Grand Canyon: the last day of 2016

We swam away New Year's Eve 2015 a at a beautiful nugget of a hotel in Bluff, Arizona.   We very much considered another stay in Bluff this year but instead opted to wake up at the rim of the Grand Canyon.  New Year's Eve morning started with a blanket of snow.

We took a snowy walk from the Visitor's Center to the Hopi House.  Snowballs were thrown.

And then we sloshed through the red mud and fog on Bright Angel Trail.

Like in Canyonlands, we jealously cheered backpackers working hard to climb out from their overnight down in the canyon.  And, not surprising considering the moisture, we heard rocks tumbling down in the not too far distance, sometimes above us.  A nice reminder about our real size in this enormous canyon on this even bigger Earth.

Arches: Park Avenue

We checked out of our cabin under the castles and took a morning stroll down Park Avenue, past The Organ and Three Gossips, to the Courthouse.  

About a quarter mile from the parking lot, we found ourselves alone below the giant rock formations and deep, deep blue sky.

Of all the rock formations in Arches, this was my favorite.  I could have walked and walked out into the sagebrush sea to discover whatever lies below the far away cliffs.

Now how to capture this feeling?

Canyonlands

The drive out to the Islands in the Sky section of Canyonlands is breathtaking.  We passed through canyons of red rock castles, ascended to the top of a vast plateau and, when we thought we could be awed no more, we were introduced to the vast depths of the canyon lands.

View from the Island in the Sky Visitor's Center

On December 29th, the Visitor's Center was closed, including the restroom.  We tossed out hopes of another Junior Ranger Badge and set out for a canyonside picnic instead.

Hiking along the flat plateau is warm and pleasant in the middle of Utah winter and the view from our self-selected picnic area at the end of the Holman Spring trail was not too bad!

We jealously watched backpackers descend the trail into the canyon. Alas, no backpacking for us on this trip.

I am not a fan of heights and the shear thousand foot drop below the Grand View Point trail tested my zen. Breathe!

Wow!  Grand View...truly deserving of the name.

Arches: Delicate and Landscape

We defrosted after waking up to an electricity-free winter morning in our otherwise comfy cabin.  First stop: junior ranger books at the Arches National Park visitor's center.  Arches is a small and busy park but, as usual, wonder embraced us as we entered.  How could we live so (relatively) close to this place and only see it now?

Next stop: Delicate Arch.  We parked when the trailhead lot was about half full and by the time we returned the parking lot was full. The delicate arch trail starts flat and hilly, moving through rocks and washes but quickly ascends over slick rock and around the side of a rock face which was snowy and slippery but doable in late December. There were many people resting along the ledge of the bowl, waiting to take their turn photographing themselves inside of the arch. 

We explored the bowl, took our picture and headed back, stopping to take a closer look at the layer upon layer of million year old sand.

After Delicate Arch, we continued down the road past Fiery Furnace (making a note to join a tour of the maze next time) and parked at Devil's Garden for an evening walk out to landscape arch.

This was a very slippery trail.  We crawled and slipped and fell but it was worth it to see this thin but massive arch!

At the brink of a small 20 ft decline, people without traction devices, including us, were sitting on their butts and sliding down.  The kids loved this and me, not so much. We made it back just before dark and headed into town for a late dinner. Moab is a hoppin' place during winter break!  After waiting in line at two other places, we ended up happy, with a beer in hand, at Moab Brewery.    

Utah: Castle Valley

Adventure is in the eye of the beholder and the more time we spend away from home (whether it's skiing, a workation, road trips or just walking around a new place), the the more I love it. Fortunately, the rest of the crew is with me and almost as anxious to go as I am!

  The question for this winter break: to ski or not to ski. Life is good when this is your choice but after a lot of research on lodging costs and options, skiing wasn't really an option at all. Ha!  Skiing it would not be.  Instead we opted to head southwest to Utah with a possible New Year's Day repeat at the Grand Canyon.

 Colorado snow storms this winter have been enormous and fast.  By winter break, most roads across the state had been shut down at least once, sometimes all at the same time, making it nearly impossible to leave the state through any Western portal.  We watched the weather closely and opted to launch on Tuesday after Christmas.  

Utah Highway 128 was dark and curvy until we turned a corner and were welcomed by a long gateway of lights.  This was it: our base-camp (cabin) surrounded by castles, Red Cliffs Lodge.  After a cold night in the cabin we woke up to this...

...and a power outage which meant coats inside and outside the cabin.  But, thanks to a generator, we still had hot coffee and a light breakfast in the Lodge.  Who needs electricity to play?

I don't think we could have hoped for a better base-camp.

ski season: Steamboat

We prayed for snow and mother nature delivered (more about that later)!  Our first try at ski season was a bust in Winter Park.  This time we headed to Steamboat and were rewarded with an excellent early season base and a bonus 6 inches of new pow over night.

Ragnar's 

plenty of new snow 

coated

Kris had to catch a call at the top of the mountain. We didn't mind taking a few more runs while he finished up.  Now that's work-life balance!

Four Points

thank you, Steamboat for a better start to the season!

Denver Center for Performing Arts

We are so lucky to have a performing arts Center in Denver.  When the kids were babies we bought an annual membership.  Not only did our membership satisfy our need for live music but it also meant pre-planned, no-excuses, date nights each month.  We don't have our membership anymore but  the kids are older and we make it a priority to take them a few times each year.

This year we went with grandparents and cousins to see "A Colorado Christmas" which included performances by the Colorado Symphony and Chorus and the Children's Choral.  

Last year we went to see A Christmas Carol and walked out to beautiful, wafting snowflakes.  Nothing is better for holiday spirit than A Christmas Carol and snow in the city.  This year we had nice, dry weather.

The complex was built when I was a kid in Denver. It's holding up!

Tucker studied Lincoln last year.  Since then, they have had a special relationship.

You can even send your Christmas wish list to Santa from Boettcher Concert Hall!