Mexico Record Family Trip - October 2009

Most of the Record Family was able to get together in October of 2009 for a vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We stayed at the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort just outside of town. This is a picture of the famous Land's End Arch on the Southern tip of Cabo San Lucas.

Here's glimpses of the resort, it is located on the Pacific side, and unfortunately we weren't allowed to swim in the ocean here because of the tides being so turbulent.

Enjoying the Sky Pool...we spent several days just soaking up the Mexico sunshine laying poolside, overlooking the resort and the Pacific Ocean.

The Sky Pool was a popular place to watch the sunset, Jamie and Stephen would agree.

One of our nights in town we went to Mariscos for a delicious seafood dinner!

While waiting for our shuttle back to the resort, we checked out the Pueblo Bonito Rosa's swimming pools, and found King Titan....thus Brian's pose!

Jen, Jacob, Jamie, Stephen, Brian and I all went on a half day Kayak adventure across the harbor out to the Land's End Arch. Along the way to Lover's and Divorce Beaches we saw several Pelicans and scuba divers.

Jen & Jacob, Jamie & Stephen opted to go tandem kayaking...Brian and I went solo...we've done the tandem thing before and it's just not as fun. It's a good way to test your relationship communication skills, and like I said we've been there done that, solo is the way to go! :)

We also saw several sea lions laying out and swimming around!

Jamie and Stephen taking a break watching the sea lions. The Arch is to their right.

Brian and Dad rented some Harleys for a day trip over to Cabo San Juan up North through the mountains and then East to some little surfing towns and then looping back down around to Cabo San Lucas. Jamie, Stephen, and Jacob went scuba diving meanwhile, and Mom, Jen, and I enjoyed a relaxing day of poolside sun bathing and girl time!

Brian and Dad's Motorcycle Trip ocean view.

Into the mountains.

Harley Men giving a thumbs up.

Dad was born to ride I think...looks so natural!

A little Mexican lunch, I think this was just before Brian ran out of petrol...you should ask him!

Great photo of the live music serenading Dad and Brian during lunch.

Because we willingly sat through a timeshare spiel...let's not talk about this, we were given a free Sunset Dinner Cruise. The Cruise left the main harbor in the heart of Cabo and toured out to the Land's End Arch and then out past our Sunset Beach Resort, and eventually back to the harbor.

The sunset was absolutely beautiful!

Topside was live music and an open bar.

We took this opportunity to get some family photos. Early in the week we were too busy being lazy by the pool sunbathing to get many photos!

Momacita and Me!

Jacob with Jenni in the background

Jamie, Momma Jane, Dad John, Me, and Jenni, and unfortunately missing Julie

Brian and Me his wifey

Jen and Jacob

Dad and myself pretending like we know how to dance...we did pretty well considering we were tipping back and forth and side to side on the boat.

Then we decided to enjoy our most excellent dinner down in the dining room, and leave the rest of the evening to the real dancing professionals.

Jamie enjoying her last day at the resort soaking in the last few rays of the day!

Jamie, Dad, Mom, and I hanging out at the pool on our last day. Brian was out running...a marathon I think up a restricted mountain battling Mexican dogs and security men...just kidding, but he did go for a long run in some questionable territory along the beach :)

I could have stayed a few more weeks in Mexico, it was very relaxing and perfect temperatures! Of course we only had about 1.5 months of summer in Leadville, so you can't really blame me for wanting to stay longer!

Our last evening in Mexico, the sunset set the sky on fire, it was breathtaking!

Mom and Dad, I love this picture!

Goodbye Cabo

Mt. Pisgah, North Carolina - October 2009

In October I went to visit my best friend Sarah and her husband Jonathon for a couple weeks in Greenville, SC. We took an overnight trip up to Asheville, NC to play tourists since it's one of those towns that several people have told me I would enjoy living in...so, we cruised around, found THE local bike shop, and had lunch at a recommended Brew Pub. Asheville, NC is home to the Biltmore Estate, a historic mansion and huge estate, owned by the Vanderbilt Family. Tours cost around $55 per person and their are optional wine tasting tours, lodging romance packages, and regularly hosts special events and weddings. This is on my list of places to tour someday.

On this trip we had planned to hike Mt. Mitchel the highest point east of the Mississippi River, but we were referred to hike Mt. Pisgah instead in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Pisgah National Forest. So, trusting our referrer, we proceeded to hike Mt. Pisgah.

This was a very cool gnarly tree along the hike up, which was only about 2.5 miles, if I remember correctly.
The trail was very well maintained with well placed stones for steps...although being so moist they were a bit slippery!

To our disappointment the top of Mt. Pisgah was completely socked in with clouds. Here's Jonathon standing in front of the observation deck.

We were just about out of the clouds and starting to get a view, so picture time of course! The happily almost one year married couple!

Looking west across the Blue Ridge Mountains. The fall colors were just starting to show.

Early Fall & September Storms!

During August & September we've had tons and tons of rain storms, and as you can guess later into September as the temps started cooling we started seeing snow in the high mountains. This is a photo taken driving along Freemont Pass on my way back to Leadville from Summit County the first weekend in September.

Brian's first Elk Hunting season was Sept. 14 through Sept. 20. He was in an area just southwest of Leadville, near Granite and Twin Lakes, and had some great opportunities to get one. There was a lot of activity, and Brian learned a ton. He was out before dawn, usually around 5:00am. He plans to buy an over the counter tag and maybe do some more hunting with Jacob, in the next several weeks. Hopefully between the two of them they'll get one. Here's some pics of the Aspen's changing color to that beautiful gold.

Ok, this is after my co-worker's Baby Shower, just after we got home thought we'd take some updated photos. I wish I had another one of us on a mountain top, but we've been busy in town.

Look at how much snow Mt. Elbert has already! This was taken Sept. 22, SO beautiful. Brian is ready to go skiing, like right now!

Here's the snow we got in town from the early week's storm.

We just added heavy plastic sheeting to the chicken's run, to protect them from snow & wind. We also replaced the heating light bulb with a green one...we'll see how that works, it looks like they're watching TV. OH! and also we've been getting about 3 eggs a day now, since the last week of August! So cool, they are a really pretty brown color, still on the small side, but very tasty!

Brian found this partial fencing at the dump, so we could enclose an area for the chickens to roam around in and eat bugs and green grass. Besides the chicken food we buy, we also give them scrap lettuce, kale, pac choy, and whatever other greens are wilting from our veggie share. We think they're pretty happy chickens!

Our deck is a little disheveled currently as we're using chairs to block off when the chickens roam in the yard.

Ski season is just around the corner!

Boom Days & Building the Chicken Coop

Boom Days 2009 - Leadville, Colorado

Bobby Lewis, former Camp Director of Adventure Unlimited Ranches, and now School Director of the Link School in Buena Vista, begins the third leg of the Triple Crown Burro Race. He won the first two legs, one in Fairplay, and the second in Buena Vista during Gold Rush Days. The Leadville leg is a 22 mile course beginning and ending in the middle of town, and heading up Mosquito Pass and then back down and around toward California Gulch. If he wins this leg, he is named the Triple Crown Winner, of which no one has won in years.

The ladies Triple Crown Burro Race, also had a women in the same runnings for the Triple Crown, as she also won the Fairplay and B.V. races. Her name is Karen, who is from Salida, who's husband was a main organizer for the Salida Omnium Bike Race. We got to know them a bit since Brian raced with their teammates and also spent time volunteering. This woman below, however is NOT Karen, this poor women's burro was being a stubborn ass! :)

While we waited for the burro race we walked around town, got some Kettle Corn of course, and checked out some of the mining competition performances. This was a drilling competition with steel drill pieces and pure muscle to see which team in 10 minutes could hammer out the deepest hole. This was a set of brothers who have been doing this together for years.

Here's Bobby at the finish with Dave Bailey behind the camera, Natalie standing behind Wetstone or Welstone, and Cody and Jessie. Bobby did WIN the Triple Crown!! He and Natalie actually drove in from Montana all night and arrived in the morning as he decided last minute to cut their trip short to come back and take a shot at winning the Triple Crown. He did an excellent job!

And the Burro Racing wouldn't be complete if old Curtis Emrie wasn't there. Yup, he's still racing. Although just after he finished, he went to adjust his burro's harness and it head butted him. "Ouch!" I guess it's probably not the first time, he just got a little unedged but was fine.

After the morning of Boom Days it was time to build the chicken coop! Toby couldn't wait!

Brian's brilliant design coming to fruition. All we had to buy for this project was chicken wire, we got palletes from local shops and had the dog house on our property.

Toby checking out the new chicken run, while Brian was installing the heat lamp in their little house.

Chickens scoping out their new pad.

The white ones are the Light Brahmas which as you see below have feathers down their feet to keep them warmer in cooler temps. The also don't have much of a crown or waddle (the thing under their chins) which is also a benefit in cooler temps.

Mt. Democrat, Mt. Cameron, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Bross 4 14ers in 5 hours!

Mt. Democrat- 14,148', Mt. Lincoln-14,286', Mt. Cameron- 14,238', Mt. Bross- 14,172'

On the hike up to Mt. Democrat, Toby and I posing gracefully for a pic!

On top of Mt. Democrat, one down three to go.

View of Mt. Cameron, Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Bross from Mt. Democrat.

Summited Mt. Cameron and almost to the summit of Mt. Lincoln! It did snow on us a bit hiking up Mt. Cameron...nothing too bad, this is why we always carry gloves, hat, and extra warm layers!

Hiking over to Mt. Bross from Mt. Lincoln, skirting along the northeast side of Mt. Cameron. Mt. Bross is the high point on the very left. The sky cleared up beautifully after the short snow storm for the rest of our hike!

Pretty waterfall at the base of Mt. Bross. Which was not a fun Mt. to hike down. It was very very loose gravelly rock, which I did fall on my rear once, so I recommend skooting low on your feet/tush for parts.

Toby enjoying the snow beneath the waterfall...his little legs and paws were worn out!