austin nana

Monday, August 4, 2014

A little visit from Tamera and Max

We have enjoyed having a few visitors while we are in Durango. Tim and Michelle (our good friends from Denver days) came for the weekend. Then Max and Tamera came in for last week. Thoroughly enjoyed all the visits!

The 'cairn' table on lower Junction Creek trail, this is Max's creation.

Max wanted a better view of the Animas River Valley, so he climbed a tree.

This is MY view from the bottom of the tree looking up the valley behind William.

Mesa Verde

I had no idea that we would get this much elevation at Mesa Verde. A lot like the Rocky Mountain National Park Drive as far as distance in the park. Fascinating history and scenery. We need to go back to hike some of these spots.

Hiking up at Durango Mountain Resort was fun. We did get very wet on the lift on the way down.

Rodeo night was fun! 36 barrel racing cowgirls was a little too much barrel racing, but still, it was a nice cool evening. Made me want to take up horseback riding. Not too late, is it?

Max and Tamera at James Family Ranch. This place is a family run working ranch that sells grass fed beef, veggies and cheese.

We only played one game of Mexican train...Tamera was the winner. again.

My honey in his very favorite t shirt. Looks good in orange, doesn't he?

Colorado has agreed with this guy.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Heaven

I've been re-reading a book by Randy Alcorn, Heaven, that my friend Mary Ann has been talking about. At one point, Randy Alcorn quotes C. S. Lewis:

"We want something else which can hardly be put into words - to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it."

I love that. There are several things in the book that made me pause and reflect, but since I'm in Colorado right now, I'm very much aware of my love of this earth that God has created. I have a deep well that God is filling up by soaking in this place. We've done about 7 hikes now around Durango, each of them beautiful in their own way. We keep saying, "Now, this is our favorite one!"

These pictures are from the hike to the Castle Rock near the Durango Mountain Resort. It was about 5.5 miles and we did it in 4 hours with some good 'rest' breaks. The reason I loved it was it had a lot of variety... a creek, aspen forests, wildflower meadows, an old cabin, incredible views from the top. It's an easy landmark to spot off the highway for miles. We still give each other 'high fives' for doing this hike! This time away has been an amazing time to reconnect with each other and remember how much we love each other. Next year will be 35 years. 35 amazing, hard at times, beautiful, fulfilling, stretching years. Kind of like this hike! And it's a good thing we both LOVE to hike!

I am such a visual person, I wanted at least one blog post that showed places along the hike as signposts or reminders to keep everything in perspective. It was steep and hard going at times, restful and easy at others. It was a trail that was well traveled and we saw several groups of hikers. The oldest ones (at least in their early 70's) beat us up and down the mountain and made all sorts of recommendations for other hikes. There was one family with two teenagers who looked less than thrilled, but the Dad was leading the way with a look that said, "We are in Colorado and we are going to hike this thing. Period." Haha! A couple of women were riding horseback and while their horses had nostrils that were flaring to just try to breathe, they were chatting away the whole way up the mountain!