Island Nomads

Work has been busy and we're still under the weather, so it's been a calm couple of days. We did get out for a quick bike ride though, which was fun. Still a bit of snow left, but gone soon in the 70+ degree weather. 

So it's been brutally cold and Cat and I have been feeling under the weather,so we've been mostly been keeping things low key this week. Really really happy this townhouse rental we found is so comfortable, it has really been a home away from home.  The weather is starting to warm up though,and hopefully we don't have COVID and start to feel better soon, so we can get out for our last full weekend in Denver before we head south.  Also, can the election just happen already? 

Another adventure in the books: Great Sand Dunes National Park, the largest dunes in North America.  From Colorado, we drove south to Pueblo (ick) and west to Alamosa (cute) to stay for the night. It was a bit of an adventure crossing the front range, with temps dropping into the 20's with heavy fog, before we crossed 9000' into the valley and all of a sudden... Crystal clear, and 57 degrees. Very strange, very cool.  The hotel in Alamosa was great, and we woke well rested for an awesome morning climbing and sledding on the Great Dunes.  One note: it was WINDY!  Even though temps were in the high 60s, the wind was very strong. Besides the wind chill, sand got everywhere. I mean literally everywhere, through 3+ layers of clothes.  We also learned how hiking in loose sand can be pretty tough! But overall, great trip. I'm really glad we got to check out this otherworldly place, a dune-filled desert high up in the mountains.  We left a little

We've just arrived in Alamosa, CO which is a quaint little town just south of Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was a real adventure getting here: 35 and cloudy when we left Denver, and then when we left Pueblo to head up into the mountains, it was 25 and foggy, not a great combo. But miraculously (or not, probably a predictable weather pattern to some) as we created the mountains at 9200', we emerged from the clouds into beautiful clear night skies and 55 degree weather. It was a dramatic difference, and frankly a welcome one bc icy fog is not fun.  Tomorrow we're headed over to the Dunes, before returning to Denver hopefully before the snow moves in too hard.  We already bought some hats and gloves in preparation, so hopefully we'll be semi-prepared.  TTFN!

We're kind of in a regular rhythm right now with work and school so there hasn't been too much adventure. Trips to the playground when it's not crowded have been the extent of activities.  One thing we've been thinking and talking a lot about is education though. Of course, virtual school is hard. I don't think anyone is really prepared to be doing this full time, and contemporary education just doesn't fit a virtual world. Much like how many CEOs are trying to compare work before covid to current, you're seeing the same thing with education.   But I think it's a fallacy. You can't just teach the same via webcam. But that doesn't mean learning can't be successful in a remote environment. I just think it will take a little more creativity and likely better tooling.  Lots of thoughts on this, more to come..TTFN

Today was mostly work and school, with a little playground thrown in, but here's some of the foods of Denver we've been enjoying.. Andy's today was good, but suuuuper rich. Like a custard blizzard. Not sure I could do that again, and I just shared the girls.  Tomorrow, more work, and planning to do... TTFN

Since it was chilly, we kept things low-key. Bought some winter-wear for the girls at REI (Our dividend is gonna be a big'un) and then carved some pumpkins! Luckily it warmed up enough in the afternoon so we could carve outside!  The final result ^^ Forecast says it'll be a mild week before snow this weekend. We had originally thought about checking out Great Sand Dune National Park but not sure how a snowy desert works out?  TTFN!

This morning, we went on a trek to Cheyenne, WY. A couple of observations...  1. The fires up in the mountains seemed bad today. From north of Boulder all the way past Fort Collins, the sky was very smoky, and in Fort Collins, there was a good deal of ash fall happening.. that sucks.  2. It can be WINDY in Cheyenne! We had a good time checking out the Frontier Park museum and area, but the wind was legit. 40+ the whole time. But there are a lot of giant boots... 3. There is a really cute, really random Filipino restaurant in Cheyenne. So of course, that's what we had for lunch!  4. Fort Collins is really cool. Minus the smoke, it seemed like a better Boulder. Better shops area, better downtown, same cute local stores, etc. I guess Boulder is a little more up in the front range, but I'm not sure if that is enough. FoCo has my vote! 5. My girls look cute in cowgirl gear! Fun day trip from our home2 in Denver. Who knows what's next??? TTFN

I got sucked back in to Diablo in the evenings, so pardon the lack of blogging. I can do both, I promise. I can quit any time I want.  So the last couple days, we did some AWESOME hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park (we will def go back!) and saw some family in Arvada, which was a really nice change of pace. A good home cooked meal and good company was real nice.  Then, hiking above 9000' in RMNP was awesommmmmmeeee.  Charlotte and I set out on a hike of our own while Celine and Momma went back to the car. It was a little chilly and the hike was pretty steep for 4 year old legs.  Today, we're off to Cheyenne, WY and likely Fort Collins, CO on the way back. Not sure if the rodeo is happening (or crowded) but we'll check it out and see what we see. We're also starting to think of what's next... We could head home, go to Austin, Seattle, San Fran... Not sure. It will be just after the election, possible unrest and contesting, flu+covid... Lot

Yesterday, we made our first trip to Boulder, CO, recently named the best place to live by US News. It was definitely pretty cool, but the cost of houses is astronomical. Pearl street was cool, and some of the neighborhoods Pearl-adjacent were even better. I'm sure in a COVID free world it would be awesome walking around and eating out. But I think Boulder, like a lot of other similar-style cities (Burlington, VT or Old Town Alexandria come to mind) suffer from the COVID situation even worse.  Today, we left as soon as school ended and headed up into the mountains for a high-elevation hike out to a waterfall. It was really awesome - enough scrambling for the little goats to have fun but nothing too arduous. Overall great time at 8500'.  Tomorrow... Not sure. But I think Cheyenne, WY this weekend! 

And I don't mean the hotel chain... This morning, we started bright and early with breakfast in Arches National Park, aka eating McDonalds in the trunk at the Three Gossips overlook. Not a bad start to the day. We then went and hiked to Delicate Arch north viewing point (the full hike is probably too much for Cel's little legs), then off to Window, Turret Arch, and Double Arch.  The girls LOVED it. We have some real mountain goats on our hands. Any chance they could take to climb something, they would. Arches is just an awesome park, although it was a little on the crowded side.  The morning was a little warm, but by lunch, we actually had a lot of wind and a light desert rain showers (read: like 8 drops). Then we had lunch (leftover bbq) in the viewing area for Balanced Rock, before hitting the gift shop and heading back to Denver.  This is where the real adventure begins... We hit traffic in a couple of spots, but nothing like w

In our haste to boogie this morning, we forgot all of our phone chargers, so this may be brief as I'm at 13%.  We left early from Denver, up through independence pass, with a quick stop in Eagle, another in Vail, before finishing the day in Moab. We hiked a couple trails in Canyonlands (which Catherine and I regrettably missed last trip) before grabbing some bbq and checking in to the hotel.  Canyonlands was awesome! We did a quick hike to see our first stone arch, and then a longer hike up Aztec Butte. The Butte was great, but oh man was it getting windy, so we called it a little before the top and the girls shimmied their way back down.  Tomorrow, we're off early to hike in Arches, and then... Not sure. We might take another day here, or maybe stop somewhere along the way, who knows?! TTFN

Today Catherine and I were talking about our impressions so far and the thing we kept coming back to is just how ....brown the environment is. I think I was expecting high alpine forest and instead we got dry scrub prairie. Well, maybe a move to Denver isn't in the cards, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy ourselves! Today, I biked out to Red Rocks and the girls met me there to explore. I was WOEFULLY underprepared for the ride: I had no bike pump, in case I flatted, I had waayyyy too little water and no food, no sunblock, etc. It was a savage experience that included drinking water from a random exterior hose bib before finally making it into Morrison, CO. The trail was just SO exposed.  On the bright side, I made it there and had a great time enjoying a Coors Banquet (COBRA KAI) and checking out the place.  Tomorrow I think will be a little more low key as we prepare to head out to Moab early Saturday. The forecast is calling for rain, and honestly? Bring it

Part of me feels a little disappointed by Denver, but after some thinking and chatting with Cat, we think it's because when we arrived, we basically had to just get back to work/school routines. Which is good, on one hand, because it will give us a more realistic impression of what living here would be like.  But on the other hand, is that how we want to spend the time here? We're impatient to start seeing some things! So to try and shake things up, I've taken 2 weeks off of work and Cat took one, and we're going to try and do more exploring.  Last night, we went up to Jackass Hill to watch the sunset... Which was beautiful. Today, we're headed to Red Rocks, me by bike and the girls by car. Saturday, off to Moab for Arches and Canyonlands. Monday, I think we might go check out Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods down in the Springs.  Exciting times ahead!

That I forgot to blog! But we're here! We arrived just after lunch on Sunday after what I think was a pretty successful trip! The girls were really good, despite the looong days in the car, and I believe we stayed as safe as we could so hopefully didn't pick anything up along the way.  The place we rented is awesome, I'm so grateful that we were able to find it. There's lots of trails near by, and we're close to grocery stores and the mountains. Best of all world's! Today we got up early (even for East Coast standards and got to school and work, but with plenty of time to go for some hikes and drive up into the Front Range. Looking for more of that tomorrow, getting acclimated before we head to Moab this weekend. All-in-all, things are good. 

Jk it's just Kansas! We're stopped for the night in Salina, KS after a cannonball run from Columbus, through STL and Kansas City, and into the heart of Kansas. Of course we had to stop in KC for some AWESOME bbq. And it was a good way to end a rather stressful leg of the trip though completely mask-less missouri. Luckily, Kansas seems a lot better.  The highlight of the day was definitely seeing the girls playing under the Arch (see previous post), but I'm looking most forward to finishing the drive tomorrow and being in our home away from home (and not the car) for a while!  TTFN...

Before we see some natural arches in a week or so, figured we could stop and see a man made one .. 

Just got settled into a hotel outside of Dayton, OH where we will sleep for the night. Observations: fuck Ohio. Drivers are shit. No one wears a mask despite mask ordinances, and the hotel despite advertising a "cleaning" is anything but. Will look forward to seeing Ohio in the rear view tomorrow.  Outside of that, today was a pretty good day. We got a little further than expected, the kids were mostly good, and the weather was dry and clear.  It's a bit of a pain bringing bikes and some key bags into the hotel, but only took me 3 trips so not too bad.  Looking forward to tomorrow.. Gateway Arch, and hopefully landing somewhere in Western Kansas to end day 2. None of the fam (besides me) has crossed the mighty Mississippi so that will be good stuff also. Time for sleep, TTFN

We leave tomorrow for a while. There's a palpable mix of excitement and anxiety in Cat and Char (and probably me) but Celine is just floating through life like my little hippie flower child.  It will be a lot of driving, a hard 3 days, but I'm excited to get to Denver and start to explore. I know the girls will get homesick, but I'm also hoping they see the opportunity for adventure. And if not, we head home a little early. NBD.   In either case, I'll be writing more now that we're back into nomad mode, so watch this space ! TTFN...