Durango

Dave says: Our last summertime escape was to the mountains as we headed up to the beautiful town of Durango, Colorado. Skye is getting good at adventures and we brought Debbie along for some help as well. We got in two mountain bike rides. A short and steep one up Animas Mountain and a long and steep one down the last section of the Colorado Trail that we did with Debbie as our shuttle to the top. Even with the shuttle this was a long and tough ride with a killer uphill in the middle but the scenery was beautiful.

We took the Pilot offroading outside of Silverton on some dirt roads up to the ghost town Animas Forks. It is a spectacular drive and a gorgeous place for a picnic. Walking around the old cabins makes you appreciate that you didn't live 200 years ago. We came during the best time of the year but the other 10 months would not be so pleasant in Animas Forks at 11,000+ feet in the mountains.

We did the "must do" tourist attraction in Durango which is the narrow gauge train ride. We did the leg back from Silverton to Durango which takes 3 hours but is very scenic. We started the ride in the indoor car but soon left for the outdoor car where the breeze was flowing and the sights were grand. Skye did quite well on the train.

Silverton is a charming little mining town that has been remade for the tourists and the railroad. There is one main drag to walk but the town and the mountains are beautiful.

One of the most fun parts of the trip was floating down the Animas river through town. There are enough rapids to keep things interesting and enough slow parts to relax. We got high centered on a few rocks but the tube held its air and we didn't tip out. On day 1, Debbie and Alisha floated the river and I got my turn with Alisha a few days later. The combination of cold water and warm sun was perfect.

We did a short but grand hike in the mountains near the top of Molas Pass outside of Silverton on the Colorado Trail. The views were amazing and the gradient wasn't too steep. Skye is a good little hiker and loves being outdoors.

In some ways life has changed with a little one but in other ways we just keep on adventuring. Skye does great with all the new stuff and when we travel in the car we leave super early and she sleeps most of the way. Debbie was a lot of fun to have along and is great with Skye. Some of our not pictured adventures include Debbie and Alisha going to the Bar D Chuckwagon for a western dinner and music. We walked around Fort Lewis College one evening up on the mesa which had great views of the town below. We checked out the Durango downtown on another walk. And, although Skye is a good traveler she only sleeps with her parents on the road and rolled around between us in the hotel bed every night while her pack and play sat empty.

8 Month Cutie

Alisha says: Time is really flying by. Skye has now been out of the oven just as long as she was in. She is growing and getting bigger everyday. She now has 6 teeth and sometimes bites with them as the top four are still coming in. She can sit really well all by herself and will roll around on the floor but isn't too interested in crawling yet. She has tried many new foods and likes swimming. Unfortunately she does not sleep through the night very well. Oh well, we sure do love her!

Escape to the Wonderful Pacific Northwest

Alisha says: After the temperature reached 118 degrees at our house we planned a spontaneous trip to get out of town and escape the heat for a bit. Skye has been a good baby so we decided to try flying with her and booked us tickets to Seattle.

It was definitely a bit more tricky navigating the airport with the extra baby gear (car seat, backpack, etc.) but we make it and Skye did great on the flight. After picking up our rental car we drove to Mount Rainier National Park and met Christine and her family (who are on a summer road trip) for some hiking. There was still a bit of snow at the Paradise visitor center but we did a short hike to a waterfall and then to a lake. It was such a gorgeous day and we were treated to wonderful views of Rainier. It is such an impressive mountain and it was really refreshing to be in cooler temperatures surrounded by such beauty.

                                                  

The next day we met Christine's family in downtown Seattle for the day. We first walked through Pikes Place Market and then had some Piroshkies for lunch followed by a walk to the ferry terminal. Everybody enjoyed the restful ferry ride to Bainbridge Island where we did a walk followed by some ice cream before catching the ferry back to Seattle.

The next few days were a little rainy but we still got out to some our our favorite places such as the arboretum, Magnusun Park and Ravenna Park.

Sarah was brave and watched Skye and her 2 month old while Chris, Dave and I went mountain biking at Galbraith Mountain. It was fun to ride in the rooty forest again.

We hiked the Ira Springs to Mason Lake on a super gorgeous day. The 7 mile hike with 2,500 ft elevation gain was the longest hike we have done with Skye in the backpack. She liked looking around and taking naps on and off. Dave and I traded off carrying her so that we could each get a little break. It was so rejuvenating to be hiking in the forest again.

Chris and Sarah were so nice letting us invade their house. We had fun visiting with them and meeting there new little baby, Nathan. For the last two days we headed over to the Olympic Peninsula. We hike out to Cape Flattery which is the northwesternmost point in the continental United States. It was a neat short hike through old growth forest to some amazing rugged coastal views of cliffs and sea caves. It had that northwest rainy feel to it.

We spent our last night in Port Angeles. The next morning we did some hiking at Crescent Lake to Marymere Falls before heading back to the airport for the flight home. This vacation was just what I needed and also reminded me how much I love the pacific northwest in the summer, it really is a magical place.

Riding Southern Utah

Dave says: Last week we were in Southern Utah and had a great time doing some biking and hanging out with family and friends.

First, the biking. Before Skye was born, I told Alisha that after Skye's birth I'd get her a fancy new mountain bike whenever she was ready. Well, she was ready to bike two weeks later and so I bought her a sweet 2016 Stumpjumper. She's ridden it a lot recently and has even confessed that mountain biking is more fun than road biking (something most of us dirt lovers have known for years). However, this trip to Utah was different because it was time to hit some of the most burly slickrock around.

Over three days we hit Guacamole, Gooseberry Mesa, and Little Creek Mesa. These are the three mesas in the Zion area from north to south. Guacamole was a good first stop and has a little bit of everything from big slickrock areas to tight twisting in the rocks to riding on the rim. 

Gooseberry is a must-ride classic and some of the hardest slickrock anywhere. Alisha did great with 95% of it and we made it all the way out to the end of the mesa for some epic views. This ride is a full body workout and you want an aggressive bike on this type of trail.

Whereas Gooseberry offers the most technical slickrock, Little Creek provides the flow. The trails are magical and feel remote. I'll let Alisha decide if she wants to interject and tell more about her close encounter with some slickrock 2/3 of the way through the West Mesa Loop. She still told me that Little Creek was her favorite though and is already thinking about a trip back in the fall.

Alisha says: Okay, okay so I was loving Little Creek and feeling like my riding on slick rock had improved over the past few days when bam, I tipped over and was laying on the rock with my bike on top of me. When I surveyed the damage it really wasn't bad except for about a deep wound on my ankle. I could see yellow inside so we tied an arm warmer around my leg and rode 30 minutes back to the car. I was mostly mad because of my dumb tip we had to cut our ride short because I was pretty sure that I would need a few stitches. On the ride back I figured out that it was my brake lever that poked the hole in my leg. So we ended up at the instacare where the doc gave me five stitches. I was bummed because I had made plans to hike Angles Landing in Zion the next day with Shannon and we had to adjust our plans but by the following day (so really only one day rest) I talked Dave into taking me mountain biking on a new trail that is really close to my parents house. It is a fun trail and I took it easy. I can't wait to ride the southern Utah trails again, they were really fun.   

Near the end of the mesa at Gooseberry:

A moment of serenity at Little Creek

You can see why this is called the hot tub. No outflow means that you don't really want to get in though.

Part 2 of the trip was family time. Our rides took us south about an hour from Cedar City every morning and we were fortunate to have both sets of parents in town to take turns watching Skye. On the way to Cedar City, to make sure that the drive went smoothly we left at 3 am and Skye slept almost the entire time. We arrived in Cedar around lunch time and had a picnic on the grass at Canyon Park.

Two of Alisha's sisters came into town for the weekend and so we got to hang out with all the kids. Three things that they liked were the long walk we went on (this is the route to "superhero cave"), getting rides on the atv, and going swimming. Wayne and Debbie were nice to host us for a week and the trip was a lot of fun.