Bikes, Hikes, Likes, Yikes

St George offered some fabulous adventures.

BIKE

We rode out to Snow Canyon on our bikes just as the sun was rising. Way fun, especially the hills on the way down. Oh, and this is my brother Casey. If anyone wants to go next week you just let me know.




HIKE

Then we hiked ourselves from Oak Grove to the top of Pine Valley (Mic, Mat, and Dannielle, the others who wussed out will remain unnamed). My glutes pretty much caught on fire by the time I reached the top and Jillian Michaels would have been so proud.


LIKES

Something unique that I found one day on my morning walk was the St. George Live Historic Tour. I thought this would be a delightful activity for the in-laws that were not from the area. It is very inexpensive ($3) and you learn a lot about the St. George's early days, even if you ARE from Dixie. Meet Jacob Hamlin:




We even stopped by the court house to visit with the judge. Turns out Casey was put on trial for stealing water and his brother Brian who was the head juror wasn't going to let him off easy. He was gulity as charged and sent to jail (obviously we busted him out or he wouldn't be in this picture)





Highly recommended for anyone visiting for the first time or thousandth time.

YIKES

Lastly, hair cuts. My hair was in desperate need! Isn't it funny when you need your hair done, you need it done RIGHT NOW. Jody got out her sassy apron and did her magic on us.

Before


Before



During


After



Thank you, thank you for making our family look fabulous. The hair feels oh so glam! What a woman!

Reunited in Sin City

After staying in St. George for the night, we packed up our things (which we're getting very good at) and drove down to Vegas for my family reunion.

Hello, Grandma Rexine.



Bye, Grandma Rexine.

After my grandmother passed away, the family had forgotten all about their time share. With the accumulated points, we were given five condos for the whole family to stay.

Great Gramps playing with Great Grand



I only am showing this picture because all my bad parts are sucked into the tube. Maybe I should walk around the resort with a tube suctioned to me at all times.



We pretty much eat, sit, talk and eat some more. Isn't every family reunion like that on some scale?





We said goodbye to the United States map because we were so sick of the States quiz game. We stopped and bought a world map to staple over the US map so Gretchen can start memorizing it.



We went to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory with Aunt Bentley. It was really over priced, but really good.



Next up, St. George for the haircuts, the hikes, and the job searching.

Holy Crap, Aspen is Nice!

Hello Aspen.



Tree lined streets

Shady red brick walkways

Awning covered shops

Gourmet restaurants

Beautiful green peaked mountains

Endless biking and hiking trails

It's good to know that Aspen is a great getaway, especially when it is FREE

Mat's department gives the fellows an allotment once a year for conferences, so it made this trip to Aspen that much sweeter.









Highlights

Fancy Micah-N-Cheese dinner with milk served in wine glasses.



Lots of TV watching with a new twist



The surprise of rain and cooler temperatures



The Thirft Store. The rich people's junk were the only things we could afford.



Hanging out.



Becket entertaining the crowd with a simple piece of bubble wrap and the town fountain.



The game we played called, Beat the Water




Then Beck decided to get Evil Knievel on us and rode his bike through the fountain



Goodbye, Aspen.

Headed North for the Day

After settling in at Aunt Nancy's house in Denver and stocking back up on our food supply



We decided to head north for a few back up job options. We wanted to check out Fort Collins, Loveland, and Boulder.

Fort Collins

Very walkable, bike friendly town with a lovely lake we could eat 2lbs of strawberries by while landing our strawberry tops on the pine tree just behind us.



This is the Fort Collins high school--looks like a musical could be filmed here.



Across the street from the local high school there is a Colorado State test garden. They test different varieties of flowers and I love that they have organized them all into sections. Geraniums in one, impatiens in another, and so on (Andrea, I know you would be excited about this!):



There were lots of volunteers putting the specimens into the soil, so we decided to dig in--get it, dig--dig in.



Well all of us pitched in, except this one--she's the third child and does what she wants.



We made a stop along the way to Boulder and Loveland.

Sweltville Zoo. Mr. Swelts started to make objects out of metal and to quote him, " You could say it turned into more than just a hobby." there were at least 50 things to look at on his lot made out of scrape metal.





Loveland was alright, but Boulder really won my heart, and the outrageous house prices reflect why it is a great place to be. Beautiful downtown, lots of people watching, and historic homes.

And, Mork and Mindy's house is here! Can you see why I want to live here?



Later, we had dinner with Aunt Nancy and then she showed us where her and her brother Bob (Mat's dad) grew up. It is this little one room house by the railroad tracks in Denver. Nancy says she loved it here. She remembers the wood burning stove and the divider her daddy built to separate the kitchen from the bedroom.

Come Back Dorothy, There Is Not Much Going On In Kansas

Down to zero nips and zero soy crisps.

We are on the 5th day of our trip and we are trying to keep our creaky
selves from seizing up.


We left our hotel disappointed that they were charging for continental
breakfast. Are the airlines and hotel conspiring? To get back, I took
the free fruit and complementary mints and ran out the door.

I knew Kansas was going to be monotonous so I tried to find things we could see to break up the trip. Here's what we came up with:

We stopped at the grave of the man who gave us Angus Beef. Quite the
headstone, quite the tribute.



This is Gretchen after I hogged tied her just to put a band-aid on her sore that she had been complaining about since mile 134. She wouldn't let me get close to it. So dramatic, geez!



The kids invented a new random game called Equal States where they add the states together and have to guess what state it equals. Makes no sense. Example: Gretchen: “Becket, what is Minnesota + Colorado equal?” Becket: “Pennsylvania.” Gretchen: “No, Montana.” Becket's turn: Gretchen, what is Florida + Arizona?" Gretchen: " Um, Nebraska?" Becket: "No, Iowa." I’m glad I was not invited to play that game, but I am glad it entertained them for an hour.

This picture just screams cavities!



We did stop at the Wonder Tower in Colorado, and believe me it is a wonder how these things exist. You pay a dollar to go up to the tower and the old man claims you can see all 6 states from the top.





Here are the stuffed dummies he uses to lure people up to the tower to make it look like a popular place. I think they've been here for a while.



The man has a bunch of dusty collected stuff not to mention the 22 rooms lined with framed arrowheads he has found on his walks over the year. Wow!





Later that night we had dinner with the Gildeas. We haven’t seen them since we moved from Hershey, PA where we attended med school over 5yrs ago. It was shocking to see that their once 6yr old little girl is now babysitting, texting, and able to join the conversation.



I love that Pili has not changed a bit. Everyone loves Pili, she could have a sitcom. She's the type that you love the first time you meet her. Oh! How I have missed this family.