Nuthin' But Rain

Rain and rain and rain and hail.  Doesn't look good for any outdoor activities today.  Since I woke up, it has been raining pretty much the whole day.  Good thing I needed to spend time dialing my pack in and cleaning up.

Maybe I'll spend this evening playing with my camera to learn all the cool functions available.  I certainly won't be able to go climbing in this wetness.  :(

Motorcycle Ride

I have the luck of being friends with Gregg Orlinsky.  My friend Gregg has multiple motorcycles and likes to ride them with his friends.  Today we rode them to Steamboat Springs.  It was a gorgeous day!

We had lunch in Steamboat and then rode back.  On the way back we went towards Kremmling on 40 then cut back on 134 to 131.  Riding through high alpine meadows on twisting roads is a great way to spend an afternoon on a motorcycle.  Wish I could do it more often!

The day started to get even better when we headed to Homestake for some climbing.  Unfortunately, it started pouring rain, hailing, and lightning... sooooooo we packed up and left.  At least we got one route in.

Good Beer

In case you didn't know, this beer is delicious!

Gilman Climbing

I have a few days to play before I leave the Vail Valley.  I was hoping to climb The Diamond on Longs Peak, but my partner had to cancel.  Which is just as well because I have heard that there have been a lot of issues with lightning and weather this year.  Instead, I have been climbing at some of my favorite haunts around Vail.  Saturday was a day of climbing in the shade at Homestake, and today I went to Gilman Canyon.  It was hot today, so the partial shade we found was incredible.  Here's a shot of my friend leading our first route just as the sun was coming over the ridge.

It was a great day of some challenging new climbs.

I've been spending my other free time researching places to visit during our trip to Europe.  There are so many beautiful places.  So many things to do, places to see, experiences to enjoy.  It would be easy to spend years touring Europe and still not go all the places we would like to.  Our challenge will be to narrow down our priorities so we can spend our time enjoying the places we visit instead of just visiting lots of places.

Back In Action!

It has been a long time, but I'm back!  Main reason: moving out of Vail and traveling for 3 months.  Where you ask?  Let's start with the U.S. to visit family, then spend two months in Europe.  Yey!

How can this happen?  Kelsey sold her condo so we have no rent payments.  I'm sad to depart from the beautiful fantasy that is the Vail Valley, but I have to grow up some time.  The last few weeks have been packed with... packing!

Today was the last day of packing and moving out of our condo.  It was weird to see it so empty.  It felt so much bigger!

I'm certainly going to miss the sound of the creek from our bedroom window lulling me to sleep.

The empty garage left me feeling unsettled.  It housed so many tools of happiness, and now they are mainly in my car.  So I guess it's not so sad.  Just the reminder that they won't be stored in a location where they could be deployed at any moment.

Well, I have another week to play before departing from my ex-home.  My goal is to update on a daily (lofty goal) basis.  So I can't really say goodbye to Vail yet, but I will certainly miss a condo that we could call ours.

Flower

There were a bunch of these flowers by where we parked for a job yesterday. I liked them.

Lake Creek and Mid Homestead Hill

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