So as mentioned in the earlier ‘teaser’ post, we decided to take advantage of my four-day and head out of town for two days/one night. When Mary Jo was here a couple of weeks ago, we though hard about venturing down to the Sand Dunes, but ultimately decided that we didn’t have the time to make the trip happen….it’s a 4.5 – 5 hour drive each way, therefore requiring two days. Well, when Ahna and I started talking about heading out of town, there was already the draw to the Dunes in place.

We booked a bed-and-breakfast sight unseen and departed for the trip yesterday around noon. For some reason or another, Ezra wasn’t taking to sitting in the car very well and the 3 hour drive to Salida quickly (or slowly, depending on perspective) turned into a 5 hour trek. We stopped there for dinner since the town that our bed was in doesn’t have any restaurants and headed out for another hour drive south. If you have never been to that part of the state – you are missing out. It has the highest average elevation of the entire Rocky Mountain chain with something like 15 peaks over 14,000 feet; and they all dramatically drop all of the way down to the valley floor (a 6,000 foot drop) – no foothills.

We had decided on the Sand Dunes for several reasons including the photo opportunities…so finding a place close to the Dunes was essential, especially if I wanted to hit it up either at sunset or sunrise. The problem is that there were no hotel rooms available in either Alamosa or Salida (since it is Labor Day weekend and there are no other towns within hours), so we looked down the B&B path. We ended up settling on a place called Willow Springs Bed and Breakfast located in Moffat. Moffat is a town that is about 30 miles from the Dunes and has a population of just over 100 people according to the last census. No restaurants, no gas stations, no stop lights…but great views of the mountains from the front porch.  It wasn’t the best B&B that we have stayed at and our room was really simple: a full bed and a sink; the bathroom was shared at the end of the hallway. The food was really good in the morning and we met some really nice people during breakfast – including a woman that could talk (and did) nonstop for an hour about her family. We are on the fence as to if we would return to Willow Springs, but the price is certainly attractive: $65 in high season for the room that we had. Ezra did great, spending the night without complaint in his travel bed.

We got down there just in tim to check in, say hello, and head down to the Dunes for sunset shots. The weather included lots of rain that afternoon and lots of clouds still lingering around during sunset, so I was a little disappointed with the lighting. However, there was about 3 minutes where the sun broke through some of the clouds resulting in some pretty cool photos. Also in the morning hours over sunrise at the B&B, the clouds provided some amazing light. There was a common theme between the two photo shoots: mosquitos. I got bit at least five times and killed at least 8 mosquitos on my legs – during the sunrise alone. Argh, I still itch.

We went back to the Dune in the morning and did a little hiking around. It’s really fun to do there since there are basically no rules: hike wherever you want, do whatever you like, and play as long as you wish. People bring kites, snowboards, skis, sleds, and everything in between to have fun in the sand. The downside is that it is really tiring to walk in for any period of time. We did our best for a while, climbing on the lower portions of the dunes and jumping off of the edges. Of course it filled up our shoes with lots and lots of sand. 

After the Dunes we stopped for a short hike at Zapata Falls; but were not able to go all of the way to the falls because you actually need sandals (or an extra pair of shoes) to walk up the creek; so we enjoyed the lower and smaller falls. After that we started the trip home, which was a lot easier than the drive out but still took about 4.5 hours. We arrived home early in the evening and just enjoyed being together at home for the night.

What a crazy cool, long day. We started the events off with a trip up to the mountains. Mary Jo isn’t known in these parts (or any parts really) as the most likely to enjoy a trip on a mountainous road, but she wanted to get up into ‘them there hills’ and do a little fear-facing along the way. We settled on a trip to Breckenridge, which is all interstate and a short trip down a smaller road….but no high mountain passes without guardrails (we’re saving that for next time).

The drive up there was great: no traffic, easy driving, beautiful scenery, and nobody was scared in the car. I think that it went a lot easier than some of us had imagined and we were treated to some snow-capped 14’ers along the way. If you have never spent much time in Colorado, the time when the mountains look their toughest is when they have a little snowfall on the peaks, giving them a Himalayan effect – just like yesterday. When we arrived in Breckenridge, we headed up to the Peak 9 drop off area because Ezra needed to eat and we needed some seclusion to do that. While Ahna and Ezra enjoyed their time together, Mary Jo and I wandered around the ski lifts and the ski run immediately next to them. We talked skiing and lift riding, and did a little wandering around. 

For lunch we went to a local/tourist favorite (it’s a strange place that is a heavy attractant to both of those groups) called Downstairs At Eric’s. Here’s another one of those moments that we never noticed before: it’s called ‘Downstairs’ because it’s in the basement…fair enough…but there isn’t an elevator because it’s old enough…which makes it a little tougher with a kid and stroller. We managed, but it sure would have been nicer. Following lunch we simply wandered the streets and the shops until it was time to pull anchor and head home. 

This is where the story gets frustrating. It’s a singular frustration that consumed 1.5 hours….paving on the east side of the Eisenhower Tunnel…which lead to a back up that took 90 minutes to cover about 5 miles. Normally that would have ended the stress, but we were trying to get home before heading up to a concert at Red Rocks (!) to exchange clothing and grab blankets. The entirety of the time delay resulted in Ahna driving home (and making great time) and us having just about 40 minutes before needing to head out again for the evening. We had hoped to allow Ezra to stretch out a little more, but he was doing okay and we had to get to the show (the tickets where under my name at will call). 

You might be wondering what rockin’, jammin’, dancin’ show we went to…well, it was Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion. It’s a little on the ‘subdued’ side of the rock show spectrum, but Ahna and I agreed that it might have been one of the top five shows that we have ever seen. Both of us (and now Ezra) grew up listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio and to this day we enjoy finding it on weekend public radio. So when we heard that he was going to be in town at the same time that Mary Jo was here and my folks weren’t traveling, we had to go (it really would have been the cat’s meow if Dave where here….so perhaps we all will have to catch the show in St. Paul sometime). They were on the Rhubarb Tour, which is essentially the show without the live-radio recording – and more than 3 hours long. All of the stories and the songs where there; and I think the highlight was watching the impromptu story telling between Keillor and Fred Newman (the sound effects guy).  

On top of the great show, it was wonderful to introduce my parents, Mary Jo, Don, and Sonja to Red Rocks. We couldn’t have asked for a better evening, and even the moon made a dramatic appearance in the sky line roughly halfway through the show (the moonrise was red). After being to lots of rock shows at Red Rocks, it was a little strange to be there with the crowd last night: there was a great mix of dreadlocks, Grateful Dead t-shirts, 30-something hippies (like us), and older folks. Because of the type of show, the audience was deathly silent – so much so that any peep from Ezra made people from five rows turn around and look. When I went to the restroom, I was the only one in there….a very far cry from the lines and crowds that the others shows have had. It was weird but really neat. The show was close to being sold out, but there was enough room for us to spread out a little and lay Ezra down for a quick nap. He really enjoyed all of the sights and sounds of his first Red Rocks experience.

We opted not to bring in the camera with us since we had a handful of other stuff, so these images from the camera-phone will have to suffice (if you look really closely at the night shot, you can see the red moon rising on the horizon). There are also three pictures from Breck that are mixed in.

Sorry for the few days without a post. Thursday it started raining in the afternoon and it hasn’t stopped since….which is extrodinarily rare for Colorado. Thursday night/Friday morning brought a rowdy overnight thunderstorm where several lightning bolts made their way into people’s homes. The working fire that we went on was an attic fire, and the news story can be seen here (if I get any pictures, I will post them). All of that activity left me arriving home late from work and no time to update the blog. 

Yesterday was the only day that Ahna, Ezra, and I could go down to the Fire-Rescue International conference in Denver. It rotates between several cities, and comes to Denver once every three years (for one more rotation). The conference is the annual show put on by the International Association of Fire Chiefs – where my Dad worked for 20+ years. Needless to say, there are lots of family friends that we wanted to see and wouldn’t ever have the chance otherwise. I wandered the exhibit floor for a while with the crew from my ladder truck, then met up with Ahna, Ezra, and my Mom and did some visiting. 

We also had tickets to go to the Folks Festival yesterday and had originally planned to head up in the early afternoon after hanging at the conference, but the rain changed those plans. First to describe the festival: it’s a three day annual event put on by Planet Bluegrass at their place in Lyons, Colorado (they also do the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and RockyGrass). There is on-site camping and lots of great music, but we could only go for one day this year – partially because we have a 9 week old, and mostly because I have to work two of the three days of the festival. The big draw for us this year was Patty Griffin; Ahna’s favorite musician. We have seen her several times before, but were really looking forward to hearing her music at such a beautiful venue…but mother nature had other plans. 

Remember all of that yapping about the 90+ degree days and the streak of no rain? Well that gets to stop for now (will assuredly return next week sometime) as the temperature over the past two days hasn’t topped 55 degrees, and the sun hasn’t been seen since Thursday. It has been a steady rain that intensifies for a few minutes at a time, but has soaked anything and everything…including the festival grounds in Lyons. We drove up there in the evening (to reduce our exposure to the elements) attempting to see Patty. Ahna, Ezra, and I loaded up in a sling, rain gear, hats, long-sleeve clothes, and blankets and attempted to make the show. Unfortunately the rain and Ezra’s non-willingness to enjoy the swing meant that we didn’t get to see the show. Ahna did go into the venue and watched a couple of songs from afar, but it wasn’t the evening that we had hoped for. Oh well, I suppose. 

As we talk now, the rain continues to fall and the temp continues to hover right around 50. They say that this will continue into tomorrow, but that we should be back into the upper 80’s by Tuesday or Wednesday. The mountains did get the snow that was promised, and Trail Ridge Road in the Rocky Mountain National park had to be shut down for well over 6 inches of snow. 

Obama Speech Update: We received notice that we were ‘wait-listed’ for credentials to the acceptance speech at Invesco Field. We were not able to change our lives around this past week and give 6 hours of time to the campaign; therefore didn’t get in (we have some friends that found some time and were notified that they got in). I expressed my frustration to the state and national campaign about the misleading stories about tickets and received the generic replies that actually didn’t answer any complaints or questions. It truly has been disappointing – the way that they have handled the credential dispersion for the speech. Perhaps we can still keep our fingers crossed to get in…..

Here are a couple of pictures of Ezra with some of the hand-made blankets that he has been enjoying. Oh, and one of Ezra’s first rest in his crib (now that we have been able to move the clothes into his dresser). 

Really?! It’s been three days since a posting was done!!! I feel like there should be some grand excuse that has prevented a posting from completion and publishing. Oh yea, there are these little plaid dressed gnomes that are loose in the house. The run around and sing and dance, but shout somewhat offensive (PG-13) remarks between songs. Normally they are easy to ignore, but they have gotten really difficult to deal with the last couple of days; and the time that is normally devoted to writing a post has been consumed by chasing them around.  

I just got home from work – completing my first full tour (3 days) back. During the second night, we had a call at 3am – which I would have thought would have been easier to deal with since that is about when Ezra wakes up every night, but for some reason still held the same difficulty as before. I suppose that it could have been the fact that I only went to bed at midnight, but that would be too easy to blame it on. 

That morning (Friday), I went straight from work to meet up with Dad. Hunter is also in town visiting (before the IAFC conference next week) and he came along on a ‘morning at the office’ of sorts. I hadn’t had the opportunity to visit his new office yet, so he invited Hunter and me along to hang out with him during the morning. We had the chance to attend some meetings on a current project and to meet some people that he deals with daily. It was a lot of fun, and extremely educational on many different levels. That evening, Ahna, Ezra and I went down to my parent’s house to have dinner and watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games. 

Admitingly, the ceremonies were very impressive to watch – and actually held my attention, unlike the previous couple of Olympics. The choreography was extraordinary and the technology was really cool to watch. On the same token, I still have a really difficult time with all of the “I Love China” talk that went into the dialogue and commentary during the ceremony. While we can understand that most of the blame for all of the atrocities in that country can rest with the government, it was still hard to watch it and not have them mention the fact that an entire province’s power was diverted to ensure that there were no problems during the ceremony. The duplicity behind the harmony kanji and the peace dove did not rest well with me, but were apparently completely overlooked by NBC. This really wasn’t a situation where you would have to look for faults to bring up the truths, the faults are always in play and the truths are on the surface…we just seem to be afraid to talk about them (evidence Bush’s speech the day before arriving in China). I suppose that might be partially due to the fact that they own our national debt…oh, and they are funding the war efforts right now.

Enough politics for now, back to the Ezra stuff. While I was at work yesterday, the ladder truck was sent down to participate in the annual Douglas County Fair and Parade. It’s the only parade each year in Castle Rock, and as such it’s highly attended. I know that there were several thousand people there – lining the streets for the two mile route 5 and 6 deep. The best part was seeing Ahna and Ezra standing on the corner near the downtown fire station and being able to have him see me in the truck. Hopefully someone got some pictures that I can find. 

Ezra’s personality continues to develop each day…and his latest thing is TV. We are struggling to keep him away from it, but he is really attracted to the light and movement. When he is sitting with us in the living room and finds the screen, we are now turning it off or turning him around…there will be plenty of TV time for him in the future. But it’s hard for us….the Olympics are on. 

I think that pretty much brings us back up to date. Here are a couple of photos of Pike’s Peak…taken from Castle Rock at sunrise on Friday morning. I happened to look south as I was on my way to meet up with Dad and saw the cool looking clouds. In both pictures (better with the one with Pike’s Peak on the left), you can see our townhouse complex on the bottom right.