Disney 2012

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East Coast Travels with the Turtle

We hit New England just in time for the biggest heat wave of the summer. Of course with us travel is always entertaining and since we had booked tickets a month out and not 24 hours out it was destined to change at least once.

From July 11 East Coast

Two days before our trip our 6am flight was canceled which shifted our wonderful 3pm arrival time into Boston back to 6pm. A bummer and it put us into rush hour traffic but we could deal with that... but then our new flight was delayed... then canceled. We were sent back out through security of the small Montrose Airport to the desk. I left Dave with our bags and hobbeled back towards the desk.  I was gimpy from an ankle injury I ended up towards the end of the line. Like my fellow passengers, I jumped on the phone with United Airlines customer service in India...and was given new flights that had us leaving Montrose at 8pm and getting to Boston 3 flights later at 8am on Friday morning. I called Dave back out through security and when we got to the desk agent (40 minutes later) she managed to get us on the noontime flight and into Boston at midnight.
We killed some time in Denver and the turtle enjoyed a Fat Tire before getting started on Moyer's Red Sweater.

From July 11 East Coast

Turns out the turtle is quite the knitter and started the project while in DIA.

From July 11 East Coast

And while on the plane he made good progress...

From July 11 East Coast

But took a break when it was time to get the bag after the late arrival into Boston.

From July 11 East Coast

Hoppy Easter Ski Day

This weekend we made the trek to Summit County and had a few ski days on Copper Mountain's final weekend of the season. It also happened to be Easter weekend and we managed to keep the dogs away from the candy and Easter Bunny long enough to let the kids catch a sugar high.

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.

Turtle takes a walk

How about now...any guesses on where the turtle is now?

Where is turtle going?

Go turtle!

The turtle says goodbye to the Wilson Range and Telluride for a few days as he meanders towards the big ditch...

Snug as a bug

These two are recovering from bath time on a chilly spring night... at least they smell beautiful.

An Ipswich ale

Turtle is trying to enjoy the trip and taking a break for a brew.

My little travel buddy...

Go turtle! The first of 3 flights today, good times in the land of stale air and grumpy travelers as we wait.

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.

Travels

We're not spur of the moment kind of travelers but can be if needed. Trip booked less then 24 hours ago and almost ready to board the first leg of our flight to Boston. Dogs are with friends and away messages have been set. Thankfully we had tome to stop for some glutaded snacks despite all the chaos as it's a long day of traveling.

Moab

We were finally able to escape the lingering winter weather that's been in Telluride last weekend and hit the road for Moab, Utah with the monsters. After a bit of searching we found a great campsite along the muddy Colorado River in Negro Bill Canyon. This was Mayhem's first camping adventure and we were a bit worried since he usually sleeps in his crate on how he would do with us in the tent. We had done a few trial runs outside the crate before the trip and he seems to be fine as long as he's near us and Chaos.

We also managed to catch up with some Sugarloaf friends who were on a small road trip for some warm weather and biking. It turns out that Moab also was in a bit of a cold spell but it was still much better weather then Telluride and camping was comfortable. Our sunshade that we picked up last summer for Telluride Festivals was a great hangout for the small rainstorms that hit us during the weekend.

Before we had a fire Chaos helped clean the old charcoal out of the firepit. He wanted to feel helpful and it reminded him of eating the charcoal that we used in the winter at the Maine CampChaos for traction on the snowy driveway.

Chaos and Mayhem would spend time wrestling at camp and Mayhem also had a favorite chew stick to play with. Chaos was allowed to be off leash if he was behaving... which he did until the neighbors made dinner.

I'd also take the pups on the hiking trail and we found a small swimhole for them to play in.

At night there were canyon river tours in the Colorado River and they light the walls as they cruise through.

We did do a drive through Canyonlands National Park and got some great views. We had the monsters with us and the park was not very pet friendly and they were only welcome in the parking lots.

It was a good relaxing weekend in our campsite by the river and I think the boys were bummed when we packed up camp and loaded the 4Runner to head back to chilly Telluride.

 Chaos could have just been bummed to have his brother crowding him in the back of the truck...

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

rest and recovery

Where to begin.... a road trip to red rocks, camping, gluten free slow cookers, dog adventures, blues & brews festival.... so much to catch up on and so little time...

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...

2009 X Games

this weekend chaos hit mako's house for some serious doggie time. Chaos was cleared at the vet on friday morning to start using his leg more. He is cast free and we are just waiting for the cast sores to clear up. While at Mako's he forgot that he was a gimp and really started using his leg more. Upon his arrival home he tried to go back to gimping and we called him out on it.

while chaos was enjoying doggie time we hit the road with jess and jared for the 2009 winter x games. I like that we are the official seth wescott cheering committee and we take our role seriously even standing in the rain and cold to show our support. SBX is a tough event... not only do the racers have to hit big features and maintain speed but they have to avoid other snowboarders. Seth ruled his first heat but his goofy stance was knocked down when he knocked butts with a regular boarder. This was the first time in 12 years that seth didn't make the finals. We were proud regardless especially since seth is rocking the world cup circuit this season.
We made a big weekend out of the event and stayed in Glenwood Springs, home of the famous hot springs, and enjoyed tubby time, a good brewery, late night in aspen and more. We even made it back on time sunday to celebrate big dave's birthday at fat alley.

a few pics... elvis and flying

east coast capers

so we're currently enjoying a trip back east... last night was our sleepover at colby's house. uncle spud put together a new big wheels for colby and he took it for a spin around the 'hood. colby is also now a blogger so check him out here. at three he can play the wiggles on the computer, throw out one liners and blog with the best of them.

we flew out this time but it's still a whirlwind tour... people to see, weddings to hit and more. Chaos is reported to be having a great time with his good friend Budo. We dropped him off at Budo's house on Wednesday and he barely looked back!