hiking | My Blog

Rainy hikes, college grades and flying dogs

Posted on August 19, 2009 by

It has been a busy month! I finally had enough of a break in classes to go hiking with my Dad and Dan. Wheee!!! We headed up to Apishipa Pass. Of course, it was rainy! In fact, it got worse. Dan and Dad hiked down one trail and I took a shorter hike up to Vista Point. The idea being that you can see for miles. Well, not in the rain. So, I headed back down a trail that was turning into a stream. I found a spot under the trees that was dry and curled up. I read my book and ate my lunch. Bliss!

It was a well deserved break. I really enjoyed my day up in the mountains. We followed it up by being absolute slugs for the next 36 hours. There are times it feels really good to just lounge about, talk and snooze.

Especially as I worked my butt off on classes. English class was difficult in that I wanted to strangle the teacher. I have not been so frustrated in a long time. However, I got an A out of the class.

Then there was Business Math. Lots of tears, frustration, gnashing of teeth and LOTS of help from Dan and Cindy the Math Tutor. Without them I’d have failed miserably. I appreciate their translations of Mathese into English. Best of all, I got an A!!!! Not bad for a 32 year hiatus from Math. To put the icing on the cake, that gave me a 4.0 GPA! I’m on the Dean’s list and the Chancellor’s list. 😛

I took some time this week to finish a pair of socks I’ve been working on for a few months. If I had just knitted solidly, I’d have had them done in about a week. Oh well… they are LOUD!!!

Another milestone today was letting the kittens out of seclusion. We figured that they were finally big enough to survive the dogs. Not that Blanca or Brandy are mean, they are just huge in comparison. They are nearly two months old, and we have actually found homes for three of them. This leaves Squeak and Squeaker.

It was a real three ring circus as the dogs tried to sniff the kittens, etc. Brandy tried to herd them. Blanca bathed them. Fun part is that the kittens wore out the dogs.

Blanca was laying on the couch with her back to the living room. She stretched to wash her tail and the next thing we knew, there was this THUD! that shook the living room as Blanca fell off the couch. She had that sheepish grin on her face like she had meant to do that. Such a Tollpatsch! (klutz)!

Pictures of the hiking trip…

Posted on June 21, 2009 by

Dad finally sent pictures of his trips.

This is Dan up on the first hike. They were looking around for signs of the old Spanish Fort. They later found a spot that they think might have been a lookout post.

Sangre Pass

This is the spot that they think might have been the lookout post.

This is a view of Sheep Mountain to the north of the previous shot. They had a great time hiking in this area.

Looking towards the East Spanish Peak

Teddy Peak (12)

Teddy Peak

Hi Ho, Hi HO, it’s off Hiking they do go!

Posted on June 16, 2009 by

I’m not sure whether to giggle or not. My dad has been feeling the urge to go hiking now that the weather is nice and warm. Walks around the lake and Lathrop park have been nice, but not enough. So, as Dad is 72.5, he’s decided that the ideal thing is to have a hiking buddy. He asked Dan if he’d like to go hiking. You’d think it was a match made in heaven. Dan has been wanting to go hiking. So, when Dad asked Dan, the answer was a resounding YES!.

They went out Saturday for about six hours. About a five mile hike. They took it easy. They left at 7am and Dan was back by about 1:30pm. Exhausted. His comment was that he was A) out of shape and B) “Your Dad walked my legs off!”. I had to laugh. Dad has this stride, once he gets in it, he eats up the miles. I remember as a teen and in good shape, watching him walk the legs off anyone with him. However, Dan had a great time. Dad came by the next morning to pick up a map he’d forgotten and let Dan know that he’d walked the3.5 mile trail at the lake in 54 minutes. Dan smiled although I think he was thinking “shit!” in the back of his mind. They made a date to go out on Tuesday.

Well, Dad picked Dan up at 7am. They headed up to Blue lake. Another 6 mile hike. Dan got home around 3:30pm. Worn out again by Dad. Although, he said Dad was pretty tired too. They had a good time. Discovered that they are pretty well matched. Dad is happy and so is Dan. Dad gets to go out hiking and Dan is getting in better shape and getting to go hiking. I couldn’t help it, I had to tease Dan about being Passepartout to Dad’s Phineas Fogg. He got the joke.

I think it is great.