Are we there yet?

January 31, 2010 By 1 Comment

Bob and I planned a hike on Hessie Trail near Nederland Colorado yesterday. It is listed as a moderate 4-mile hike in trail books. I’d like to redefine the term “moderate” as the trail was pretty darn hard at parts because of the snow.

I bought some YakTraks to strap onto our shoes since they are supposed to help with traction on ice. I couldn’t even feel them on my feet and never worried about slipping at all, which is a big deal considering I am a klutz.

Bob let Coda off leash for most of the hike uphill and Coda enjoyed every moment of freedom frolicking in the wilderness. He even howled to the tune of “The Hills Are Alive”. Honest, he did.

While Coda enjoyed running around I was getting pretty tired when we came to quite the incline. I made a rule that Bob had stop every 20 yards so I could rest. I wasn’t kidding. At one point I found a rock to sit on and busted out my stash of Girl Scout cookies that I snuck into my pocket before we left the house. I know you’re all wondering what kind they were. I had Do Si Dos! Peanut butter sandwich cookies. Peanut butter has protein so it was the perfect healthy snack for a hike. Yeah… just go with it.

After about 2 1/2 hours of walking uphill we decided to head down. Ahhh this was much better. I didn’t have to stop at all on the way down. I love gravity. You didn’t expect Bob and I to go on a hike just for the fitness aspect did you? No no no, we went out for Mexican food for dinner to re-gain the calories we lost and then some.

Filed Under: Adventure, Family, Fun, Outdoors

In search of the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

October 28, 2009 By 1 Comment

It took us two attempts to find a pumpkin this year. Two weeks ago we went to Anderson Farms because we had a great time there last year. It was the day after the first snow and freeze of the season so we were warned that the pumpkins would likely turn to mush if we got any.

It was still freezing cold (around 26 degrees) so we grabbed some hot chocolate and hot cider and fed the goats before heading home. The goats loved Bob. Must be all of his facial hair that matched the goats.

Today we went to Rock Creek farms that had the same problem with pumpkins freezing and rotting. Acres upon acres of the pumpkin patch were a bust to walk through. All of the remaining pumpkins had already turned to mush. We headed to the pre-picked bins to get pumpkins that hadn’t turned into orange blobs yet.

Since it is getting chilly here, the kids have started to snuggle. Don’t look at the next picture if you can’t handle cuteness. Don’t let them fool you though! They are still trouble! Just ask Coda where my loaf of beer bread and pound of vanilla fudge went.

Oh, and Bob wanted to show off his pumpkin again:

Filed Under: Adventure, Family, Fun, Home

By Golly, Wolcott is more boring in Colorado!

October 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Bob planned a fall drive near Glenwood Springs last weekend. We passed through a tiny town called Wolcott. Ah yes, visions of a 1-room movie theatre, nude statue fountain and Bobs Big M popped into my head. Wolcott, Colorado didn’t have a signal light, let alone a grocery store. In fact, I’m not sure any civilization existed to warrant a zip code for the town. Since there is barely any evidence that the town exists, here is proof.

We continued on our scenic drive along the Colorado River for about an hour. Purdy yellow Aspen trees and fishermen dotted the riverbanks. It was a lovely, uneventful drive until our gas light came on and we didn’t see a gas station for what felt like hours. I may have over-reacted about the gas light because we survived. (Editor’s [Bob's] Note: We still had almost 3 gallons of gas when we got to the gas station. I wasn’t even breaking a sweat.)

Filed Under: Adventure, Fun, Outdoors, Pets

There is a lake in Colorado!

August 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Bob, Coda and I packed up the car on 30 minutes notice and headed to Lake Dillon to go camping for the weekend. I read about a regatta that was taking place there and was anxious to get out on the water since I miss summers at Port Bay.

As soon as we got our tent set up we saw storm clouds rolling in so we got in the car and headed to Wal-Mart to get a hatchett and then stopped at Wendy’s for dinner since having a campfire was out of the question that night. When we got back to the tent it had partially collapsed from swift winds, and despite having an extra rain tarp on top, had soaked our mattress foam that we brought to sleep on. It was a damp, chilly slumber.

Clear skies

We woke up to clear blue skies and headed out to the regatta. While waiting for the race to start we watched as Coda enjoyed splashing and swimming in the water. Then we saw a water taxi that gives rides from one marina to another on opposite sides of the lake. We had no reason to go to the other marina, but were itching to be out on a boat so we paid to go for a 1-hour roundtrip water taxi ride.

Boat race Boat ride Jen and Coda

The views were spectacular and our captain told us that the lake is about 30 miles all around the shoreline and gets to 300 feet deep near the dam, where the water temps hold steady at about 38 degrees. Burrr. I would not want to go overboard there! There was also a slight gap between the floor boards and Coda was fascinated, curious, and angry that water kept splashing up. Watch his reaction:

Coda attacking water splashes from Bob Spryn on Vimeo.

After our boat ride we went to a nearby park that overlooked the regatta and Chef Bob cooked some burgers while I read a celebrity gossip magazine and occasionally glanced up at the sailboats. I blame Aunt Jodi for my celebrity gossip obsession since she gave me all of her old People magazines.

After the boat race, we headed back to our camp where I was going to read up on breckenridge and see what we might do later.

Jen being lazy

That evening we had a camp fire and ate modified s’mores. Bob doesn’t like chocolate, so I got Reese’s Pieces candies to put on the graham cracker instead of Hershey’s chocolate. It seemed like a good idea in theory, but the small candies fell off and I ended up cramming them into the sides of the marshmallows. Despite the logistical disaster, they tasted pretty good!

Crapmaker

On day three without showers, we packed up and headed to Mt. Evans on the way home. This mountain is slightly over 14,000 feet high. The roads were barely wide enough for 2 cars and there were no guardrails. I was sure we were going to die, but was pleased with the lovely views we would see if we fell to our deaths.

Mount Evans

We made it to the top and saw mountain goats that were no more than 10 feet away from us! The park ranger said the goats put up with humans because they needed to be near the rocks at the top to lick the minerals out. They were cute creatures.

Goats Goats

We headed back down the mountain and passed a Dodge Colt Vista along the way. My parents used to have this vehicle and I was amazed that one was still running, let alone climbing a 14,000 foot mountain!

Filed Under: Adventure, Fun, Outdoors

Getting into the Habit

July 28, 2009 By 2 Comments

Last fall I signed Bob and I up for Habitat for Humanity. I was told to check the local web site frequently to find volunteer opportunities. I didn’t realize how popular this organization was because I checked daily for 7 months for openings. I finally found one for this past weekend and jumped on it. We didn’t know what we would be doing. The only indication we had was that it was in the “construction phase”. This could have meant framing, windows, floors… pretty much anything besides painting and landscaping.

We rolled out of bed early on Saturday morning to be at the construction site by 8 am. Anyone that knows Bob would realize that having him wake up before 10 am on a weekend is almost as rare as seeing Halley’s comet. We learned that is was drywall day! Bob and I grabbed a pair of safety goggles that strongly resembled the size of our prescription glasses from elementary school. We were given about 10 minutes worth of instruction from a supervisor and then we were assigned to drywall the bathroom for the day.

Measuring wrong

The bathroom may seem like a small place to spend a whole 8 hours on, but it was very difficult! We had to measure and cut drywall around all of the water pipes, outlets, shower spout, tiny linen closet and so on. It didn’t help that the framing crew didn’t exactly line the studs up evenly. Some were off by as much as 1/4 inch, which meant we had to do a lot of patching up with cardboard and scrap plywood so the walls wouldn’t look warped.

One of the biggest feats was trying to get around the shower and a thin side strip. It was during this time that Bob learned the meaning of the phrase “measure twice and cut once”. We got to practice cutting that giant piece twice! At the end of the day, we didn’t get to finish the bathroom, but still felt pretty accomplished.

Workers

The place is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath unit in a 4-plex. It is going to a single lady. Her mortgage on the finished unit will be about $500 a month (for a total of around $140,000). The condos across the street that are non-habitat units are selling for nearly $700,000! Habitat certainly helps people in need to afford their own home. Habitat homes are much less expensive because they only need to cover the cost of land and materials. The labor is free through volunteers.

The kitchen cabinets are built by local prisoners that are in a wood-working class while in jail. Habitat covers the cost of the wood and the prisoners make them for free. It is a good way for the prisoners to learn a trade (and get away from their cell-mates “Butch” and “Rebel”). After they learn this trade, many are allowed out of prison and some have opened their own wood-working studio. It is really win-win for Habitat and the prisoners.

Habitat

Filed Under: Adventure
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