12 Aug 20 Wednesday – Frisco

We road up to Vail Pass (10,660 ft.) and back - 24 miles total, 1500 ft. of gain, a relief to know we still had it in us. It rained when we stopped in Copper Mt for doughnuts and coffee on the way back. Got a little wet, but it cleared up as we got back into Frisco.

 

Flowers on the bike path approaching Copper Mountain

The path out of Copper Mountain up to the Pass

 10 Aug 20 Monday - Ride Frisco to Breckenridge

Our favorite skate park on the way to Breckenridge - kids having fun

More kids having fun - rubber ducky catching contest in the Blue

Breckenridge street scene

11 Aug 20 Tuesday - Frisco neighborhood walk

Frisco public art - leading a blind skier

The Ten Mile Creek (it's everywhere) looking towards Mt Royal

Not a great wildflower season, but there is still plenty of beauty

 9 Aug 20 Sunday - Frisco

 We took Sunday off and had a big breakfast then today road the Swan Mountain Loop – around Lake Dillon to the east end then over Swan Mountain Pass near the south shore ~21 miles.

Looking west over Lake Dillon

Looking east towards Keystone - smoke from the Pine Gulch fire in western Colorado

5 Aug 20 Wednesday - Frisco

Hiked to Lily Pad Lake from the Silverthorne side

Lots of roots on the trail

Most hikers respected distance and mask protocols. Bright sunny day. 

Our typical happy hour setting by the Ten Mile Creek

3 August 20 Monday - Frisco

Biked to Breckenridge

The Blue River coming down from Breckenridge on the bike path

Pretty much everyone was

Still some snow left

Colorado August 2020

31 Jul 20 Friday – Tucson to Albuquerque

We cancelled all our 2020 travel after Bozeman/Big Sky in March because of Covid-19….except for Colorado! So, after spending the first part of Summer in unusually hot Tucson, we are finally on our way. We haven’t just been sitting around, though. Lauve has been working on her art, doing Zoom classes with two other friends and a well-known artist, Lawrence Lee. Here are some of her latest abstract landscape in acrylics.

I have been finishing up the tax season helping people who can’t afford to pay for preparation, through an IRS sponsored program called VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance). I’m in charge of a large retirement community site where we did over 100 returns. The last half of the season we worked remotely due to the virus.

To break up the drive we stopped in Albuquerque for the night at a lavender farm/inn called Los Poblanos Ranch located close enough to the Rio Grande to be nicely vegetated. We arrive in time to have a walk around the lovely grounds, part farm, part garden. We enjoyed our complimentary sangria in their La Quinta garden. Dinner was outside on the patio at their restaurant, Campo.

                                                               Tree-lined entrance road to Los Poblanos

Lavender field and guest rooms 

Arrival lot

Tea is served at La Quinta

Part of the garden

Rained half way through dinner

Birthday dessert under cover

                                                          Delicious breakfasts

It is new for us to be out in public settings other than grocery stores or take out restaurants. So being close to hotel reservation clerks and restaurant wait staff is difficult to get comfortable with, feels strange. Like when the waiter wants to give a long explanation of the specials.

1 Aug 20 Saturday - Albuquerque to Frisco, CO

The Ten Mile Creek off the deck of our place in Frisco

Finally, cool weather! Frisco seems as busy as last year. Main St. has been blocked off so the restaurants can seat people 6 feet apart in the street. Almost everyone is masked. It is taking a time to get used to. 

Bozeman, Big Sky and Julia’s 50th Birthday Trip

14 Mar 20 Saturday – Tucson to Bozeman

The early days of the Covid -19 pandemic. We pondered cancelling our trip out of fear that we would get some kind of illness and not be allowed to fly back to Tucson. To a lesser extent, we were worried about getting the virus from all the travel exposure. We decided the risk was low, but reserved a rental car for the day of our return just in case we had to drive the 1200 miles back.

Main St Bozeman

Gavin left us his car at the airport and we drove around Bozeman to check out where Gavin and Allan lived, the local best Thai restaurant, the campus of Montana State University that Gavin attends and Allan will start in the Fall. The Thai was good, the campus friendly looking and Main St was looked nicely frequented by locals. After shopping for groceries we drove the 50 miles to Big Sky in light snow with some cover on the roads. Driving in gave a good view of Lone Mountain, the 11,200 ft. main feature of the Big Sky ski area. Julia had rented a condo near the slopes. We had dinner with Allan and Gavin who had worked the day on the slopes. We stayed up till 11 when Julia, Nathan and Tad arrived.

15 Mar 20 – Sunday Big Sky

They announced early that the slopes were closing for the year after today because of the virus. The Faulkner’s were definitely going to ski. Lauve and I decided to try after seeing the slopes and being encouraged by Gavin. 

8-Person Lift!

Hitting the slopes

After a few “runs” we decided it we had lost lots of muscle memory and confidence. If we had done more runs we might have gotten lots back, but may have been injured in the process. So, we threw in the towel and went for lunch – custom hot dog. 

Lots of Cruising Runs, Sun Came Out

Both Gavin (ski patrol) and Allan (Yellowstone Club ski instructor) lost their jobs this day. Put a little damper on the day.

16 Mar 20 - Monday

Lone Mountain in the Background

Bright sunny day, temps high 20’s. We hiked the North Fork trail and Ousel Falls with Julia and Tad. The trails were crowded because of all the people who came expecting to ski. This is birthday night for Julia (50th) and Allan and we had dinner at the condo worrying about conditions at restaurants. Seems like much is shutting down.

North Fork Trail

Ousel Falls - the creek and ice climbers

17 Mar20 Tuesday our last day at Big Sky

Breakfast Chat at the Condo

18 Mar 20 Wednesday the trip back to Tucson

To catch our early flight we drove Gavin's car the 50 miles to Bozeman in the dark on partially snow-covered roads. There were a couple of white knuckle moments. Our Air Alaska flight connected through Seattle, speaking of white knuckle experiences. The planes were only half full and people spread out nicely in Seattle, but we brought our own food for safety. What turned out crowded was the terminal in Tucson - must have been spring break people. We're home safe now and best of all, not sick!