Estes Park Races

On the last Saturday of vacation (a few hours after ending our soggy camping trip), the kids ran a race associated with the Estes Park marathon. The girls (Helene and Becca) ran 1/4 mile.

The boys (Campbell and Aaron) ran 1/2 mile. Campbell did a great job of pacing himself. He started out in the middle of the pack, held his pace, and ended up in 4th place.




The following morning, many of the adults participated in other parts of the race. John, Chad, and my dad ran the half marathon. Courtney ran the 10K. Kathy and I ran the 5K. It was cold (40 degrees) and raining. Motivation to run faster!

Our kids are in the slideshow on the official race website. The pictures are from 2 years ago, so you might not recognize Campbell with his hippie hair. Helene (bib number 24) was in early on the Skirt Sports trend. http://www.epmarathon.org/index.htm

Northfork Vacation, Backpacking/Camping

On our last Saturday of vacation, we went camping. This was the only day we could really work it into our schedule, so we ignored the weather forecast, which called for rain.

We backpacked for an hour up the Crosier Mountain Trail from Glen Haven and found a good spot to set up our tent at Piper's Meadow. The boys then continued the hike to the summit, while the girls rested and played around in the meadow.

Here are shots from the boys' continued hike to the top of Crosier Mountain:

The meadow was absolutely beautiful, and we enjoyed playing there in the afternoon and cooking our dinner on the camp stove. We brought MREs from REI which were quite tasty (Chicken & Dumplings and Red Beans & Rice). That was actually the first time in my life that I remember eating chicken & dumplings. It was delicious. I'll have to try a non-dehydrated version sometime!

We also made a small campfire, which was nice, as it was starting to get cold.

Helene found a special dinner spot on the boulder in the middle of the meadow:

John found a good reading rock:

Shortly after dinner, the rain began. And it did not stop. It rained and rained and rained (heavy rain for Colorado) the entire night. Our new tent let quite a bit of water in, and we were all sleeping in puddles. No one got much rest, and by morning we were rather miserable. So we packed up at 6am and headed down. John tried to heat some water for coffee and oatmeal, but the stove, matches, etc. were all too wet. So we just hiked back and hopped in my parents' hot tub. :)

All in all, it was a good experience. Despite the rough night, we enjoyed camping and look forward to going again in better weather!

Northfork Vacation, While the Kids Are Away, the Parents Will Play

This pretty much sums up the relaxing time John and I have had while the kids are away.

Northfork Vacation, Camp for the Kids

On Sunday we took the kids to their first ever sleep away camp. The YMCA of the Rockies has a mini-camp, perfect for first timers. It is 3 days, 2 nights. We drove across the RMNP on Trail Ridge road to deliver them to camp (which is near Granby). The drive (well, the parts of it for which my eyes were open) was beautiful. I can't handle the sheer drop-offs.



We saw this moose on the western side of the park, right by the road. I took this out of the car window.



Annie joined us for the ride. We stopped at a playground for a bit, and John made her a daisy chain.









Camp Chief Ouray looks like lots of fun. There are ropes courses and a swimming pool and stables with horses. The kids got more and more excited as we neared the cabins. There were crazy counselors in costume yelling, "Welcome to camp!" as we drove up. On the way over, Helene starting getting whiny and saying she was going to miss me. She's had a history of separation anxiety, so I was a little worried.







When we walked Campbell to his cabin (where I made him pose for this shot), I asked if he wanted us to stay or was ready for us to leave. He very matter-of-factly said, "Yeah. You can leave. Bye." I didn't expect tears, but still . . .

And, to my surprise (and relief), Helene was also nonchalant about our leaving. She let me take her picture on her bunk and then said a brief goodbye.

I hope they have as much fun as I think they will. It would be great to start a tradition, and for them to have a camp they look forward to attending every summer.

Northfork Vacation, Day with Isaac

On Friday evening after work, Pete, Chris, & Isaac joined us. We had a delicious meal of steak on the grill for the adults and hot dogs over the fire for the kids, accompanied by a farm fresh salad, baked potatoes, burgundy mushrooms, and bread. Delicious food and wonderful company. They spent the night with us and we took them on our favorite family hike the next day. Isaac remembered hiking to "the Pirate Ship" with us two years ago and wanted to do it again. The hike is Windy Point, but the kids' favorite part is the ship-like rock formation a bit before the summit.

This is the "cave" at the first of the trail - a long, narrow crevice between two rocks.

The best thing about this hike is all the landmarks and rock formations with names handed down through the generations. My dad and his dad used to hike up to the "Seats of Meditation" before breakfast.

And here are Helene and Campbell in the driver's car of the Roller Coaster.

This little nest was in the crack of a large boulder right on the path. We never saw the mama bird. I hope she came back eventually.

John on the Pirate Ship:

All of us on the Ship, after eating our picnic lunch.

John bouldering:

on the trail down:

Northfork Vacation, Twin Sisters

On Thursday I went to town to teach some kickboxing classes and attend a meeting. John took the kids rockclimbing (real climbing out in nature with a guide, not a rockclimbing wall). No pictures, unfortunately, but I understand they had a wonderful time. And I know they learned a lot because the kids were rating our hike the next day according to climbing classes. "This must be class 2 because we have to use our hands sometimes," for example.

On Friday morning we took the kids to the Twin Sisters trail. It is a 7.4 mile round trip hike. We probably made it 3.2 miles up (so more than a 10K total!) before it got too snowy and the kids got too tired, so we headed down.

This is a nice view of Longs Peak from the Twin Sisters trail.

On the way, we noticed that sometimes the swirls on a tree's trunk are clockwise and sometimes counterclockwise. We discussed scientific method and made our hypotheses and many observations along the way. The conclusion we reached based on our small sampling is that probably the trees in one area of the forest all twist the same direction because they receive the wind in the same way. But in another area (on another switchback), the wind blows differently, and thus, the tree twists in a different direction.

All that white/gray stuff in the foreground that you might think is rock . . . no, that's snow. It was thigh-deep for Helene at points.

After our hike, we went to the Baldpate Inn for their soup and salad bar and pie. Dining there is one of my favorite summer traditions. The food is delicious, the homemade breads are wonderful, and there are hummingbirds and a beautiful view to enjoy while you eat.

Northfork Vacation, Horseback Riding

On Wednesday we did a one hour trail ride through the Sombrero Stables. The kids have ridden horses before, but only with an adult. This was their first time to ride solo. Campbell was a little concerned about the wobbliness of the saddle at first but quickly got over it and proved to be quite a good rider. Helene did an excellent job of using her reins to communicate with the horse. We all had a very nice time.

Northfork Vacation, Gem Lake Hike

On Tuesday, we hiked to Gem Lake.
It is 1.7 miles up a fairly steep trail. The kids were troopers.

Lots of chipmunks and ground squirrels visited us during our picnic lunch at the top. They were rather tame. But we followed the rules and did not feed them.

I stayed at our picnic spot after lunch while the kids walked around to the other side of the lake. Campbell did some climbing.

Helene did some meditating.

We had our lunch right by these trees. Helene said it looks like they're hugging. Not exactly what I was thinking . . .

After a rest, we went out for the evening. Dinner at Ed's Cantina and then watched Shrek 4. The movie was only okay, but it was a nice end to a beautiful day.