A Variety of Things
As I sit here in silent contemplation about a variety of things, it occurs to me that it’s been quite some time since I’ve posted anything. Perhaps there are some of you out there wondering what the heck is going on here in the big FTW, as I sometimes call it. I could say that not much is happening here and let it go at that. Well that’s certainly not true. Much has indeed been happening since our return from Colorado last month.
Upon our return, it seemed for a while that we would be doing nothing but work, work related to our jobs that is. My busy-ness was short lived however. Played catchup for a while in my office but things slowed down rather quickly. By the end of that first week it seemed I might not have much more to do for quite some time. When one is in the business of acquisitions and one’s company decides they will not be acquiring much for some time, it means that one, me that is, will not have a whole lot going on at work for quite a while. With my company you never know.
Laura and her endeavors at work are another story entirely. For the last several weeks, at least during the work week, she’s been working rather late and getting home most nights late in the evening. I think we’ve had dinner once together during the work week in four or five weeks. She’s also been doing a bit of work here and there on the weekends. She usually brings home mounds of paperwork to look over. I’ve tried to be patient with all of it. I certainly understand as I’ve had a few times like this in my time here in Cowtown. Our hope is that this is only for a season and once her project is implemented, life will return to some sort of normalcy, for whatever normalcy is.
We’ve been a bit busy on the weekends too. Made it to the Parker County Peach festival in Weatherford, out west of here. Not my first choice of Saturday morning activities but we had a great time. Had some of the best homemade peach ice-cream ever. Seriously, ever. Also brought home some amazing peach salsa. I know, sounds weird. Some people aren’t down for sweet and salty at the same time. Most of the time, this isn’t my scene. Still, it’s awesome. If I could remember the name of the guy’s company I’d tell you all. I don’t though. Let me know if you’re interested. I’ve still got a little bit in the fridge. Been trying to make it last. I’ll just have to get some more I guess. Laura also picked us out a good bushel of peaches to bring home. Froze most of ‘em and I’m sure Laura will use them for any number of good concoctions over the next little bit. Perhaps will make it back next year, if just for the ice-cream and salsa. No, not together crazy. I do have my standards.
Later that same day, I decided it might be fun to check out the gun show in town. Gun shows are always great places to do a little people watching. I also happen to like guns and might even own a few. I’m not quite crazy about it but I feel it’s a part of our history and also something my dad and I did together when I was younger. We’d probably go shooting, at a range of course, more often if we were a little bit closer together. Laura graciously attended with me. It’s something we’ve been talking about for the last couple years, usually whenever we see one of those billboards advertising for the one that took place the weekend before. To be honest, was a bit of a letdown in that we didn’t really see any of the crazies I come to expect at these shindigs. Still, had a good time. Even ran into a guy I worked at camp with one summer. Yep, at a gun show.
The next couple weekends, Laura spent a large part of her Saturdays at baby showers. The first was for one of her friends over north of Dallas This was especially good for her as she was able to spend a bit of time with one of her best friends that was about to move to Alabama. For the second of the two showers, Laura was one of the hosts. She loves doing this stuff and does a great job. Of course she’s good at most things she does. I might be biased. Still, several of the ladies told me she did a great job as well. Sometimes I think she should be a professional party planner.
Weekend before last, we made a little trip down to H-town. The main purpose of our excursion from the metroplex was to see her youngest brother get his Eagle Scout award on Sunday afternoon. That left us all day Saturday to make the rounds and catch up with some folks. Had breakfast with our good friends the Wellings. We always enjoy spending time with Glenn and Kelly and their son Robert. Kelly also made some egg thing that was seriously good. Spent several hours catching up and talking about life, etc.
From the north Houston area we moved south and on to lunch with my folks, the ‘rents that is. Perhaps you’re seeing the trend here. After lunch and a good bit of time chatting with my mom and dad, and after a short stop at one of Houston’s premier gun shops, we made it to Laura’s grandfather’s house in west Houston.
Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out with Pawpaw. Had dinner at this great Mexican place. Also watched a video of one of his WWII reunions. Every year for quite some time, he’s gotten together with several of the Marines and Navy corpsmen he served with in the Pacific during WWII. I’m sure I’ve said before how much I admire this generation. They saw and did things I can’t even begin to comprehend. Was fun to watch as they toured around the D.C. area and talked about their experiences together. Also fun to watch Marines currently serving pay homage to these brave men that served in dark places like Guadalcanal and Peleliu.
After watching Jason get his Eagle Scout award on Sunday, Laura and I headed back up to Fort Worth. However, we returned to Houston this last weekend. Our hope was to celebrate Pawpaw’s 85th birthday with him. He wasn’t feeling well on Saturday though so we spent much of the day relaxing. I did anyway. The girls did a bit of shopping. We were able to spend some time with Laura’s sisters Rachel who’d just returned from Romania and Megan who’d just returned from her summer in Colorado.
Other than work, seems we’ve spent a great deal of time over the last week watching coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Perhaps I’ll have to save my thoughts on all that for another post. I promise it won’t be quite so long before I get it up.
Rocky Mountain High
Sunday was a great day for driving. Blue skies with puffy white clouds here and there. You know what I’m talking about? Not the kind of clouds that make one fearful rain is imminent. No, they were the kind you would lay on your back as kids and try to figure out what they resemble kind of clouds. You know, like cars and boats and ducks and all other sorts of animals. Maybe you still do that on those kind of days. Yeah, was a good day to be driving. Well, that is if one likes driving 11 straight hours. I guess it wasn’t so bad. Could have been much worse. I could have been driving from Alaska or even Canadia.
By now, you might be wondering what my title has to do with the preceeding paragraph. That’s reasonable I suppose. You see, last summer Laura and I discovered that John Denver has some incredible and eminently proper roadtrip songs. This one happened to be on our minds quite a bit recently. I think I relate to this song some because he talks about having discovered Colorado in his 27th year. That was me too. Not sure about other parts of the song. Still, Colorado is important to me for so many reasons, more than I think you all want to hear now. It’s probably the same for Laura. It’s a place we could go back to year after year and still not get tired of it. Probably helps that we don’t drive in the snow. Anyway, we returned from that special place last Sunday, thankful for the weather described above. Spent the entire July 4th week up that way.
Started out in Evergreen, after a long Saturday drive of course. Why Evergreen? Well, one of my college buddies lives there. We spent a few days with Dan and Julia, catching up, talking about the future, getting acquainted with their chocolate lab Moose, eating some good food and spending some time playing outside. It is Colorado afterall and that’s what one does there. They have a crazy number of parks around Evergreen and we took time to do a little hiking with them. Even rented canoes and hung out on Evergreen Lake a bit. Fantastic idea. Should Laura and I ever live near a lake, we’re totally getting a canoe. Just sorry we weren’t able to get any good pics on the lake.
Here we are hiking near the Three Sisters. Mount Evans, a fourteener, is just visible in the back below the clouds, above Laura’s head.
Dan and Julia. The dogs were chillin’ in the shade. A good idea really.
The trail to the car. Seriously, this is in their town. They live in a great place, that’s for sure.
That evening, after canoeing, we had a reunion of sorts. It’s been ten years since we finished our time in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M and some more buddies from our class also live nearby and stopped by for dinner and reminiscence. Remembered all the good times and a few bad ones. Told some funny stories and then had to try and explain to the significant others what exactly we were talking about by supplying a few more details and definitions. If you were in the Corps and/or military, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Hopefully it won’t be another ten years before we’re all together again. Awesome to spend time with those guys.
Dan, Ben, Nate and myself.
The boys and significant others. That’s Bailey down in front.
The following morning, we set out for Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a campsite reserved in the park just outside Estes and our goals were to hang out with Laura’s sister Megan, working at the YMCA camp this summer, do a bit of hiking and hang out some in Estes. We achieved those goals most definitely. More on that to follow.
However, before all that we decided to take the long way to Estes. Since there was a road leading out of Evergreen towards Mount Evans that linked up with another road into the park, we decided to drive a way we’d never been before. Ended up taking this road (sign pictured below) all the way to the top of Mount Evans.
Lots of steepness, curves and switchbacks. Was awesome. A few roadblocks here and there as well.
Quite a few mountain goats along the side of the road once we got above treeline.
Laura was especially excited about all the baby goats, kids I believe they’re called.
Made it to the top without any major difficulties and discovered I was a little ashamed of myself. I’ve hiked a few fourteeners and read quite a bit about serious mountain hiking, climbing, etc. Felt a little cheesy to be on top of a mountain that I drove up to with all the other tourists. I just don’t feel I worked very hard for it. That kinda goes against all I believe about being in the mountains. Oh well, was still beautiful. Maybe I’ll actually hike it one of these days to make myself feel better about the whole thing.
The parking lot, old concession stand/restaurant, and observatory on top.
Laura almost at the summit.
An older gentleman volunteered to take a few pics for us. We think he did a great job.
On the way down, saw a couple marmots at play. They’re kind of like beavers, without the big flat tail of course.
After making it back down the mountain, moved on towards Rocky Mountain National Park. Drove through the small towns of Idaho Springs and Granby and on into Grand Lake on the southwest side of the park. Spent a little time in Grand Lake and then moved on into the park. The only road that goes all the way through the park is called Trail Ridge Road. It winds through the park from the Grand Lake area up and over the mountains all the way into Estes Park. Starts out in a little river valley. Saw several cars on the side of the road at one point and slowed to see what was up. It was moose! That’s right, one of my other goals for the trip had been achieved.
Not very exciting, huh? Still, I promise, it’s a moose. Laura didn’t believe that they’re in the park. Here it was though. Still hope to see a bigger one, antlers and all, one of these days.
A few moments after we snapped this shot, she (we’re assuming it was a female) ran off into the woods. Some crazy folks decided it would be a good idea to give chase. We weren’t having any of that. Got back into the car and drove on.
Did see this guy not far down the road. He was just chillin’, apparently eating some lunch.
Drove on and, after a quick stop at the visitor center up towards the top of Trail Ridge Road, we made it down to the Moraine Park campground where we stayed for the next five nights. Got our tent set up and went to pick up Megan for dinner in town. That night it was Poppi’s, a local pizza joint and one of Laura’s favorites.
As noted above, spent the next several days hanging out around Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Hiked a couple days and spent most of the evenings hanging out with Megan and a few other YMCA camp folks here and there.
Our first full day of hiking, we thought we’d attempt to get up to Sky Pond. It would be nine miles round-trip with almost 1700 feet of elevation gain.
On the way up.
The Loch.
Heard there might still be quite a bit of snow. There was.
At this point, I was a bit unsure about whether or not to keep going. We were both in shorts and hiking shoes, not boots, and not really all that prepared for crossing snow. This may not look like much here. However, by this point we’d already heard we would have to cross a significant snow field in order to get to the waterfall we’d have to climb up to get to the lake. Sounds fun, right? After a brief stop here, we decided to carry on.
This is what we came up. Not so bad.
Laura, sitting just outside the waterfall we’re about the climb up.
Here we are at the Lake of Glass. No, this is not Sky Pond. Sky Pond is a little bit further on. We decided at this point that we’d done enough. We’d already done the hard part and some weather was moving in. Thought it might not be a good idea to climb down granite rocks next to a waterfall or descend a snow field in the rain, or worse. Sorry, I like to be safe is all, not that climbing up part of waterfall is safe or anything. Laura was cool with it.
Got up the next morning and had breakfast at this place, the Meadow Mountain Cafe. If you’re ever in Allenspark, Colorado, this is where it’s at. Let us know and we’ll give you directions.
Saw this great church on the way back to Estes Park. That’s Mount Meeker in the back off to the left.
Laura loves to be in pictures with statues of animals.
Me, not quite so much. Can you tell?
Here’s a shot of Long’s Peak that evening as the sun is setting.
Our second full day of hiking (third full day in the park, just to head off confusion) found us hiking up to Sandbeach Lake. Sometimes I feel that the folks who named certain spots in the park might have been a bit too literal. Maybe it’s just me. Anyway, this hike was also nine miles total but quite a bit steeper. Thankfully, not that much snow.
Here’s Laura taking a little rest in the shade. Continuing in my “wife on bridge” theme begun in the Smokies.
Here’s the lake. It’s name describes it perfectly.
On the way down, ran into some especially excited teenagers with full packs on. It was apparent that they’d be spending at least one night camping in the backcountry. They seemed so excited about being there that they asked if they were almost to the lake. I didn’t feel it would be good for their experience to tell them that they’d barely come a mile and still had the steepest parts of the trail ahead of them. Probably best they not know about all that ahead of time.
July 4th dawned bright and clear and we spent part of the morning watching the annual YMCA camp parade. I may have described it before. All the daycamp folks, YMCA staff and even some of the families participate. It goes for about 200 yards and is a little longer than 20 minutes. Still, it’s all kinds of fun. One never really knows what you’re going to get ’til you see it. This year’s theme was “Happy Birthday, USA”.
Here’s Megan herding her campers. They’re candles. She’s a matchbox.
Megan the matchbox and Laura.
Spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon just hanging out. Did drive a bit back up Trail Ridge Road, just to spend a little more time up in the high country.
Got out at one point to check out the views and came across these guys hanging out in the snow.
What I came to fully understand while up here is that even though there might be a big sign posted asking someone not to do something, people are going to do whatever the heck they want to. Perhaps the sign might advise folks to please stay off the tundra. Or, it might ask people to please not park on the side of the road where others might be forced to go around you and face the chance of falling down a steep cliff. Or, please don’t cut the switchbacks so that you don’t cause serious erosion and they have to shut down the trail altogether. I’m almost positive at least some of those folks can read. Maybe not.
I am sure that whole tundra rule doesn’t apply to him though.
Here’s Laura on our way back to the car. Notice that she’s not walking on the tundra. She might also be asking me to put the camera away. I can’t remember.
That evening, we hung out with a group from the Y over at Joe’s place. Joe worked with Laura her last summer there and is now on full-time staff. He has a great little place over on the east side of town where, Laura tells me anyway, all the locals live. He cooked up some burgers and brats on the grille as we waited for the fireworks show over Lake Estes to get started. You can’t really see the lake from Joe’s house, but he has a clear view to the area just above the lake. That’s all that mattered anyway really. Was a great show. Our thanks again to Joe for the invite. We had a great time.
The next morning, we sadly departed Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park for Colorado Springs, the Springs as we call it. Stopped in Boulder on our way down to walk around Pearl Street a bit and grabbed lunch at Illegal Pete’s, a great burrito place similar to Chipotle or Freebirds, for all the Aggies out there. Made it down to the Springs early that afternoon and stopped by REI. No, we really didn’t have a good reason. Does one really need a good reason to stop by REI? We don’t think so anyway.
After our short stop, drove over to my friend Jeff’s place, where we’d be staying. I worked with Jeff when I lived in the Springs and he and his wife Laura became good friends while I was there. We try to visit with them as much as is possible. Spent some time catching up and also went to a little blues show put on by his uncle that evening. His uncle is an amazing guitarist and sounds quite a bit like Eric Clapton. We didn’t get a whole lot of pics unfortunately, but here’s one of Jeff admiring his son Ben’s dance moves. No one knew he had it in him.
Thoroughly enjoyed our time with Jeff and Laura, short though it was. We were a bit sad to depart after such a short time but life’s like that I guess. Departed early and thankfully made it back to the great state of Texas with no problems. As already noted, the weather was great, perfect for a long day of driving. It certainly felt long anyway.
We do love Colorado but were glad to be home. This week has been a long one as we’ve both been trying to adjust to being back at work and get caught up. I’m sure you can all relate to the idea of needing a vacation after a vacation. That reminds me, many asked while we were up there and some since we returned why we’re not living in Colorado if we love it so much. Perhaps you’ve asked that very same question? Maybe that will be covered at length in a future post. For now, all you out there enjoy the coming weekend. Stay tuned.
Rule 246c
Always abide by Rule 246c. Rule 246c states that one should never play putt putt golf with one’ s wife in public, or perhaps any other time, depending on how the rule is interpreted. For all you out there, I am about to admit something very few men will ever admit out loud, not even to themselves. A few nights back, I played putt putt golf with my wife at one of her after work functions and I got schooled, seriously bad. I’ve never considered myself a golfer, but I thought I could do some putting. I thought I could read the greens. Not so; my wife has all the skills. Personally, I think she was holding back, trying to lessen the blow to my pride. I’m thankful for that at least. I will say that she did try to encourage me to take my time, think more about my shot. It just wasn’t happening. I think she’s been secretly contemplating a run at the PGA Tour.
Perhaps you’re wondering what Rules 246a and 246b are. Well, I learned about Rule 246a last summer when the wife and I were on our trip in Wyoming and she destroyed me in Mancala, a strategy game involving rocks. On our recent trip out east, when we were thinking about what to do at some point she asked if I wanted to play Mancala so she could beat me again. Nice.
Rule 246b involves Checkers. That’s right, learned about this rule sometime last spring after dinner at Cracker Barrel. I didn’t stand a chance.
Maybe Checkers just isn’t my game. Then again, maybe she just always wins. There’s no way I can stop her. Wait, I suppose I shouldn’t get down on myself. She is a gracious winner and is technically on my team. I sure wouldn’t want to have to face such dominance like that from an opposing team, well, if we ever played against another team that is.
Joys of Technology
Isn’t technology a grand thing. It allows us so many opportunities. For example, I can carry my entire library of music, perhaps thousands of songs, around with me wherever I go with no problem at all. Believe me, I truly enjoy this. I can also get on a plane in one city and be in another city, thousands of miles away in a matter of hours. I like road trips but I don’t have near enough vacation to do it that way all the time. If I did, I might. I know, call me crazy.
Anyway, I can also login and tell you all about what’s been happening in our lives here in Cowtown. Sometimes, I can even upload pics, perhaps a few too many pics for some of you I know. Ten years ago, even two years ago, I would have had no idea what I was doing. Well, the point is, maybe I still don’t know what I’m doing. In case you haven’t noticed, we are again experiencing some technical difficulties in blog land. Many, indeed most of our photos are currently displayed as big red boxes. Fun times, especially since I have no idea what the deal is. I’m working on it though and should hopefully have it all fixed up in the next few weeks.
I’ll be honest, modern technology is great but when it doesn’t work like I want it to it hacks me off. Laura, to her great credit, is extremely patient with me about this most of the time. What I’m really learning though is that this is not really all that important. I know, this is a simple lesson. Should make complete sense, right? Then I have to remember that I’m human and often stupid. I have a roof over my head, food to eat and most of the time quite a bit more than that. I should be effusively thankful for all I have, even the troubles. When I think about it more, quite frankly my troubles aren’t even remotely as serious as so many others. So with that, I’m reminded that each day is a gift and I give thanks to God for today and all that comes with it. To Him be the glory.