Winter Park

Sunday afternoon, once we had recovered (somewhat) from the race, we headed to Winter Park. We had a hotel room reserved for two nights. It's a good thing we decided to go up when we did, because Monday morning and most of the day Monday, Berthoud Pass was closed due to inclement weather and avalanche blasting.

We were woken up by snow plows at 6am Monday and saw that almost 10 inches had fallen over night. We started the day with a delicious breakfast at Rise and Shine Bakery and then were some of the first skiers on the slopes. We were laying fresh tracks for most of the day. It continued to snow all day and we had a blast in all the new powder.







Tuesday morning the plows woke us up again, but this time at 4am. Oh well. Another 13.5 inches had fallen since Monday morning, so the slopes were again full of fresh powder. Fortunately, the skies had cleared and we enjoyed a slightly warmer and mostly blue-sky day. There was so much powder, it was actually hard to ski. We ventured to a new side of the mountain, though. A side for "experts only" (woo hoo!). It was so fun skiing through lots of trees and 22 inches of powder (the Vasquez side wasn't open yesterday).

Boulder Spring Half

Laurel ran the half marathon today in around 2:12 (6 minutes faster than last time!), I ran the 10k in just under 57:00. It was a good race but a bit chilly -- a few snowflakes actually fell while we were waiting in line for food!

Long walk today around Boulder

Along our walk we checked out the Valmont bike park. Looks like it should open soon. It's huge!

Florida Days 4 & 5

Well, you could say that by Thursday I was in a Florida state of mind. Things move much slower down there because of the heat and humidity. I was getting into vacation mode and not moving too fast. Thursday morning I did take a sunrise run along the beach from Dania to Hollywood.

I also went to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea with mom and dad, and made a number of trips to the pool and back to the beach. I also managed to rollerblade while my mom rode her bike. It was a lot of fun, and I truly got to relax and get a lot of vitamin D from the sunshine! I also managed to eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies. Yum!

Florida Day 3

Dan is in Malibu on business. It sounds like his hotel is right on the Pacific Ocean. I'm not even a mile from the Atlantic. Funny.

I ran to the gym this morning while mom rode her bike. We lifted weights together and then Adam came to get me. He brought me to his house so I could meet the chickens. Yes, Adam has three hens that live in the Florida room and his back yard that produce eggs every day. He loves them--and the eggs! We went rollerblading on the broadwalk for a while.

After lunch mom, dad, and I hung out at the pool for a couple of hours. The weather couldn't be better!

Florida Day 2

Adam picked me up at 6am with the mountain bikes in the back of his truck. He drove us 2.5 hours north to the Kissimee Prairie Preserve. It was out in the middle of farms, cattle, and tropical forests. When we pulled in we saw some wild turkeys and karakara birds.

We got on our bikes and tried to head west on the military road. Unfortunately, there was so much sand on the "road" that we couldn't pedal. We tried another way and got a couple of miles in before the trail turned into a swamp. So, we got back on the military trail and walked our bikes when the sand was too deep. It took us quite a while to get to the Kissimee River, but we finally got there.

We had a nice lunch on the riverside and then started to head back under the sweltering sun. We tried a different route back, because the military trail was such a pain. However, we knew there would be a large segment of the trail that included a water crossing.

The water crossing was gross. It was anywhere from 3 inches to almost 2 feet deep. There were places where we couldn't see our feet and we worried about all sorts of creepy crawlies. Adam took his socks and shoes off to walk through the mud, but I wasn't that brave. I kept my socks on and felt the goopy mud through my toes. Gross! Then, we're about halfway across and I saw a snake. I jumped a mile high and ran in front of Adam with my bike. Of course, I scared the snake more than it scared me, but I still didn't like it! Then Adam claimed he saw a baby alligator up ahead. Well, luckily we didn't get to see him or his mother up close.

We got to dry land without further incident. Then, after biking not even five minutes, I saw an alligator off to the side of the trail. I screamed and pedaled as fast as I could. The gator splashed into the nearby pool and Adam saw what he claimed was a 12-footer. I didn't see that one.

After 5.5 hours we got back to the car with all limbs in tact. Over the course of the ride we also saw deer, vultures, more wild turkey, and other birds. On the way back Adam drove us by Lake Okeechobee. I had no idea how huge the lake was. You couldn't even see across it.

We got home in time for another delicious dinner and walk on the beach.

Florida!

I left Monday to fly to Fort Lauderdale. It's amazing how the humidity just hits you when you get out of the airport. The air in Boulder is SO dry that the especially wet air down here is just incredibly dense feeling. Anyway, it's green and very, very warm down here.

Mom and Adam picked me up at the airport and we headed right to the bike shop to rent mountain bikes for our adventure the next day. Then, a quick ride on the broadwalk was in order! We went to Mom and Dad's place for dinner and then a nice walk on the beach. Yay FLA!

Ralph Price Reservoir

Long time no posts... I've been running a lot. I've been getting out at least once a weekend for a 2+ hour trail run. I've run up at Hall Ranch. Last weekend I ran up Green Mountain (and was passed by Anton Krupika!) and Saturday I ran up Bear Peak.

On Sunday, Dan and I went to explore the Ralph Price Reservoir area. I learned about this area through the Boulder Trail Runners and wanted to check it out. We had planned to hike the Sleepy Lion Trail, but just 100 yards on the trail Dan discovered a faint side trail, so we decided to explore it. Along the way we found a hidden bouldering area so we stopped to play on the rocks.

Eventually this little trail got us up to Hall Ranch at the junction of the Nighthawk and Buttonrock Trails. Good views of Longs Peak.

After a quick lunch, we hiked the Buttonrock Trail back to the end of Sleepy Lion. This trail dumped us out at the bottom of the dam, where there was an outlet spewing water at tremendous pressure.

We hiked up the side of the dam to see what was up top. The water was pretty, especially with Meeker and Longs in the background. We walked back down the road (yuck) to the car.