Family time in Florida

Tis the season … for family, friends, music and fun. Here Mom and John rock out. Other activities include the annual cookie bake.

Mother's cookies are favorites in the hood, our neighbors and the condo handymen are the lucky beneficiaries. Kat and I have been placed on a diet. We are exploring new low cal vegetarian cooking. Today however we splurged with crab cakes and mussels.

 There's time for a daily swim at the condo pool and morning yoga classes on the beach.

The Venice beaches are close by and less crowded then most Florida beaches.

The Bradenton Blues festival provided a fun day of music and concluded with a performance by Shemieka Copeland. Other groups included Johnny Rawls, Eddie Shaw and the Wolfgang and Trampled Underfoot.

It was Florida at its best with temps in the 80s... almost too hot.

Warm water & white sand - Exuma Islands 11/12 - 22

It feels a bit like coming home. The Exumas have been our fall retreat for five years now. We consider other plans but find ourself drawn to the warmth and beauty of the area and to another adventure with our friends Steve and Rhonda.

This year it's a 8 day kayak camping trip in the Brigantine Island area. We based on this beach. Each day we headed out to explore a new area via kayak or snorkel.

Never know what you might find… Always one for recycling Kat found a new sign for our office. 

We had a nice mix of paddling and kayak sailing. 

As always the food was wonderful … Here Ronda teaches us to make real southern biscuits. 

The girls even got a little beach time between adventures. Apparently this pool had the perfect sand for scrubbing feet. 

 On our last day we tried out a new property that Steve and Rhonda are considering using for their lodge based trips. Pretty sweet place.

Timing is everything - Salida, Co 11/6 - 8

Good fortunate has smiled upon us again.

It could of happened at Cedar Mesa or in the Yukon but our fuel pump waited until we were two blocks from friends and great music to die. Our goal had been to meet our new friends Rick and Donna at the Roadhouse Bar in Buena Vista for open mic night. The tow truck driver gave us a lift and we arrived at the bar in a unique but fitting style. The Roadhouse building used to house the state road shop…

Tonight it housed musicians.  We rocked our car blues away. Didn't take long to forget the loss of our home on wheels. With good music and friends we settled into the Salida area while the Explorer got repaired. 

 From Salida we headed to Boulder to drop the car at Fowlers and catch a flight to Florida. This involved some repacking of clothing and gear. Rick serenaded us as we packed in his driveway. Packing doesn't get any better then this. 

Our luck continued with our time in Boulder with Barb, Jack, Tom and a big dog named Norm. The Fowlers sent us off in style . It was great to hike the property with Jack, healthy after a car accident. We're now Florida and the Bahamas bound. 

Waterfalls and red rock 11/2-5

Highway 12 leads us from canyon to mountain top with great stops along the way. The little Calf Creek hike was awesome warming us up after a chilly night.

A side trip down  the Burr trail lead to another cool slot canyon.

Arches and Moab provided us with good Utah send off. 

Into Colorado and back onto time with a trip to Mesa Verde National Park.

From here it was a quick trip to Durango. Pam and her husband Tom provided us with one of our best meals of the trip home cooked antipasto and pasta. A musical hike along the San Juan River helped work off the feast.

Deer Springs Ranch 10/29 - 11/1

A rainy night had us wondering if we'd be able to negotiate the red clay road to Tim and Michelle's Utah property. We made it and ended up having an excellent three days settling into a cozy cabin, meeting Tim's dad Will and Pat, hiking the property and checking out the surrounding area.

Lick Wash was far more spectacular then the name would imply. It was an interesting mix of canyon country and ponderosa pine. 

Good fun with friends in an engaging place.

Red rock and ancient civilizations -10/25 - 28

Dave Taylor welcomed us back to Utah with a comfy bed, great meal at the Red Iguana, and a fun slide show of the possibilities awaiting Kat and I in southern Utah. Dave has spent a bunch of time over the last 10 years checking out remote little visited Anasazi sites. Armed with maps and our trusty 4 wheel drive Explorer we headed south to Cedar Mesa. 

This turned out to be a great call. After a long drive and a bit of 4 wheeling we found ourselves overlooking a canyon full of ancient sites. Better yet the other two camps on the bluff turned out to be great neighbors, (unlike the boy scout troop we had next to us the night before in Goblin valley). On one side we had Pam who had spent 20 years exploing the area and on the other side was Rick and Donna, recent transplants from  Soldotna AK who had just moved to Salida CO. We spent the day hiking and the evening chatting as Rick played the Guitar. 

Kat got her first taste of playing on the slick rock as some of the sites were in exposed places and required careful climbing. 

We're now in Kanab where we hope to connect with Alaskan friends Tim and Michelle and Mark and Ann tomorrow. The fun continues. 

Re-entry - Sandpoint, Yellowstone and Grand Teton

We crossed into Idaho and connected with  long time friend Karen Duchow. She is a fellow wonderer. Her wondering are a little more upscale with a Mercedes Van but we're only a little envious. Karen's brother is a long time Sandpoint resident . We spent an enjoyable evening and morning with Karen and Kay.

The next day we were off for Yellowstone where we spent two days exploring the nearly deserted Park. Lots of cool geothermal stuff... geysers, hot springs, mud pots, bubbling lakes. This is a fun spot for photography... so heres a few geo inspired images from the Park. 

Yellowstone also offers lots of animal life. We saw lots of elk, bison, a fox and some wolves (at a distance).

Grand Teton was our next destination. We got there in time for a hike around Jenny lake 

So much to see ....

Urban hike in Nelson BC 10/18 -19

With the car parked at the Alpine Inn we spent the day exploring Nelson on foot. I've always been fond of Canadians and have enjoyed my experiences when traveling in Canada. On this trip I've been impressed with the Canadian Parks (facilities much nicer then AK parks and our National Parks) and with the people. The communities seem like stepping back in time with an emphasis on quality of life for people rather then things. Homes are smaller and tidy. The Nelson community had a great trail system surrounding the town.

They even had a lakefront park with functional exercise equipment. Kat and I stopped to work off our Indian lunch. The path we choose was suggested by a knowledgable person at there info center and turned into quite the hike. We toured downtown then the lakeside and completed our loop on a hillside trail above town. Along the way we found a great bookstore and some friendly people.

We finished the day off with some dancing to an excellent jazz/jam band. It was a fun car free day in a very cool community.

Fall in BC 10/16 &17

It feels like a real fall here. Lots of color. We camped at Whiteswan Lake Provincial Park and visited the Lussier Hot Springs. It's the most natural hot springs we've visited.

Kat and I were amazed by the variety of organically grown squash and peppers. These vegetables were the last to harvest. The Creston area is the breadbasket for BC. Mountains, hot springs, big trees, friendly people and now great vegetables. I think I'm liking this place. 

Good  hiking too. 

Birthday Girl 10/15

The Birthday Girl hiking the Johnson Falls trail near Banff. Its been a fun couple of days exploring the country around Jasper and Banff. We had thought about trucking through to warmer weather but we were drawn in by exceptional scenery, friendly people and some amazing food.

Its been great to get out of the car and stretch our legs. We've spent the last two days doing multiple short hikes (so many places so little time) followed by gourmet meals. I didn't expect great food in Canada and at least in Banff and Jasper we've been treated to some gourmet surprises. I had a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant named Nourish in Banff that set new standards. Kat has also been making friends with the locals. 

Tonight we're in Radium Hot Springs where we have opted for a motel after our dip at the springs. The Explorer has been a bit chilly the last couple of morning so we're enjoying the luxury of a warm room for Kat's birthday.