Meeting new people

On Sunday night we had a lovely dinner at Chris & Pam's house. It was Simon's first time meeting them, their kids Evan & Sam as well as Joanne & Mr. Yuck and Jake & Mandy. We forgot our camera so all photos come curiosity of Joanne.

Chris was his usual over the top self and made a huge paella. As Pam commented Simon's dubious look probably has something to do with the fact that he would fit in the pan.


















Here is a shot of Evan, hamming it up.


















Here is Sam. Do we have this mess to look forward to while feeding Simon in 7 months? She looks so pleased with herself!














Here is a shot of just the boy. He has started playing with his tongue and makes all sorts of funny faces now.

Simon got his swing back!

One of the first things unpacked today was Simon's swing. He had big smiles and coo'd at the mobile as it spun around. He sure is fascinated by the whole apparatus.

On the plane

Here we are ready to take off. Simon did great on the plane, no crying he didn't even seem to notice on take off or landing.

PS) The humidity here is crazy.

Carbondale, Glenwood Springs & Aspen

We spent a day and a half with Rachel.

We went to Glenwood Springs and took Simon on his first gondola ride to the top. Hopefully he will be used to these in the future along with quads, and tow ropes.

From there we had beautiful views of Mt. Sopris. There was also a killer Alpine Slide but no pictures.

Here are Rachel & Simon at the top.

We also went to the Maroon Bells. Here is what they look like on a clear day.

Here is what they looked like on the day we went. Simon didn't seem to care either way but he did get caught in his first snowstorm.

We also drove to Aspen for lunch. What I thought of as Aspen is actually made up of four ski areas including Buttermilk where they host the X Games. Check out the size of the jumps that are still there this late in the year.

The next day we went to the town of Red Stone to see Hay's Creek Falls and the old coke ovens.

We had lunch in the little town and than we left for Denver driving over Independance Pass. The boy was sleeping so we didn't stop at the summit. We've found it is best to let a sleeping baby lie.

New Belgium Brewing

We drove out to Ft Collins today and visited the brewery. For those of you on the east coast who don't know they brew Fat Tire, 1554, & Mothership Wit among other yummy beers. Sadly the tickets for the tour were gone by the time we got here.

The highlight of the tasting for me was the Dandelion Ale. For Simon it was simply a nap.

Salt Lake City to Carbondale, CO

We spent the night in Salt Lake City (we scored the Salt Lake Hilton on Hotwire for $84!)In the morning we hit the Blue Plate Diner for breakfast. Phil and I discovered it several years ago on a ski trip but since than it has been on 'Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives' it's a great local place and very yummy. Joanie had corn cakes and I had a Pork Chile Verde breakfast burrito.



I love the view of the Wastachs from the city.


Leaving SLC we drove towards Provo before hoping on a local highway over the mountains to connect to I-70. There were awesome windmills at the entrance to the canyon. It was an interesting drive across the desert but Simon slept most of the way so we didn't stop.


Once in Carbondale we met up with our friend Rachel. Mt Sopris (12,965 ft) dominates the view in town. This picture came from Rachel's parents front yard.

Boise to Salt Lake City

We are breaking the drive from Boise to Denver into several more manageable chunks for Simon. After the truck left we walked through one more time and left for Salt Lake. On I-84 a few hours outside of Boise is the Malad Gorge. We have driven over a dozen times and never stopped but Simon needed to eat so we made a detour. The gorge is 2.5 miles long and 250 feet deep. It had a pretty impressive flow.


There was also a waterfall leading into the gorge further down the canyon.


Walking back from the vantage point I came across the cutest little cottontail. I couldn't get him to turn his tail to me but I still liked him.



These are the little things that I am going to miss about the West. There are amazing natural phenomenon around every corner.

Bye Boise!

It's amazing to me that what started with two suitcases and an air mattress, ended up being three people, four suitcases, two backpacks, one stroller and one pack & play.

For those of you who don't know we are in the process of moving back to our old house in Columbia, Maryland. It's a temporary setback in our master plan but one we felt was the best option for our family right now. We hope to get back to the West before Simon starts kindergarten.

Here is truck all loaded up. It will offload us on June 15th.


Here are Simon and I as we say goodbye to the only home Simon knows.


We are driving to Denver over the next few days and flying to Maryland from there. We will post pictures of our adventures along the way.

Last Trip to the Flying Pie

One of my favorite pizza places in town. We had the chicken garlic for lunch. Fridays are VW Bus day so there were a bunch in the parking lot. This is my favorite but you can't see the cloth roof.

Moving truck is here

The moving truck has arrived. The guys are tagging boxes and wrapping furniture. They hope to finish by mid afternoon.

Packing Day

We are being packed up today for the move tomorrow. Here is the living room, office and hallway. They have four guys working to get it all done in one day. Tomorrow morning the driver comes to load it on the truck.