Sangre de Cristos and visit with the Harpers

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Found our way to the Harper’s cabin and made ourselves right at home, enjoying the luxuries of having a roof over our head (flush toilets! shower! oven! bed! heat! etc!). The views out the cabin windows were spectacular, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains covered in forests, snow and spring greens. We stocked up on foods we’d been craving at the local market, particularly things to bake since we can’t bake on the road (fries, brownies, cookies, obviously a healthy array of foods). We met Claire’s dad Len, who warned us to look out for black widows and brown recluse spiders - Kerri’s dream house. I tried to go for a run the next morning, but the 9000’ elevation was definitely slowing me down. Was out in the middle of a field when I saw a flash of lightening. Not the best place to be. The whole way back was uphill. I huffed my way to the nearest tree, then played a game of running to the next high point, as the lightening continued. Made it back to the cabin before the nickel-sized hail storm started! Next day set off for a hike in the mountains surrounding us. Had seen mention of Lake of the Clouds, so we targeted that. Didn’t quite realize how far it was, and that most people drove to a different trailhead. We made it most of the way there (maybe 6-7 miles in) before the weather started to turn and we decided we better turn around. The rain began to come down, and we had fun walking in the rain (a novelty in our San Diego days). On the hike saw deer, Western tanagers, and elk, and lots of tracks in the mud - including what looked like fresh mama and cub tracks, but they eluded us.
Headed up from the cabin to check out Boulder, Rocky Mountain National Park, Fort Collins and Denver - keeping a lookout for places we might want to move next!
We got back to the cabin in time for our visit with Craig, Claire, and Wilson. Wilson was showing off his new vocabulary (favorite word NO, but ‘hi’, ‘bye’, and ‘my bus’ were other favorites). We walked around the meadow near the cabin, toured where Craig and Claire had gotten married. Quite a spot, with the beautiful mountains in the background! Len had us over for a bbq dinner, and we got to meet Claire’s mom and partner and had a big family meal. Len gave us a tour of his eclectic cabin, including the root cellar/torture chamber, which even Craig’s never seen. Sucker! Caught up with Craig once the little guy was in bed, and Claire napped. The next day we left Wilson with grandma and headed up for a hike through the woods. Great walk, though those city folks could only handle 2 hours up before they claimed the altitude was getting to them. Whatever you need to tell yourselves. Collected up Wilson and headed to town for ice cream. Woohoo! Had fun watching Wilson collect dandelions and hand them out to everyone (except Shane, who was helping in the collection process). Played a quick game of bowling, with Craig as the victor. Back to the cabin for another family meal. Craig and Claire enjoyed the perennial family immigration debate, and we all enjoyed some fresh baked cookies, where we tried to keep Craig sharp for his upcoming job interview (including math test) by making 2/3 of the recipe. He was a whiz. Next day explored up to a cabin built by some camps back in the day. Wilson liked exploring everything, and took to kissing the trees. Saw some good birds, including evening grosbeaks and nuthatches. After getting back to the cabin, Craig and Claire decided they should hit the road while Wilson could nap on the way, so we got some farewell kisses from the little guy and saw them off. A fantastic visit.

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