Labor Day Camping - September 2009

Labor Day weekend was spent at lovely Ruedi Reservoir in the very center of Colorado, with trips to the Frying Pan River (John), Glenwood Springs Hot Springs (me and kids), and Hanging Lake.

Friday started out with an amazing full moon, rising through the mist and fog.


Five in the bed and the little one said "Roll over, Roll over!"
And NO, they didn't all sleep in my tent!


Saturday John went fishing on the Frying Pan River (Gold Medal waters for anyone who knows about that kind of thing) and a group of us went hiking. Hoped to make it up to Eagle Lake - those high altitude lakes are great payoffs for a difficult hike - but it wasn't meant to be. The hike was more difficult than hoped for - pretty rocky, and kids were tired ;-p Found a sweet creek to eat lunch and play.



Started back, and all went well. We were peeking over our shoulders at the dark cloud behind us, but weren't too worried.


The aspens were in a decline - a culmination of many years of drought. Whole sections were dead. It is a documented problem - called SAD - for Sudden Aspen Decline. Still beautiful with all of the white trunks.







Hit a serious thunderstorm halfway back to the cars - thunder, lightning, and all - and we got drenched. And it was COLD. I didn't have my car with me, so forgot to pack our ponchos. Luckily, our ride was a bit forgetful, and DIDN'T loose her keys way back at the creek, but left them in the car - so we had a ride back to camp! (Thank the lucky stars, or the full moon?)

Back at camp, climbing in healthy aspen trees:

Owen has been working on some whittling projects - they are always interesting!

Brave warriors designing their gear:

Owen's final outfit:

Yum, camp cooking!

Sunday a few of us made our way down to Glenwood Springs Hot Springs pool. The highlight was the slides, although the rest of the pool was fun.

Monday - Labor Day - the packing up day, the going home day. Also the pack-as-big-and-strenuous-a-hike-in-as-we-can day. The hike was a pretty strenuous hike, 1.25 miles straight uphill, very rocky. Although I was impressed with the sheer number of people who did make it up there - I guess they know the payoff is good!

We saw this nice little snake at the picnic area:

Fossil rock? Bird footprints, I think!

Wow, are we tired!!!!!!

We acknowledged each distance marker sign. Owen cheered us each past!

This spot was most definitely fairyland:

I called this one the bus stop. This area used to be a resort, so there were a few structures left over.

My pictures no where near do justice to Hanging Lake. It looks like a tropical oasis, with aqua green clear water and gorgeous waterfalls over dark green moss.

A wide log happened to fall right across the center of the lake, making for numerous photo opportunities!

I will show many photos so maybe you will glean a bit of it's beauty from them:

Behind the waterfall - brrrr!


Our family on the log:

The view from above the waterfalls:

On top of the waterfalls:

And where does all of this water come from? Why, a hole in the rocks! Seriously - it is called Spouting Rock. A LOT of water came through that small hole.

Lots of water.

Even the moms got wet in it-

The view from behind:

A special yellow columbine that grows specifically in that area:

Friends:

Stepping stones, on the way back down.

Sliding in the dirt on your butt is always great fun......

Seriously terror-inducing steepness!

Ah, the flat ground and the way to home!

Swim swim swim

Elise writes and performs her newest hit:

Ooops. Need to blog more!

First day of school picture. Owen is making silly faces, and Elise was crying because her chalk pastel drawing got left out in the rain, and was now an impressionistic drawing (not her intention!)

I call this - Series with Chicken. (And no, I didn't take them....)

What I really want to know, is - Why is the chicken in the dining room?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?

Elise and school friend/neighbor K having a tea party:

Elise was patiently watching Pecky in the nest box (the first time we noticed her there).

Pecky tolerated the audience.

And voilà! Her patience (and Pecky's!) paid off!

This project has been all-encompassing in our lives lately - the deck removal/concrete removal/dirt moving/patio moving/new deck building project:

Here is the wall before (You can't see all the cracks in this picture, or how much wall was leaning out. It would have been difficult and expensive to fix.)

Lower portion of the wall before:

The first tractor (yes, the one that tore up our grass):


Lifting the patio to loosen it:

Tractor #2 workingon the concrete wall:

The wall is down!

Scooping up the concrete afterwards:

Here's a view after the concrete is gone:


Here is John happily preparing to electrocute himself, er, I mean cut down the small spruce tree that was growing through the power lines:

Spruce top is down:

Getting ready to remove the lower portion of the spruce. Notice in the foreground where we have started to let the dirt go the way of gravity. With lots of major hard work convincing:

Look at all the junk someone used to build up our hill:

More pics of the dirt moving to come.......

What do I call this? Birds on a ladder?

Here's a blurry but bigger view of the ladder with all 4 girls:

Our first dozen. Not officially, since we had eaten a bunch already, but we saved for a few days to make a full carton. Some days we get 3 eggs!

And finally, our first dinner, with eggs as the main course, where the whole family had our home-grown eggs!

We are gonna miss summer!!!!!