Rain.

The “monsoon flow” has certainly arrived in Colorado.  I hear the Dillon Reservoir is full – and if you saw it over the winter, it was a sad little piece of water.  Things are green, sprinkler systems have been turned down (or off) and my garden looks fantastic.  I think the high temperature on Sunday was in the upper 60s, what a nice break.  Fantastic! 

If you have lived for any amount of time in a dry/desert climate, you know how important rain is.  However, for those of us that enjoy the 300+ days of sunshine a year we have here in Colorado, one thing you don’t do is look at the weather before you plan outdoor activities.  Oops.  Lesson learned.  We thought we’d hike or mountain bike on Sunday AM, but Mother Nature had different plans for us.  I TOTALLY forgot about the possibility of rain!  I just assumed, as every other Coloradoan does, that there will be sun at the time and place you desire.  Admittedly, a great perk to become accustomed to, but unfortunately, it bit us this time – that pesky assumption of sun.  The trails will have to wait for a drier day.

So, I headed to a Spin/Yoga class and cleaned carpets instead…boooorrrrriiinnng.  Not quite a 13er or a long mountain bike ride, but very productive nonetheless.  Mountains, we’ll be coming for you soon.

Picture of the day is from my office window downtown.  I normally have a city and mountain view, but it felt like I'd walked into The Langoliers (Stephen King book/movie). Pea soup fog in Denver, gotta love it. 

More TrailCam fun!

Besides the "squirrel cam" photos from a few weeks ago (which don’t really count, as we feed them peanuts already), we got our first "real" wildlife photos earlier this week.  Looks like perhaps a mom and 3 nearly grown babies checking out our back yard – sometime around 4 in the morning.  I know we have raccoons in the GM subdivision, but I rarely see them out and about. This is just a friendly reminder that they're here, and sneaky.

Not the most exciting animal photo, but I'll take it!

A Travel Life

Ever think you were meant to do something else as a career?  I think most people have at some point in their lives.  I believe I'd be happy as a travel writer or travel show host.  Don’t get me wrong, I do really enjoy IT and what I do, but to travel and get paid for exploring, now THAT would be perfect.  Of course you’d have to be a very entertaining and fantastic writer (or host) to actually make any sort of decent money at it, but for me, that would be the ideal career.  I think my favorite travel show is GlobeTrekker – ever seen it?  Originally, it was a PBS show and had only one host – Ian Wright – he is very entertaining to watch – funny, dynamic, a very good presenter.  I did see an episode recently that was a “behind the scenes” peek at the show and I was shocked at how much production goes into it - it always looks kind of "thrown together" - and how little sleep they get!

But seriously, I’m happiest when I have a vacation on the horizon – somewhere we’ve never been before, a new place to explore.  In August, we’ll be headed to Kodiak, Alaska to visit our friends Karen and Robin.  Karen quit her job a few years back, joined Americorps and met her now husband Robin – I admire her.  Robin is a GREAT fisherman and the last time we visited (when they were in Gustavus, AK), Tom (with Robin’s help) caught a HUGE halibut – something like 60 lbs (see picture below).   I can’t wait to get back to Alaska and see their new home (and the bears) – we had a blast with them, we are really looking forward to this trip!

In September, we will be headed to Colombia and Panama.  In Colombia, we’ll be visiting Providencia – an island in the Caribbean – it actually sits off the coast of Nicaragua, but is owned by Colombia.  I also cannot wait for this vacation – it’s our typical, out-of-the-way place where we have to take 4 flights to get there, see very few tourists and can get some good hiking, snorkeling and exploring in.  We are stopping in Panama on the way back to spend some time in the capital city, see the canal (always been on my “bucket list”), and explore their old city “Casco Viejo”.  Yay!  So, imagine – TWO vacations coming up soon, I’m so excited.

Anyone with a "travel for a living" job offer can contact me at anytime.

TOM'S BIG FISH

 

Long weekends...

...are the best!  Relaxed, got some stuff done, hiked up on Green Mountain a bit to watch the fireworks over the city and bagged Mount Wilcox on Guanella Pass.  Also got some rain (much needed), ate some  raspberries from our own backyard that have recently ripened and had 4 days off from work, can't go wrong there. A couple of pictures below...