It's a Triathlon Weekend!

Ah, the start of another fun-filled weekend at Keystone!  This weekend, we're going for a triathlon - a long road bike trip from Keystone to the top of Vail Pass on Friday, a mountain bike trip along the Colorado Trail on Saturday, then a hike up to the Gore Range Trail from Copper Mountain to Wheeler Lakes on Sunday.  Sometimes the views on the drive up the hill make the weekend even more spectacular!  Sunset while going over Loveland Pass just outside of Keystone.



Along Loveland Pass, a herd of bighorn sheep coming down for the evening.

Day one and the first leg of our triathlon - a 50 mile road bike trip from Keystone to the top of Vail Pass and back.  Here's the view while approaching Copper Mountain. 

We made it to the top of Vail Pass!  Dianna didn't even stop for a break while going up the pass!

On the way back to Keystone, some of the beautuful wildflowers along the trail near Lake Dillon.  

Day two - an 18 mile mountain bike trip up Keystone Valley to the Colorado Trail again then back to Keystone.  This time, we made it with no flat tiires!  (See my posting from two weeks ago....)



Day three - a short hike up to Wheeler Lakes and the Gore Range Trail.  Here's Copper Mountain at the beginning of the hike.



About half way along the hike, looking back at Copper Mountain and the Tenmile Range.  Those peaks in the background are the backside of Breckenridge Ski Area, Peaks 8, 9, and 10. 

Wheeler Lake #1, a beautiful calm morning with the undistorted reflection.

Wheeler Lake #2 (Copper Mountain in the background)

Lots of beautiful wildflowers this year (red indian paintbrush in the foreground)

The Gore Range Trail goes along those peaks in the background

A couple of happy hikers!

Hopefully one of our next hikes this summer will be along the Gore Range across the ridge between those two peaks!  To be continued........ 

Fire and Ice

Well, it's late July and that only means one thing around the Stolz house ---- it's scorching hot outside, so it must be time for the NHRA Mile High National drag races to come back to Denver, and ...... it's time for some snow tubing?????  Really, it's not a bad way to cool off and escape the heat back in town!  This was Joseph's first trip to see the nitro methane top fuel dragsters, funny cars, and all of the other fun stuff that comes along with the races at Bandimere Speedway.  Really, this is child abuse, making this poor little boy go to the drag races with his Daddy and Papa to see these FAST cars racing in excess of 300 MPH in less than 4 seconds - just look at the poor little boy's expression, he's not having any fun at all.

Joseph used to think his Papa's hot rod was really fast until he saw these funny cars race!



Joseph and Bradley checking out one of the top fuel dragsters before racing.

Ah yes, super fast cars drag racing, cold beer, bratwurst, and a 5 year old?????  No, really Mom, he was just holding Daddy's beer:)  Check it out, though - he IS proudly wearing his hearing protection!  

More funy cars than one should be allowed to see on any given day!

Joseph already has his request in for next year's front row seats at the Mile High Nationals!

Oh yeah, the snow tubing.........  Several of Kent's friends from south Texas were in town the same weekend to see the drag races and wanted to do something unique and fun.  So when Kent suggested snow tubing, "you know, the same stuff you used to do as a kid - slide down a snow covered hill on an inner tube", all he got was a blank stare from both of them.  These poor 50 year old guys had never even seen snow before, and having lived in south Texas their whole lives, had never seen any hills either.  Anyway, everyone had a great time slip sliding away at Keystone all afternoon and I don't think they will ever forget about the tubing. 

 P.S. - summer is fun, but we still can't wait until winter arrives again! 

Biking and Jeeping over Shrine Pass

One of our goals this summer was to take Shrine Pass Road from the top of Vail Pass over to the base of Mt. Holy Cross - we've been seeing the Holy Cross from all over Summit County for the past several years and wanted to mountain bike across the road that was built specifically for viewing the Holy Cross.  It was another beautiful day for mountain biking, here's the first view we had of the Holy Cross.

  We rode as far as the biking trail map suggested (even though the road and trail were still in pretty good condition), then had a quick snack and pedaled back to the Jeep parked atop Vail Pass.  Still being pretty early in the day, we decided to strap the bikes back on the Jeep and see how far we could make it in the Jeep on the same trail we had just turned around on.  Just past the place where we had turned around on with the bikes, we came to a clearing where we could see Belle's Cabin which sits at the top of Earl's Bowl at Vail Ski Area.  We were at this same cabin back in April while taking a ski break.

Another 1/2 mile and we hit paydirt - a wide open clearing with the most spectacular views of Mt Holy Cross.  We parked the Jeep, had a picnic lunch, then just enjoyed mother nature's beauty.

Pretty spectacular views of Mt Holy Cross!  It's also a fourteener, but well beyond our capabilities for hiking/climbing.

There's Mt Holy Cross right above the top of the Jeep.  After our break, our trek continued for another several miles on a Jeep trail (which took several hours), then we finally made it to Redcliff and eventually completed the day's loop by going through Leadville and back to Keystone via Copper Mountain.  Another awesome day in Summit County!

Summertime Beauty at Keystone

With summertime getting a late start in Summit County, the wildflowers seem to be even more spectacular and longer lived than last year.  Here's Colorado's state flower, the Columbine.

We've always wanted to hike and/or bike along at least a portion of The Colorado Trail, a 500-mile trek that starts in Denver and ends up near Durango.  This weekend, we set off on a flat tire plagued mountain bike trip that took us from Keystone Ranch to The Colorado Trail.  Four flats later and only one replacement tube meant for an interesting trip that included lots of riding, walking bikes with flat tires, meeting new friends (that had tubes), meeting more new friends (that had a pickup truck with room for bikes in the back), and riding the Summit County bus (which also had room for bikes!).  We still manage to have fun no matter what we are doing in Keystone even when we get thrown curve balls.

The next day, we decided to get back on the hiking theme and attempt the hike that we tried back in June (see my June 13th blog posting) but had to turn back due to waist deep snow.  This time, we made it all the way to Willow Falls just north of Silverthorne.  With all of the snow runoff, the falls were spectacular, just as we had hoped..

Again, the wildflowers along the rec path at Keystone are spectacular! 

Meanwhile, back in Butte........

With Papa passing away in late June, it was a sad, but special chance to get the whole Stolz family together to do some reminiscing and story telling for all.  On our first trip to Butte, we had some memory-filled get-togethers with Janet, Brian, Carol, and Grammy.

Dianna and I even got a chance to get in a bike ride or two with Janet up to the base of the Highlands along Roosevelt Drive.

We almost got all of the Stolz clan together for a fun lunch at Sparky's Garage in uptown Butte.

Of course, Joseph, Sophie, Andrew, and Bella were having fun climbing in the tree at Gramma and Grampa's house.

My awesome family!

Four generations!

The entire Stolz family after Papa's memorial service at Aldersgate.

Triplets, twins, and Grammy.......

We love and miss you dearly, Papa!