12/14
Gunnison County has this cool program where they will let you test drive an electric vehicle (EV) for a week for free, and they'll pay for all the charging. It's part of their commitment to try to get the county carbon neutral by 2050 (or something like that). So we signed up for it for this week as we had plans to head to the Front Range. It's a Chevy Bolt, a small, but efficiently sized car.
We charged the car up in Gunnison while we did some errands and shopping, but we still had to charge it up again in Fairplay as we hadn't gotten a full charge in Gunnison and because when the temperatures are really cold (<10F in Gunnison and over Monarch) the battery loses efficiency.
The first reason we were going to the Front Range was to go to Bailey for VonSheibness, a Christmas party hosted by Clair Von handorf and Neal Scheib. It was basically an Antarctic Reunion with Chad (fuels) and Megan (Crary Lab), Jammee (Ship and Palmer) and McNifty (husband), Joni (IT) and Cory (South Pole Traverse), Katie (Project Software), and of course Neal (Research Assistant) and Clair (Hazardous Waste). It was a fun party with tacos as the main course, lots of dessert and appetizers and margaritas. Then there was a white elephant gift exchange. We stayed the night with Clair and Neal, while everyone else headed back down to Denver.
In the morning we had brunch, charged the EV up in Bailey, and then headed down to Denver to meet my parents for a matinee of Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker' ballet at the Buell Theater. After we parked, we walked by the Capitol building and then through the Christkindl German Christmas market before getting to the Theater district.
We met my parents and headed into the Nutcracker. We tried to dress up, but most people were really fancy. It was a great show, with favorites being the Russian Dance and Snowflake Dance. But the sets were really cool too.
After the show we walked to the 16th street mall and had dinner (a feast) at the Cheesecake factory. After dinner, we dropped dad off at my parent's hotel for a nap and then mom, Elisha, and I first went to the City and County building, which is always lit up spectacularly for Christmas. And also there was a giant lit tree that had lights 'dance' to music. It was really awesome, especially when you went inside of it and looked up. It was a really cool and festive area! And then at one point they did a light show to music on the city and county building. Then it was back to the theater district to watch a very cool drone light show.
After all that, the 4 of us met at the Denver Botanic Garden for the Blossoms of Light. It's a walk (about 1 mile/1 hour) through the botanic garden amongst just a spectacular set up of Christmas lights. They also had a field with lights set to 'dance' to music.
After the Botanic Gardens, Elisha and I charged our car and then headed up to Estes. We wanted to see lights of Estes Park as well as my mom's Christmas decorations. It was extremely windy (as per usual) and there were 2 massive bull elk in the driveway as we pulled up. Mom's tree and lights were indeed nice and the snowvillage was of course the highlight!
12/15
We headed to downtown Estes to do some Christmas shopping and charge the EV. There was a giant herd of elk on the golf course where we parked the EV. Then it was a very quick lunch with mom and dad before heading down to Denver to meet Nate.
We met Nate in Denver at the Grateful Gnome brewpub. It was a surprise for Elisha as she loves gnomes. It was fun to hang out with Nate he's always hilarious. And the poor guy is hobbling around right now as he shattered his patella working on his cabin outside of Salida.
After hanging with Nate we headed to Red Rocks Amphitheater for 'Christmas in Color'. It was a really cool drive through light show. You tune your car to a certain FM frequency where music is playing and the lights are synced to it. It was really awesome!
Then we headed to Colorado Springs, but we charged the EV in Sedalia on the way. In the Springs we were visiting Jake and Elya. They were waiting for us with a yummy brownie cake thing and tea. We talked for a long while as well as watched some funny comedy shows.
12/16
We hung around Jake's in the morning, charged the EV near their house, and then headed to Jake's school so that he could show us his classroom and the school campus. He's a middle and high school Spanish teacher. We then went to a big (and too busy) shop at Trader Joe's and Costco in the Springs before heading home. We charged real quick in Salida (their S hill is lit up cooly in lights) before heading to Crested Butte. I then towed in the heavy sled of groceries to Gothic under a beautiful nearly fully moon (no headlamp required)
12/18
Did a fun backcountry ski up on the North side of Gothic mountain. Normally you wouldn't want to go there b/c it's under a huge avalanche path running off the summit, but with our dearth of snow right now, it was fine.
12/19
We skied into town to go to a showing of an episode Rocky Mountain PBS' Colorado Experience titled Gothic's Outdoor Science Lab. The showing was at the historic Majestic Theater and included free popcorn! (definitely a reason to make the trip out to town). The episode was really cool and afterwards there was a Q & A with PBS producers and RMBL scientists and staff. We skied back home under gorgeous stars
You can see the episode here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkMzdZcDrUo
12/20
We skied out to Crested Butte for a Christmas Play at the tiny Mallardi Theatre. It was a 3 person play titled "Every Christmas Story Ever Told". It was really good! And funny. And shout out to the Mallardi Theater for selling Hot Cocoa and PBR for only $2. We skied back on a chilly and starry night.
12/21 Winter Solstice
Elisha and I did a short tour up Copper Creek. We watched the sun go behind Gothic and put us in the shadows at exactly 3:33pm. That's not the sunset, it's just that Gothic is such a tall mountain right next to us that it blocks the sun early. The actual sunset time would be 4:49pm if Gothic wasn't there. Today I started reading a book of Mary Oliver's poems entitled 'Devotions'. Jake Hess gave the book (as well as another) to Elisha and I as advent gifts. He wrote in the cover "To the Guysers: Advent 2024. In hopes that these poems only expand your love for nature, its beauty and mystery"
In the evening Benn had the 3 other caretakers over for a Solstice Dinner Party at Calder. He made a super delicious roast with cornbread casserole and mashed potatoes with a mushroom gravy. Sophia made green beans and we brought cauliflower and ice cream to go with cookies we baked at his place. And we had Whiskey Mules.
I really enjoy the long nights, unlike many people it seems. So the winter solstice is a bit sad for me. I feel like it gives you more time to rest and relax and do things like reading and learning piano while drinking yummy tea. When it's sunny and beautiful out, I'm the kind of person that takes full advantage; hiking or biking until the darkness. In the summer this means not getting home until after 9, which doesn't leave much time to recharge. Plus I just really like the cold and snow!
My 8th grade earth science teacher, Mr. Adams, posted this on facebook, and I really liked it:
12/22
I started reading "Part of a Winter" by George Sibley. George was a caretaker in Gothic for 4 years in the 70s. He might have been the 1st one. He even predated billy barr. He used to be the editor of a weekly newspaper in Crested Butte. He's now in his 80s, but I had the interesting good fortune of meeting him in a very random way. Elisha and I received a grant from a local town organization to help with a small amount of funding for the condo we bought. In return, we were asked to right a thank you note to the organization in the paper. As part of my thank you, I wrote a quick poem (kind of dumb and not much effort put into it in my opinion; however, George saw it, and asked if he could publish it in his yearly locals publication. I said yes, and that started communicating with him. He's a writer, but he's also really interested in rivers, especially the Colorado.
I did a backcountry ski up the 403 near to the saddle between the East River Valley and Washington Gulch. The fox visited us tonight on our porch!
12/23
We had billy barr over for tea and cinnamon rolls. It felt like a HUGE accomplishment to get him to come out! And all 3 of us had a good time. He has such interesting stories and knowledge of the old days at Gothic and is funny to boot.
12/24
We skied out for Christmas Eve to Crested Butte. We went to a church service with my mom, bro, and Ellis. Then we all went to my brother's house where we had a Christmas Eve party with amazing food (artichoke dip, meatballs, shrimp bisque) and very potent cocktails. Steiny, Chris Miller, and Cheese were also there. We played some games: That's what she said and catch phrase. We skied back home under Christmas Eve starlight.
12/25
I did the weather station work, and then we skied back into Crested Butte in a beautiful snow storm. We met at Zach and Mary's where we had brunch and opened gifts. We eventually moved over to mom's condo in Skyland where we had delicious--as always--fondue. We then went to the hot tub and then watched a new Christmas Movie (That Christmas). Zach and Mary headed home, but we stayed the night.
12/26
We hit the hot tub in the morning and then had a chill morning at mom's condo before heading back to Mt CB to pick up Zach, Mary, and Ellis to ski into Gothic. Under snowy skies, I pulled in a big sled full of everyone's stuff (including Ellis' oxygen tanks), and Zach carried Ellis, and we all skied into Gothic on fresh snow.
For dinner we had dhal curry and we played farkle. Then we all snuggled up by the Christmas tree and snow village lights and watched Armageddon.
12/27
With 12 or so inches of fresh powder, bro and I skinned up the north side of Gothic mountain to ski Gothic's north cirque. It was awesome!! Then I took mom on a xc ski tour of Gothic, where we of course ran into billy. We had yummy ramen for dinner. It snowed most of the day and night.
12/28
I gave everyone a small recital of Christmas songs I had been learning on the piano: Oh come all ye faithful, oh holy night, joy to the world, silent night, and oh come oh come emmanuel. Then bro and Elisha and I skied 2 laps on Snodgrass in really deep powder. So deep it was actually hard to move on the lower angle stuff. We then met mom, Mary, and Ellis and skied out to Crested Butte.
We went to Nicky and cousin Emma's to watch the end of the Broncos' game (they lost in OT) and to watch the Buffs' bowl game against BYU (they unfortunately got creamed)
Afterwards, Elisha and I skied back to Gothic in a snowstorm.
12/29
I did 3 powder laps on Snodgrass. We had a most beautiful sunset!
12/30
We skied a lap below Avery Peak. A funny thing. We left a little bit of sardine juice out in a sardine can for our friend the fox. She ate the juice and then left a little poo right in the can. haha. We had left a little salmon out before, and she had also dropped a little nugget for us right by where we had put the salmon. If you've got nothing else to give, well then, I guess that's a good gift
12/31 New Year's Eve
We skied a lap below Avery peak on a very cold (-10F) and windy day.
“We never tire of each other, the mountain and I” – Lao Tzu
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