Exploring Steamboat Springs

I've been wanting to visit Steamboat Springs since I moved to Colorado, but life kept getting in the way. Jennefer encouraged me to get up and go this week, and now I finally have some personal experience with that area in the summer time. 

We drove up on Friday, starting this new adventure for us! Jennefer had a medical appointment first, and learned she might need minor heart surgery sometime in the near future. That got her into a bit of a funk before the drive, but we pressed on, regardless. We got her a latte at Safeway to help cheer her up, then realized we needed gas for the car, then realized that noon was long past, and we needed real food, so went back into Safeway to grab some pre-made deli sandwiches, and finally, were on the road. Here's our view, heading toward the mountains.

After checking into our hotel, we headed right back out, in search of dinner, and found some delicious Chicken Street Tacos with corn on the cob, at Salt & Lime Mexican Restaurant in downtown Steamboat Springs. Yum! That helped finish off the day much better than we started it.

We had a pleasant afternoon walk around town, after dinner. This Space Station gas station sign reminded me of the time I worked on the Space Station electrical power system…

Whoa! We saw these gigantic ski jumps across the river, on Howelsen Hill. They look so beat up, that presumably, they are never used any more. But still, they provided us with an impressive view.

We were appropriately welcomed to Steamboat Springs by these fun banners around town. 

We saw this pretty sunset over Yampa Street as we were walking.

I caught a cool angle on this bridge over the Yampa River at sunset. 

Prettier sunset view over Yampa Street after they turned the lights on. 

This  is perhaps my favorite photo from the trip. I climbed down to the edge of the river, to catch this beautiful sunset view over the Yampa river. 

 

We discovered the Fuzziwig's Candy Factory and Ice Cream shop - and had some delicious ice cream for dessert. I was glad to see there's still at least one Fuzziwig's in existence, after the one in SouthGlenn closed awhile ago.

I took Mandy out Saturday morning, to find this Wild West hot air balloon putting on a show just outside the door. 

On the way back in, I noticed the outdoor trash can was over on its side, and its contents were emptied onto the lawn. I'd forgotten to think about bears, hmmm... I was reminded that I need to be more watchful, if she needs to go out at night. It could also have been raccoons or other critters, I suppose. 

 We enjoyed the hotel breakfast buffet - simple pleasures. I always love making myself waffles. Their batter is so delicious, and the waffle machines work so cleverly well. 

We started our Saturday outing with a walk around the soccer fields neighboring the Yampa River and Botanic Park, so that Mandy could get some traveling and sniffing done.

 

We had a very enjoyable Saturday morning visit to the Yampa River Botanic Park, with some Osprey viewing thrown in for fun. There were so many well-designed gardens and beautiful little paths. Sorry that Mandy couldn’t come in, but she was comfortable in the car, on this cool overcast day.

Sunday morning started with a pretty sunrise, followed by several miles of warmish walks along the Yampa river, after our planned hike to Fish Creek Falls was aborted due to overcrowding and no parking. We planned to try again, a whole lot earlier on Monday morning. We enjoyed seeing the Osprey again!

Early morning ride

I went on an early morning bike ride to beat the heat, and trying to be back in time to share breakfast. I got on my way by 6:15 - unheard of! 😱 I stopped along the river, to snap this sunrise photo. 

I got a nice view from the dam, of some people flying hot air balloons over on the west side of Chatfield Lake. 

Cooler ride

I tried something a little different for today’s bike ride — I got up and out by 7:30 this morning, so I enjoyed a cool 66° ride, instead of the 94° that’s in today’s forecast. So much nicer! And there was still plenty of time after I got home, to go pick up a Friday morning takeout breakfast as a treat... Glad to see our local Grande Station Bistro was able to re-open for breakfast today, for the first time in weeks. Sad to learn that they no longer serve pancakes. The owner even came up and apologized, when I picked up my breakfast, and offered to do something special for me, if I call ahead. What a nice guy... Jennefer is down with something, possibly more delayed adverse effects from last year’s chemo and radiation treatments, so she missed out on the breakfast fun. Hoping she’ll be back up and ready to play, in the next day or so.

Back to basics

I'm back to using my Mr. Coffee espresso maker, that my brother-in-law Bob bought me during one of their visits, after being somewhat dissatisfied with the Capresso milk heater-foamer I've been using for the past few years. The Capresso was quick and easy, and did really well at heating and stirring the milk, but it just didn't produce quite enough frothy foam for my liking. The espresso maker takes longer, with more involvement from me, and there's more to clean when I'm done, but we end up with a better latté and it all feels more "authentic." 

Memorial Day 2021

I’m sure that over the years, I’ve been guilty of wishing people a happy Memorial Day weekend, and I suppose there’s no harm in wishing happiness on others. But I had to remind myself that this Monday’s holiday is dedicated to remembering and honoring the people who died while serving. A very somber reason for getting an extra long weekend. Y’all be careful out there, as you enjoy your time off...

From history.com: Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. First known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.

I found this interesting list of military holidays and observances - most of which I was unaware. Did you know that May is National Military Appreciation Month?

Tired and sore

Today’s bike ride included a lot more tired and sore leg muscles than usual, thanks to our recent visit to the gym. C’est la vie... At least the mid-Spring views were pretty nice! Beautiful day at Chatfield reservoir.

As long as I was tired and sore, I took advantage of the nice little bench, to rest a second time, so here's a pic to show that it was also a beautiful day at McLellan Reservoir ;-) Always good to see snow on the Rockies. 

Visiting in Florence

We’re here in Florence, Oregon, visiting with Jennefer’s mom Jean, at her house in the Siuslaw National Forest - a quiet, beautiful location. The swallows are very active right now, coming and going from the birdhouse that John built before he died. 

We enjoyed wandering through town, looking for pretty Rhododendrons a few weeks before the Rhodie festival, and found a few nice ones here and there. This one was just hanging out right outside the house.  

The Siuslaw River Bridge carries highway 101 acoss the river, in downtown Florence. It’s got nice lines, and I suppose every visitor that carries a camera can’t resist snapping photos of the bridge from various angles. 

We stopped by the local Florence airport (6S2), a sweet little airport with a 3,000 foot runway, a self-service fuel pump, a nice pilot’s lounge, and a decent sized group of hangars for locally based airplanes. I’ve “flown” into this airport several times in Flight Simulator over the past two years, and couldn’t resist stopping by, to see what it’s really like. Glad to find a nice restroom in the lounge, at just the right time for me.

Here’s a collage of a few river views we enjoyed - at the bridge, after it makes a hard right and follows the sand dunes, and at the mouth where it meets the Pacific Ocean. 

All fixed!

I picked up my bike wheel from the repair shop, and am very happy to see it’s nice and straight again! Looking forward to riding some more, after we get back from our visit with Jennefer’s mom. 

Oops - that was a BIG bump

Oh well. So much for bike riding for awhile. My third ride of April started out really well, on a windy but nice 70 degree afternoon. I got about a third of the way around my favorite loop, when I decided to explore the unusual intersection in the C-470 trail, where it goes through a tunnel under the highway, after climbing over Chatfield dam, intersects with another trail, and continues West. I saw what I needed to see, and was heading back down under the highway, when I came to a heave in the concrete trail, where it stepped up a couple of inches. I hopped the front wheel over it, but I guess I was going too fast, because when the back wheel hit the bump, there was a loud bang, and the wheel started hitting the frame.

  After I got stopped, I saw that four spokes had broken in the back wheel, which let the wheel warp, and it was jammed and wouldn't turn. I was lucky to be at the intersection of three trails, so I was able to carry the bike the thousand feet to the nearest street. I was pondering my next move - calling for a rideshare or imposing on a friend - when the nicest guy in a plumbing van parked by the trailhead offered me a ride home, as his next job didn't start for 45 minutes. I have no right to be this lucky, but I'll take it. I've already been to the local bike shop, which has a workshop backlog until the 29th. I bought some new spokes, and am considering re-lacing that part of my wheel - something I've never tried before, and I've heard can be really tricky. YouTube says it's doable, though, so maybe I'll give it a try, and be back on the road a little sooner.

We're vaccinated!

We got our second Moderna vaccination on March 17, and it's been over two weeks since then, so now we can say we are as fully protected by this particular vaccine as possible. I still don't feel completely safe, considering that there are already multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 running around. But everything I've read says that even if we catch a variant, the existing vaccine should make it a much less serious event. So we will continue to cross our fingers, keep our distance, wear our masks, and wash our hands a lot. Notwithstanding all that cautiousness, we are tentatively planning a trip to visit Jennefer's mom in southwest Oregon next month, and considering other trips after that!

First ride in March

Good weather, cool and sunny, permitted my first bike ride in over a month, with lots of other folks out there. All of the concrete paths were clear of ice, with only a few icy patches on the Highline Canal Trail, in the shady spots east of Windermere St. Here’s a fun pic of the frozen-over Chatfield Lake, from the dam trail. Delightful!

Moderna vaccination #1

We just got home from a fun visit with friends in Strasburg, after getting Moderna shot #1 at the  COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Bennett. They told us to come back in a month, same place, to receive the second vaccination to complete the series. We're very glad a friend told us about this special one-day vaccination clinic, courtesy of the State of Colorado and the Town of Bennett, as we had signed up at a half dozen other places, and heard nothing yet. We got home just in time for a pretty snowfall. Here's a pic of Mandy exploring all the different smells in their front yard.

Grinding through the pandemic

Keeping the historical record going 😂 - it’s been about ten months, since we started going through coffee beans at a much higher rate, after Colorado closed the indoor dining rooms. I’ve still got a little more room on that teeny Post-It, to record the grind date of a few more batches of coffee beans, each of which lasts about 2-3 weeks these days…

Almost done with Xmas

Beautiful coldish (35°), mostly cloudy day. Another good day to be picking through and dispositioning Christmas things. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now… Just a few more boxes to go into the crawlspace, and there will be nothing Christmassy left on display in the house. We were even able to fit some unused dining room chairs in there today, and recover some floor space in the basement. I finally caught a photo of a Nuthatch on the little tire swing bird feeder! They come and go so quickly (1-2 seconds), that I’ve pretty much got to be waiting with my finger on the shutter release, to catch one there. It sounds like we might have some snowy weather moving into the area soon…

Portland Holiday Memory

We found this wonderful little animated skating rink, among all the Christmas boxes from the crawlspace, that we've been going through, with an eye to eliminating a significant number of things. I’ve been wondering where it was, for the past few years. I found this treasure at Julia’s gift shop, a few blocks from our hotel in Portland's city center, on one of my many walks around town. I used to bring it out for us to enjoy, during the Christmas holiday. It brought back such memories from our trip to Portland in 2005, to visit extended family for Thanksgiving dinner. We had quite the unexpected medical adventure, during that trip, visiting several of the Kaiser Permanente facilities around the city. We saw Mt Saint Helens pop off a ring of smoke, while we were eating breakfast in the small self-serve buffet on the top floor of our City Center Marriott hotel.

Bear strike!

Sad to hear of this bear strike by a B-737-300 at Yakutat airport on Saturday evening. Crew and passengers were fine; aircraft damaged; sorry to say the bear didn't make it. 

This real-world incident immediately reminded me of a Microsoft Flight Simulator X mission challenge that I attempted, quite a few years ago. It started as a simple short night hop over the hills from Burwash Landing airport, an inland valley airport, to Yakutat airport near the Pacific coast, in the Beechcraft King Air twin-turboprop. The idea was to get across the mountains and land at Yukatat, before a big snowstorm shuts down the airport. The flight rapidly degenerated into a nightmarish scenario, first with loss of airspeed indication, due to an iced-up Pitot tube. Next came a critical (left) engine failure, then a vacuum pump failure, with the associated attitude and directional gyro flight instruments slowly going belly-up. That was followed by a challenging night low-ceiling instrument approach to Yakutat, with the failed engine catching on fire in the procedure turn. After handling all those challenges successfully, I found myself touching down on the snow-covered runway, with limited braking, but thinking, "I did it!" Suddenly a bear comes running across the runway, illuminated by my landing lights at the last moment. I eased in a little rudder to drift left behind the bear on the slippery runway, steered slowly back to the centerline, and came to a stop. After taking a deep breath. I thought, “That would never happen in real life, would it?“ ;-)

Jennefer's great news!

Snow is starting here... it was kinda nice to have cold moist weather today. Sort of sets the tone for a day of medical appointments. At 5:45am, Mandy and I walked a couple of miles around the Swedish medical center complex, and enjoyed our rare experience of seeing the sunrise, while Jennefer got her long awaited follow-up PET scan. Then at 1:30, we were back, and they let me go in with her, to talk to her doctor about the results of the scan. 

The doctor read her scan results, looked down her throat, and said...

* It looks good down there!

* No sign of a tumor!

* Looks completely resolved!

* Beautiful response!

...all of those things are awesome to hear! 

Now she needs to keep focusing on her body’s recovery as best she can, pushing herself to eat and drink more than is comfortable. Her throat still has a hard time swallowing food, but that should improve some over time. The radiation also killed a bunch of saliva glands, and the remaining ones may recover over the next 18 months. It’ll be a long road, but good news helps a lot!

Hope and unity

Kamala Harris said we chose “Hope and unity, decency, science and, yes, truth!” 

 

Joe Biden said, among many things, “Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end, here and now!” 

 

— it all sounds so good to me. 

Is he nuts?

Watching the real-time election analysis, and following chatter on the Net... Am I the only one who thinks our President has gone off the rails? Trying to wreck our democratic election process?? Setting this country up for civil war with his inflammatory lies, if his more violent followers also refuse to accept the (now becoming obvious) election results??? At work, if we were letting someone go, and they misbehaved, we would have Security escort them out immediately, so they couldn’t do any more damage before their last day. I kind of feel like he needs to be escorted out, before he does something even more dangerous, between now and January. I have so much respect for the Presidency - the most powerful position on the planet - but he’s acting like he doesn’t. Get a grip, man... 😱 ⚔️ 👮‍♀️ 💣 🤷‍♂️ 

Big day for Jennefer

Mandy and I are doing the "dog walk around the hospital" thing, as Jennefer gets her feeding tube and port removed. She is so excited. Time to commit to feeding by mouth again! She’ll have to start with blander food, but someday maybe her throat and taste buds will recover enough for her to be eating her favorite spicy foods again. 

Unbelievable

CNBC: Trump campaign says it is suing to stop Michigan and Pennsylvania ballot counts 

I find it amazing, that our incumbent President is attempting to stop the counting of mail-in ballots. Most of those ballots were received long before Election Day. In this time of COVID-19, when people are trying to stay home as much as possible, I would think they should’ve been counted first, since they arrived first. Dare I say it: gee, look who’s *actually* trying to steal the election. Pretty funny, in a nightmarish way. 🤦‍♂️

Happy Halloween 2020

We had a surprisingly high number of Halloween trick-or-treaters tonight! Lots of kids having fun. Most had masks, and some had gloves. Just caught a few pics this year... I used the Waterlogue app to hide most of the details, so the kids' faces wouldn't be discernible.

Fall colors

I'm enjoying the Autumn colors during my walks and bike rides! This is perhaps one of the best views, and it's from my seat at my kitchen nook table, while having breakfast. I'm feeling pretty lucky, to live in a place where we have real seasons, and can enjoy these amazing colors.

Visitors!

I always enjoy having visitors, but during this crazy and disappointing year, I appreciate them even more. My brother in law stopped into Denver for a couple of days, on his "Covid road trip," and I was glad to enjoy some time with him both days. We surprised ourselves by taking my longest walk of the year. Mandy and Mookie did very well!

 

My ex-neighbor's kids drove back to the Denver area from their RV campground in the pacific northwest, going through their storage lockers, picking up some things to share with their relatives, and stopped by to pick up some mail I was holding for them. We have such a long history, it was heartbreaking when they moved away, to go wandering the country in the new trailer RV, so it was a real pleasure to have them visit for a few minutes, before heading out to get more things done.

Smoky Fall morning

We were just sitting down to dive into our delicious-looking Friday morning takeout breakfast, and while the smoke was fairly thin earlier, we noticed we can barely see the hills now. 

I guess the smoke is starting to behave as forecast today. Scary thought: I now check the smoke forecast every morning 🤷‍♂️ 

My coffee concoction this morning - I’m trying a different approach to enjoying the Pumpkin spice mini meringue cookies that Jennefer brought home from Sprouts farmers market. They’re a little too boldly spiced for me, when I just pop them in my mouth for a treat, but they’re pretty tasty with a cup of strong coffee!