Mountain Biking Purgatory

We drove back to Purgatory Ski Resort just over 2 months after we last skied there. It actually snowed a little on us during the ride. The forest roads allow you to drive right to the top of the lifts before they open for mountain bike season.

There's the Subaruiser. Sick.
Of course Goose hunted the whole ride. She found a new species.... Marmot.

Tons of clean mountain streams, one mud puddle. Goose found it.

Keep your butt behind the seat when bombing down.

Goose trying to keep up with her momma.

Mesa Verde National Park

May 20, 2009

We headed just over the border to Colorado to check out Mesa Verde, but first we had a hike that ended at Guy Drew Vineyards in Cortez.
Up in the park this tree looks down onto Cortez.

The Balcony House. An ancient Peubloan group occupied these cliff dwellings just after the Chaco Canyon people from the near 1100 to about 1300.

The Cliff Palace & a ranger group.




Meg showing off some mad hiking/climbing/tourist skills!

This is seriously a walking path through man-made and natural rock.

I miss Yesterdog. Mainly the Kraut Dog.

UGA Graduation

May 9, 2009 University of Georgia
Meg's cousin Anna graduated this weekend and we had to visit her at Athens before she left town. The Deep South was an experience for us Yankees (meaning anyone from the North).

Proud parents, Aunt Kim & Uncle Doug with Anna's boyfriend Robert. Next stop, speech therapy school at Florida State.

Jenga is a great idea towards the end of barhopping.

After graduation we road tripped to Jekyll Island on the Atlantic Coast. This is where the Fed was conceived. The Reserve was actually here that weekend. Here we are getting ready for a Low Country Boil at the Jekyll Island Marina.

Nature's art.

The P-rents & San Juan Skyway

My parents came out for my birthday and we toured the San Juan Skyway with a stay over in Ouray, CO. They call it America's Switzerland

A stop at brewery #1

Too scared to get out of the Mule. There is a cliff to the left.

The old mail carrier is Goose's namesake.
Goose hunted chipmunks in Ridgeway.

Looking towards the box canyon of Telluride. I can't believe we were skiing here five weeks ago.

Brewery #2 in Telluride. Smugglers offered my folks some "sampling."

Grand Canyon

April 28, 2009

My bro flew out from Grand Rapids, MI to road trip with us to the Grand Canyon South Rim. Goose woke up Uncle Jon each morning. She was so excited.

Arizona sunrise on the Canyon walls. We woke up at 5:15 a.m. There is no daylight savings in the state of Arizona.

2,000 feet below, the Colorado river rages through rapids. From the rim it looks peaceful and green. All the silt that would make the river brown is up river in the bottom of Lake Powell, above Glen Canyon Dam.

The California Condor just below the rim. Once extinct in the Grand Canyon, it is making its comeback with the help of the National Park system.

Camping with a bonfire. It gets cold at 7,000 feet.

Moab, Utah

April 14th, 2009

We drove 3 hours into Colorado to stock up on good beer in bombers (non 3:2 beer that is) then on into Utah to Canyonlands National Park. We camped in the backcountry near the Needles District.

Climbing up onto that red rock, Meg noticed this Bullsnake right next to our table. The ranger later told us that they are harmless, hunt rodents, and coil into a rattlesnake position when threatened. Good thing we didn't see that.

Stacks at the Needles District.

Goose's ears warned us of the oncoming wind storm. In the middle of the night we awoke to voilent winds shaking the tent and red sand/silt covering our faces. It blew right under our rain tarp and through the screeen.... Then filled our ears. We ended up climbing into the Mule and were rocked to sleep.

This is the confluence of the Colorado and Green rivers as seen (or barely seen) from the Islands in the Sky district.

The winds kicked up even more, then it rained dirt from the atmosphere. Here is the Colorado river near our next campsite. Visibility was just like a snow storm, except reddish-brown.




That night it snowed too. The next day was much nicer. We had a great hike to a hidden arch. It happened to be the 6th largest expanse in the world.

Meg is showing that ballet skills still come in handy.

Chaco Culture National Historic Park

April 7&8, 2009
The Four Corners have so many ruins from the Anasazi, or pre-North American history ancient people. We don't know what they spoke, why they created such structures, or why they left, but X-Files says that it was aliens (one of the theories the ranger told us). The hub of this culture is found in the middle of nowhere New Mexico. Views from above show over 400 miles of thirty foot wide, straight roads that lead out from Chaco.

Goose found evidence of earlier elk in the valley.

The great thing about a National Historical Park is that Goose could hike the trails. The crack on the right is the trail to the top of the north mesa. It got wider.

Beans straight out of the fire.... for breakfast. Megan paid for my decision later.

Goose has a mad hiking skills!