The FeDibblety family

The last weekend in January we went to Breckenridge with our friends Greg and Mekayla to see the International Snow Sculpture Festival. Greg and Mekayla went up Thursday and went skiing on Friday; we went up Friday afternoon. We met them at the snow sculptures around 4 p.m., at which time we could still see the sculptors at work. They had some interesting tools. Some of the tools were very ordinary tools you would find at a hardware store like scrapers, but some of them were home made combinations of large curved wood with handles, with some sort of metal mesh attached, kind of like a rasp plane. It was quite fun to watch them work. We also went back on Saturday morning when they were finished. There was a pretty big difference in many of the sculptures, even though they had been working on them for 3 or 4 days. Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures from Saturday, because we left the camera in the car Friday night, and the cold drained the battery.

Saturday afternoon we took a nice hike with Greg, Mekayla, Anne (Mekayla’s mom), and her dog Lucy. Greg and Mekayla let us borrow these crampons that are basically like little spikes that slide over your boots, providing some great traction. We might have to get some of those. After a nice dinner of squash, corn, and bean stew, Anne volunteered to stay with Spencer to let us young folk go out on the town, which was a real treat for Clare and me. Thanks again Greg, Mekayla, and Anne for a great time!

On Sunday, we followed pretty much the same pattern as Saturday. Clare made crepes for breakfast. After we were all cleaned up, we headed out to Mt. Evans, which is only a 45 minute trip, instead of the 90 minute trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. On the way there we stopped for another basket lunch at a nice little spot by a creek. Then we hiked around Echo Lake a bit, and finally drove up to Mt. Evans. Unfortunately it was getting pretty cloudy by the time we got up there, but it was still pretty neat.

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On Saturday we took Melanie, Christine, and Ian to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was actually the first time that we had gone as well. We have contemplated it several times, but decided against it, because it is about a 90-120 minute drive. Having visitors inspired us to make the trip though, and it was quite fun. We first stopped in Estes Park at the visitors center to get some maps. Then we had some lunch in the park on Riverside Drive. It will forever be remembered as the saltiest lunch ever. Friday night I had dumped the remaining ice and salt from making ice cream into the cooler to keep the food cold for our lunch. I put everything in plastic containers, but some of the icy, salty, water got into some of the containers. The garbanzo bean salad was the worst, and Clare ate a bunch before she realized what I had done with the salt. The cherries also got salty, which we decided actually tasted pretty good. Fortunately some of the pasta salad was still good, as was the cheese and hummus.

After lunch we wet to Bear Lake Meadows, and did some hiking. We hiked about 1 mile to Alberta Falls, which was very beautiful, though a bit more crowded than we had expected. We then hiked back to Glacier Gorge and took the shuttle bus back to the Bear Lake parking lot. On our way home we stopped at the Southern Sun brewpub in Boulder, where the beers were all tasty, and the sweet potato chips were endless, because when the waiter asked how they were, we mentioned that the guacamole that came with them was barely mashed at all, and they had yet to give us any silverware with which we could have mashed it ourselves. I think we ended up with 3 or 4 baskets of chips. As usual, Spencer was very happy while hiking, and we all had a very nice day.
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We got a huge hail storm last night. Just as we were getting ready to go to bed, the wind picked up, and then suddenly it sounded like a bunch of drummers all playing on our roof. There was some hail almost as big as golf balls. Our tomatoes took a beating, but hopefully they will come back. They were all taller than the stakes. Now they are all bent over. I am hoping that re-tying them should help them back into health. They still have fruit on them, so that is a good sign.

Last weekend we went camping for the second time, this time with Dave and Ellen, who were visiting. Our second camping attempt was successful. Dave, Ellen, Spencer, and I left Friday afternoon to get a campsite at Echo Lake. There was a big storm around 2 p.m., which was when we were planning to leave. We decided to wait until it was over. Sure enough, by 3 p.m. or so the clouds were lifting, so we headed up to Echo Lake, which is about a 45 minute drive from our house.

When we got up there, the weather was quite nice, and it looked pretty dry, even though other campers told us that it had rained. Spencer fell asleep about half-way there, and continued to sleep for several hours while we set up camp. Clare arrived around 7 p.m., and we were just starting to make dinner. We made spaghetti, which turned out very nicely. We used some sauce from a jar, and added some textured vegetable protein and spices. I also brought a jar of fancy olives I had recently bought on close-out. After dinner we made s’mores and enjoyed the campfire, then turned in around 9 p.m. or so. Spencer had already fallen asleep, but then woke up when we got in the tent. I was able to get him back to sleep with some rocking and shushing. Spencer seemed to be warm enough snuggled between Clare and me, though all of the adults reported being a bit cold. But we made it through the night ok, and got some sleep to boot.

After some breakfast of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and french press coffee we drove up to Mt. Evans, which is the highest paved road in the country, at 14,000 feet. There were only a few clouds, and the view was fantastic. We stopped a few places on the way down, then went to the Echo Lake Lodge for lunch, which had some pretty tasty food. After lunch we fed and changed Spencer, then Dave, Ellen, Spencer, and I hiked around Echo Lake while Clare took a little nap. Since none of us had slept that well the night before, we decided to head home after dinner. For dinner I made my famous rice and beans on the campfire, which turned out really well. I usually end up burning the bottom a bit, but this time it got cooked perfectly, and I remembered the bring the Frank’s Red Hot. After another round of S’mores we put out the fire and left around 7:30. We’re looking forward to exploring more of Colorado in this fashion.
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