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:)

We're Done Skiing For The Year (I Think)

OK, this time I think we're done skiing for the year (unless we get another fresh dumping of powder:).  Ater all, it is Memorial Day weekend and we should be outside enjoying the nice warm spring days, right?  On the long holiday weekend, we went skiing on Saturday morning at A-Basin, then went for a 25 mile road bike trip to Dillon, Frisco, over Swan Mtn Pass, and back to Keystone in the afternoon......  It was an awesome day to ski and do a road bike trip! 

We closed out our final day of skiing for the year by doing the East Wall at A-Basin, something we'd been wanting to try all year long.

The snow was kind of like heavy mashed potatoes, but was fun nonetheless!

Dianna enjoying the warm spring skiing 

East Wall on the right side of the bowl.

No crowds, either

All done skiing at A-Basin, then back to Keystone to check out the tubing hill.  The folks there are thinking that they will be tubing through the month of July on this run that is 60-70 feet deep top to bottom!!!

On to our bike trip around Lake Dillon.  The view of Buffalo Mountain capped with snow was spectacular.  

The next morning, we decided to ride up to Montezuma from Keystone, only about 15 miles round trip, but starting at 9500' and going up to 10,500' was a bit different than riding back in Arvada.  The trip up was about 1-1/2 hours while the ride down was only about 10 minutes!

The view from Keystone 

1/2 way to Montezuma, still lots of snow along the side of the road.

We made it to Montezuma!!!!!

Lake Dilllon

 On Sunday, we decided to take the scenic trip home over Guanella Pass which had just opened up for the season.  Plenty of handicapped parking at the summit..... 

The snow was still pretty deep on the sides of the highway.

Mt. Bierstadt (Elevation 14,065') - the next fourteener that we hope to tackle sometime this summer, looking at it from the top of Guanella Pass.