Flying Cloud

This weekend we all went to Black Canyon and then camped near Durango and rode the train. Ben did some dutch oven cooking while Ryan moved rock and Michael kept the chair warm.

We actually didn't make it to Black Canyon to camp with them - M and I both worked late on Friday and didn't get there until 11:30pm, so we parked in a field outside the park and boondocked. Which was just as well, since Ben, Leslie and Ryan sat through several hours of torrential downpour at the bottom of the canyon before subsequent mudslides eventually closed the canyon road. They were no worse for the wear and the road was cleared in the morning so they weren't trapped at the bottom.

When we camped at the bottom of Black Canyon as kids, I remember my mom saying (maybe she was joking) that if it started raining in the middle of the night, we were packing up and leaving. Maybe back then they didn't have the dams under control, and I think there were some stories about the campground flooding and the river carrying people's tents away. Well, not anymore... a park ranger at the bottom told Ben they didn't have anything to worry about despite the mudslides and several inches of rain.

The next day we all headed to Durango for less adventurous camping and found a sweet spot on a lake.

Black Canyon and the Gunnison River

Lemon Reservoir

Ryan said his favorite part of the train ride was watching the train fill up with water. His second favorite part of the train ride was watching the train fill up with water the other time. Getting ice cream in Silverton was a distant third.

The train filling up with water at Needleton Station

July 31, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (7)

Last night us and the outlaw went to the Flying W Ranch. The outlaw really liked the knee-slapping foot-tapping fiddle-playing live cowboy music and didn't want to leave. Just like his grandpa.

Tonight if M and I are lucky [lucky = can we escape given all the work we must do before we can go] we will meet them at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and camp at the bottom of the canyon, a family tradition. In a tent, no trailers allowed.

July 27, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (2)

Tonight we picked up the Airstream from One Stop Cop Shop for the third time, where they again waved their magic wand and got things fixed. This time, it was actually the truck they worked on - we got the electric brakes hooked up to the truck and wired the Airstream so that the truck recharges the trailer's batteries while we drive - which should save us a little trouble (and energy) on the recharging end. Now, in a pinch we could start the truck to recharge the battery, I am sure our campground neighbors would love it. The picture was taken in One Stop's parking lot - and I actually edited a lone cop car out of the lower right corner of the picture. Airstreams and cop cars just don't go together.

More importantly, Ben, Leslie and Ryan got here tonight to kick off their Colorado vacation. I am finally getting a nephew fix. My brother told Ryan (2) the Airsteam is a big beer can so I think Ryan expects (fears?) opening it and finding a swimming pool of beer. Then again, Ryan probably already knows to never believe anything his dad says.

July 25, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (1)

Unveiling: our bathroom! We finally have an Airstream project almost done. This one was a doozy. Not hard, but wrought with irreversible decisions (stainless steel walls are unforgiving when it comes to drilling holes in them). I had three primary objectives: 1) to get a mirror in the bathroom 2) to make the space more useful so we can hang more than towels in there, and 3) to improve the aesthetic with matching stainless steel accessories (instead of chrome).

First, the trailer had no mirror. There used to be a full length mirror on the inside of the closet door whose weight eventually bent the hinges and more or less made the closet door unusable. (We still take the door off when driving since it would fall off if we didn't. Fixing it is on the project list.) It didn't help that the hinges on the closet door were incorrectly installed in the first place with insufficient cabinet framing to support the door's weight. We didn't really want a mirror there anyway, we wanted it in the bathroom instead.

Next, we wanted to get dual use out of the bathroom by being able to hang our backpacks, bags and clothes in there when not in use. The old hooks were too few, impractically big and not built to hold the weight.

Finally, the shiny chrome accessories went against the bathroom's otherwise ultra modern stainless steel interior. If they would have been art deco-y or somehow in a 60s Airstream vibe that would have been cool, but they were neither.

I found a great German company (who other than Germans would make this kind of stuff) that makes just about everything you imagine in high grade 18/10 stainless steel - even wall mounted ashtrays. Everything matches perfectly and is solid as a rock.

The mirror was heavier than expected and how to hang it so it could withstand a bumpy trailer life posed a physics challenge. And how to hang it so the backside of the bolts didn't show and all the old holes in the wall were covered up posed a geometry challenge. We had a mini-conference about it followed by a trip to the hardware aisle. It is now bolted to the wall like nine lives. I cannot say how nice it is to have a normal mirror in the trailer. Even when camping. So many motor homes have tiny ones that are too short or too skinny, or too high too low, or just not in a convenient place. This one, as Goldilocks would say, is just right.

L-R The backside of one of the mirror bolts, all of which are inside the closet. | There are a bunch of those hooks and I like them so much. | The TP holder.

The toilet paper holder is awesome. Yep, I just called a toilet paper holder awesome. The cover both keeps the TP dry when the shower is on and prevents it from unrolling when driving. And it looks good doing it.

The double towel bar is an added bonus. I wasn't expecting to find anything like that - but the fact that it added an extra bar and fits perfectly on top of the old holes was too good to be true.

There is still more to be done, but we can't do it ourselves. The geniuses who restored the trailer (although they do nice woodwork) forgot to put in a drain flange to prevent the dirty holding tank water from splashing back up into the shower when driving. They also made the shower drain the highest point on the shower floor! Hmmm, second graders learn that water has eyes and looks for the lowest point. In our trailer, that would be all four corners of the bathroom floor. Guess where the drain is. We have lined up someone to fix this, but we will probably wait until winter when we are ready for a break from camping.

July 24, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (4)

So we finally got around to posting our blogroll (translation for Mom and Dad: list of blogs I like). Find it at the lower left. Unable to limit myself, I ended up with a little of everything. In general, I'm a sucker for anything well designed and pretty (with good content, of course)... these blogs are that! Tour of America is of course the granddaddy of Airstream blogs. Delicious:days, written by a couple in Munich, has long been my favorite food blog. Farmgirl Fare is also a very cool food/rural living blog with a great story. I figure I would probably be a better food/garden blogger than I am an Airstream blogger, but so it goes. All the garden blogs are good depending on what kind of garden info I'm looking for...and since we don't have a garden in Colorado yet I just live vicariously through them. And design blogs - as one would expect - are such eye candy! I am waiting for Michael to contribute his list of dow theory and macro-economics and energy and finance blogs.... Until then, you'll have to wait on the edge of your seat.

7/25 Update: I forgot to mention that poppytalk recently featured a very cute boutique-in-a-64 Airstream in BC, Canada, and I just saw the happy living blog posted about us! Let's cheer them on on getting an Airstream of their own! :)

July 23, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (0)

Last night we did the Royal Gorge Route's Winemaker's Dinner Train. We have been wanting to try out all the scenic trains in Colorado and figured our anniversary was good enough reason to do this one. Our expectations for this train were not terribly high, and it lived up (or down?) to them. The route winds though the bottom of the Royal Gorge along the Arkansas River and goes under the famous Royal Gorge bridge 1178 feet above. The scenery is okay - but since it was in the evening, it was getting dark so we probably didn't get the primo views (nor, for that reason, did I get many good pictures). And, we were a bit distracted by the wine anyway, which was from Plum Creek Winery on Colorado's western slope. It was good, especially the reds. The food was the biggest disappointment. The filet mignon buffalo tenderloin filet had fake grill marks. Need I say more? (Filets don't have to be grilled anyway so they could have saved themselves the trouble.) The Durango Silverton Train remains by far our favorite scenic rail in Colorado... I can't wait to do it again next weekend when my brother and his family are in town. It was one of the best things we did last summer.

July 22, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (4)

Couple days ago NPR did a story on Iowa Farmers Looking to Trap Carbon in the Soil, featuring Doolittle Prairie in Story City (my hometown). I remember taking bus trips to Doolittle Prairie in elementary school to examine the flora and fauna. The idea is that plowing fields over time releases excessive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and plowing less - which is now possible to due better planter technology - is good for both the soil and the environment. So I asked Dad about this. Yep, he has something like a no-till planter... actually, they practice minimum till not no-till. But I don't think "capturing carbon" ever occurred to him. Apparently, minimizing plowing is good for a whole gamut of reasons, but not the least of which is it saves $$$ on fuel and is a lot less work. Music to a farmer's ears.

Doolittle Prairie is southwest of the I-35 and E-18 intersection. My parents' farm is on the map too but only if you know where to look!

July 20, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (0)

Our weekly CSA ration is turning into a haul. Today we got green beans, onions, garlic, lettuce, scallions, leeks, basil, and zucchini and summer squash in all sizes and colors. We've been enjoying the surprise grab bag of food each week and love that it is all so fresh and local. I especially like that we are getting varieties of vegetables that we would rarely find in the grocery store, like speckled lettuce and patty pan squash. Of course it would be better if I was growing all this stuff myself, but not happening this year. (My mom has lamented several times that she has already canned 5 dozen quarts of green beans and they keep on coming.... Gosh I wish I had the same problem. Gosh she is lucky.) Last night I made last week's heirloom beets and we actually really liked them (using this recipe and extra brown sugar). Also found this LA Times article on zucchini to help make a dent in the supply. Tomorrow night's project.

July 18, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (0)

One of the first things we noticed about this trailer was that there are no hooks. No hooks!!! We are hook aficionados especially when traveling or camping in a relatively tiny space (who isn't?). I launched a comprehensive Internet search for the perfect stainless steel hooks to match the interior. We are now hooked up. Whew, what a relief. Here are two:

Left is from Container Store and right is by Blomus.

More on recent improvements coming soon...

July 17, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (0)

This weekend we escaped to Crested Butte. Crested Butte is the wildflower capital of Colorado and consequently the host of a Wildflower Festival. We love it here!! Crested Butte is a great little town and manages to stay unpretentious despite its growing popularity (unlike many ski towns). But it's the wilderness around Crested Butte that is most appealing. Pictured above: Rosy Paintbrush, cousin to the more common red Indian Paintbrush, and Elephants Head, the tall purple stuff whose flowers under close examination resemble an elephant's trunk and ears. The spiky plant in the foreground is Queen's Crown. I'll spare you the rest of my 300 wildflower photos.

We accidentally scored a spot at Lake Irwin Campground in Gunnison National Forest. We expected it to be full when we arrived on Friday night, but we wanted to drive through anyway to check it out. The campground is rated in the top 100 in the state according to one of my camping books and even graces the book's cover. However, when we arrived the host had just found out that another group had canceled so he gave us their spot. Lucky! We had lakeside camping in one of the best campgrounds in the state without even trying. And they aren't kidding about the wildflowers.

We decided to forego hiking this weekend and instead went 4WDing, which we haven't done much since last summer. This is at Paradise Divide. People obviously do camp here (dispersed camping, not a campground) but it's at 11,240 feet and only accessible via 4WD vehicles which excludes the Flying Cloud. Oh well. This was a fabulous drive and not too white knuckle. With my handy wildflower identification guide at hand, we stopped only about a dozen times so I could be a pretend botanist-slash-wildflower photographer.

Okay, two more. Western Aster and Fairy Trumpet.

July 15, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (3)

I am a little bit of a map person. It runs in the family. We got the Colorado Benchmark atlas as soon as it came out last year; I have since bought two more (car, truck, house), and we can't drive anywhere without it. The cartography in these atlases is superior to that in the old DeLorme atlases - especially when looking for the kinds of things we are always looking for - forest service roads, trailheads, campgrounds, topography, elevation, boondocking spots. They all say field-checked for accuracy... I would like to know how to get job as a "field checker." Sounds like a cushy job kinda like being a BMW test driver or a Feng Shui consultant. (<-- Lots of great jobs at that link.)

Anyway, for an upcoming Wyoming/Idaho trip I went to buy two more atlases... Only to find out the Wyoming version isn't due out until Aug 20 which is the day after I get home. Go figure.

It still cracks me up (in a good way) that we now carry around state road atlases to every Rocky Mountain state (EXCEPT Wyoming) instead of a Rand McNally DC street guide.

July 11, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (0)

There are a pair of yellow butterflies that fly back and forth across our backyard parallel to the building. Several times I have watched them and thought how they remind me of a video game where the hero runs back and forth across the window that is the computer screen. Many of the Intellivision games I grew up with followed that simple worldview. Then, I remembered. Orisinal.

A few years ago I discovered this sweet little low stress, high style game website. Bumble Bees is my favorite. Then I forgot about it for about three years. Then I discovered it again, then forgot about it for two more. Over Easter, I wanted to show them to my nephew (still a little young for them, but the sweet music and animals doing funny things are still enough entertainment for a two year-old). I could not remember the name of the site - orion? omega? orbach? - but finally found it after googleing "milk the cow." Ryan had to try out every one of the 59 games, and he managed at age two to do okay at Bugs. The games are mindless but in a nice happy way. Certainly an antidote to an otherwise overstimulated industry.

Break break. Completely off my original topic: As I wrote this I googled Intellivision so I could paste a hyperlink above for the uninitiated. Little did I know, Intellivision lives. Literally, at the website Intellivision Lives. You can buy all the old games and play on a computer. What a walk down memory lane. My sister bought a used Intellivision on eBay a few years ago and we tried to play it but found that humans have evolved beyond the ancient 1980s controls and it was almost like doing math with a slide rule instead of a calculator. But if it can be done on a computer.... Hmmmmm.... (Then again, handset malfunction was an integral part of any Intellivision game.) Maybe Mom still has those 20 pages of meticulously handwritten cheat sheets to Pitfall (circa 1982) that chronicle every scene and when to jump the crocodiles, when to take the vine, and when fall into the pit with the scorpions. And what of Utopia... Burgertime... Frogger... Dungeons and Dragons... Oh, and Snafu......

July 9, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (0)

Home again.

July 8, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (0)

We were married on this spot almost one year ago.

July 6, 2007 by Lynn in washington | permalink | comments (1)

Not sure there is anywhere we'd rather spend the 4th of July than in the San Juans. We took the ferry over early this morning, watched the parade at Friday Harbor, ate burgers at the town picnic, walked around Lime Kiln Point, then had drinks at Roche Harbor before grudgingly coming back home (back to Whidbey, I mean).

The Friday Harbor Fourth of July parade is quintessential Americana and classic Pacific Northwest (with a troop of dogs wearing Orca fins and people dressed up like seals...not pictured).

Me, Michael, Michaela, Shannon, Charlie and John.

Shannon and Michaela at Lime Kiln Point.

Michael and Michaela watching seals at Lime Kiln Point.

John and Charlie, with John stealing a fix on his 24-hour old iPhone. Wonder how long it will be before Michael announces he needs one.

This place should look familiar to many of you. At Roche Harbor we watched the blind kayak races and the log rolling contest.

I have a huge report due tomorrow, so I worked in the ferry terminal, on the ferry both ways, and am locked in the office tonight until I finish up. Can't complain, though, given the alternative would be to not be here. If my work is watching, yesssss, I'm working on it.

So many pictures... I probably should have made this post into an album instead.

July 4, 2007 by Lynn in washington | permalink | comments (1)

A couple days ago Shannon suggested we come to Whidbey for the 4th. Michael usually isn't one for spontaneous travel but when it comes to the Pacific Northwest, all bets are off. So here we are. This is the fourth time we've been at the Whidbey house for the "last time." But this really is the last time - Shannon finally closed the deal on a house in Virginia and is moving back East next month.

The famous Whidbey house view. Sigh.

This is my office for the week.

Mount Baker and the islands. Michael got this awesome shot.

July 3, 2007 by Lynn in washington | permalink | comments (1)

Before...

....and after.

The route.

Luxury accommodations.

Brittany approaching treeline.

Michael and Shannon.

The damage. Duct tape held Shannon together.

Our ride down (nope, we didn't hike down). The Pikes Peak Cog.

An awesome hike... will write more and post an album soon... eventually.....

July 2, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (3)

This morning Shannon, Brittany, Michael and I are departing for our Pikes Peak climb....

July 1, 2007 by Lynn in colorado | permalink | comments (0)