Outdoors

Are we there yet?

January 31, 2010 By Jen 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

By Golly, Wolcott is more boring in Colorado!

October 28, 2009 By Jen 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 Jen 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

Disney!

July 12, 2009 By Jen 1 Comment

Bob and I took a 3-day Mini-moon in Orlando, FL a couple weekends ago. When we landed at the airport and you could actually see the humidity! I forgot what that much humidity felt like. We got in after midnight so we picked up our nifty red Mustang rental car and went to the hotel.

During our first full day there we went to Universal Studios. As soon as I entered through the gates my manager called my cell phone. She informed me that 20% of our employees were laid off, including her, but I was safe. I thought it was a shame to hear that news, but managed to suck it up in half a second to ride on the Incredible Hulk roller coaster.

Universal had a lot of rides geared towards grown-ups, so we got to go on a lot of fun thrill rides there. We went on a Superman ride which happened to be semi-motion-simulated, which means I was very nauseous and did not enjoy it at all. I took about 20 minutes to recover in the air conditioned store area after that ride!

Partway through the day Bob got a call from someone offering him a nice new job. Although he loves his current job, the offer was too good to turn down, and counter-acted my dreary phone call from my manager.

We spent a full day at Universal Studios, slathered in SPF 85 sunscreen. At the end of the day, I enjoyed a margarita directly from Margaritaville. And it was strong.

On day 2 we met up with our friends Anthony and Katie at Magic Kingdom, Disney. Bob and I got special pins to wear, indicating that we were on our honeymoon. The employees kept congradulating us. We went all over the park and I even managed to drag Bob on the Dumbo ride and It’s a Small World. The lines weren’t bad at all since we never had to wait more than 40 minutes.

Katie was determined to meet Pooh bear and that was actually the longest wait, but worth it to meet him and Tigger. It was hot in that line and we were thankful that the little girl behind us was using a spray bottle, so we were able to catch a cool mist from her once in a while. Bob dared her by saying “I bet you can’t spray me!”. Bob lost that bet, but in the end… did he really lose?

Our last day started at Animal Kingdom where we only went on a few rides, then made our way to Hollywood studios. We spent a lot of time there to go on the Tower of Terror and the Rockin’ Rollercoaster (my two favourite rides).

Then we took a ferry over to Epcot and got dinner in Mexico. At that point we were all exhausted and didn’t want to walk around much more, so we sat around and watched “Cheesy bird”. He was running around with naco cheese on his feathers and looked silly.

We caught a 2nd wind and went back to Hollywood studios for more thrill rides and we went with Anthony’s parents this time. His mom is a hoot and was screaming her head off. We convinced her that the Rockin’ Rollercoaster was a smooth ride with only 1 loop. Maybe we should have told her it goes 0-60 in 2 seconds flat and there were actually 3 loops.

Overall, we had a nice trip to Disney with our friends. I’m ready to plan my next vacation…just not in the middle of a humid summer season. Katie and Antz are already planning to come visit us in Colorado. Say… Octoberish?

Filed Under: Adventure, Friends, Fun, Outdoors, Travel

Broomfield Twister

June 10, 2009 By Bob Leave a Comment

The past 3 days our area has had an abnormal level of crazy weather going on, with multiple tornados touching down within 10 miles of our house. There was one 3 miles from our house, but it never touched down. Jen snapped a picture here: