Girls Weekend!!!

At the beginning of March I took a couple days to visit my friend in Creede Colorado, which is just over two hours east of Durango over Wolf Creek pass. Wolf Creek is also home to one of the highest ski areas.

Due to the steep mountain terrain the road goes through the mountain - such a beautiful drive!

Main Street, Creede (pardon the window glare - it's not the sun)

Atlas, I arrived in Creede. This itty bitty mountain mining town sits at the base of a canyon. The town kind of dead ends where the canyon gets narrow. The road is sort of paved sort of dirt and not much is open in the off season.....

Sam!

...but leave it to Sam to find a Mardi Gras fundraiser going on that night. We partied in the underground community center with live music and $4 hurricanes! Sam was a gracious hostess and offered to be the designated driver so I could enjoy those hurricanes. We moved the festivities to her house and stayed up way too late talkin' girl stuff.

Delia tried to seek refuse under the coffee table but my camera found her - she seemed less than thrilled with the flash.

Me & Sam

We finally made it up to Wolf Creek mid-morning the next day. True to the picture, I was feeling a bit upside down from the night before.

With over 18 inches of fresh snow in the last two days, we decided to hike to fresh uncrowded powder. Breaking a sweat definitely helped break the hang over.

The top of the world!!

Hey Sam, Look over here!!

What a great day! We rode the open slopes, played in the trees and hiked for epic runs. We didn't take many pictures, I guess we were too busy playing. Isn't that always the case?

We may have arrived mid-morning but we were some of the last to leave. We caught the last lift chair and were the last off the slopes.

The next morning I went back to take pictures of the town. The community center is in the side of the mountain in a series of old mining caves. It made for amazing acoustics for the band during the fundraiser.

Creede's Fire Department is also located in a cave.

"Even though Mother Earth News called Creede one of the best places to live in North America, only 300 or so folks have taken them up on the offer. With a tax base like that, city planners knew it wasn't going to be easy to raise the money for a new fire station. Still, since the entire town burned to the ground just three years after it was established in 1889, it was something they felt forced to propose.



Luckily, the innovative little town lifted itself above convention and came up with the novel idea of building their fire station into the side of a cliff. Using explosives rather than lumber, they blasted out 45 - degree-angle rock stalls for the volunteer fire department's two fire trucks and inadvertently opened up a whole new trickle of revenue. In fact, so many tourists came to see the World's Only Underground Firehouse ( the local 4-H Club gives tours) that they eventually decided to blast another tourist attraction - an underground mining museum." **

"Multiplying loaves and fishes is one thing. But in Creede, with a population of less than 800, the world famous repertory theater manages to sell 19,000 tickets every season. How do they do that? By winning kudos from everyone from USA Today (their reviewer dubbed Creede Repertory Theater "one of the 10 greatest places to see lights way off Broadway") to Rocky Mountain News, who said, "No wonder the Denver Post calls it a 'a miracle in the mountains.'"**

I can't wait until summer when we can go back as a family to visit Sam and take in some of the amazing sights of this adorable little mountain hideaway.


**Quoted from Colorado Curiosities by Pam Grout 2006




Sometimes you just gotta get away and have a little girly time!!

Scenes of Winter

Doug and Regina

Snowshoeing with friends and dogs

Jim and Will and Burgers and Beer

Tailgate BBQ parties at the ski resort

March Morning Snow #1 (all taken in our yard)

March Morning Snow #2

March Morning Snow #3

March Morning Snow #4

Me & Ed (Hawaiian Day)

Volunteering at the ski resort with the Adaptive Sports Association

Stown

Volunteering at ASA


Winter brings so many days of activities it's hard to find the time to take pictures or post new blog stories. Those of you who follow us know that every year we fall of the map until the snow starts to melt. So I hope you enjoyed the brief recap of the last few months.

LOVE TO ALL.

February Birthdays

STOWN - 15
DOUG - 3

ASPEN - 5


We had three birthdays to celebrate in the month of February! Everyone got a little older and a bit wiser. Most have stopped chewing on things - except Stown... we still need to work with him - HAHAHA! Stown is growing into quite the young man. Just to imagine that in a year and a half he will be driving - scary! He has adjusted well to life here in Colorado and is enjoying school. Although, probably not as much as he enjoys snowboarding and playing with his friends. Overall, February was a good month in our home.

Hope your February was as enjoyable!

Life...

Early morning moonset over a Utah plateau - taken from a moving car

So, it's seems like forever since my last post but really it's only been a few weeks. Weeks that were filled with days and days that were filled with hours and hours that were filled with everyday life. School, work, cooking, parent / teacher conferences, laundry, dishes, dog walks, snowboarding - just stuff. The last couple days I haven't felt much like doing "stuff" though. I finally got around to down loading our camera from our trip to Utah. The pictures were so filled with emotion that I have had a hard time coming to terms with all that happened last month.

I should be thankful for all I have, and I am, but it saddens me to think of those who have lost someone. Yesterday, I finally checked my email, only to find the funeral schedule for another friend. Ugh... does 2011 have to be so morose?

I, again, counted my blessing for all I have - family and friends most of all. Of course, there's the "thank goodness I have a job in this economy" and the house and the working car. Yet, most of all I am thankful for my family and friends, for they are my support system when this world tries to get me down. My dogs are always good for a pick me up snuggle, too. The cat, however, only loves me when she wants food or a warm lap on a cold night.

Soon, I will get back into the swing of things. Soon, there will be more posts with pictures and stories. Soon, it will also be spring - which brings new life across the country. Soon.

Thank you to all those whom have blessed me with their love and friendship.

Our Own Lorax - Jim Otterstrom

"I speak for the trees!!" - the Lorax

"The Lorax is a children's book, written by Dr. Seuss and first published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, who speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler. The book is commonly recognized as a fable concerning industrialized society, using literary element of personification to give life to industry as the Once-ler (whose face is never shown in any of the story's illustrations or in the television special) and to the environment as the Lorax. It has become a popular metaphor for those concerned about the environment." - Wikipedia

Our own Lorax past on to a more peaceful place yesterday.


A toast to the man who influenced lives,

changed the world he touched,

and took the time to teach all those he loved.

My heart hurts to know that the world has lost such a wonderful human. However, I am selfish in the joy that I had known him so well. He was an amazing man in so many ways. We shared many a bottle of wine and too many adventures to count. It was hard to find the right pictures or stories to tell. So speechless I am, yes me, the woman whose family swears I can't ever shut up.

As for now, I am like many others, dealing with the shock, the sorrow, the loss. My bags are packed, my dogs boarded, my car gassed up (sorry Jim it's just too far to ride a bicycle) and me and my family are leaving tomorrow before sunrise to be with Peggy, Jimmy, Jamie and Lois.

Jim Otterstrom - We miss you and will live on in the knowledge that you have imparted upon us. We love you dearly. Rest in knowing that you have changed our lives forever.

Life is too short to ever say -

"maybe someday."

Full Moon Snowshoeing

The following pictures were taken on Wednesday the 19th of January under a brilliant full moon. No flash was used. Pictures were taken by everyone on the hike as we passed the camera around. Enjoy the views while quietly singing

"Moon shadows, moon shadow..." in your head.

Our guiding light of the night

Jim

Shan

Regina

Me

Heading home for a crock pot full of homemade road killed elk stew!!

If a picture is worth a thousand words,

I believe pictures of a full moon snowshoe are worth millions!!

Get Outside and Enjoy Nature

Mother - Son Day at Lemon Reservoir

Monday (MLK observance) was a holiday for some and others had to work. In our family, Jim had to work and Stown and I had the day to play together. We had planned on going up to the mountain and working on our snowboard park skills (jumps, rails, etc.) but I woke up with a wicked sore throat so we decided to take it easy. We loaded the dogs up and took a drive to our property up at Lemon Reservoir. We hadn't ever been up there in the winter and wondered how much snow would be there and if my 2 -wheel drive car would even make it.

Driving up the snow packed road to the land.

The roads run on the east and south of the property.

The trees on the corner are the only trees on the entire plot.

Our snow covered mountain meadow, blanketed with about 3 feet of fluff.

( I can't wait to build our home up here.)

Back down to the frozen lake (reservoir) to let the dogs run. Boy, they sure love the snow!!

Stown (looking like the infamous Bigfoot picture) hiked ahead towards the lake. The wind was whipping but there were no kiters (people who fly huge kites and ski or snowboard behind them) out that day.

Looking south down the lake towards the dam.

We realized that the kiters weren't out due to the thin ice conditions. There were bare spots across the lake where you could see water. A very unusual thing for this time of year. We don't seem to have as much snow as years past but statistics say we are 7% above average. Of course, some placed have gotten an overload where others have been deprived - but that's why they call it an average.

As for now we keep -

Praying for Snow!!