Flood and Adventure

Last night, a route was opened to Estes Park. Today, I decided I had to get up there. I wanted to check on some friends and family and do some scouting to figure out if I could hike in to help my parents get out.

I drove down to Denver, over to Blackhawk (I-70, then 119), over to Nederland, then continued on 72 to Hwy 7 (close to Allenspark). At that intersection, there was a National Guardsman checking IDs and only letting people through with proof of residence or need.

It was about 2 miles from that point to our cabin, so I stopped there to check on things first. Our basement/storeroom/garage has some water in it, and water is pouring in through the electrical box down there, but the house itself is okay. It had electricity and running water, but no phone or internet.

After that quick check, I drove on into Estes. That's when the road started getting hairy. There was a section by Saint Malo's with a river crossing the road. They were just telling people to drive carefully through the foot of rushing water and stay on the downhill lane. I made it through fine, but was SO GLAD that I traded my Prius in for a Subaru 2 weeks ago. Shortly after that, one entire lane of the road was gone, completely eroded away.

First stop in Estes was the Red Cross emergency center. They had set up at my aunt and uncle's church. I looked around for people I knew and asked a bunch of questions. The workers were very helpful.

My phone was completely useless past Nederland - no calls, no internet, no checking email, no texts.

Next stop was the Rocky Mountain Park Inn (which all the locals refer to as "The Old Holiday Inn"). I was checking on the mom of a friend from Tyler. Her room was empty, and the maid in there cleaning it told me she had checked out and left this morning.

Two stops and I still hadn't seen anyone I was looking for. I was glad to know they weren't at the shelter and were able to leave the hotel, but still, I was starting to feel a little useless.

Next, I drove up Wonderview to MacGregor to Devil's Gulch. In passing the main street in Estes, I could still see water covering about 2/3 of the road, but only right in front of the town hall. It's uphill after that and looked fine. I couldn't make it very far up Devil's Gulch. The road had washed out and was completely blocked off.

So, I turned around and drove towards the Big Thompson Canyon on HWY 34 to see how far I could make it. There was a manned barricade at The Olympia Hotel/Mall Rd. The guy was a local (not National Guard), and when I told him I wanted to check on my aunt and uncle, he said I could drive halfway to Drake (to the Seven Pines), but NOT PAST that! Thankfully, Charlene and Gordon's cabin was within that limit.

HWY 34 was eerie. You've seen all the images online. Sections were gone. I had to drive in the completely wrong lane (but there was not a single other car on the road, so that was no problem). There was a picnic table and a propane tank in the middle of the road at one point. Eventually, carefully, I pulled up to Charlene & Gordon's. I knocked on the front door. I didn't know what to expect. But what I experienced was surreal. It was like any other time I've visited them. I was greeted with big hugs, Charlene was sitting on the couch, covered in her blanket, they were watching the news. They offered me coffee and homemade cookies! Their electricity came back on this afternoon. So, they had had some pioneering moments before that (generator hooked up to the fridge, gathering water from the stream outside to flush the toilets, wood fires in the fireplace to stay warm), but by the time I got there, it was back to life as normal. They are comfortable and have plenty of food. If they run out, they can leave the way I came. I am no longer worried about them.

When I left, I talked to the barricade guy again. We talked about how the worst of this whole situation is not having contact with anyone. He said he wished he could call his wife and just let her know to stay put and that he was okay. So I took her number with me and called her when I got back to cell phone range.

Then I drove up Dry Gulch Rd to see how close I could get to Glen Haven that way. I made it all the way to the switchbacks. There was quite a crowd there, all trying to figure out what to do. A truck pulled up with "Amateur Radio" on the side of it. Another guy in a truck full of water and Ramen noodles, trying to figure out how to help. Then a dirt bike zipped up (coming from Glen Haven), so we all pumped him for information.  He said he had been down to the Glen Haven Fire Dept, but that we couldn't make it in our cars. What was left of the road was barely wide enough for his bike. I gave him a message to give to the fire dept about my parents and their dog.

Then I went home.

Long day. I'm glad I went. It made it all worthwhile when I was able to call my cousin and tell her how well her parents are doing.

I'm still not having much communication with my parents, but I think they are planning to be flown out tomorrow. I have no idea what their plan for Scooter is. I talked to the Larimer County Sheriff and found out that they will be flown to Ft. Collins. It should be easy for me to get them from there.

A Hike a Week - Mt. Sanitas

When we first moved to Colorado 7 years ago, the thing I was most excited about was hiking. We always vacationed near Estes Park when I was a child, and we would spend almost every day of those vacations hiking. So to me, Colorado = hiking. We have hiked quite a bit since living here, but still not as much as I would like to. Since the kids are old enough now to either keep up with me on a hike or to stay at home by themselves, I have made it my goal to hike at least once a week all summer.

My first hike, today, was by myself to Mount Sanitas. I did a loop that was very steep on the ascent and had a gradual, wide open descent. 3.5 miles total. I brought a book and did a little reading at the top, but not as much as I would have liked because it was a little too windy to be comfortable for very long.

Beautiful hike. Beautiful day. I feel like I've started off my summer on the right foot!

San Antonio Trip over Memorial Weekend

This past weekend, we met some of John's family in San Antonio and spent a long weekend at the Hill Country Hyatt.

John's sister, Beth, and her husband, Ed, were there:

 Along with John's mom, Sharlotte, and her husband, Tommy:

And lots of cousins! Here are Campbell & Carter (same age - born just a few days apart), Jack (15), and Helene:

And the same goofy crew with Ed's daughter, Erin (16), on the end:

One of the highlights of this trip (for the adults and the children) was that we let the kids have their own hotel rooms. They had two adjoining rooms with 2 double beds each. Each adult couple had a room with a king size bed, and we were on a separate floor from the kids! This was all glorious until the fire alarm went off at 5:30 AM, and I panicked because my babies were on a separate floor! It turns out that the electrical box that controls the alarm was struck by lightning, so the alarm was just a malfunction. All was well.

The Hill Country Hyatt is a fabulous resort for families. There are several outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs, and a big water slide, all surrounded by a lazy river. There's even a little hut along the lazy river where you can buy alcoholic beverages from the comfort of your inner tube.

Sibling love in the hotel atrium:

Cousinly love:

Cooking S'Mores at the resort:

We spent one evening on the San Antonio River Walk, one of my favorite places on earth. Helene tried to catch a pigeon. My kids have a thing with birds and squirrels. Believe it or not, Campbell actually caught a pigeon. I didn't get a picture because I was too busy yelling at him to get the pigeon out of the restaurant and go wash his hands.

But right after that, he caught a duck, and Jack actually managed to get a picture (while John and I were busy yelling at Cam to put down the duck and wash his hands):

Amazingly, neither bird raised a ruckus when caught. Campbell actually knows how to handle them. Maybe he'll become wealthy off of a reality TV show as "The Bird Whisperer".


The kids at the restaurant:

Beth and I in front of the Alamo:

All in all, a wonderful vacation!

Helene's Room Makeover

Helene is moving over to what was Campbell's room when we first moved into this house. In the meantime, it's been the craft room/kids' study. Now it will become her bedroom, and the room in between Campbell and Helene will become the game room (which Helene wants to call "The Club").

We decided to do a loft bed for her, so she would have more room underneath for playing, storage, etc. After looking around at what was available, we chose to order from College Loft Beds because they seemed sturdy and good quality for a good price. We received 6 very large boxes full of plain wood and assembly instructions. There were some pre-drilled holes, but it was nothing so easy as assembling furniture from Target or IKEA.

First we primed and painted everything. Actually, we would paint one set of boards, construct it, and then move on to the next section. The trickiest part was figuring out what each board was for. Some were obvious, but since the beds are highly customizable, not everything we ordered was explained on the assembly instructions.

Helene did some work with the drill, but it required some strength, so mostly she painted, helped me figure out what was what, held things level for me, etc. She was a great worker. I could not have built this alone.

Tobie, on the other hand, was not entirely helpful. She loved hanging out in this room, from the second we started painting the walls. She left her mark in the way of cat hair painted into the boards.

And she is quite content to sleep on the bed all day now that it is finished. There are two shelves in the headboard (behind the cat).

We bought a staircase/chest of drawers to put at one end of the bed. It's great for clothes storage, and it's much easier to get up to the bed that way than just scrambling up the ladder rungs on the end. There are 3 shelves and a desk built under the loft. Helene's Monster High dolls are neatly organized across the shelves now.

There are 3 small accessory shelves beside the mattress (you can see them at the top of the picture above). One holds her lamp. I think she wants to put a small trash can on one of the others. The new lamp and chandelier are shown below. I think they are so fun and perfect for this room.

(If I can find the battery charger for my camera, I'll take some better quality pics to post. The iPhone is handy, but doesn't do it all justice.)

Campbell's 12th Birthday

Campbell's birthday is another important even I didn't get around to blogging about last year. Starting early in his life (approximately 2003 or 2004, right after Dan Brown published The Da Vinci Code), we starting doing treasure hunts for Campbell's birthday. He would have to solve the clues to find his presents. This year was probably the 9th or 10th year of this tradition.

2012 Clue #1:

The sheet music on the piano is "Right Here Waiting". His first gift and next clue were waiting for him right there in the piano bench.

 Clue #2 (Hint: Spanish):

 Clue #3 was with the gift he found under his bed.

 Clue #4 on the gift in the attic:

 He was pretty excited about the D&D 100 sided die:

 More cards and gifts from extended family:

 Dr. Who cake ("Bow ties are cool."):

Later, on the weekend, he had a few friends over for a D&D party. I made a cake that kinda looks like a dragon (if you look closely and use your imagination), and I hired a friend to make the cake pops that are in the shape of various D&D dice.

 I don't know if the numbers have any significance. Just my kids being silly again.