summer days campchaos style

Summer seems to have campchaos on the move and we've been lucky to have enjoyed some great adventures. The pups love it when we load up in the 4Runner put the windows down and sail away on the warm currents of summer air.

They loved it all- the supermoon rising over the Atlantic, the trips to the dog park or a weekend camping. Life is full of adventure for these pups and they love it. We've got the traffic patterns dialed in a bit better this summer and have been avoiding the crowds even on the busy weekends. 

 We've managed to take full advantage of the weather and was able to spend a long weekend in July in northern Maine. It was the type of weekend that made time obsolete. The only thing that mattered was enjoying the sun and sleeping under the stars on the beach.

good times on the coast

Camping at the Grand Canyon

It's been a long winter without as much snow as we'd like to see so by the time the last chair fell silent we were ready to get out of town. Dave took a week and hit the east coast to spend some time with his dad while I stayed home to work and pack for the next adventure. I happen to be a very OCD packer and made a very comprehensive list to ensure our comfort for our adventure. We also packed a ton of food as my research didn't yield much for gluten free friendly dining at the park.

We loaded the 4Runner full of dogs, gear, flip flops and food and headed southwest towards Grand Canyon National Park. We had four nights booked at Mather Campground at site #308 in the Pine Loop. I'd been keeping an eye on the weather and the forecast said we were headed into warm weather.... but the first few nights were below 30. This would have been fine but our sleeping pads deflated and offered no cushion and more importantly insulation from the cool ground. We had three sleeping bags for the humans so we bundled up and dealt while the dogs had a shared bed and a few blankets. They have doggie softshells and wore those each night as the sun and temperatures dipped. Mayhem did crawl into a sleeping bag with me one night while Chaos's thicker coat served him well.

Grand Canyon is one of the more dog friendly of the National Parks and the dogs were allowed on the paved Rim trail for some great walks each day. They joined us for a sunset at Mather Point and enjoyed attention tourists across the world. Mayhem had played rough and cut a paw so he wore his Ruffwear shoes to prevent further injury to his pads. He had a lot of folks laughing at him but overall enjoyed the attention. After sunset the parking lot cleared out and we took the opportunity to play ball with the pups. We found a new light up ball which rocked Mayhem's world and allowed him to get some serious energy out at night. It made some great photos in the dark parking lot with the dog's glowing collars and the disco light ball.

We had a ton of photos from the little s6000 and from the D100 and each worked our skills a bit. We narrowed it down to the highlights from sunrise to sunset and a bit of Chaos and Mayhem.

whirlwind trips

Last week we booked a flight on Sunday and boarded a plane on Monday bound for Boston. In less then 24 hours we had cleaned the house, packed our bags and figured out a plan for the dogs and the grumpy kitty to be well cared for. I had made time to stop for some gluten free snacks before we dropped the car off to get new brakes (much needed) and caught a courtesy ride to the airport and was grateful for these all day- especially at the ATL airport... scary.... so scary...
 Thankfully I had packed a good supply of yarn, all of our chargers for phones and ipods and a clean shirt for each of us as our checked bag arrived on Thursday afternoon, a mere 4 days after us. Thanks Delta! It was an exciting moment to be able to have wardrobe options again plus a more pragmatic pair of shoes then the Danskos I wore traveling and the flip flops I had tucked in my carry on as area was getting pounded with snow and the snowbanks stood 5 feet high.  I had lots of time to work on my knitting and finished a few projects during our visit.

From Droid think outside

On Saturday we packed up and jumped on a bus down to Boston- the roads were getting slick and our early flight on Sunday didn't leave much of a margin for error. We packed our bags with my gluten free snack festival and headed into a hotel near the airport. We checked in and asked about area dining and if the in house restaurant had a gluten free menu- the uncertain look had Dave convinced that my idea of heading to PF Chang's wasn't so crazy after all.

From Droid think outside

 I had used my droid navigation while on the bus to figure out that we could easily take the hotel shuttle to a T stop on the blue line and swap to the green line and end up a block away from PF Chang's. It was a Saturday night and the place had a 50 minute wait so we opted to eat at the bar so we could make it to bed at a decent hour. We even walked through the city a bit after dinner, grabbed Dave breakfast donuts at Dunkin's and made it back to to hotel within 3 hours. There wasn't much time for sleep as we were up at 3:30am and on a shuttle soon after.

From Droid think outside

The best part about our 6am flight on Sunday from BOS to ATL to MTJ was that all worked out we arrived by noon in the mountain time zone, hit a quick food shop were reunited with our monster puppies back in Telluride before the lifts closed at 4pm. Now comes the fun part of readjusting to work, altitude and life after a week away.

The last month has looked a bit like this (cue photo montage)




In the last month we moved everything into storage, drove to Maine and back, moved things out of storage and into new place, spent time with friends, played with the puppies and got married.

Phew...

Ajax Peak and 94 hours....

Saturday we ignored the to do lists, packing lists and travel plans in favor of getting up at sunrise and hiking Ajax Peak.  Four years ago we moved from Sugarloaf to Telluride and in that time we've had a few things happen like Mayhem.

Who happens to like his new life in Telluride and all the area hikes. He even likes wearing his backpack. These days Chaos carries a pack with a tennis ball and some treats while Mayhem carries a few pints of water for them to share. Chaos's leg still plagues him while Mayhem has energy enough for all of us.

The day started early and we drove to the top of Bridal Veil Falls and hit the trail by 8:15am. There was one other group that started hiking around the same time which was perfect as we forgot the map and it was our first time on the trail. We had read through the hike and had a good idea of where to go but it was nice to ensure that we turned off at the right time.

The trail starts at the top of Bridal Veil Falls and follows Black Bear Pass for .8 of a mile.

Yes, This is a 4x4 road and I wouldn't take the 4Runner on it or even the old Tacoma. It's one way from Ouray and one of the hardest passes in Colorado.

The trail turned off the road and became a single track that had switchbacks up the mountain for a few miles. Chaos and Mayhem followed the trail well and it was a moderate hike up. The road was harder as the rocks were looser and it made for sketchy footing. Hiking in the West is much different from the East with loose gravelly trails instead of soft forest floors.

From the ridge we could look over to Tomboy Road and Imogene Pass. We had gone up that pass a few summers ago with Kendra in the Tacoma.

You can see a bit of the Tomboy Mining area from the Ajax Ridge line.

The view from Ajax Peak (12,785') also showcases the town of Telluride and the Ski Resort. The Blues and Brews Festival was going on last Saturday and during our time at the Peak we saw the field fill with hippies and their tarps. (beer festivals kinda suck when you can't have gluten and there isn't a gluten free beer to be found in the park)

The next day we were back to packing.... only two of these pairs of skis are mine... the rest belong to Dave and Big Dave.... I think I need to catch up.

In less then 94 hours the packing project will be complete and campchaos will hit the road for the east coast. We're watching the leaves change here and should hit New England for Peak foliage in the east.

camp chaos hits the road

Last weekend we loaded up the 4Runner and headed northeast to catch up with all the folks in Summit County. We even squeezed in a few extra visits along the way. Dave's finished for the season as there isn't much demand for groomers after the mountain closes and I took an extended weekend so we didn't have to rush the trip.

Chaos in blue and Mayhem in green cuddle in the sunshine

We left Thursday morning and stopped in Vail to see our friend Sandy who currently lives in Alaska and was in Vail for a conference. We walked the dogs along the busy ski town paths and grabbed dinner at a local pub. Big Dave also made the trip out of Telluride as he had to drop a friend off for knee surgery and met up with us at Sam & Meghan's house. They rent a farmhouse in Silverthorne and it has a big area for all the dogs to run and play in. They had borrowed a Wii for the weekend and it kept the boys up late each night for some rounds of bowling and golf.
Friday we started our day with a breakfast at Kula's in Dillon. It's a small cafe and run by the nicest people... they also happen to specialize in gluten-free goodies. It's not often I get to enjoy gluten-free french toast and I made sure to document the occasion for my GF blog. Sam had the day off and the three boys and I headed over to Copper for the day. Meghan was able to meet up and ride with us for a bit as did Jon in the afternoon. We also spent some time watching Alex and a crew of CVA kids compete in SBX. Alex had stayed with us last December when the World Cup hit Telluride and it was great to be able to watch him race and take 5th.
Saturday found us with a repeat at Kula's before Team Dave and I hit slopes at A-Basin. It was a cloudy day near Loveland Pass and colder then expected. We had taken Chaos, Mayhem as well as Kaya and Echo on a big walk that morning so we didn't feel too bad about ditching them. Saturday night was Courtney's birthday and we hit their house for Chinese food and birthday cake. Chaos and Mayhem had a great time playing with their cousins and the girls even took Mayhem and Chaos for a walk with me. Both dogs were on their best behavior as the girls held the leashes. These days Chaos only pulls when he sees another dog and Mayhem had on his gentle leader harness which reigns him in nicely.
Jon and Courtney had Sunday off so we hit Copper for a ski day with the crew after our 3rd Kula's breakfast of the trip and another big dog walk. Kula's also had great pocket snacks for me. They made this incredible GF carmel bar with a rich chocolate topping that was great fuel for both A-Basin and Copper. I can't ski without loading my pockets now as I never know where I can find "safe" food. It's imperative that I don't have gluten while traveling since it would kill the trip with a migraine and other issues that I'll spare you the details on. This last weekend I was a huge fan of Kula's treats and fruit snacks.

The kids have progressed a lot since the last time we were able to ski with them, and Courtney and Jon aren't half bad either...

Team Drabik ripped it up and we ended a big ski day with free music at the base of the mountain in the sunshine. It was a very full weekend and we're both looking forward to a quiet time at home with the monsters this weekend to recover from the Summit County crew and the trip out of Telluride.


Spring Travels

heading west again...

after plum island (it's in Mass... google it) Chaos and I headed to NH to meet Conor and catch up with JJB then to CT to see Carol. We caught up on some work and worked in a hike as well. Gertie, our trusty GPS, sent us down to South Carolina through NJ/NY instead of PA and we listened... while it made for some fun city driving it was a long day in slower traffic.
chaos has been enjoying the warm weather...although the high of the trip was 95 degrees in new hampshire... he had kendra direct him to every park and water fountain available and took a day off in AC comfort while we visited with family in North Carolina.
Today Kendra took us outside the city and to Rainbow Falls. Chaos loved the hike except for the part where he had to go down a pretty good sized obstacle. tomorrow it's back in the car where we hope to make it to a new time zone by the evening...

vacationland

here's a small gathering of pics from the vacation thus far. a small view of Judson's, Chaos new souvenir collar, my new niece and nephew and the two new Sugarloafers. we're off to see some more folks in the valley before we depart tomorrow.

the return of the travel dog...

Our travel dog has returned! We made the big venture cross country in 40 hours and 4 minutes. The trip this time was a little harder as we weren't well rested and started the long journey out tired. We quickly fell into a pattern of sleeping and driving and Chaos became really good at the sleeping. We'd stop along the way and take walks on dirt roads in Iowa with the monster.
We faced a few traffic snafus- two hours of total stopped traffic in Iowa and a long creeping delay near Chicago. Go Turtle!
Chaos seemed very happy to be the travel dog again. He did a great job staying hydrated and eating his snacks along the wasy. He was pretty excited to pull into his grandparents house on Sunday afternoon and find his friends waiting for him.

prep work....

so we've been pretty busy with all the prep work for the trip. I'm actually feeling anxious as I am not anxious enough.... for this trip I pulled up my packing list from our cross country vacation spring '06 and made some modifications. Right now I am sitting in a hotel room so I had to be ready to go this morning. Dave and Chaos still have another 2 days at home. I know Dave's back is mostly packed and Chaos is all packed and the other items are sitting in the back of the Tacoma thanks to my OCD.
Good thing too as Dave didn't get home from work until after 10pm tonight- he leaves the house between 7:30-7:45am so that's one long day. Thankfully it was big Dave's day off so Chaos got dinner and some breaks at a decent time! He also had a puppy friend come over today and play (thanks Emmy!) and I may call for another to play tomorrow. I was feeling guilty about leaving him today so picked up some good road trip treats for him at Target this afternoon! I am so ready for vacation... it's been since last April (September didn't count as I had less then 1 week off between jobs to pack and move 2,600 miles! That's not a vacation!) Please forgive us if we're zombies when we return to Eastern Standard Time. We're going to need at least a day to recover from this last week!