fort Collins is a very cool town, and the race was great. Kyle finished well before me, so he had time to go to the car, get his camera, and take pictures...
After the race.
Kyle on the podium.
Fruita
We went to Fruita, CO last weekend to ride our bikes for a few days. A couple of people we know from the pool, Jamie and Kerri, came along. Fruita is just west of Grand Junction, about fifteen miles from Utah. We camped in Rabbit Valley:
The first day there, we rode our mountain bikes on the Rabbit Valley trails. Some pictures from the West Rim Trail:
The next day we rode our road bikes through the Colorado National Monument.
Sunday, we mountain biked on the Kokopelli Trails.
Not sure why they're walking - I rode up it just fine.
Some nice desert flowers:
Ironman Florida Day 3
Today was our last day on the redneck riviera. We had to fly out around 1:00 pm, so we got up fairly early and spent the morning on the beach. I was actually a little surprised by how beautiful this part of Florida is. I always just assumed that Panama City Beach was just a trashy spring-break town full of high-rises and strip malls. There is plenty of all that, but there are also some of the nicest beaches I've ever seen.
First thing this morning we went to the beach just outside our condo, then we stopped at a beach on the way to the airport in the town of Destin. Here are some pictures.
Ironman Florida Day 2 - Race Day
Today's race started at 7:00 am with a two-lap 2.4 mile swim in the Gulf of Mexico. The water was crystal clear and beautiful, though it was fairly rough due to the swell from hurricane Ida down near Mexico. It was a mass beach start, and with more than 2200 people in the race it was pretty chaotic. There was a lot of unintentional punching and kicking for the entire first 1.2 mile lap.
After the swim it was on to the bike for a 112-mile, mostly flat loop. It was a nice bike course and a nice day - sunny and in the 70's. I was amazed at how many people rode the bike portion of the race way, way faster than they should have. It's a long ride all by itself, but it's really just a way of getting to the start of the marathon. I let a lot of people ride by me on the bike, but, as expected, I saw most of them again later as they were suffering through the run.
The run was next. The run course consisted of two 13.1-mile out and back loops through PCB and the surrounding neighborhoods. At the east end of the course the road entered a state park and took a loop through the sand dunes, which was a very pretty, though quiet, portion of the run.
As I came back into town at about mile 13 of the run, I saw Becca on the side of the road watching the race with Pat and Steven Stockwell. They were in Pensacola visiting their son, and came over to Panama City Beach to watch their goddaughter race. Becca just happened to bump into them along the side of the run course.
Panama City beach is actually in the central time zone, but being so far east it gets dark really early this time of year. By the time I finished my second and final loop of the run, 10:09:13, after starting the swim, it was mostly dark already. After a shower we headed to a Mexican restaurant to finish the day off with some enchiladas.
Ironman Florida Day 1
Ironman requires that you pick up your packet and attend a mandatory race meeting TWO days prior to the actual race. Kyle had to teach on Thursday, so that was impossible. We headed to packet pick-up as soon as we got to Panama City Beach of Friday morning - a little worried they were going to tell us 'No dice, we said mandatory pick-up yesterday. Sorry you flew all that way, but you can't race.' Instead we were greeted by ultra pleasant volunteers who happily gave Kyle his packet. Phew.
Next, it was time to pick up Kyle's bike. When we got there, his bike had a flat tire. It was the 3rd time that tire had a flat in the past week AND it was a brand new tire. We decided to put an old tire on with a new tube. Kyle did the repairs and we dropped his bike and other stuff off at transition. I spent the remainder of the day and night worrying we would show up in the morning and have a flat tire (and about cockroaches, but that's a side story). Walking around town was fairly comical. I have never seen so much spandex in my life. There were amped up athletes running, biking, and flexing everywhere you looked. And then there was Kyle...
Dropping off the bike.
Bags full of bike clothes, shoes, and helmets.
So many fancy bikes...
With the race stuff taken care of, we headed to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful! There were miles of white sand beaches and crystal clear water (and high rise hotels but you could ignore those). The weather was perfect with full sun and temps in the upper 70's.
Sunset
There are an awful lot of Waffle Shops in Panama City Beach, and it was pretty hard to find a pasta place. We looked around for a while and finally found Sweet Basil. It was loaded with people from the race.
On cockroaches - we rented a small beachside condo via the internet. It was $50 a night, so Kyle started told me we were staying at the Roach Motel. Combine that with the story a friend from Florida told me about cockroaches walking on her face while she was sleeping, and I was on high bug alert!
Home Again
We've been home for two weeks now. After finishing up some much needed maintenance at the cabin and getting ready for classes (they started August 24th), we finally had time to sit down and go through all the pictures from our trip. I'd like to say we picked just the best, but neither of us are very good at throwing anything out! Click on the photo below to see our favorite photos.
France Update - Day 13
We left Bourg D'Oisans for Lyon today. Before we left, we had to pack up the bikes. Not a fun activity, especially in a musty basement. Kyle documented the process:
We had a fairly uneventful drive to Lyon, we only had to drive the wrong way on the highway once. We maneuvered through the city the old fashioned way, with a map. That may have been why it took so long to find the place we were staying, Artelit. The name Artelit means art and bed, it was a very appropriate name. There are two rooms, each decorated with a variety of antiques and art pieces that the owner, Jean Frederic, found interesting. Jean was an amazing host. He whipped out a map as soon as we arrived and gave us the rundown on where to go, what to see, and where to eat. To top it off, he gave us a card that was good for two free breakfasts at his friend's patissiere. Here are some shots of our room:
Lyon is the second largest metropolitan area in France, we were staying in a portion of the city referred to as Old Lyon. One of the churches we visited was built in 1180, so I'd say old was an appropriate adjective. We did some sightseeing near Artelit and then headed across one of the two rivers flowing through the city (both the Saone and the Rhone are in Lyon) to a restaurant recommended by Jean Frederic.
The food choices were quite a bit different than in the Alps. Lyon is known as the gastronomy capital of France. It lived up to its title. Our dinner on the first night was at Le Bistrot de Lyon. Kyle had feta and lamb stuffed eggplant and I had tuna steak, they were delicious. The second night we went to Les Enfants Terribles. Duck and ravoli were the highlights of our three course meal. See for yourself...
France Update - Day 12
Last night's dinner:
Wood-fired pizzerias are by far the most common type of restaurant in the area. We are very close to Italy, and I guess everyone does like pizza. We had some really good pizzas last night. We also split a salade Lyonaise, which has become one of our favorites. It's pretty easy to have at least one egg at all meals here. This was a two-egg meal.
Today's ride:
Today we rode over the Col du Galibier, another famous mountain pass from past Tours de France. At 2646m, it was the highest pass we've ridden since we've been here. It's very popular with cyclists, and the road was busy all the way up. Again today we had our photos taken by two professional photographers on the way up each side. It's a great, long climb, and the views were amazing. Coming up from the south side there were km markers that told elevation and grade.
A few photos from the ride.
And some from the top.
We rode up and over the pass, and had planned to ride down the valley on the other side for a while before turning around and heading back over. Unfortunately, I got a flat on the way down, and when I was fixing it I saw that there was a big gash in the sidewall. The tire looked like it might not hold together for too long, so we headed back from there.
La Grave:
On the way back to Bourg d'Oisans we stopped at the town of La Grave, a small town known for its skiing. We found an amazing bread shop, where we got two of the best sandwiches ever.
After lunch, we walked around and checked out the town. It's a really nice place. I'd love to come back in the winter for some skiing.
Tonight's dinner:
For dinner we headed to La Rive Guache, a restaurant in Bourg d'Oisans to see what sort of meals we could find that topped with eggs. The first was, of course, our usual salade Lyonaise.
Then we had some pasta. Unfortunately, only Becca's came with an egg. She had the capalettis carbonara.
No egg for me, but I did have crayfish, along with smoked trout, on my capalettis Rive Guache.
France Update - Day 11
Part I: Last night's dinner
I think that a key part of getting the most out of a trip is to make sure to enjoy the local food at every meal. That's why our blog is a little foodcentric. Last night at La Romanche we tried two local specialties, tartiflette and tartibleu. The were casseroles of potatoes, bacon, and cheese. The only difference between the two was the type of cheese. The tartiflette had reblochon and the tartibleau had blue cheese. Pretty tastey!
Others things noticed in the restaurant:
1. The best we can tell, most of the other tourists here are from the Netherlands. Everyone in the restaurant was Dutch and a Dutch soccer game was being shown on the tv.
2. It is less expensive to get a glass of wine than a coca cola.
3. Sleeveless shirts are acceptable dinnerware for European men. Best if paired with capris and a man bag.
4. Tax on alcohol is 19.95%.
Part II: Today's fun
After a trip to the supermarket to buy a picnic lunch, we headed to La Berarde for a hike. When we got there the parking lot was completely full. It was absolutely amazing the number of people out for a day hike, going for a climb, or heading out on a backcountry trip. They were all shapes and sizes and ages too. You would think we were in the most active spot in the world! The trail followed a river to the base of a glacier. About an hour in to the hike we stopped for a picnic.
We spent the rest of the time hiking (guided by signs that told us how long each hike should take) in the Ecrins National Park and soaking up the beauty.
France Update - Day 10
After two somewhat rainy cold days, the sun was out this morning and it began to warm up again. We headed out on our bikes toward Col du Glandon and Col de la Croix de Fer, two mountain passes frequently featured in Tour de France stages. Our cycling guide book says that Lance Armstrong considers the Col de la Croix de Fer to be among the most beautiful passes in all of Europe. I can believe it - it was definitely the most incredible road ride I've ever been on.
From Bourg d'Oisans, we headed up past Lac Vernay, where we swam last week, through the town of Le Rivier d'Allemont, a very nice small town with great mountain views and plenty of flowers.
Here are some pictures from the way up toward Glandon and Croix de Fer.
Becca, being careful to watch out for sheep.
One thing about riding around here is that since were staying in a valley in the alps, every ride seems to go straight up - often for a very long time, and often very steep. Some days we'll climb for nearly three straight hours. Yesterday, when I looked at my bike computer after three hours of riding, my average speed was 9.6 mph - that's a very slow, but not very easy first three hours.
It was a very quiet climb up toward the passes today, with very little traffic, though lots and lots of cyclists. After a while it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere - until, about 5 miles before the summit, a professional photographer with a giant camera jumped into the road and started taking my picture. After snapping off several photos he ran along side me and gave me a card from his photography business with a code on it that I could use to find my pictures for sale on their website. A half a mile later there was another guy from another business doing the same thing. They have photographers on many of the popular climbs in the area all day, every day all summer long, including several spaced out on the way up to Alpe d'Huez. There's a constant stream of cyclists riding by all day, so it's probably pretty good business.
There were probably 100 cars at the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer. There's a cafe up there, and people were hiking and picnicking. Some photos from the top.
On the way back down we made the short trip up to the Col du Glandon.
Then went to the Chalet du Glandon for lunch where we split a salad with potatoes, cheese, eggs, and bacon and an omelette, also with potatoes, cheese, and bacon.
France Update - Day 9
Today was the second cool, cloudy day in a row, but unlike yesterday it wasn't raining this morning, so after breakfast we headed out on our bikes. Our ride today started up the road to Alpe d'Huez, but only for the first four switchbacks or so to the town of La Garde en Oisans. There we turned off toward the town of Auris en Oisans along a road know as Les Balcons d'Auris. It was a similar sort of sketchy mountainside road to the one we climbed up yesterday on the other side of the valley.
After a long climb along the mountainside, the road descended toward the town of Freney en Oisans.
From here we headed up the Vallee du Ferrand for the long climb up to Col de Sarenne.
We climbed into and then up and out of, the clouds on the way to Col de Sarenne.
From Col de Sarenne we had a cold downhill into Alpe d'Huez, where we had what I think can only be described as the lunch of champions. A bacon, egg, and cheese buckwheat galette.
On the way down the road from Alpe d' Huez to Bourg d'Oisans we had a little more time than when we were racing up it last week, so we stopped for a few photos. This guy is the Alpe d'Huez mascot. He's a coypus, kind of a local French beaver - he's not only the Alpe d'Huez mascot, he's also a local delicacy.
Each of the 21 switchbacks on the road to Alpe d'Huez has a sign celebrating past champions of Tour de France stages that climbed up this road. Turn 11 is dedicated to the Frenchman, Bernard Hinault, for his victory in 1986.
France Update - Day 8
Today we took the day off from riding our bikes and drove to Italy. We went to the home of the 2006 Olympic sking events, Sestriere. The drive was full of twists and turns, tunnels, and amazing views. The town itself was pretty small. We had a nice lunch of pizza and cappuccinos before leaving. What was a little weird was that the waiters spoke to us in French instead of Italian. I don't understand either, but Italian seemed more appropriate...
After lunch we headed to Briancon, France. The guide book said it was the highest town in Europe, this doesn't quite make sense based on the elevations of some of the towns we have visited on our bikes, but maybe I am misunderstanding the definition of a town. Briancon itself was pretty big, but it was built around a small, medieval village. We stopped with about one million other tourists to check it out. Besides being a fort at one point, the road that passes through the center of the town has been a Tour De France finish.
After Briancon it was off to Les 2 Alpes. This was quite a mountain resort, full of people, ski shops, and restaurants. We wandered into a Festival of Hay and watched little kids, maybe 10 years old or so, race donkeys. This is probably something that wouldn't happen in the US due to liability issues, too bad, because it was hysterical.
France Update - Day 7
Six days a week in the summer there is a farmers' market in a different town in the Oisans region. Saturday the market comes to Bourg d'Oisans, and is actually set up along the street right below our hotel window. There was an amazing selection of produce, cheese, bread, meat, olives, honey, and all sorts of things.
After walking around the market and having some breakfast we went for a ride up a road that climbs up to the small village of Villard Notre Dame from Bourg d'Oisans. It's tough to describe just how amazing this road is. It's very steep, very narrow, and in spots is carved right into the side of the mountain.
There were also several tunnels to ride through. A few had a slight curve to them, so you couldn't see one end from the other, and one of these was long enough that we had to ride a short way in complete darkness.
There were great views of Bourg d'Oisans and the valley below, as well as Alpe d'Huez, across the valley.
After a long climb, we reached the small village of Villard Notre Dame.
Beyond Villard Notre Dame, the map showed that the road turned to "field or forest track", which eventually connected to another small village, Villard Reymond, high above the next valley to the west. We continued on to see if we could make it all the way there on our road bikes. The first portion of road was great, mostly paved and just a little gravelly.
The road eventually turned to dirt and got a little rough and rocky, but was mostly all rideable. Though here Bec had to walk a particularly steep and loose section.
We eventually made it to Villard Reymond, where we had some omelettes for lunch, before beginning the long descent down into the next valley.
Before heading back to Bourg d'Oisans, we climbed up to Col d'Ornon, which was on the bike course from the race a few days ago.
France Update - Day 6
Today we rode from Bourg d'Oisans up the Veneon Valley, which one of our guide books describes as one of the most beautiful valleys in the French Alps. It really was amazing. The route followed the Veneon River (which runs into the Romanche River further down the valley) much of the way. We stopped to soak our feet on the way up. Some of the rivers in this area are a chalky turquoise like this one. Others are crystal clear.
Some photos from the climb up the valley
On the way up the valley we went through the villages of Venosc, St. Cristophe en Oisans, and Les Etages. The road ends high up the valley at the village of La Berarde, where we stopped for lunch of gallettes stuffed with ham, egg, and cheese. From our table we had a good view of La Meije, one of the highest peaks in France. This old church is in the center of town.
The road up the valley was ideal for cycling, maybe less so for driving. Here are some photos from the way back down.
France Update - Day 5
The short course race did not start until 2 pm. That left time for a leisurely breakfast and a side trip to Oz. We got to the lake about 12:30, and I got set up. I was pretty nervous because it was my first mass start swim. The idea of starting with 1000 other people was more than a little intimidating. I made it through and was on my bike in less than half an hour. The bike was amazing. Hard and beautiful. People lined the street and would scream "ALLEZ, ALLEZ Rebecca!" It was great. As if the ride wasn't pretty enough, the run was gorgeous.
We had a post race dinner of pizza and crepes. Kyle's crepe was stuffed with apples, drowned in chocolate, and covered in ice cream and whipped cream. I've never seen anything quite like it before.
France Update - Day 4
Today I had my race, the Alpe d'Huez long distance triathlon. It started with a 1.2 mile swim in Lac Vernay, a beautiful mountain reservoir near the town of Vaujany. The lake is used for hydroelectric power generation and is only open to swimming for these two races. The water is extremely clear - I'd guess the visibility is probably at least 50 feet or so. It's fairly cold too, at about 63 degrees. Here's a picture of the chaotic mass start.
After the swim was a 115km bike ride. The route started out going west down the Romanche river valley following the main road, then turned south to climb up L'Alpe du Grand Serre. This was a very long steep climb up a narrow mountain road with switchback after switchback. After topping out, there was a long winding descent toward Valbonnais, before beginning the long climb up to Col d'Ornon. The road from Col d'Ornon back down to Bourg d'Oisans is a long twisting descent down a narrow mountain road.
From Bourg d'Oisans to the end of the bike, the course climbed up the legendary 21 switchbacks of the climb to L'Alpe d'Huez. This climb has been included as part of a stage in the Tour de France 26 times. Each of the 21 turns is marked with a sign dedicated to a winner of a past stage (they've had to start sharing signs).
The bike was followed by a hilly half marathon (a very slow one after that bike ride) around the trails and roads of the Alpe d'Huez ski area.
Just under seven and a half hours after starting the swim, I made it to the finish line. The food at the finish included prosciutto, brie, dark chocolate, pasta with meat and cheese, along with the usual fruit and things. Here I am with a piece of prosciutto.
We had a great dinner in Alpe d'Huez before heading back down to the valley for the night.
France Update - Day 3
The drive along the long course was amazing. Kyle should have a great ride tomorrow. His bike is 115 km with plenty of climbing. My short course ride is 30 km long. There is only one climb, but it is the Alpe D'Huez, that should be more than enough for me! The road up the Alpe has twenty-one switchbacks, each one named for a Tour De France winner.
We were careful to stop for lunch today before 2:00. A bust. In the small town that we stopped in, we could only find one cafe. They had already stopped serving lunch, but offered to make us sandwiches. All sandwiches had butter, of course, and an ingredient we didn't recognize, cornichon. The waiter told us it was a small green vegetable. Hmmm. Turned out it was a pickle.
Tomorrow = Kyle's race.
France Update - Day 2
And here's a view of Lac Vernay.
After our ride we tried to get some lunch, but a lot of the cafes stop serving lunch at 2:00, which is less than convenient, since they won't serve dinner before 7:00. We did find a place to eat and had some really good ham and cheese sandwiches on buttered baguettes. A ham and cheese sandwich should always have butter.
After lunch we walked around the town of Bourg D'Oisans. Here are some pictures. The flower baskets and planters here rival the ones in Corvallis.
France Update - Day 1
The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was long. Eight hours in the middle seat long. The flight from Amsterdam to Lyon was much more pleasant. We sat next to Odile, she lives in Lyon and insisted that we took her phone number in case we had a hard time with the French people. This seemed pretty funny since she was French but whatever!
The drive from Lyon to L'Hotel Des Alpes in Bourg D'Oisans was about two hours. The hotel is in a great location right in the center of town and has a terrific view of the walking mall below.
