The Adventures of Lori and Monty

Monty took a trip to Albuquerque to meet Jr. at the gourd fest. Dad won two second place and one third place ribbons out of four entries. I think they were playing local favorites because the first place winners weren't near the quality of the Jr. Gourds! Check out the photos.

We decided to visit a part of the world that is a bit out of the ordinary. I turn out to be an eye opener. Mexico city is a strange place full of mystery. The fact is, you can see a street change from one of quiet residential homes to a noisy dirty street full of vendors to a run-down mess full of beggars all within 3 blocks. The popular areas are always crowded and busy. The subway is a great way to get around durning the off-peak times, but watch out during rush hour. They will squeeze in every last person until the car is bursting at the seams. And the food; street food or fonda, it is all simple and spicy; tacos, tacos, tacos. It was an experience we will not forget.

Here are the photos.

Our hotel was one of the best highlights. It was a quiet oasis in the noisy town. They served an excellent breakfast and the entire place was clean and safe. If you go there, make sure you stay at The Red Tree House.

Our usual trip to the Mountains on Super Bowl Sunday was fantastic. Great weather, gret snow, and great fun! Here are the photos.

We journeyed to Ellis for Xmas this year. It was pretty cold and windy, so we spent the entire time indoors. Good thing we had Karaoke and Wii! Here are the photos.

We decided to head West for the T-Giving weekend. We loaded up the BRAND NEW Santa Cruz Blur LTc bikes and hit the road. We started in Moab, UT with a ride on the Klondike Bluffs and Baby Steps trails. There are dinosaur tracks embedded in the rocks, too cool.
Klondike Bluffs / Baby Steps

Next we rode in the Monitor & Merimac area. There was a ton of very fine sand and it made the trip in pretty tough. The buttes look very muck like the ships they are named for. There was a very fun slick rock playground behind the buttes.
Monitor & Merimac

After riding around Moab, we headed for Fruita, CO. This area has a multitude of trails from desert to slickrock. The first morning we rode in the Kokopelli's area. This is the start of 146 mile trail between Grand Junction and Moab. These trail are fast and fun as the track along the Colorado River.
Kokopelli's Trails

In the afternoon we headed North to the Bookcliffs Area. These are very dry exposed sedimentary cliffs. The rides here are mainly loops or laps. Climb up for 2 miles, then ride down very fast. Great fun.
Bookcliffs Trails

The last day we rode the Tabeguache Trail s near Grand Junction. These trail are know in GJ as the Lunch Loop trails. It is very close to town and lots of folks do lunchtime rides. Here we started in the valley and rode up to the top of the Ribbon trail. Then it was a fast descent on slick rock, then back onto the desert trails.
Tabeguache Trails

What a great weekend and perfect way to break in the new bikes!

We had a great snowstorm in Denver overnight. So it was a perfect day to head to the park for some Cross-County Skiing.

Here are the photos.

We went to Austin for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. They had 8 stages with 130 bands playing 1 hour sets over the course of 3 days. We were fortunate to be able to use Trinity Ranch as a base camp. We met up with Nancy & Bill and Michael & Missy, and they attended some of the show with us.

Day one was awesome, no rain and great music. Day 2 it rained all day long, but the music didn't suffer. We actually think the Trail of the Dead set was the best concert we had been to in a long time. Day 3 was a mud fest, but the music was still great.

Here are the photos.

Monty's first trip to a Velodrome was very awesome! It was a great chance to put the new Fuji Obey bike to the test. No crashes, just lots of speed and fun. Here is some info about track cycling:

-- A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights.

-- Bicycles for velodromes have no brakes. They employ a single fixed rear gear, or cog, that does not freewheel. This helps maximize speed, reduces weight, avoids sudden braking while nevertheless allowing the rider to slow by pushing back against his pedals.

Here are the photos.

We woke up really early on our first day in Kauai, because of the time difference. We decided to take short hike on top of the lithified cliffs close to our hotel to watch the sun rise over the ocean. The light and the colors were amazing! We spent the rest of the day snorkeling the sunny south shore. We had a great time exploring the length of beach stretching out in front of our hotel in Poipu.

On Monday we headed to the west shore, to Waimea Canyon. The views of the gorge from all of the lookout stops were spectacular. We went to the Koke’e Museum to ask about trail conditions. We decided to hike the 11 mile Nu’alolo Trail/ Nu’alolo Cliffs/Awa-‘awapuhi Grand Loop. Our guidebook said: “This is a great hike! It takes most of a day and is strenuous, but you’re treated to views that will stay frozen in your mind for a lifetime.” The guidebook was right! We were treated to incredible views of the Na Pali coast (that we would kayak the next day). We saw beautiful birds and black Hawaiian mountain goats, and we heard feral pigs. On the way home, we had our first taste of rainbow shave ice … with macadamia nut ice cream. Awesome!

We spent Tuesday in kayaks, paddling 17 miles across the spectacular Northwest coast. After checking-in at the guide’s headquarters in Hanalei, we were shuttled to Haena beach park / Maninilolo, the put-in spot. That’s where the fun began. National Geographic magazine selected kayaking the Na Pali Coast as one of the top adventures in the nation, and it was(!) … but … it was also a long time to paddle! We travelled along the base of 4000 foot cliffs, explored sea caves, and passed the incredible scenery of the Kalalau and Honopu valleys. At our lunch spot (after paddling a mere 4-5 hours) we saw an endangered Hawaiian monk seal sunning itself on Milolii beach. The final leg of the journey was to Polihale, the largest beach in the state. What a day!

Can you say JUNGLE HIKE? That’s how we spent the next day, one of our coolest Wednesday’s, ever! The Makaleha hike was a real thrill! The trail started at the end of Kahuna road in northern Kapa’a (on the east shore). We hiked (through) (on top of) (along side) lush, lush, lush foliage, thick bamboo, fast-flowing water, trees, branches, rain, and lots and lots of mud. We followed machete notches in the trees (Hawaiian cairns ☺) that marked the way to a confluence of three streams, laid before a stunning vista of waterfalls, cascading over a limitless green in the distance. Wednesday was a day of music. We also bought Monty his first ukulele that day. His ukulele was made completely in Hawaii, out of Koa wood (which is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands). It sounds very sweet and beautiful.

Our goal on Thursday, before heading to the airport that evening, was to see sea turtles, while we were snorkeling. And, boy, did we! Monty was sooo close to one, he could have kissed him/her! We spent our last day on the south shore, just having fun enjoying the water and the beach. We’ll really miss this place!

Here are links to the photos:

Sunrise Photos

Koke'e Hike Photos

Na Pali Kayak Photos

Jungle Hike Photos

Snorkeling Photos

The gang all headed to Golden to cool off in Clear Creek. It was a great day for a float!
Here are the photos.