Tag Archives: hiking

Colorado Family Vacation Day 3: Kayaking + She Thought I Was Lost

08/20/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Day 3 of our stay with Nana and Papa in Colorado had us constantly going. No, not like that, I was trying to make a play on words since this is the Going Dad blog. Oh, did you already get that? Anyway…..

Kayaking was on the agenda for my wife and I while Nana and Cousin Ashlee took Avery to the playground at the Silverthorne Recreation Center. Like practically everything in Colorado, it’s a beautiful area with everything well maintained. But first things first, we needed coffee!

Kelley and I made the 2.5 mile walk from their house to Red Buffalo Cafe to enjoy a good brew by the Blue River. Along the way, we had to stop while crossing a bridge for an obligatory couples selfie.

I’ve been on a cold brew coffee kick for a while, and loved Red Buffalo’s high octane drink that steeped for 18 hours. Kelley got their house brew, and as an official taste tester of all things pure coffee, I confirmed it was good too! Then I was lucky enough to get to enjoy the coffee with this beautiful smiling lady next to the flowing river.

That damn old couple took the better bench while watching that fly fisherman, so we had to make due further back. But no worries, Nana soon arrived with Ashlee and Avery to pick us up and drive us to the neighboring town of Frisco for kayaking. Withing 10 minutes, Kathy (Nana) dropped us off at the Frisco Bay Marina where we agreed to meet her back in two hours.

The kayak rentals were for 2 or 3 hours, and we figured 2 would be plenty for us. We made it romantic and rented a tandem kayak so I could be the motor and take my wife along the lake while pretending it was a gondola.

Kelley insisted on helping out with the paddling and she did, but I ended up getting soaked with each stroke she took. We eventually found a rhythm, but then lost it again. Meh, we had a good time together and found 2 hours on the water was actually a lot longer than expected!

Our arms were getting a good workout in, and we only paused to take pictures (obviously) which included a great selfie shot by Going Mom.

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We passed the time just chatting about random things and enjoying the surrounding views of mountains, eagles, osprey, jumping fish, and some middle school kid running in shorts and a football helmet.

While we were out navigating the ~~torrential~~ mildly choppy waters in our tandem vessel, Avery was living it up on the playground with Nana and Ashlee.

Okay, so not the most thrilled look on either of their faces, but I heard they had a blast! Nana even took a selfie, something Avery is no stranger to!

Yeah, still not impressed I guess. She did do something I haven’t been able to get her to do yet which is walk along the equipment that’s raised above the ground.

Still a little cautious, but Ashlee helped support her, and those Soft Star Shoes provide plenty of confidence in her movement. I think after getting back down to ground level on the speckled turf, Avery was getting over her seriousness.

Ohhh, and there it is, the swings helped push her to finally crack a smile!

She just wanted her own swing. Guess we have some work to do about sharing. Back to my wife and I on the lake, we waited for the girls to finish playing and pick us back up by, you guessed it, getting coffee! More cold brew and several trips to pee later, and we were back at Nana and Papa’s home.

Avery was also back to her grump-face, so Kelley tried reading to her. The dog, Olivia, apparently enjoys story time too.

Everyone read a lot of books to Avery throughout the day to keep her happy. I am confident Cousin Ashlee is still reading the books without even looking at them.

After refueling, Kelley got Avery down for a nap and we were back at it to tackle the 4 mile trail loop we heard of the day before. Not wanting to waste precious nap-time…errr…time, we hurried out the door after quickly getting the O-K from Nana and Papa who would need to be there if Avery woke up.

Once more, we were on the trail taking the opposite way from what we did the prior day. The sights, sounds, and company were pleasing to the senses and we stopped only a few times to take selfies with Kelley’s phone. Then it died.

I didn’t have my phone, so we were slightly concerned that someone would try to contact us and wouldn’t be able to. But that didn’t stop us, we had a loop to conquer! I took the lead and Kelley bravely followed along.

We came across a few signs on our hike which gave us options for different paths. Sometimes, options suck! Either way, I went with a little instinct and little hopefulness for each direction I chose. Eventually, everything turned quiet, and you couldn’t even hear the rushing of the used-to-be-near-us water stream. That’s when Kelley’s nervousness could be felt through the air as she kept asking if I knew where we were.

I just kept saying yes and not to worry. Secretly I was just a tad bit worried myself, but I would never let it show. As we trudged through an unfamiliar, very narrow and muddy path, Kelley raised the question again asking if I knew where we were. Trying to remain confident in my voice, I just reassured her all was good.

Finally, we came across another directional path with a sign that had a familiar name to one of the trails! We took it and eventually started to recognize our surroundings. At the same time, we both noticed the tree I had just climbed the day before and scratched myself up really good.

From there, we carried on until we were back out at the trail head where we started. We hurried the rest of the way home fearful that Avery had been awake for the 2.5 hours we were gone and was a raging terror for the family. Turns out, she was still sleeping!

So much for that worried hike! Despite getting lost, or so my wife says, I had fun taking a long trail hike together and soaking up the thin mountain air. It was a long, non-stop day, but I’d say everyone had a great time.

The rest of the day was spent resting and getting ready for another fun day, including visiting the Breckenridge Distillery!

Life, Parenting

Colorado Family Vacation Day 2.2: Hiking Addiction

08/19/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

When in Colorado, I have to get out on a trail at least once a day. The area is too beautiful not to take advantage and get outdoors in the wilderness.

Lucky for me, Going Mom feels the same way. The other half of our second day in Colorado, after returning from the Vail Farmers’ Market, we took off to the trails in Nana and Papa’s mountainous neighborhood. I’m forever grateful to Nana, Papa, and Cousin Ashlee for happily keeping Avery and playing with her while my wife and I enjoyed several outings alone.

Kelley and I walked the half mile from the house to get to the trail head and set off taking one of two directions presented to us. When I went alone the day before, I took the opposite path we chose this day just to see what was different. Silly wife, she looked to me for direction as she took awesome photos, so I did the best I could to be act confident that I knew where we were going.

Note to self: Remember this tree... — Note to self: Remember this tree…

I look confident, right?

We trekked through the lush plant-life trying to take in the scenery while simultaneously not tripping over the rock-littered path. We failed at that, by the way, and lost count at how many times we stumbled. I think that’s just a part of trail hiking though. Or is it clumsiness?

Kelley was in awe of the trees, and took many pictures trying to capture their wonder….

…..while I just scalee their trunks.

Getting down was a little painful though. I still have long scratches on my belly, shins, and all the way down my left calf from hugging the trunk and sliding to get down.

That pic is from the next day. Don’t worry, the trees and I quickly made up since I never should’ve climbed on them in the first place.

Of course, I had to be “cool” and throw one of their fallen compadres. Well, after posing long enough for Kelley to snap a pic of me and all of my coolness.

We were having fun hiking through the varied terrain and checking everything out, but knew we couldn’t go on forever since we did have a kid to get back to. So naturally, we kept going and even stopped a stream to pose for pictures.

The flowing water was so clear and probably better to drink than most city water. So I did….

I even talked Kelley into taking a sip from the icy stream. We later read a warning sign saying only to drink water from purified sources. Oops! Well, we’re still standing today, so I guess that was a purified source.

As it got later, I urged us to push on just a little further. Kelley protested a little, but agreed to continue along the path. We hit a steep incline that I saw as a challenge to run to the top. I wanted to put my Soft Star Shoes Dash RunAmoc’s with a trail sole to the test anyway.

The shoes were already performing great across all types of terrain, and they never let me down as I went up.

I’ve been wearing these shoes for a while and use them when lifting in the garage, running outside, and now, hiking outdoors. The perfect for any activity!

I tried to keep quiet and just continue our hike, but Going Mom finally talked some sense into me to turn around and get back to the family. I’ll admit, when it comes to being on the trail, it’s hard to stop. You tell yourself just a little more, but a little more turns into another hour, and then another hour…..much like an addiction to drugs, only much healthier. That is, unless you get eaten by a bear or something….

Speaking of eating, we saw many mushrooms I was tempted to try, but thought better of it since I have no clue about wild mushrooms when they’re actually in the wild. But man, these little guys emerging from a hole in the ground were begging me to try.

But I passed on the delectable fungi and started making the way back with Kelley. Our backtracking journey was obviously faster than when we went out, so figured we would stop another hiker to ask to take our picture. The hiker, originally from Dallas, was happy to oblige and did a good job at pushing that shiny silver button.

She even told us about a 4 mile loop we could hike which was part of the trail we were on. The wheels in my head were already turning, and Kelley knew we’d be returning to complete the loop very soon.

By soon, I mean the next day, after our 2.5 mile walk along the Blue River for coffee at Red Buffalo Cafe. But that completes day two of our vacation. Making the 4 mile hike had Kelley feeling lost for a while, I swear, I knew where I was going the whole time. 🙂

Do you love hiking?

Ever feel like you can’t turn around and have to keep progressing forward on the trail?

Have you tried a wild mushroom not in stores before?

Life, Parenting

Colorado Family Vacation Day 1: Her First Flight

08/16/2015 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

There are many things I could tell you about each day of our family vacation, but that would a) take forever, b) probably bore most of you, and c) I just don’t want to.

Day 1 of our trip to visit Nana and Papa in Colorado was mostly spent just getting there. Early in the morning, after running around for last minute packing and Avery rolling around in crib NOT sleeping (we tried to tell her she had to get up in a few hours), we were at the airport thanks to a good work friend dropping us off.

babywearing, ergo, baby carrier — Can we check this?

Wearing your baby/toddler is a huge help when lugging luggage around the airport. Until, that is, they realize they had little sleep and get really cranky. Yeah, she started crying out loud while in the security line, but once on the other side, I let her down and she happily ran amok. Meanwhile, Going Mom and I sucked down black coffee at the expense of burning our tongues.

We would’ve loved to charter a private jet through Jettly since I made it clear how nervous I was about Avery’s first time flying, but she did surprisingly well on the plane as we made the 90 minute flight to Colorado. Don’t get me wrong, she was still crazy and sitting still was never an option, but she really didn’t fuss/cry as I expected. She did kick the chair in front of her and Kelley a lot, but it was just another kid, so….meh.

Despite the better-than-expected first flight, our arms were still tired (see what I did there?), but not from flying as much as from holding down our toddler. We swear she seems to have hit another major growth spurt making it that much more difficult. But nothing can keep us from a family selfie after landing to celebrate her first complete flight.

Notice our wide eyes and forced smiles. We obviously had stress, lack of sleep, coffee (I had to pee a lot), and parents to a toddler all over our face! Of course Avery had nothing to do with the picture, but she too had a lack of sleep despite our pleas to take a nap.

Kelley’s dad, Papa, met us at the airport to bring us to their beautiful home 2 hours away. Two hours turned into to more than 3 after searching for a place to eat (we wanted Snooze, but it had a 90 minute wait which was not an option for us) and sitting through the never-ending traffic of people heading to the mountains for the weekend. At least this gave Avery time for a quick nap in the car.

When we finally arrived in Silverthorne, I was anxious to get out and explore. I haven’t had to sit for so long in years, and my legs were in need of a good stretch. We unpacked and took in the lush scenery of mountains surrounding Nana and Papa’s home as Avery made use of their stairs.

We don’t have stairs in our house, and she’s only used them a handful of times, so these things were the place to go for a rambunctious kid. I soon found that after Steve/Papa told me about a nearby trail, it turned out to be my “stairs” while there.

After getting the okay from my wife, I took off to explore and fill my need to move. I was tired, weak, and hungry, but couldn’t rest until getting my heart rate up and running a bit. My first trip to the trail only lasted about 45 minutes, but it was bliss. I found a large boulder to climb where I did 2 rounds of 100 squats and 50 push-ups while staring out at the mountains and surrounding trees.

Back at the house, the rest of the family hung around outside while Avery, still with little sleep, continuously explored her new environment.

On the upstairs balcony, Avery tried out one of the chairs as she flashed her pretty blue eyes at Papa’s camera. Naturally, those eyes and her overall adorableness, Nana had to come in for some cuddles.

There were plenty more over the course of our stay, and I know Avery enjoyed every bit of it. But, for whatever reason, she did not enjoy sleeping that night! We rented a crib locally (such an awesome idea!), and had it in the room we were sleeping in.

Kelley nursed her to sleep like she always does and laid her in her crib. We were certain she’d sleep great after such a long day, but not long after, Avery woke up screaming. Crap. After trying everything under the ~~sun~~ moon for over an hour, Avery ended up co-sleeping with us.