6/14
Elisha and I went up to Lake Irwin to set-up a picnic for some guests. It was rainy, sleeting, and snowing up there, so it became more of a hot cocoa picnic than anything else.
6/15
We drove to Bailey for Slow Song Saturday. SSS was one of my very favorite (invite only) events at McMurdo. The SSS committee (Liz, Joni, Tony, and couple others) would give you the invite and let you request a couple of songs. The songs are mostly 80s (some 70's and 90's) power ballads. People would make microphones (out of paper towel cardboard rolls) and everyone would sing all the songs together in a rather dark area with disco ball and other similar types of lights. I loved the people invited and how into it everyone got, and how it always turned into a circle with everyone's arms around each other, singing their hearts out. Well, when I heard that Liz, Joni and company were having an off-ice Slow Song Saturday, I was so incredibly excited. We drove Gunther to the party to camp with everyone on Joni's property in Bailey. Joni and her husband Cory (South Pole traverse) had lots of food and burgers and everyone brought drinks to share. Mitch was there as was Liz and Alex, Neal and Clair, Kate Fay, Dan Vedra, Marissa, Jamee, among others. It was of course a GREAT time, and we sang late into the night
6/16
Neal and Clair hosted us and Jamee and McNifty for brunch at their place on the other side of the highway in Bailey.
6/16-18
Mom came and visited to look at some condos and property and of course to hike amongst the wildflowers. We also had a hot dog roast out by Gothic.
The flowers are really starting to pop, especially the lupines and larkspur, and some sunflowers. So we've been biking a lot amongst the flowers.
6/24
Started the day by hiking up deer creek trail above Gothic to enjoy the SPECTACULAR lupines and views of Gothic Mountain.
We then drove to Salida in Gunther where we biked some fun trails right above Salida, went out for pizza, and then camped in Gunther on the hills above Salida with good views of the 14ers (Collegiate Range) and the stars and Salida down below. We also watched some of Anne of Green Gables on the tiny TV in Gunther.
6/25
Biked the really awesome Rainbow Loop out of Salida. We then drove home in time to go to a seminar at RMBL given by Truman Young. Truman is the advisor of my advisor Todd. In other words, he's my academic grandfather.
6/26
Biked Deer Creek Trail (out and back) and the Lupines were just amazing!
6/27
Hiked West Maroon pass and Belleview Mountain. The day started out rainy, but then opened up to a mostly sunny day with beautiful views. Lots of snow still on the ground on the way to Maroon Pass. The rainy morning, snow, and lack of wildflowers (except for glacier lilies) meant that the pass was completely empty and I had the whole basin to myself, an extreme rarity in the summer.
6/28
The chainless bike race was today! Elisha and I dressed up in a stars and stripes theme and had a good time. Also got to see Lisa who was in town for a bike race that her daughter was competing in.
6/29
I had the day off, and so I did lots of biking amongst the flowers. Storms came in after Elisha got off work. Once the rain mostly dissipated, we went out and were treated to a wonderful double rainbow over the East River valley.
7/1
Went for a bike ride amongst the flowers in the morning, and then drove up to Paradise Divide (11,300 feet) in Gunther in a driving rainstorm to camp up there. It stormed (lightning and thundered) all night long and the thunder was really loud as the lightning was rather near.
7/2
Woke up to clear skies, so I hiked up Treasury Ridge and skied a nice run down towards North Pole Basin. Got almost 2000ft of vertical in!
When we got back to town, we went for a short hike at Brush Creek to enjoy the flowers
7/3
I started my new part-time job at RMBL (invasive species technician)
We went to enjoy the live music and fireworks show up at Crested Butte Mountain Resort
7/4
We were working in the morning, but still got to catch some of the parade, including our favorite floats (RMBL, KBUT, Red Ladies). After work we went for a bike ride amongst the flowers and then went out to RMBL for their famous 4th of July BBQ. The executive chef this year is Zeke, who I know from Antarctica as he was the lead chef at the South Pole. He's from Texas, so his bbq was amazing (brisket, smoked turkey, various sausages, brussels sprouts, etc).
7/5
More amazing wildflower mountain biking up at Point Lookout and Walrod cutoff
7/6
Started my new (2 day a week) job with Maroon Bells Shuttles. I basically drive peoples vehicles between Aspen and CB and vice versa. So far I've just had doubles. Drive a car from CB to Aspen and then pick up another car and drive it back to CB, but if I have a single, I would just hike back over the 12 mile West Maroon Pass. It's an awesome job so far. I drive fancy new cars with all the bells and whistles over the incredibly scenic Kebler and McClure passes between 2 beautiful mountain towns, al the time while listening to an audiobook. When I get to Aspen, I either use their good bus system or their free e-bike/pedal bike transport option to get around from car drop off to car pick up.
7/7-7/12
My parents are in town to see the wild flowers!
7/8
We did a hike on deer creek trail to enjoy the wildflowers, then went to the free alpenglow concert series
7/9
Elisha and I hiked up to Green Lake (which is actually a beautiful blue). It's a beautiful hike, but was a bit of a crazy day. Right as we got up to Lake Irwin, my car died. (I have a coolant leak and had forgotten to check it lately, so it overheated right there and turned off. Some kind folks helped us push it to the parking lot). To get to green lake, the road goes by private property of a jerk who is claiming it's his property. (There is a lawsuit between him and the forest service). Anyways, he puts up all these scary signs (ex. I have a gun and a backhoe). This got Elisha nervous, so instead of taking the standard route, we navigated a longer way around to avoid the area. The one nice thing about this property issue is that it means that you can almost always have this lake all to yourself. Indeed, this was the case today. The lake was still 3/4 ice filled, but I jumped in. We played with some of the ice crystals, as this lake makes really unique ice crystals for some reason.
On the way back down, my phone fell out of my pocket (hole in my pocket), and it took us over an hour to find it. We were actually lucky to find it with al the vegetation (I have a green case) and considering we were hiking off trail, so we didn't know exactly where we had walked. But I knew about where I had last checked my phone, and then we used my speaker to try to narrow it down (almost like an avalanche beacon). When my speaker gets close enough to my phone, it gives a ding that it's connected.
Mom and dad took us out to eat for our anniversary at a new restaurant called the hideout.
7/10
Happy Anniversary Elisha!
We worked in the morning. Then we went on a bike ride before all going out to eat at the RMBL cafeteria (pork adobo as the main meal). Then we went back to Mt CB for Music on the Mountain (they were good), and then I did one more bike lap on the mountain, starting to pedal up the hill while listening to the band's encore.
7/11
Elisha and I took mom paddle boarding down the Slate River. Elisha had her own paddleboard, and mom and I shared a double. I paddled her while she just sat and enjoyed the view. She called herself Cleopatra! Haha
7/12
There were so many deer out and about my field site while I was in Gothic today. They were very curious about me, including a very cute fawn.
We signed our contract today for the condo, which means that the condo is officially ours! Yikes! It's a deed restricted condo (meaning that it for locals and has a salary AMI cap (at 120%)) that we will be paying $287,000. It's a great deal for the area, but it's not our perfect place. It's more of a place to call our own so that we have guaranteed housing (housing isn't assured in this valley) at a decent monthly mortgage/rent, and don't have to play roommate roulette where you might have to move 2 or 3 times a year and have multiple roommates. I've even heard of some people moving 5 times a year and others living in their trucks in the forest. Housing is a major issue here, so although the place isn't perfect (high HOA, very small, weird condo building, market resale value different than normal due to being deed restricted, other deed restricted restrictions, etc), it will be nice to have secure housing. So here we go! We've been married for 7 years, and during that 7 years of marriage, only for 1 year have we lived by ourselves in our own place without roommates or sharing a kitchen or bathroom (communal living like in Antarctica: and that place was the small 1 bedroom place in Phoenix. So we are excited to have a place just to ourselves! The condo complex does have a hot tub and pool and is within a 5 minute walk of the ski hill. It's up in Mount CB.
So come visit us!
7/13
Biked the famous 401 for the first time this year today. The flowers still aren't blooming up top, but they are starting to pop midway down.
7/14
I'm sitting in the Aspen public library (amazing library!) right now as I type this. I had a single shuttle today, but Elisha and I are heading this way for our anniversary camping trip, so I'll just take the bus from Aspen to Carbondale to meet her, and then we'll head to Glenwood Spgs and eventually Vail
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