Our persistent visitor...

I caught a bug and was home from work yesterday. While laying on the couch, I heard what I thought was a squirrel trying to get into the bird seed containers OUTSIDE. However, when I got up to investigate, I found a squirrel in our house!  This is what it had already done to my favorite cactus cabinet (birdseed inside):

Lucy and decided to keep the door to the front deck open and sit and wait on our little friend to return. Unfortunately, Lucy's hearing isn't what it used to be and she wasn't much help in detecting the little critter when it got close:

Guess we'll be keeping that front door shut for awhile. Bummer. 

April is a hard month...

Coming from the Midwest, April was the month that gradually warmed up, with steadily increasing temperatures. Here in Colorado, it can be near 80 one day and snowy the next. I patiently wait for the leaves and flowers to show themselves, but at the same time, worry when freezing weather is forecasted. Many blooms fall to cold April weather each year here.

My trail run today took me past green meadows and flowers and plants just peeking out. I hope all the trees covered by flood water last fall in Bear Creek park made it and will leaf out soon. So far, it looks promising!

Happy Easter (and spring) everyone!

Travel = Happy

As you know, I'm always happiest when we have a trip on the horizon. It's a ways out, but we just booked Jordan, Cairo and a safari in Kenya, all in one trip in September. Can't wait!  We are very excited. We will get to see Petra (think Indiana Jones movie), along with swimming in the Dead Sea (the lowest spot on Earth) in Jordan, all of the sights in Cairo (pyramids, sphinx, museums, bazaars, etc), and plenty of large animals in Africa - maybe even the famed wildebeest migration!  It's sure to be a fantastic trip. 

Wahoo!

Patiently waiting on it to warm up outside...

...or not. She's been told she's going to go fishing later with Tom. Can she pout or what!?

Feeding an addiction.

Meet the newest member of our family. The DeLonghi Magnifica XS espresso machine. Tom didn't need much convincing when I suggested we get one. Now we both agree, cappuccinos are best made at home.

Thank you to Andi & Dallas for letting us try theirs before we bought!  Now I believe Tom is challenging Dallas on how many shots of espresso he can have in one day. 

There's wind, and then there's WIND.

It had been windy all morning in the Parsenn Bowl at Winter Park – but it was fantastic (and I mean FANTASTIC) snow, so Tom and I were making as many runs as we could while there were few tracks laid.  They had also said it’d be windy later, so we knew our runs were numbered.  Little did we know, when the wind arrived, it would ARRIVE.

 

It was our 5^th or 6^th run and as we rode the long lift up to the bowl, it started to gust stronger and stronger.  As we got off the lift, I actually had to work to move forward and unload, as the wind was pushing me back into the chair lift.  Well, that was nothing.  We cut right so we could get to the open areas of the bowl and as soon as we got on the top run/catwalk, wind hit with such strength, it was a complete whiteout, totally disorienting and by far the strongest wind I’ve ever encountered in my life.  We’ve spent a great deal of time above treeline, but nothing compared to this.  It was a sustained wind of probably 60-70 mph.  When on skis/snowboard, which are meant to glide and move fast in the first place, it was hard to steer or turn at all. I struggled to see Tom, only 10 feet away.  He wanted to hunker down by the fence on the top run and hopefully wait it out, but I just wanted to get off the summit.  I was trying to follow the rope to my right (strung to keep skiers off of bare rocks below), but even visually following ropes/poles 10 feet away was almost impossible and I kept drifting towards it.   I made it past the end of the rope and cut down into the bowl, completely blind.  And something that I wasn’t aware of, when it’s a complete and TOTAL whiteout – your feet are obscured by snow and you have no visual frame of reference, everything is white – you have no idea if you are actually moving.  Hard to believe, but very true. 

 

There were a few random skiers trying to navigate down at the same time we were, but they were impossible to see unless you were 10 feet or less from them, which wasn’t an issue, since we were all inching along.  At one point, a ski patrol drove by on the top run pointing the way down to skiers and boarders who had become turned around. I eventually found a woman huddled next to a tree in a bit of a panicked state, and offered to help her down to the tree-line, since I knew which way to go.  We started to head down and a bit below the summit, the snow cleared for a few seconds and I spotted Tom, thank goodness.  He had literally gotten blown off the summit under the rope and was trying to navigate down as well.

 

After a few more disorienting minutes, we made the tree line, regrouped and headed down through the trees.  What an experience…

 

 

Never eat...

...on a piazza, in front of a monument, or in front of a fountain. 

This was the advice given to us by a local in Rome. It was good advice. Restaurants in those locations often have mediocre food at exorbitant prices and target tourists. So, we sought out the advice of locals and stayed off the beaten path. Tripadvisor was also very helpful!  Below, you'll find a list of the restaurants we tried in Rome.  Tom often ate a meat dish and I targeted pasta. We always had wine and dessert. I miss the food already. 

Osteria Barberini - truffles are included in many dishes. Warm atmosphere, small place and wonderful pasta. Friendly waitstaff.

La Gelateria Frigidarium - the absolute best gelato I've ever had. Hands down. The chocolate is to die for. To go to Rome and not have this gelato should be a crime. 

Enosteria Capolecase - the most upscale restaurant we ate at in Rome. Good food, attentive waitstaff, but I'm not sure the food was any better than the less expensive places we found. 

Ristorante Santa Cristina al Quirinale - great family run restaurant. The only place we ate at twice while we were there. Fabulous pasta, good house wine and homemade dessert. 

Da Francesco - crowded, fast paced but great pizza. Pistachio tiramisu was good, so was the chocolate mousse. Veal scallopini was also really yummy. Go early, it gets busy. 

Gelateria Valentino - good, but not as good as the Frigidarium listed above. 

La Matriciana - great food, service, but you get the feeling you're eating with a lot of businessmen. 

That's our list!  I hope it helps future visitors to Rome. There is such fantastic food there, I would return just for the food and drink alone!