Saturday, October 11, 2014

Weekend With the Aspens

Visiting the Vail Valley is always a bit of a challenge when driving an RV with a toad attached.  Fortunately, I arrived on Friday afternoon when most folks (and their cars!) were out and about.  I easily snagged a nice parking spot for the RV right in front of the house, but with overnight temps hovering around freezing, my brother’s fiance’ insisted Millie and I stay in the guest room in the house—so, I packed a little duffle bag and away we went for the weekend!

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My wonderful hosts for the weekend, brother Randy and his fiance’ Karen--

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and the obligatory brother and sister shot--

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Randy took Karen and I to a wonderful restaurant on Friday night with panoramic views of aspens on the mountainsides surrounding us.  While I failed to get a pic of the views, I did manage to get a pic of my delicious vegan entrée!

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After a fine meal and good wine, where to next?  To the high school football game, of course!!!

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Karen has two kids in high school and her daughter’s dance team would be performing at half-time.  I don’t think I’d attended a high school football game since I was in high school!!!  But it was a fun evening (even if our team ended up clobbering the poor visiting team with a final score of something like 53-0)!

Humans weren’t the only ones playing and having a fun time.  Millie’s malamute cousin, Shine, was ready to show Millie a fun mountain time too!

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Shine loves to steal toys from other dogs…especially dumb Labradors who are always eager to share their toys with anyone else around them.

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So, as soon as Millie would catch her Frisbee, Shine would be right behind her…

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Ready to snatch up the Frisbee for herself!

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All in good fun, though-- the dogs were pals again soon enough back home!

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In the afternoon, Randy took me on a great backcountry loop tour between Eagle and Basalt that included Sylvan Lake State Park and the Ruedi Reservoir.

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First stop was lovely Sylvan Lake--

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We continued along the road to see New York Mountain covered with a nice layer of snow:

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The road was in good shape most of the way, and just gorgeous!

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Only a few muddy spots!

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Finally, we came down out of the mountains to Ruedi Reservoir just east of Basalt.  It was still warm enough for sailboats to be out on the lake.  What a gorgeous “bluebird” Colorado day!

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Randy and Karen were leaving for vacation the next day, so this visit was a short and sweet one, but now that I’m full-timing in the West for a while, I’m sure we’ll have more opportunities to see each other again soon.  Thanks for the lovely weekend guys!

6 comments:

  1. A beautiful time indeed to be in the mountains!

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  2. Gorgeous views and photos. Thanks.

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  3. Gorgeous trees and mountains. One of my granddaughter moved to Denver I promised her a visit come spring. Maybe late spring since the weather is tricky. Nice family visit

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  4. Such beautiful photos! I have got to see those aspens one day. That vegan presentation is yummy too! I hope Millie didn't give away "George Cooney!"

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  5. Oh thank you for sharing all the lovely fall photos. We left Colorado before the show began so I'm glad I get to see them through your lens!

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