Slowly but Shirley(who's Shirley) catching up!!

I have been told that I am slacking on the blog.......COME ON!!.....I'm on vacation!

So I will try and catch up as best I can .

Sarah and I took a day to go visit with Dave's sister Dianne and her daughter Betsy. Yes that means sister-in law and niece!! :) They took us on a little tour of the area they live in Co. and it is beautiful. Believe it or not I didn't take too many pics. Sarah had the camera and she is no longer with me so I have to make do with the few I took.....I shall include more in a future blog!

Betsy giving her best smile!!

We all went to Beaver Creek and enjoyed a wonderful lunch! As you can see it was a good thing Betsy showed that smile in the last pic!!! :) Thanks to Dianne and Betsy we had a great visit. Stay tuned because Sarah has those pics from the mojito making adventure!!!

We came to Colorado on vacation because we love it here, to get a chance to visit family and so Dave and Tom could challenge themselves in a mountain bike race!!! They were going to take on the Breckenridge 100. There are 3 categories in this race.....decision made they would do the 68!

Registration done and look at the # Dave scored....LUCKY 13. It really is a lucky # for this family. My birthday, mom and dad's anniversary, my uncles b-day and all in all it shows up all the time!!!

Tom was excited and ready to race!!

Sarah was there to encourage her dad.

The guys lining up for the mass start!

The women folk found a spot and hunkered down for a long wait! It was a beautiful weather day and after about 4 hours Tom came in from his first lap!

That was one tough lap?!?! Do I want to do another??

Heck ya I do.....whats another 30 + miles of pain!!!!

Here comes Dave from riding 34.5 miles at 10,000 ft. of altitude!!!

At this point we still thought he was having some fun!!

NOPE!!!
This was one brutal ride.


A little rest and change of gear and a clean-up and we settled in to wait for Tom......now if I am really honest with you I would tell you we also....Went into town, did an little shopping, sat and chatted over drinks and appetizers....but at all times our thoughts were with Tom out there killing himself!
We did not enjoy ourselves at all!!!


Ann and Betsy waiting patiently.....although we were getting a little concerned as time went on!

Yeah!! Here he comes finishing strong!!


Way to go Tom...and although it was supposed to have only been 68 miles it ended up being over 70!! Both he and Dave said it was one of the hardest things they have ever done!!


A congratulatory hug from Merckx and all is well!!

Ready to go again?!?!?!?

This was the last day that Sarah would be with us on this vacation. As most of you know she went to college in Colorado and some of her old roomies and friends still live in the area. One of those friends is Chih and he graciously agreed to come to Breckenridge and pick her up. They will spend some time catching up with each other and one of there other friends before she flies home in a few days. Thanks for posing with Breck, he was thrilled to meet you!!!

All in all a great couple of days. We are all so proud of the guys race, they did an awesome job!!

We headed to Steamboat Springs the next day and it is beautiful here. I have many pics to share but for now....Colorado is calling and I am headed outside to take it all in!!!

Bye for now!

2 days ago!!

After some discussion about what the big adventure for the day should be it was decided to tackle Mt. Evans. Here are the guys poising for a pre-ride photo op. As you can see they have their work ahead of them!!!

I am including this picture of the lodge just for Ann, as she has a great LOVE of clowns, especially the painted velvet kind!!

Last minute prep and the boys were ready for the adventure!

Hope everyone has there warm clothes with them it might get a bit chilly up top!!

But, first you have to pay for the privilege if killing yourself on the climb!! It cost $3 a bike to go up and $10 for the truck!!! Now, you also have to understand there is a way around the fee.........and what it that you ask?? You can go up, but you can NOT STOP along the way or at the top!!! If you need to stop you must pay the $10. We NEVER saw any kind of official or official car anywhere along the way so how they would know is beyond us, but being the good doobies we are we paid up!! haha

Right from the start the view is awesome......get ready as I will probably use that word more than one here!!

Awesome....see I told you!!!

And YES we are going way up there beyond the tree line!!!

I was given the privilege and honor of driving Blue Boy up the mountain!! I must say I was rather proud of myself........why you ask?!?!?

Because Blue Boy is one D@%^ truck and this is one D@%^ narrow road. And, no there is not one guardrail.....or anything else to stop you if you are not careful. It is also a LONG way down. I was really surprised because Sarah was having a freak out, most of the way up, and swore that she was riding in the backseat and in the middle on the way down!!



The road just goes on and on!

But, once we got to the top the views were worth it. How do you like my new hair do!! Nice huh!!?? It was a bit windy at the top!

The views from here were spectacular......see I know other words than awesome!!!
We could see Denver!! Now if I was a kind and compassionate blogger I would have looked up how far away it was so that you could REALLY be impressed by my awesome camera!!


Sarah was enjoying the view!!!

When disaster struck!!! I had warned her to watch her step....luckily I was there to assist in her rescue.....!!!


Then just as I was getting Sarah back on solid footing......

Obviously Ann was not paying attention to my warnings either.!!!

Finally the boys are arriving!! Actually Tom made it to the summit and then rode down a few miles and rode back up with Dave.....I think they are both mutants or something!! We could hardly keep our breath at that altitude and here they were riding up!!! Way to go guys!!

A celebratory Gatorade and energy bars and they were ready for a screaming decent off the mountain!!

Besides the incredible views we saw wildlife! A Pika??



Mountain Goats

And a herd of Elk!!

Did I say the views were awesome!!!???

When all was said and done it was a great day. The guys were a little tired after the decent!

But, nothing a beer at Tommyknockers (and no Tom would not show us his)!!
And some good food and camaraderie all was well.
On to more fun and adventures here in Colorado!!

3 days ago!!

OK, so I have been slacking on the blog. No excuses but I have been having an upload issue. So I will work with what I have and keep plugging along!!

What everyone does on their vacation.......trailer work. Dave was getting some assistance from Mercx....Tom and Ann's wolfie puppy!

Dave, Tom and Ann all suited up and ready for a ride!!!

It is my understanding that there were no tears or use of the F word on this particular ride!!

We spent a day in Breckenridge. The women spent time in town while the boys rode in and did a trail ride.

While we were there we decide to get a stuffed animal for Lukas and take pictures of it all along our route on this vacation. We found a cute owl and named him Brek!!

While in town we found this awesome hat shop and just had to try a few on!!

It was all we could do to stop Sarah from buying this one.......it was LOVE at first sight!!

I will apologize in advance to Ann on this next one.....she was showing off her LOVE of the Dem donkey.......I will just say once again isn't that a Jack A$$....NOT YOU ANN!!!! :)

At lunch we introduced Brek to Tom!

At first it seemed like the perfect friendship!!

But, then Tom said something to him and things turned nasty!!!

Dave tried to calm him down with a cold beer!

At some point that day or maybe it was another......Sarah and Dave hit the trail around the dam!

Somebody is not keeping up with her sunscreen!!!

We had an awesome day in town and the next day was to be filled with great adventures....but if you are reading these in order on the page you just may already know that!!! :)

OH and you want an explanation about the next pic???

Well, there is none!! We saw this on the sparetire on the back of a jeep....how could we NOT take a picture?!?!