Sailing, Biking, and more Hiking!

Yesterday we all went out on Lake Dillon. Seth, our captain, navigated us around the lake for the best views of Summit County. The skies were blue and the wind was actually pretty decent for some good sailing!

Here Andy and I biked downhill from Vail to Copper Mountain to Frisco. I think I only had to peddal about 10 times for the 15 mile ride. It was a nice break for the legs!

I guess the sun was in Andy's eyes...my eyes are probably closed also, you just can't tell with my huge sunglasses on!

Another 14er completed

Today we hiked Mt. Sherman, one of the 14,000 ft peaks here in Colorado. It was cold and windy, but the sun was shining and the views certainly made it worth all of our hard work to get up to the summit.

This is the view from the saddle, about half way up.

Here is Andy just taking it all in...I think he was eyeing the summit.
We started down in the valley, and this was probably about 3/4 of the way up.
And finally to the summit!
After eating a few Snickers bars, we were ready to head back down. It looks nice and sunny up there, but man was it cold!

I spent the rest of the afternoon laying in the sun by the hot tub. Andy had enough energy for some tennis...that will have to wait until tomorrow for me!

Our winter summer vacation

I am updating you all from Frisco, Colorado! We will be out here for the next week hiking, sailing, and just enjoying the beautiful outdoors. I have come with Andy and his family the past four years, and Andy has been coming out here for about the past 20 years! I say that because we thought we knew what to expect...cool nights, perfect sunny days in the low 70's. You can imagine our surprise when we heard that they were making big trucks put on their chains because of the SNOW...in August! My first thought was that I only brought one pair of jeans, but I did like that I had an excuse to wear my vest:) Andy was REALLY excited to see the snow and I was totally bummed that we were missing out on summer in Colorado. I am glad it did not last long!
Luckily the snow on the ground is now non existent except for up on the peaks and we actually had pretty decent weather today. We drove over to Glenwood Springs and did the Hanging Lake Hike. At the top in the most beautiful crystal clear aqua water and water fall. You could even see schools of trout swimming around. We were going to go to the sulfur springs afterwards, but it was very crowded and stinky so we decided we'd soak in the hot tubs back at the condo instead. I am glad it was back to sunny more summer-like weather today!

Weekend Project

Spacing the holes. All support posts perfectly verticle and in cement!
It was much more fun when the panels started going up.
I was actually the master saw-er of the day, but I guess I thought I should have some sort of power tool in my hand for the picture!
11 panels later, nearly done. I love it!

So the project that I thought would take an afternoon turned into a whole weekend project. Although it was more work than I anticipated, it also turned out even better! We now have some nice privacy off of the back porch as well as some screening from the not so scenic view of the neighbors yards. Now I just need to transplant my flowers back and plant my vines...You will all be invited to a garden party soon!
Note: The tops of the 4x4's will be cut off and we have copper toppers to finish them off. Should look nice!

Thank you Jerry for all of your help!

Flex Schedule

By coming in early during the week, I am now able to leave at noon on Fridays which is wonderful! Last Friday Andy and I had lunch with his parents and Grandma Freida at one of our favorite restaurants, Taste on Melrose. Thank you for treating us to lunch, Freida.

This Friday Andy and I are planning to build a trellis fense in our backyard, similar to this one. My vision is that it will have boston ivy completely covering the trellis within a year and our backyard will be in 'secret garden' style. Maybe I'm being a bit unrealistic, but I think it will look great either way. I will post pictures of the finished product soon!

Our RAGBRAI Guests

(Andy pounds a welcome sign for our riders)

Last Thursday we hosted four RAGBRAI riders in our home. We had volunteered to be a host family for the riders who were biking across Iowa. Our riders happen to be from Colorado so we had lots of hiking and skiing to talk about! They were very appreciative of our hospitality and took us out for a great dinner downtown Iowa City. Maybe some year we will do the ride ourselves, but for now, hosting riders is a lot easier way to participate!

(Mountain Highway Men)