Home!

We're home!  We took the slow method this time, stopping when Kate got really fussy and even visiting a national park along the way.  Once the laundry is done and I've had a real sleep, I'll download photos and post about our adventures.

Right now, it's time for a cup of tea.

Heading back to Texas

Hello?  Anybody out there?  Or have you all stopped bothering to check for new posts?   I would understand if you did.

We're in Toronto tonight and tomorrow we'll head for the border and start the long drive back to Texas.  We're planning to do it over a few days this time.  We're starting with a stop before the border, in Fonthill to visit my mum's grave. I haven't been there to see the headstone, and I'm very compelled to stop.  From there we'll head across the border at Buffalo and stop at the Anchor Bar for chicken wings.  Hopefully we'll make it down to West Virginia before stopping for the day.

Regular posting will resume when we are back to Austin.

Alive and in Canada

Sorry for the sudden stoppage in posting.  We had a great time in Telluride and then immediately got in the car and drove straight though (27 hours) to canada.  We're now at the cottage and only have internet connections when we come into the library in town.

We're having a great, relaxing time. Kate is crawling everywhere and is becoming very good at pulling up to stand as well.  She may well be walking by the time we make it home to Austin.

Hope everyone had a great Canada Day!

Tuesday in Telluride

Yesterday morning Kate and I went for a walk through town and did a bit of shopping. Then we went to the great town park to play on the swings. The park is great - pool, tennis courts, skate park, big playground, kid's fishing pond, baseball fields, etc. etc. Kate really likes swings, so we hung out there for awhile before heading home for nap time.

After nap and lunch, the three of us went for a hike on the other side of the valley.

Looking towards the bottom of the valley and Bridal Veil Falls:

Yesterday the bike tour of Colorado rolled into town with 2000 riders.  Some of them were camping at the school:

We hiked up away and then stopped for some mucking about. Kate loves to muck about and really enjoyed playing in the mud.
Today I rented a bike and a bike trailer, so this afternoon I'm going to go riding while Graeme takes Kate for a hike.  Yay!

Monday in Telluride

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, so now I'm a day behind. I'll try to get caught up today.

On Monday, Graeme went to his conference and Kate and I went and got groceries in town.  We made it back to the condo just before the daily rainstorm.  Kate had a good nap and then after Graeme got back from lunch, we went for a hike up to Bear Creek Falls.  It's a good first day hike since it's pretty gradual. It's a good way to get acclimatized to the elevation.



A view of the falls:


At the turn around point:

Milestone

Kate just crawled across the living room.  Let the craziness begin.

In Telluride

We arrived in Telluride yesterday just before noon. The town was still chock full of bluegrass festival goers, which made the scene even more hippy than usual. We found out that our condo (condo!) wasn't cleaned yet, so we parked the car and headed to the pizza place for a bit of lunch. While we were sitting on their porch, the lightening and thunder started and before long the skies opened up. It wasn't rain, but it wasn't hail. It was big clumps of really wet snow that melted within a few seconds of hitting the ground. I hadn't seen anything quite like that before.

Post lunch, we stopped at the grocery store for a few supplies before heading back to the condo. (Condo!) Last year when we were here we had hotel room right near the base of the gondola. The location was great, but the room was nothing to blog about. But the condo! is great. Two bedrooms on the lower floor and then the living room/kitchen/dining room on the top floor. And a baby gate already installed at the top of the stairs. It's really nice. Not so close to everything, but there is a nice path along the river to take to get to everything.



After hanging out for a few hours in the condo, we headed back toward the center of things. I wanted to go to the library to try to find some knitting patterns. (the ones I brought aren't quite right for the yarn I brought. Ooops.) The library is new and quite lovely and had a very large selection of knitting books. I photocopied a bunch of patterns and we headed back to main street to hear a bit of the music. We sat in the grass and did some dancing before deciding on an early dinner at the brew pub.

(view from the kitchen window)


Kate headed to bed around 8:30 and Graeme and I enjoyed hanging out in the living room. But then came the worst night ever. I was up with Kate at 10:30, 12:30, 1:30, 3, 4, 5. At 5:15 I sent Graeme in to snuggle with her. At 5:30 I went back in and spent the rest of the night (til 8:30) sleeping with her. At 5:30 I gave her some tylenol because she was crying as if something was definitely wrong (not just tired) and I thought she might have a headache from the altitude. I think now that she might have been cold on her own as well. We will try to make her warmer tonight and see what happens. Unfortunately, she's gotten used to me sleeping with her for the early morning hours since that has happened the past few nights. Not a good habit.

She is now playing on the carpet with her books and eating some Cherios, acting as though nothing happened. While I feel like the living dead.

But here is a view from our front door: