Dinosaur Ridge/ Rocky Mountains Pt.2

The next morning, we all got up at a rather early hour to hike in the Rocky Mountains. Mason would have liked to sleep in, but I saw that a storm was coming through, so early morning it was.

The highest I'd ever hiked to was 10,000 ft. Today we were going to be at 11,000. I was glad to have spent time in Denver (5000+ft) to have had a chance to acclimate from our usual 100ft above sea level.

The destination was Dream Lake. I grumbled a bit going up the mountain. It was cold and I, unlike Connor and his family, haven't ever lived through a white winter. Snow is something you drive to and have a day in. 

On our way up we saw a Dusky Grouse. It made a mating call at me. Connor said something about me being "taken." On and on we went until we made it to the lake... or so we thought. Other helpful hikers let us know that we were at Nymph Lake. Thanks guys.

Nymph Lake

The trail was unclear, so the groups who were going on to Dream Lake split up. We wandered to the left. The views were unbeatable.

Turns out we did not take the right trail. Our trail eventually met up with the proper trail: the one with stairs. After slipping around for around an hour, we made it. Dream Lake. The jokes about why Dream Lake was called Dream Lake started to come out: You'll dream about reaching it... etc. 

Dream Lake

We climbed back down the icy trail much faster that we did going up. I might have crouched down and "skiied" with my shoes down some steep bits. When we reached the bottom, Connor's mum decided she was cold enough and went back to the car. The rest of us went around Bear Lake, which was so white that I didn't realize I had gone all the way around and almost went around a second time. I'm glad Connor noticed that the trail looked familiar again.

Dream Lake

The next morning, before going back to the airport, we stopped by the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley Hotel is most famous for being in The Shining... or as Connor pointed out, "It was in Dumb and Dumber!" Yeti couldn't help but take a selfie in front of it. 

I'm glad we were able to spend some quality time with part of Connor's family. Vacations that have a bit of adventure in them are my favorite. I hope it isn't long before we are able to join them again.

Frozen Feet

The other day I posted my 2013 goal list. Usually I post that sort of thing on January 1st, but this year I was a little busy. My whole family (sans Scooter) spent New Years Day helping me with a photoshoot for The Book. We drove an hour to go to a cold, windy beach where there were a surprisingly large amount of people. Turns out that if you haul a really large chest across a beach, people don't even try to pretend they aren't staring.

I stepped in mud that I later realized smelled a bit too similar to poo. You can see it in the photo below. And everyone's feet went numb in 15 minutes or less. My brother and I started having "I can't feel my feet from this point" (insert pointing to numb part of the foot) contests. I think I "won." But in this kind of contest, no one really is a winner. 

I'm pretty lucky to have a family that is willing to help me out. (And if they aren't willing, Mum has no problem "motivating" the unwilling party.)

Afterwards we cranked up the heater in the car to help thaw our feet. There is nothing like misery to promote family bonding.

Overall it was a really great way to spend New Years Day. And I'm just that much closer to being done with The Book.

Christmas Time Is Here

Merry Christmas to everyone. Our family had a lovely day. Although, we have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. Everyone but me cooks. My brother has been in charge of the turkey around six years.

After carving the turkey he channeled his inner caveman.

We don't do too much in the way of gifts. Just a stocking each.

Here is my loot for this year. A chocolate orange, a chocolate santa, a dollar bill and a five dollar bill folded into pants. An envelope with some money from my grandfather, a peets card, and two candy canes. The sheep represents a donation to Heifer International towards, you guessed it, a sheep. In the background is the Latvian Mitten book that my brother got me. I guess he got the hint. An excellent haul if I do say so myself.

Scooter got a rawhide chew, a Heifer International donation towards a goose, and his favorite, a big chunk of dog treat.