Christopher's New Favorite Activity

Everywhere we go and find water Christopher can spend hours throwing rocks into it. He loves to go to the creek down the road from us and hates to leave.

Big Meadows Reservoir / Shaw Lake

We went riding Saturday up to the Big Meadows Reservoir and Shaw Lake area. Its a really nice drive and the scenery is beautiful. The best part is its only 10 minutes up the road from our place. The weather was perfect so there were lots of people out fishing in the lakes and creeks. We had an elk walk out in the road in front of us, watch us for a while and then run back into the woods. I barely made it in time with the camera to get a shot of it. The continental divide is in the background in the Big Meadows pictures and you can see there is still a little bit of snow left...in June.
BIG MEADOWS RESERVOIR






SHAW LAKE

Day Out With Thomas

We saw the flyer for this a month or so ago and Christopher has been keeping track of it in the car ever since. Every time we talked about it he got so excited so we just had to go. Not only would he get to see Thomas the Tank Engine but he would also get to ride a real train for the first time. Its a pretty drive to Durango over Wolf Creek Pass and through Pagosa Springs. It takes about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. We didn't realize that Friday was also some bicycle race through the Rockies and we passed 2000 bicycles pedaling over Wolf Creek Pass. Now this is the pass that we barely made it over with the RV, so I cant imagine what it was like for these guys pedaling over the continental divide. It was pretty neat seeing so many bikes and people of ALL shapes and sizes pedaling their butts off.

We got to the Durango-Silverton Railroad a little early and had time to take in the rest of the activities they had going on. There was a petting zoo, a tattoo booth, balloons, a bounce house and a juggler. We also walked through the museum, Christopher loved being up close to the huge steam trains inside. He got to meet Sir Topham Hatt and was scared of his expressionless face. It was a weird costume so I dont blame him. Christopher was so excited to ride on the Thomas train but hated it when they stopped and rode back into town. The ride was only 30 minutes so they head out of town for 15 and then stop and head back into town along the same track. The scenery along the river was beautiful. There were lots of people out swimming, rafting and tubing in the river. We had a great day!

Poage Lake

Christopher and I were headed up to Poage Lake yesterday but the gas light in my truck came on so I decided not to drive the whole way to the lake. It was overcast, windy and cold. The temp dropped to 45 on the way up into the mountains. We stopped at a camping area that was just off the side of the road in this great valley. Beaver Creek winds through the center of the valley so we spent an hour or two throwing rocks in the water. Today we went back up there and made it all the way to the lake. It was beautiful and sunny today and the temperature was in the high 50's. You had to park and hike to the lake about a 1/4 mile. Christopher hiked there and back with no problems. There were still mounds of snow along the trail, which he loved. When we got to the lake there was a trout just hanging out by the shore so I snapped a few pics before Christopher scared him off. That side of the lake had lots of dead trees (more damn pine beetle kill) so we hiked around to another shore that was clean and clear. The water was crystal clear and beautiful. We tried to rescue another trout that we found stuck on a floating log with a hook, bobber and about 10' of line connected to him but it didn't work. He floated away belly up. The lake was so peaceful and quiet. It was a great morning hike.
MONDAY





TUESDAY

Alder Road Trail Ride

Christopher and I went riding last week. I wanted to get to the top of a peak we could see in the distance that has radio towers on it. It overlooks the town of South Fork and you can get an idea of where our place is. The road then runs along Alder Creek and an old beaver pond. It is one of the roughest roads I have been on yet but Christopher slept through the roughest parts so I guess he was not as impressed as I was. I was trying to dodge the rocks and ruts in the road so I didnt get any pictures of that area. There are a lot of dead trees in this area from the pine beetles. The pictures dont really show it well but in some places the ground is totally covered with dead trees. Its sad to see how much devastation they have caused.

A Dark Day at Turquoise Lake

I woke up Monday morning with a familiar pain in my right lower backside. At first I tried to blame it on my inflatable mattress but unfortunately I remember this pain from my left side about 10 years ago. Apparently my right kidney looks like the second picture below. I tried to walk it off, sit it out and pee it out but nothing was working. The pain was getting worse so I had to wake Connie and Christopher. We spent the next 4 hours in the St. Vincent General Hospital ER. Everyone was great and took excellent care of me. Three doses of morphine later they sent me on my way. When we left I was feeling pretty good but 15 minutes into the drive I started throwing up and felt like crap the rest of the day. Connie spent two hours cleaning and packing up camp so we could head home while I sat in the car crying like a girl that I was too sick to move. We had a four hour drive home and the throwing up continued about every hour or so. The morphine finally wore off at about 11pm and my oxycodone kicked in 40 minutes after I took it. I had one kidney stone in route to my bladder when they did the catscan and 4 or 5 more waiting to depart. I cant wait for that to happen since they are larger than the one that has moved already. Today I am drinking tons of water and hoping that they pass as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

Turquoise Lake

We planned a camping trip this weekend up to Estes Park. The scenic route we chose to get there was going to be about a 9 hour drive so we decided to split it up into two days. Our first stop was going to be just outside of Leadville at Turquoise Lake. We found a great campground called Baby Doe in the San Isabel National Forest. It was right on the shore of the lake in a pine forest. Walking from the campsite down to the water you break out of the pine trees and onto the rocky sand beach. The lake and the snow capped mountains in the background are just incredible. This was Christophers first time in a tent and the first time Connie and I had been in one in a long time. The nights were in the 40's and the days were in the 70's. There was always a nice breeze and if you stayed in the sun in got hot and the shade was a little cool and of course the breeze off the lake was almost always cool. This place was perfect so we decided to stay 3 nights and planned to head up to Estes Park another time.