Welcome "AJ" July 22, 2010

Upon our return from Colorado, a wonderful event took place.

Andy and Mackenzie are the proud parents of 7 pound 2 ounce

Andrew Jefferson Powell, Jr "AJ".

AJ was born at 1:13 pm on Thursday, July 22.

Mom will be in Martha Washington Hospital until Sunday.

This of course makes Jeff and Debby grandparents. WOW!

Maroon Belles

After viewing Maroon Belles near Aspen and beautiful scenery going over Independence Pass, we headed east. After three long days and visiting most of the gas stations across America, arrived in Fredricksburg on Wednesday night.

Colorado Wrap-Up

On Monday, took a very scenic trip climbing multiple mountain passes, first visiting the remote north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Finally made it to our "last night campsite" at Redstone. Another top 100 and 5star campground, we really regretted not being able to stay longer. Drove into the pretty little town of Carbondale (where the upper middle class of Aspen valley live), ate at White House Pizza which I remembered from when Jeff, Kimberly, and Patrick skied here several years ago. Also stopped in to listen to the band at Sunday music in the park.

On Monday, started a long trek to Nebraska. A bunch of siteseeing along the way. Toured Snowmass, one of my favorite ski areas (but too far from Denver), visited Maroon Belles peaks, one of the most photographed locations in the world, then did a quick walking tour of Aspen.

Decision time: backtrack 50+ miles to get to I70 or head over steep and narrow Independence Pass, which disallows any vehicles over 35 feet. Measuring in at about 34 feet, guess which way we went. Saw another beautiful water fall and a ghost town before stopping in Leadville for lunch. Got to North Platte Nebraska about 10pm. Since we were leaving early, we simple camped at Walmart with other RVs and trucks. McDonalds was next door, but we missed having electricity and AC!

Departing at 5:15 Tuesday, got just east of Indianapolis, checking into a Super8 at 11pm for a pretty long day. AC,bed, all that good stuff. Headed to Fredericksburg on
Wednesday.....

Ouray and Ridgeway

Stayed for a couple of days at Ridgeway State Park just "out" of the San Juan mountains. Very popular with families as there is a large boating lake and swim beach. We waded at the beach and water temp OK but we're not swimming. Still over 7,000 in altitude. We ran the AC for the first time in Colorado as the day temps went to the nineties. Cooled rapidly at night so we just used the trailer fan. No need for the heater here.

Andy and I stayed at nearby Ouray for a couple of days 10 years ago. Ouray is nicknamed "Little Switzerland" as it is nestled tightly surrounded by peaks. We spent the morning at the giant Ouray natural hot springs. In the afternoon, we went to the local box canyon and water fall; back to the camper for a nap, and being refreshed, headed up to a beautiful mountain pass for a little lite 4wheeling. Not to slow down or anything, went to the local KOA for Texas BBQ nite with live music, and then back to the hot springs for an evening dip...finally to bed after a very busy day.

Andrew's Lake Hike

When Andy and I were in this area when he was 12, we stopped at Andrew's Lake and started out on a beautiful alpine trail. But without water or food, we had to cut it short. I've always wanted to return here and finish the hike. Just over the pass from our campsite, Debby an I went out and back for an estimated five miles. About a week early for the full wildflower bloom, but very nice.

Animas Forks

On Wednesday, after settling into our Molas Lake campsite, headed down to the remote
mountain valley town of Silverton and into the backcounty to find and explore the
ghost town of Animas Forks. To get there we did a little 4wheeling. A few sedans made
the trip, but not sure how they didn't ruin their underside from the rocks.
Not as scary as the last 4wheeling. However, some jeeps and 4wheel SUVs did head
up towards Cascade and Engineer passes...pretty scary looking.
Promised Debby to stay of these cliffs.

Molas Lake

Well, we hit the jackpot (again). After departing the touristy town of Durango,
headed north on the San Juan Highway. Shortly after crossing our second mountain pass,
arrived at Molas Lake Campground for tents and small RVs. Gorgeous views are an
understatement! National Geographic have said this lake is one of the most scenic locations in Colorado. Having planned early, we secured a primo campsite on the edge of the lake with our own personal peninsula and the most beautiful late day view you can imagine.

We are rating Molas Lake third on the best campground list behind Chambers Lake and
Rosy Lane (Rosy's position of #2 is very threatened...). That would put very nice high altitude Pawnee at Brainard Lake number four.

Rosy Lane

A while since we've had Internet, so here is an update.

Heading west towards central Colorado, we stayed two nights at "top 100" Rosy Lane campground. We had a riverside site in this small 20 unit campground, that was about 8 miles up a canyon. A lot of fishing, kayaking and rafting took place on the river. Even with limited camp time due to the Blue Grass festival, we rated Rosy Lane second of our favorites, only behind wonderful Chambers Lake. Really did not want to leave.

While in the Crested Butte area, while 4wheeling to see some alpine lakes, scared to bojeepers out of Debby (and me) on a steep, curvy, very narrow dirt road that hugged the side of the mountain. Fortunately the chosen route down the mountain was less scary, but creepy when two vehicles had to pass....

After Crested Butte/Rosey Lane, headed south in remote central Colorado, we stayed a night at River Hill campground on the headwaters of the Rio Grande River. The next day with our first choice closed for renovation, we headed to a group of campsites, 22 miles off the main road into a remote, scenic region. First choice was full, so we got a nice site at Williams Creek Campground. These last two days were the only two without reservations. Much safer to reserve in the summer.

Today, we visited civilization briefly, staying at Lightner Creek Campground in the tourist town of Durango. Electricity, water, Internet, hot showers, laundry. Wow!

Tomorrow we head up to Molas Lake at the 10,000+ level. Back to the boonies.

Blue Grass in Paradise

Quite by accident, the First Annual Crested Butte Bluegrass festival coincided with our reservations at a somewhat nearby forest service campground. So after much deliberation as to whether to hike in the mountains or sit on our butts and watch bluegrass, guess what was decided. Beautiful setting at the ski resort and great music. We did get plenty of exercise by dancing with the crowd.

One of the 65

Wednesday was one of the 65 days a year in Colorado without sunshine.
This worked out pretty good for us as it was a travel north to south day.
Took the opportunity to get the oil changed and tires rotated. Got the chance to
visit Red Rocks Park in the the foothills west of Denver. This is a huge natural
amphitheatre where big name groups perform. For example, Tom Petty has two shows
here soon. We also found out this is a training ground for many super outdoorsey
Denverites. There are literally hundreds of steps from the lower parking lot to the
top of the venue. Folks were running up and down. Some were leaping up one foot at
a time! A man was entertaining everybody with his trumpet. Sounded good in the natural amphitheatre.

In the afternoon, we visited Roxborough State Park, a day preserve of outstanding
sandstone formations SW of Denver. A great fairly flat two mile loop hike in threatening weather.

Then south towards Colorado Springs and west past Pikes Peak, where we got hit by a
torrential downpour. The rain stopped as we got to Mueller State Park, but of course
started again as we set up camp. Fifty degrees and rain! Perhaps better than 104
in Richmond.... Spent the rest of the evening inside with heater running and DVD playing.

Thursday brought the return of sunshine. Went to the little town of Victor and explored historical mining sites and watched the gigantic trucks doing modern mining. Just down the road is the historical town of Cripple Creek. Pretty on the outside, but inside every door are hundreds of slot machines. Lots of strange people walking around in polyester clothes and fanny packs. Not our "cup of tea". Before returning to the campsite, stopped to get an ice cream sandwich. As we left for the car, we were pelted by a terrible hail storm. Drove a mile up the road and no hail or rain. But the storm did hit the campground for a few hours. I saw lots of stuff that folks had left out to dry while they were out get soaked.

Good meal ready by Debby: baked potato, chicken, and fresh corn on the cob. Rain stopped, we took our weekly shower, fire tonight, and off towards Crested Butte on Friday.

All the Beauty without the Crowds

After a couple of delightful city days we're back in the boonies. By the way,
it's easy to see why Fort Collins is rated as one of the top places to live in
America. Great urban planning (wide streets, sidewalks, landscaping), and a beautiful
and very active old downtown. We spent July 4 downtown enjoying music, but a huge
storm came in around dinner so we skipped the fireworks.

Spent two nights at Pawnee Campground at Brainard Lake. Less than an hour south of
Rocky Mountain National Park. RNMP campsites are generally poor but the views are great. At Pawnee we are over 10,000 feet compared to 8,000 at RMNP. The trees are untouched by the beetle desease while RMNP campgrounds have many trees cut down. Pawnee is on the list of top 100 campgrounds in Colorado. Second in beauty only to Chambers Lake.

A little cool at this altitude: 39 when we went to bed, made it to perhaps 70 Tuesday
and dropped into the fifties. Very nice hiking. One alpine lake (Monday hike) was only one mile in. One Tuesday did a five mile hike past Long Lake, up to Lake Isabell right next the Isabell glacier.

This concludes the first part of our trip along with the northern portion of the state.
Heading south Wednesday.

PS Neighboring camper grew up in Radford. Met a Mom that went to Duke.

New Belgium Brewery

Arrived at the Cambria Suites in Fort Collins Saturday morning, for two days out of the mountains. Wow, a real bed, and shower....

Having made reservations earlier, we had a wonderful tour of the New Belgium Brewery.
Sampled a whole bunch of the "product" as you might surmise from the photos.

New Belgium is the third largest mircobrew or "craft beer" in the country. There are about three hundred employees who tend to never leave. Our great tour guide tried for 10 years to finally get a job driving a fork lift. He eventually got a position giving tours and drinking beer (responsibly) all day. After one year, everyone gets a special New Belgium fat tire bike (and the start of company stock). After five years, they get a "on the clock" trip to Belgium to study beer. After 10 years, they get a 5 week paid sabbatical to do anything they want. Beer is free for all employees. In fact, our guide finally decided to buy a house after landing this job. He figured he could afford a house, since he no longer had to buy beer.

One of their 19 year key employees has the official title of "Director of Fun". They take regular R&R retreats and there is lots of R&R stuff around the "plant". By the way, number 2 is Sierra Nevada out of Calif. Number 1 is Sam Adams (who may be reclassified as a large brewery soon).

I guess we had too much "product" as we seemed to have traded in our Travel Trailer for a New Belgium Airstream. Oh My Gosh!

Last Day at RMNP

On the last morning at RMNP Glacier Basin campground, Jeff took a brisk hike to nearby Sprague Lake. Debby relaxed and soaked up the view. Also should note that while most trees in our camping area were cut down due to the bad, bad beetles, we did have a gorgeous view of mountains and glaciers. Also included a pic of the high country from Friday. Heading to Fort Collins on Saturday morning.

Elephant Revival

On Thursday evening, took a break from camping and drove to the little town of
Niwot for dinner (brick oven pizza) and the Thursday night music in the park.
This was a bit of "hippy bluegrass" by a group that I have heard on my favorite
Internet bluegrass station. See the picture of the "corporate HQ" of Redstone
Radio in little Lyons, Colorado. We did observe that a lot of "free spirits"
seemed to have settled in the Bolder/Niwot/Lyons area. California transplants?

Rocky Mountain National Park

Went on a moderate six mile hike on Thursday at the 10K level, passing five
alpine lakes and Albert Falls. On Friday went across the top of RMNP on the
12K Trail Ridge Road. Cold and windy up top. On Wednesday found a delicious
BBQ place just outside of the park. Instead of waiting an hour, we ate at
the bar, chatted with other folks, and watched soccer on TV.