Day 3

A little bit painful in the morning after a day on the mountain. Quinn said he was fine not sore at all. Quite amazing. So to loosen things up a bit we walked around downtown Aspen looking at the shops. It was very well layed out and a nice walk. At night it was a very nice site as well they had alot of trees lit up and other items. There was a gazebo that had lights and snow on top that I really liked. We hung out at the hotel it was called the St Regis. Very nice and at the base of one of Aspens four mountains. On the way outta town we stopped at Buttermilk where the XGames will be this weekend. They had a half pipe and some crazy ramps. There were a few people practicing so we watched that for a little while. On our way out we stopped at a nice restaurant in Carbondale called EcoGoddess. From there we headed to Avon which is where Beaver Creek is one of Vails mountains. It was snowing most of the way so it was a little slow going. The views where nice and we went thru some tunnels that Quinn really enjoyed. When we arrived at the hotel it has its own gondala up the mountain so we took that for a spin to see the sites. We will see if we go snowboarding again. It gets a little expensive.

Day 3

We got up early and drove down to Aspen snowmass. A real big mountain. Quinn went into snowboard lessons which turned out real nice because it was only him and one other kid with the instructor. Joe and I headed up the gondala and went down the run back to the bottom. When we got back up to the top quinn was up there but complaining about his toes being cold so I sat inside with him for a litte warming his feet and then we was ready to go again. We checked in on him a few times and he was doing great. So we decided to head to all the peaks that had at least one blue to get down. At the highest point we were aroung 11.8. Not sure if we are use to altitude but except for the fact it was snowing and freeking cold it didnt bother any. The ride down was a long one and by the time I got down the second or third peak i was done. Joe went off and did some other runs on my way down i saw quinn. He wsa doing a great job. The mountain was a great run, it wasnt busy and it was easy to find runs with no one in sight.

Day 2

The lodge was about 13 miles down the colorado. So on the way out we got a real good view of it. Quinn was very fasinated by the fact in some locations it was frozen with wholes on occasion. We headed into arches and decided to hike the delicate arch trail. It was 3 miles round trip not too bad. we only saw 3 sets of people the whole time. One couple mentioned that in the summer you would have to wait in line for a picture there were so many people. One of the fun pictures we took was in the shadow of the arch the sun was just in the right spot. After delicate arche we went to the windows a bunch of arches in one area. its an easy walk around. From here not too much excitement drove into grand junction then into aspen.

Ski Trip 2010

On the road again. After watching the weather all week and wondering if they would open I-17 today we lucked out. They opened the road at 9am. We hit the road at about 10am with the sun shining in spots. We saw alot of snow as we aproached Flagstaff. The road was good, we hit a few low clouds that were still dumping snow but nothing crazy. I thought there was alot of snow in flagstaff until we hit Montecello UT i think it was called. that place had piles and piles of snow everywhere. The drive was very peaceful and scenic. We went thru monument valley and mexican hat. Not too much snow there. The drive over all was very peaceful, traffic was next to nothing and the flat planes where white with snow with only mountains around. All the mountains seemed to have low clouds around them. There were ocasional thunder clouds and the ones at sunst were quite a site. the picture doesnt do it justice. Tommorrow off to Arches National Park to check it out before heading into Aspen.

summer 2009

I don't recall mentioning the cake class quinn took at lake louise the day we left. hard to forget since the cake takes up half the cooler. quinn said the made a cake there was a giant fridge you could walk in, and they decorated the cake. he had a chefs hat and everything. we are heading thru opntario now, lake of the woods. last night we camped in whiteshells provintial park. had a nice campsite on one of the many lakes.

summer 2009 Lake louise

We are now leaving calgary on our way to regina. Yesterday we had a great day we departed the chataue at 10am headed for six glaciers tea house it was a relativly mild up hill till the last little bit. the view was spectacular. I will have to uplaod pictures later. all the glacers have snow melt so there are random waterfalls off the hills everywhere. the other odd thing is the huge thundersound when a chunk of glacier comes tumbling down the side. it makes a huge clound of snow to go with the thunder. We stopped at the tea house and had a cherry green tea, a cheese sandwich a hummus sandwich, and a piece of chocolate cake. kinda fun getting all that in the back country. from the plain of six glaciers we went to the lake agnes tea house. it was a steap climb and the joe forgot quinns backpack so I went back and took an alternet route before meeting yp with quinn and joe again. We made it back to the chatoue at 8pm after getting a little rained on. not sure how far we went but it took all day. We have now left calgary and will stop likely somewhere aound medicin hat.

Summer 2009 - Lake Louise

The day ended with a bang so we may as well start there. We went into town for some water then drove up to moraine lake for a stole around the like. It was about 9pm about dusk up here so we walk down to a river area. One area was blocked said you must hike in groups of 4 due to the bears. On our way back Quinn and I went ahead to get in the car. Next thing you know Joe comes up quick and hops in some people in front of him just had seen a grizzly bear go by where our car was parked. So we looked started the car and backed up and looked above the parking area and you could kinda see his back. He strolled up to the cabin and crossed a bit of a ravean so we got a real good look at him, he was huge. so then joe drove up so we could tell the hotel front desk and there he was stolling down the walk way. Heading to were we had just been casually hiking. Insane.

Anyway other than that Joe and I got to relax while Quinn took a photograph excursion. he brought back 2 very nice pictures he took on his outting. Later in the day he did an art trip and painted a lovely picture of the lake and mountains and even painted a canoe it just hapens to be on top of the mountain instead of in the water. Oh well he had a great time. Tommorrow we are going to hike up to the six glacier tea house. We will see how that goes.

Summer 2009 Days 7 to 11

Lots of distance covered on this part of the Trip. We started in San Francisco. Had a great hotel near china town with a view of the Bay. We had to walk a couple blocks to hop on a Street Car. Had to do it like in the movies because it was so busy so the kids got a seat the rest of us had to hold on for dear life. We rode the car down to Fishermans warf. It was very noisy and went up and down the hills. At times it was interesting the driver putting on the diffrent breaks to slow down because of the steap slopes. Then there are the trucks parked on the side of the road that the driver tells the left or right side to watch out and you have to pull in or get bumped.

So we walked down fishermans warf and took in the old boats at the national park. We ate at a great place called The Plant. Rode some more old transprortaion cars. Amazing people use those things daily. We checked out Pier 39 and the sea lions. They get very pist at each other it was interesting watching them. Did I mention it was freeking cold. About 52 by the time we gave up and left. It was so windy it was crazy. From there we headed to Napa which turned out to be almost 100, I swear it was only an hour or so drive too. The temperture change is amazing. We stopped at a winery and took in the scenary.

From here we headed north and stopped at Crater Lake for the night. The next day we took in the lake. Its amazing it has no rivers in or out its all snow melt. Its so clear and amazingly beutiful. We didnt have time to take the boat cruise will have to come back and try that. The next odd thing we saw was in the middle of nowhere Idaho. There was an amuzement park with the oldes rickety looking roller coaster. It was an eaven odder site with a brand new steal one right next to it.

The next day we made it to Spokane then up to Canada thru Kootney National Park. We hadnt passed thru this park previously it was very nice driving thru a valley surounded by mountains.


We checked into the Chateau at Lake Louise this morning. We have a room with a balcony facing the amazing lake with the glaciers in the background. This place is awsome. They have kids activities through out that day so quinn did a 2 hour hike for kids tommorrow hes gonna try a photograph trip and an art trip with an eyeseyl and eveything.

Summer 2009 Day 5-6

We camped in the medows on the north entrance to the park. We didnt arive until real late. First thing the next moring we stopped at a visitor center and found out the valley was going to have a high of 101 that day. So we decided to spend the hotest part of the day in the meadows on the north east part of the park. The high here was in the 70s. We did a hike to soda springs which was interesting to see this type of thing outside of the yellowstone area.

From there we headed the the valley didnt get their until 5 so it wasnt too bad. We went up bridalfalls hike only a .5 mile nice and easy. We then headed to yosemite falls but got side tracked by a bear hanging in a tree near one of the turns so we stopped to check him out.
Briadal and Yosemite falls are huge falls the water is starting to tapor off but still impresive. Did the whole camping thing that night with a fire and everything.

The next day Joe Quinn and I took a one way bus ride up to Glacier Point. The views were amazing. The hike we did was the Panoramic trail it was an 8 mile hike from the top to the bottom with an elevation change of 3200 ft. It turned out to be quite a hike. The first 1.9 was a gradual down hill not too bad but it was a burn area so shade was limited. As we started going down we noticed the trail had to climb on the other side back up to that ridge. Yikes. The first falles illilouette falls was in a crevis the view of it hiking up was nice but once you got close it was a bit of a cliff to see it. We did get to stop at the pools at the top of the falls and cool off before the next 1.9 miles up hill. By the time we reached the 4 mile mark we were looking over the ridge at where we had started. From there it was back down hill to Nevada falls. Not too bad. Nevada falls was impressive allot of water. Again we rested near the pools of water. The next part of the hike is where it got interesting. it was all down hill via rocks made into steps, sorta. A very quick way to go down hill. We made it to vernal falls the last part of our journey. Again another impressive falls with tons of water. The desent from vernal falls was stairs again but next to the waterfall so it was very misty. Very cool stair stepping. The last mile although paved was steap down hill we took our time and ended up making the trip in a little under 7 hours. Not sure Id do that again any time soon. Now we are in San Francisco off to see the sites.

Summer 2009 Day 3-4

Made it into Sequia went thru the tunnel log with the car. We also went down to the meadows and did a hike around to an old cabin that was built in a fallen sequoia. From that hike we went to shermans tree the bigest tree in the world in volume and he is huge. It was some great walks but the mosquitos are killer. We camped in Kings Canyon that night and the next morning Irene, Joe, Quinn and I headed to Mist falls. It was a 9.2 mile round trip hike. Luckly the hike was only a little up hill the rest was very flat. The falls were very misting and refreshing. Amazing although we were in the mountains it was very hot.

July 2009 Day 1 - 2

First stop disneyland for Joes Birthday. Irene joined us and we had a great time at both parks. On the California adventure side Quinn was given driver of the day on Mulhullan Madness which ment he could go to the front all day as much as he wanted. He rode it 8 times in a row. Not a good pass to give to a little kid that requires an adult. Quinn also coninued his pin trading and ended the day with all mickey mouse pins. He doesnt add much variety. Onto Sequoia and Kings Canyon next

Day 1 - 3 Galena, 2008.

Finally a trip we took our time. We took our time getting ready and made it to ShowLow AZ the first night. Quinn carved the pumpkin he picked up at a farm thru school. It was a messy job but he survived.



Sunday we headed out from there. Went thru the petrofied forest and painted desert. Always a nice site. From there we went thru new mexico onto texas panhandle. Stopped at a route 66 museum, it had some interesting history on the route. We stayed at a state park sunday night just off 40. Next we kept heading east to Okalahoma city. We spent a couple hours at the zoo there. We saw some apes, rhinoserous, large birds, and some sea lions and seals. It was a pretty nice place. From there we went to Tulsa then into the Buffalo river area for the night.

We stayed at a nice campsite called lost valley with a trail that leads up to a cave with a waterfall in it. It requied a bit of crawling so Quinn and Joe went on in and I enjoyed the leaves from the outside. There are alot of yellow leaves in some areas you can see red and even pinky looking trees. Later that day we went to blanchard spring caverns. They are really cool caves aparently there are three levels we did the top one. There are huge piles of bat guanna (poop) with is wild since its over 50 years old and thats just the fresh stuff on top. From there we drove thru Branson MO, it had the whole lights and show stuff like vegas but nothing very interesting looking. We stayed the night outside springfield MO and are on our way to St Louis shortly. Pictures will come shortly just trying to find a model T place joe recalls the last time we went thru here.

Vancouver to Victoria

In Vancouver we went to Stanley Park. I would say it is their version of central park. It is a huge park on a peninsula. We were going to the aqarium but found a water park with sprinklers and fire hydrens and water pistols that was more appealing. Quinn had a grand old time. After that we headed for the ferry to get to vancouver island. That was interesting you basicly wait in line and then they direct you from that line onto the boat. We were in the front fow so we had a ocean front view. on the upper decks you could sit and watch inside or go up another level and walk the ship. Very nice views, it was about an hour and 45 minutes to get to the island. We found a hotel last night and were planning on leaving today. But today is BC Day, i guess a celebration of British colombia as a state. Anyway there are a bunch of music acts and things about. Im not sitting on the park lawn waiting for quinn and joe. We just saw the Snowbirds (white jets) fly in numerous formations very low and very loud. So anyway we will be exploring the island today and see if we can see some of the acts tonight.

West Glacier to Vancouver

We made it to Vancouver. Some of these pix are from the day before but im so behind on this blog that it all is a blur. It may also have to do with the fact that yesterday was a fun evening we arived about 2:30 am to Vancouver. Aparently tommorrow is a holiday for British Columbia so everyone and i mean everyone leaves the city. So we started out in West Glacier and went into Revelstoke national park.

Along the way we went thru some old growth rainforests. They are huge cedars that create a massive canopy. The ground is very lush and green even without the sunlight. Some of the furn type things have huge spikes on them, luckly they have boardwalks so you can watch at a safe distance. From the rainforest we went to a marsh area that had a number of bird watching areas.
Supposidly there are some birds that come up from south america each year. Our next stop we went thru the wine country of British Columbia. Lots of farm stands, cherrys seem to be the favoite. We had planned to camp or hotel somewhere in this area but everything was booked so we headed toward Vancouver and everything along the way was also booked so most of yesterday after noon was driving and more driving. Today we are lookin at going to Victoria BC.

Lake Louise to West Glacier

Next day we first went into kootenay national park. The only stop we made was marble canyon which was amazing. The river had cut this very narrow deep canyon. It reminded me of the slot canyons at lake powel. Aftr this slight detour we headed back to lake loise to see moraine lake, there are 10 peaks above this lake with the clouds and snow dusting it was a neat sight. From here we started our trek west. First stop yoho natuional park and takakkaw falls. The falls were massive when you were up close the camera could not even fit them all. It was a ridge at the top with tons of water pouring down. About athird of the way down the water seemed to hit a lip in the rock causing to have a huge spray zone. Forgot one thing right befpre these falls is a place they call the spiral tunnels. It is the tunnels for the canadian railway that takes a previus 4+ percent grade and cut it in half by having the train pretty much drive on top of itself. We were luckiy enough to see a train go through it, its a very strange sight. Next we stopped at emerald lake.


Next stop was a natural bridge. Now the main diffrenxebetween a natural bridge and an arch is natura bridges are caused by a river carving it out an arch is caused by erosion. Well i have seen alot of natural bridges but this one was diffrent its like a waterfall but it decided under was a less resitent path. The water is fearce running beneth this bridge.


We went for a real nice easy hike to some falls called w... It wasnt a high fall but real wide. Quinn had his bear walking stick that we picked up in glacier MT, normal stick but with a bell on it so the bears know your commin.

Its amazing how often "eh" is used at the end#of any sentence up here. We ate dinner tonight at an excelent restaurant in golden, BC. So we then stopped in glacier for the night but the first two capsites were full, we then stumbled across the third one and it was completely emty. Now normally im all over isolation but in an area where there are gient signs everywhere about bears we decided to take a sot closest to the road. Little bakward but the place is down right creepy.

Jasper to Lake Louise

Now i wish i had a thermometer cause it was dab cold last night. But when we woke up and stepped out of the tent we had two visitors. One was lying down taking a nap near our table the other was nibbling abush next to our tent. They were huge elk.



From jasper we drove down toward lake louise. The day started out much nicer. We did two falls hikes athabasca and sunwapta both very diffrent but neat falls.



After that we went to the columbian icefields and took a huge four wheel drive custom bus up onto one of the glaciers. To get on the glcier the first piece was to get down a massive hill tha even in a quad would be tough. So we had 20 minutes on the ice which was plent although amazing it was freekin cold. They said that they had had snow the day before.






We made it into lakeloise and stopped for dinner at an old railway station. The appetizers were wonderful but we had bison burgers for the main meal and they must hve been store bought reheated with all kinds of stuff in emm cause they were the worst burgers we have ever had. Yuck. After dinner we went toward banff and caped at a place caled protection mpuntain. Nice campground only noise was the occasional train.

Banff to Jasper

Next day we headed to jasper. It was raining on and off through out the day. We hiked johnson canyon first, it was an easy hike but extreamly busy. It had a cave on one side that let you get super close to the falls, all the way up into the spray zone. From the canyon we headed to lake louise.





The chatou there is impressive. We hiked up the fairview lookout and when i say up i mean 100% up. One at the top there is aprimative trail that goes down to the lake then along the shore. It didnt look to bad so we talked quinn into doing it and off we went. Since it was raining it was bit slippery but a fun hike.



We then went and checked out the hotel, definitly would be a nice place to stay but a bit pricey. Hard to beat the campground price of 27 witch includes flush toilets, bears, showers, and other animals. On our way to jasper we saw some real big glaciers. The main one whic we will hit tommorrow was dang cold. We made it to jasper aound 11 for the night.

Calgary to Banff

The next morning we got up and went to the calgary heritage park. It is and old town recreation with original building that were moved to this site. Everyone was dressed in period costume and had alot of interesting facts. In the wood workers shack quinn helped make a sign. The place had a large train running around the prrk and old amusment park rides.



From calgary we drove into banff. Its a bit dramatic a drive because you go from very flat plains into huge mountans. When I think candada I dont really think flat but Calgary is flat.



We camped in banff for the night. After we found the campground we drove into town. We first stopped at national park headquarters of some type. It has a huge beutiful garden.


From there we walked around downtown. It has alot of neat shops and restaurants. We ate at a greek place and just missing the plate smashing show. The food and service were excelent.