In Remembrance

Gustav 'Papa' Stolz, Jr.

1/25/24 - 6/25/11

On Saturday morning, June 25th, our beloved Papa passed away after his long battle with Alzheimer's.  You are gone now, but will forever be dearly missed and never forgotten by all of your family and friends.  You were the catalyst that jump started the Petroleum Engineering Department at MT Tech, now the only college in the world that has a Petroleum Engineering curriculum that outpaces every other curriculum on campus!  We all love you dearly and miss you.immensely........ 

Summertime Fun Stuff!!!

It's almost the 4th of July and that means several things here in Colorado.  Frequent bike rides, time for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, bike rides, picnics, bike rides, trips to DQ, and more bike rides.  Janet and Adam came down for a week for the National Boxing Matches in Colorado Springs and decided to catch a few bike rides while they were here.  Kent took a day off from work and took them up to Keystone to show them where we play on weekends:)  We did a 55 mile loop from Keystone over Swan Mtn Pass (one of our favorites) to Breckenridge, then back through Frisco, Dillon, and eventually Keystone.  What a beautiful day for a road bike trip!  Here's Kent and Janet atop Swan Mtn Pass with the Tenmile range in the backbround.

While Sara and James were vacationing in Cozumel, we watched Sophie and Bella for the week.  Of course, that meant more bike rides in town for them too....



And a trip to DQ after the grueling bike ride:)

Before we knew it, it was time again for Kent's company picnic at Heritage Square.  Since Sara and James were still vacationing and the twins were sick, they couldn't go this time:(  But Bradley did get to take Joseph and Andrew.  Joseph's favorite ride was the roller coaster.

The following day, it was off to Colorado Springs for a guy's day out to watch the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.  We set up our tent and BBQ and watched cars race up the hill all day long!

Several drivers weren't so fortunate and had some minor problems staying on the road.... 

We even got to see 'Monster' Tajima set a new record for the uphill race at just under 10 minutes - that's FAST!  He flew past us at over 100 MPH. 

At the end of the day, all of the drivers came back down the hill in parade fashion while high 5'ing all of the spectators -- Joseph and Andrew liked this part the best since they got a chance to congratulate all of the drivers!

 Joseph's favorite car......



We're Empty Nesters Again...........

This year, we got our robin family back, nesting right outside our living room window!  We got to watch mama robin guarding her three little blue eggs until they hatched, then the feeding frenzy was on for several weeks as they grew up quickly and soon left their nest:(  This was taken when they were only about 10 days old - always hungry for their worms!

Whenever mama or daddy arrived, they were always greeted with open beaks!

The face that only a mother could love...



After a little over three or four weeks, they were almost ready to get instructions on how to fly.

 A day or two after this was taken, the whole family left and we never saw them again:(

Father's Day Fun

Ah yes, it's Father's Day weekend, and time to do some bonding with the kids......

First of all, it was off to Unser Racing for some adult Go Kart racing for Kent, James, Bradley.

These adult go karts are really fun (and FAST) to drive!  After an initial race to warm up the tires and weed out the lightweights, it was on to round two.  Kent has pole position #1.

Bradley chose position #3 so he could have more fun passing his competitors (that never happened......)

That green blur going by was either Kent or Bradley.

After the racing was over, it was off to discuss racing strategy over a couple of pizzas with Joseph.

Then on to the Carrol Shelby American Museum in Boulder to drool over a couple of really nice rides.

Joseph liked the blue Cobra the best.

Actually, it was this one (more his size) that Joseph preferred.....

Then the whole gang drove up to Keystone for an old fashioned BBQ rib feast.  Sophie and Bella were really having fun over at the jumping castle at River Run in Keystone.

Then the ladies finished off the weekend by going for a swim at the condo pool.  What fun!  Janet and Adam drove down from Butte for Adam's chance at a National boxing title in Colorado Springs and will more than likely go back up to Keystone for some biking in Summit County later this week (if the snow melts - Keystone got about 6" on June 20th to keep winter going)

Another Relaxing Weekend at Keystone!

Mid-June and a perfect time for another relaxing weekend at Keystone!  The snow is gone at lower elevations and the golf courses look prety inviting....

With our mountain bikes all tuned up and ready to go and since the small forest fire was doused last weekend, we were able to head up one of our favorite roads - Keystone Gulch.  We heard that the road was plowed all the way to the top of North Peak, so thought we'd head up there again before it gets too hot.

With all of the heavy runoff this spring, the beaver ponds were overflowing.

Half way there!  One of Kent's favorite ski runs at Keystone - Starfire, has very little snow left on it.  At this time last year, all the snow on all of the runs was melted.

Going up the steep part, across switchbacks on a ski run called Anticipation.  Plenty of base left where the road wasn't plowed!

We made it to the top at 11,800'!  This is what is left of the base we were skiing on last winter - pretty incredible that there is still at least a 6' base yet to melt!

Top of North Peak and Starfire run (Breckenridge in the background)

Ready for the quicker (but more difficult) trip back down

On Sunday, we decided to take it a bit easier after the 15 mile trek up North Peak the day before so we opted for a hike up to one of our favorite water falls from last summer.  Things started out pretty normal with lots of full stream crossings....

After about the first 1/2 mile, we began encountering some snow which made it hard to keep on the trail.

Oops!!  Waist deep snow and we didn't even think about bringing any snow shoes on this hike:(  At that point, we turned around and decided to stick with a lower elevation trail with less snow.

Lily Pad Lake, with the Ten Mile Range in the background.

Buffalo Mountain behind Lily Pad Lake. 

The aspens are just beginning to leaf out.

I think we found our fall hike to do later this year - lots of aspens!

Gearing Up For Summer

As we get ready for summer it appears that old man winter was still trying to hold on for a couple more last gasps.  The first weekend in June, we decided it was time to try riding our new road bikes up Vail Pass.  With the lower part of the bike trail covered up by an avalanche between Frisco and Copper, we opted to start from Copper and trek upwards.

Lots of snow still on the side of the trail!

It was a picture perfect day for a ride in Summit County!

A short 40 minutes later and we were almost at the summit!

With Vail Pass conquered and lots of time and plenty of energy left, we decided to load the bikes up and head over to A-Basin (where we skied last weekend) and tackle Loveland Pass too.  The snow was a LITTLE deeper than it was on Vail Pass!

It's going to be months before this stuff melts and we can start hiking.....

We made it to the summit of Loveland Pass and the Continental Divide, just shy of 12,000'.  Time for the fun part now - the ride down....

The next day we decided to ride from Keystone over Swan Mtn Pass in order to complete our own version of the big 'Triple By Pass' that is done later in the summer (Loveland, Swan Mtn, and Vail Passes all in one day!).  We stopped by and shared some of our trail mix with Alvin and all the others. 

Tenmile Range - We ended up riding from Keystone over Swan Mtn Pass to Breckenridge, then headed back to Frisco, around Lake Dillon and across Dillon dam, then back to Keystone for a fun, scenic 40 mile ride!

Lake Dillon - almost back to Keystone!



Enjoyed an awesome dinner overlooking Keystone Lake:)