olympic training

Below is some footage from our early season training. I'm rather proud of the luge track I built on our lawn. It's quite a lovely ride. And the ski footage is from Junie's first day out last Friday. My sister Katye and her husband were in town, so Katye and I took Junie out for a few laps on the hill. Since then, I've already taken June skiing twice more. Today was her first "powder day" and for her it was knee deep in spots. It's amazing how fearless she is. On Saturday, she skied through the trees for the first time without skipping a beat, and today she mastered the art of getting off the chairlift on her own. For a brief moment, she even turned around to me and said she wanted to ski backwards. Oh dear. Jolee is not quite ready yet, but we'll get her out there by season's end.

dad outfits

It’s pretty clear whether Adrienne or I supervised our kids getting dressed in the morning. When Adrienne is around, the kids look well put together. When I do it, who knows what you’re going to get. Adrienne calls them “dad outfits.” June dresses herself and I pretty much let her wear whatever she wants, assuming her choices are somewhat appropriate for the day’s activities; she can’t wear a bathing suit to go skiing—that’s where I draw the line. At least if June is wearing something outlandish I can shift the blame and tell you she picked it out. Unfortunately I don’t have that luxury with Jolee. I simply pick out clothes for her that look comfortable; to say there is no concern for style would be an understatement.

This is one of my marvelous ensembles. I’m not sure if the picture really captures its magnificence. The knee high socks over the tights, the shirt that would probably fit a middle schooler, the headband…

and here is one of Junie’s masterpieces. looks like something Molly Ringwold may have engineered in Pretty in Pink…

young ansel adams

June received her own camera for her birthday from my sister Molly. She is already taking the photographic medium in new, exciting directions…

around town and then some

As I've mentioned before, one of the best parts of running long distances is the ability to cover a lot of beautiful trail in a short amount of time. The trails here are now covered in snow, but the weather in September and much of October was incredible. Below are some pictures from a late September run along one of my favorite routes.

While I'm thinking of it, if you find lots of reasons to avoid exercising in the cold weather, this article from the NY Times dispels some of the myths of cold weather exercise.

Now for the photos. This is from the top of Carter Park looking down at town and across to the resort…

Sally Barber Mine…

Along the Sally Barber Trail…

Along French Gulch Rd looking up at Mt. Guyot, I think…

Heading up the Little French Flume Trail…

I know people regularly take horses out on the trails, but I rarely see them. This was a treat…

Little French continued. This is undoubtedly one of the prettiest trails around. For awhile I was honestly stopping every 30 seconds for a photo…

View from the far end of the Little French Trail…

view looking at the Breckenridge Resort…

Starting my way down a ridiculously long downhill on American Gulch Rd. The distant opening and road in the center of the photograph is the North Fork of the Swan, and it’s where I was headed…

Old mine ruins and cabins are common on the trails near our house. This one is down a ways on American Gulch Rd…

The trailhead for the Colorado Trail off the North Fork of the Swan. It’s a long and relentless climb from here up to the West Ridge. After I took this photo, I felt okay for maybe another mile. Then the wheels came off…

Along the Colorado Trail looking back at the ridge I came over several miles ago…

Finally on top of the West Ridge…

The West Ridge actually runs through a far boundary of the Keystone Ski Resort…

Descending from the ridge looking down at Lake Dillon (I think) in the distance…

A deer saying hello to me shortly before I exited the Colorado Trail…

The dredge boat at Horseshoe Gulch…

Here’s the view near the end of my journey on Tiger Rd. I ran out of water many, many miles ago so Adrienne thankfully picked me up a few miles short of my intended destination (home). Nevertheless, it was an amazing run, and even if you’re not dumb enough to try covering it all in one shot, the individual components—Sally Barber, Little French, and the Colorado Trail near the Forks of the Swan—are all well worth doing individually. Goodbye snowless trails, I'll see you next June…

pumpkin hunt

Here are some pictures from our trip to Buena Vista for pumpkins. We went there on a whim and I’m glad we did. By the time we left, Adrienne was already wondering if we could move there. We certainly make tradeoffs living up here high in the mountains, and I think the thing Adrienne misses most is gardening; the growing season literally lasts for just a couple of weeks. Although Buena Vista is still in the mountains (around 8,000 feet), it enjoys a much more temperate climate than we have here. Adrienne was pretty much drooling when she saw the variety of plants they were growing there.

As for the pumpkin picking and other festivities, we all enjoyed a great day.

Enjoying a burger while taking a rest in the maze…

Jackpot!!!…

Talk about a genuine-article cowboy…

Junie loved, loved, loved the maze. Here she is running away from me…

Jolee taking her second ride of the day with a wrangler barely her elder…

The farm, the food, the pumpkins, and the trio playing bluegrass…the whole scene felt so much like we were back in North Carolina. What a delightful day…

open for business

The ski season has officially begun here in Breckenridge. With six inches of fresh snow overnight and my girls staying the night with Lauren and Foster in Vail, I decided to head on up the mountain. I had never been to an opening day, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. With a limited amount of terrain open, I thought the crowds might be moderate. I was wrong.

I arrived shortly after 9 a.m. (the first chair lift started at 9) to nearly full parking lots on both sides of the gondola.

The view looking back down to the base of the gondola…

Some of the pretty terrain on the way up the mountain…

Notwithstanding the crowds and the limited open terrain (they were, however, getting ready to open some hike-to terrain later in the day), the conditions were great. I actually ended up skiing in powder deeper than anything I came across during the entirety of last season (note to self: learning how to properly ski in deep powder would be useful). It might be a little while until we get June on the slopes; right now, only Peak 8 is open, and the best terrain for her is undoubtedly on Peak 9.

just off the Colorado chair, looking down the hill before my first run…

The lift lines were a bit long, so I took only two runs before calling it a day. Nevertheless, it was a fun start to what I expect to be a great season.

we're on a train

Once again, we have a huge backlog of photos. Instead of hitting you over the head with ten posts at once, I’m going to try to space them out a day at a time.

Here are some shots from our September trip to the Georgetown Loop Railroad…

Junie had fun playing peek-a-boo with the conductor…

I must confess. I’m the ding-dong that chose the seats right behind the engine. The horn was deafening…

Jolee wasn’t fond of the horn either. She still talks about it. “Train, toot, loud”…