Still having good weather but not for long...

We got out and took advantage of the great weather the last couple of days and tried a hike we hadn't done before. The Columbine Trail in Cheyenne Canyon starts at the bottom of the canyon and goes up to the bottom of Helen Hunt Falls. It's 4 mi. one way and we did it up and back. We also did the HH Falls hike which was .6 mi., nice but the water was low. The columbine trail follows the road some of the time and you can hear traffic but most of the trail is away from everything. It took us about 4 hr. and 15 min. So our total was 8.6 mi. I could really feel it when we got home! The canyon has lots of rock formations and great views (we could even see the Broadmoor). A couple of times we could hear the chimes of the Will Rogers Shrine. When I was pregnant with Val and took Arn's mom with me to Co. we went to the shrine and also to Helen Hunt Falls.




I still can't figure out how to turn a posted pic! Note the sideways pic of me.





Sunday we met Meredith in Buena Vista to take a load of her things to her. We lunched at the Eddyline Brewery and checked out the BV River Walk. It was pretty cool and the outdoor seating area was really creative! It was all made out of colorful tile cement furniture. Meredith may be in CB for a year. She's working for Camp 4 Coffee and wants to volunteer on the mountain.


On the way back we decided to go over the mountains (basically wilderness) from Woodland Park to Monument and come down over Mt. Herman. We made a wrong turn and drove for 1 1/2 hr. to the back of Garden of the Gods. I think it would have taken about 45 min. if we'd gone the right way. We did see lots of scenery and canyons we hadn't seen before. It was another world up there!



Wildlife spotting this weekend. Two deer crossed our trail on Sat. and we spotted a bald eagle on the drive back from BV on Sunday.

A couple of DUD hikes.

1st snow of the season 11/1/10

Today was our first snowfall in Monument. It was just a light dusting that was melted by noon.
Arn and I decided to check out an area south of Castle Rock that I've always noticed from I-25. It wasn't repeatable! Evidently some Colorado Lottery money was used to make a trail beside the interstate in a preble mouse habitat. Lots of money was probably used to make a couple of loops between the highway and the railroad tracks. We could hear and see traffic the entire time and the loops weren't
even in a very scenic area. Definitely won't do that again. It took us about an hour to do both loops. From there we headed to Castle Rock and hiked the rock (about 1 mile) and it was also kind of dissapointing. Again we could see and hear traffic the whole time. After reaching the top Arn did a little rock climbing and went up on top of the rock. The whole thing took about 30-40 min. We drove east and south and took some roads we hadn't traveled before. It was all ranch land with pretty views. Not very good hikes but pretty weather and at least maybe 4 miles of exercise.

Happy Halloween!

It's a quiet Halloween here in Monument. Meredith left this morning to live and work in Crested Butte for the winter and probably next summer. She'll work for a great local coffee shop, 'Camp 4 Coffee', and volunteer on the mountain for a ski pass. She wants mountain safety but could end up as 'Betty' or 'Bubba' bear. Tonight is Tyler's last eve home....he leaves for Houston in the morn, goes to Tulsa next week, and then training in Denver.
So unfortunately Arn and I missed the Halloween party at the club. I think I'll keep our costumes a secret so we can use them next year. Our Halloween this year (chinese take out, laundry, and football). I guess tomorrow is really Halloween but we usually don't get trick or treaters. I'll pick up some candy just in case and maybe a pumpkin for us to carve. Feeling blue....this is really empty nest time. All 3 kids have jobs and are on their own!! Oh for the days of making their costumes, giving out candy, carving pumpkins, and going to the school Halloween parade!

Beetles, Gutters and Windows, oh my!

Trees cut, windows washed, gutters cleaned and deplugged! Our fall ' to do' list keeps growing. First of all each Sept. we need to walk the lot and look for pine beetle infestations. If infested the trees need to be taken down while the beetles are still in the larva stage (they are harder to kill as they get bigger). The Co. State Forest Service came and gave us info and tagged two tree. Arn and Tyler already have them down and the wood is in the sun and drying. We have two possible people who will take the wood. One tree (really a half tree since it broke during the last heavy snow) is already dead so we left it as a wildlife tree (basically to give woodpeckers someplace to peck). Wednesday the gutter/window guy was here all day, washed the windows inside and out and cleaned all the gutters. Sadly it won't last....every spring the yellow pine pollen flies and pine needles are continually dropping. At least we are closer to being ready for winter. We also planted a couple of new bushes, one to add some interest to the side of the garage and the other to camoflauge the well cap. I plan on posting pics of the newly planted bushes so I keep up with their progress. The lady at Tagawa (garden center) said to plant them in our soil without any additions. Our soil is awful so it will surprise me if they grow.

Date or just Quality Time (QT)??

What a nice fall day. It started off with some charity sewing for the Palmer Divide Quilt group (we make hats, turbans, and comfort pillows for cancer patients) and a delicious soup luncheon (cream of green chile soup) and then on to a 1 1/2 hr. hike out on the Monument Preserve. Then we stopped at La Casa for a great mexican pizza, chile rellenos with fresh pablano chiles and a refreshing mojito. What will the eve bring?? Football and then listening to the Clamdaddy's at the Speedtrap in Palmer Lake!

Boys will be boys!

Balanced Rock!

The famous Kissing Camels



Balanced Rock (G of G)
Mike (NGD) and Greg (Doc) flew in for a fun weekend getaway last weekend. Lots of golf was played, we checked out Garden of the Gods, and went to O'Malley's and La Casa. It was good to see them and I think the break did Mike good. Meghan was in town for work and was able to extend her trip another day so she could join the fun.