Category Archives: Trips

A week of fundraisers and now relaxation

This is my view as I write this post

We are in Cancun now, but the last two weeks in Austin were very busy.  We first started with the Safe fundraiser (merger of Safe Place and the Childrens’ shelter).  Our friend Ann was getting an award so were were her guest.

The following Friday was the Literacy Coalition’s annual fundraiser, Reading Between the Wines.  I was the board chair for the event so it was a bit stressful but the event went off very well.  We raised a lot of money and one of my students was able to give a short speech on how the programs have helped her.

Also, our CEO is moving on so the board presented her with a going away present.  The picture below that is the entire board.

Here’s Tracy chatting with our neighbors, Ryan and Katie.

Just two days later, we were are the Planned Parenthood dinner.  Tracy and I always buy a table and we thought that it would be fun to take Preston.  Here we are all dressed up for the evening.

The next morning we left for Mexico.  We are in Cancun trying out a new resort.  So far, so good.  We walked around yesterday.  Here’s Tracy in the surf in front of the resort.

I thought this gull with it’s feathers all messy looked like our dog Izzy.

We walked to the end of the point and posed for a few pictures.

A couple days on Vinalhaven

After sailing, we walked from the schooner dock to the ferry dock and went to North Haven Island.  We were met on the dock by our friends’ Chris, Jenn, and their boys.  We then took their boat a very short trip across the thoroughfare to their family home.  The picture below is actually taken when we went through the thoroughfare from the Ladona.

Here is Chris is island gardening gear.

Both of the boys

We spent the next day hiking around the island.

The evenings were spent on the porch of the house.

Sailing in Maine

We spent 4 days sailing on the Schooner Ladona in Maine.   The schooner was originally built in 1922, but two years ago was totally rebuilt with all the modern conveniences – there is hot and cold running water in each cabin, 3 heads, and even 2 modern showers.  The meals were wonderful and the weather fantastic.  We were under sail for all 3 days – the only times there engine ran were for coming and going to the dock.

We had a lobster bake on the beach.

The sunset was beautiful every night.

Hardrock 100

Preston and I drove to Silverton, CO to watch some of the Austin runners participate in the Hardrock 100 trail race.  The race does a giant circle through the mining towns in the San Juan’s.

We also went exploring on the course.  We hiked up to Island Lake to the pass the course goes over.

The following day, Preston and I hiked up to an old mine on the Bear Creek trail.  The race goes close to hear through a different canyon, with similar drop offs.

 

A couple of days road trip over Spring Break

Since Preston is able to drive now, we decided to load up my new truck and take a small road trip.  He drove the whole way.  We started with a drive to Colorado Bend State Park.  It’s about 2.5 hours away and is a large area on the Colorado River.

We ended up mountain biking some intermediate trails for 3 hours.  We were sore, tired, and hungry when we were finished.  Here’s a view from Strava and a couple of pictures in front of Gorman Falls in the park.

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That night we stayed in Lampasas, Texas in a small hotel.  We had a nice dinner, watched basketball, and fell asleep to a movie.  The next day we drove to Pedernales State Park.   Traffic was backed up almost a mile outside of the gate.  We made a game time call and went to Walnut Creek Park in Austin instead.  We’ve ridden there many times, but the trails weave all directions so we always get lost.  Our sore bodies only lasted 6 miles before we called it a day.

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Back to Mexico

We headed back to Mexico for a week.  This time we stayed on Isla Mujeres, which is a small island East of Cancun.  After a 30 minute taxi to the ferry terminal, it’s just 8 miles to the island.  It’s a small island – about 1 mile wide and 10 miles long.

This is an evening and morning view from our balcony.

Everyday was the same.  We’d head out for a walk to somewhere on the island early  morning.  Some days we’d go 4 miles, some days 8 miles…. we didn’t have a time schedule.  The picture below is a bar at the southern tip.

These are from the Eastern shore.

This is up the peninsula….  Tracy is a stray dog magnet.

This is the front door of a house close to town.

Every afternoon was spent on the beach or by the pool.  Eating lots of food and drinking nice cocktails.

 

One afternoon while the lady next to us napped; a large iguana jumped up between her legs.  We quietly woke her up and suggested that she crawl forward off her lounge, but not before I got the camera out.  My mom would have loved to have been there 🙂

 

Here’s Tracy a few minutes later feeding him.  Every day he sat on the back of the same lounge.  I guess he felt it was reserved for him.

We ate outside every night – not a bit of rain.  After dinner, we’d lounge around and enjoy the sunset, play pool, or participate in the evening entertainment.

 

  

Short trip to Tampa

We went to Tampa over the weekend to attend a memorial for Tracy’s mom’s boyfriend.  It was a nice service and great to spend time with Michael and Jennifer.

We had an hour to kill before Jennifer’s flight came in so we went to a park next to the bay.

Before flying out, we went back to the park.  It was a warm and sunny day.

When we got back, Izzy needed some sun also.

A relaxing day around Leadville

It was nice waking up without having to put in miles.  I still woke up extremely early, but rather than packing up a tent, I made coffee and caught up on the news.  We had a relaxing morning but headed to Mt Elbert Trailhead around 9am.  We climbed to 12,000ft, just above tree line and stopped there since there was a storm coming in later in the afternoon.

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After heading home to clean up, we headed to the new brewery in town and met my friend Mark and his girlfriend Danielle .  He’s running the race also.   The rain came later and the temperature drooped about 15 degrees so we spent a few hours at the brewery.

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The Leadville greeter, James, was there also.  He’s an interesting guy.

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On the way home, we got a look the mountains and all of them had a fresh dusting of snow.

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