Quandry Peak

Heidi --- Peter --- Doug

On Saturday, August 7th, Doug, Heidi & Peter climbed to the top of Quandry Peak.
With them were Tom, Jessica & Jennifer.
Trip to the summit took about 4 hours. Elevation was 14265 ft.
Tiring, but all made it to the top. And back to the base.

Pictures, thanks to Doug Skiba.

Anniversary Dinner

Last evening, Peter, Doug & I traveled to Boulder to meet with Heidi for dinner. Doug had been at our house during the day to help with some wiring and moving of furniture.
The plan was to have dinner at some place other than normal for our anniversaries.
Peter & I celebrated our 40th anniversary in June while Doug and Heidi celebrated their 16th anniversary in June. Where does the time go? Not only hard to believe that we have been married that long, but our kids....16 years! Mind boggling.

Heidi chose the restaurant in Boulder and we all met at about the same time.
The choice for the evening was Brasserie 10 10 on Walnut St. just off their famous Pearl St. A French restaurant where the menu was actually in French. Of course with English subtitles. Peter, Doug & I enjoyed ROASTED RAINBOW TROUT with seared greens, lentil taboulé & citron buerre blanc. Wonderfully cooked and nicely presented. Heidi chose BOCUSE - a hunter style pulled chicken, sliced mushrooms, 5 lilies & a brandy crème over seared spinach. She also labeled it delicious, only asking "WHERE were the lillies"? Perhaps cooked inside the dish? We never did ask.
With our meal we also ordered a bottle of 2009 Chardonnay, from the Rodney Strong Winery in Sonoma County. Very tasty and a nice complement to our meal.

As we were at a French restaurant and celebrating our anniversaries, who could resist the dessert menu? Not us, except for Doug who chose a Courvoisier VSOP instead.
Heidi opted for PISTACHIO DACQUOISE (almond meringue, pistachio buttercream, yogurt mousse, fresh strawberries & pistachio), Peter chose CRÈME BRÛLÉE (no explanation necessary)and I chose WARM STICKY DATE CAKE (memories of my grandma's date cake...)(caramel kahlua ice cream over a warm date cake surrounded by toasted pecans and caramel sauce). Not exactly like what grandma made, but who's complaining?

A wonderful evening. Only people missing were Andy & Tara who celebrated their anniversary in Jan. Perhaps we will have to do this all over again. Such misery!

Quandry Peak

Peter just called me from the top of Quandry Peak in Colorado. 14,265'.
About 6 miles south of Breckenridge.
Said they took off early this morning and he was at the peak by 11AM. Eating his PB&J sandwich when he called. Said his feet were sore, but other than that he was fine. They will be heading down soon in order to avoid the almost daily thunderstorms in the area. Can't wait to see his pictures. Will post when we have a chance.

Cold

I am spending the day trying to fight off this miserable summer cold. Not sleeping well at night.
Peter is off doing errands before he heads to Doug & Heidi's for the night. They will be starting off very early tomorrow morning to do their hike on Quandry Peak. Over 14,000 ft. I can't even begin to think about that! Way beyond me. But he is anxious to do it.

Kingfisher Ponds

On Friday morning we set out about 9AM and headed South on Timberline Road to get to our new hiking destination for the day. We are trying to do at least one different hike each week. We stopped across the road from the Riverbend Ponds that we went to earlier in the week. This one seemed to be mostly paved and suitable for when we wanted to return with our bikes.

As we followed the pathway we noted the tremendous amount of grasshoppers in the walkway and in the fields. Constant movement underfoot. Perhaps this is why they are crop dusting in the area? We continued on the pathway until we came to the information building. We picked up a few more maps and informational booklets (can never have too many of these!) and began our return trip. This part of the trip was a bit more interesting than the first half as we went past the Kingfisher Ponds. We saw a kestrel hawk sitting in a tree chirping away. No camera. Will have to come back with camera in hand one of these days.

Very hot morning, so we were both happy to return to our car that unfortunately was parked in the sun.

We headed North again and stopped at a furniture store to look at some new furniture for our new home. Ended up choosing a new dining room table and chairs, an entertainment center and a server/hutch. We plan on returning to choose the sofa and chairs at a later date. Soon our home will have comfortable chairs to sit on. We will then be ready for company.

Tonite we will have dinner and watch a movie. Peter is headed out to Quandry Peak tomorrow to do his first 14er with Doug, Heidi and some of their friends. Sure he will take some pictures along the way that we can post.

Riverbend Ponds

On Wednesday morning Peter & I ventured out to a new area to take a morning hike before it became too hot and before the afternoon rains came.

We headed a bit south from home and parked at the trail head of Riverbend Ponds.
Reading the brochure before leaving home, we found that Riverbend Ponds offers a lot of diversity with a stretch along the Poudre River, several ponds and wetlands.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife stocks the ponds with warm-water species (usually largemouth bass, crappie and channel catfish). Birders enjoy Riverbend Ponds- over 200 species of birds feed, rest, nest, and migrate through this area including green herons, a wide variety of ducks, American white pelicans, double-crested cormorants and others. On our walk we were privileged to see several ducks, geese and a great blue heron who was looking for a morning bite to eat. Riverbend Ponds have flat trails with loop options and we passed several other walkers along the way.
We do intend to go back to the area again and again at different times of the day and in different seasons.

Crop Dusters

Woke up to crop dusters flying low over our home this morning. 6AM.
New alarm clock?