Independence Day Hiking (blog attempt #2)

Great hikes from this weekend!  The first one was with Stefano, Christine, and her roommate Jamie (plus two dogs) and the rest were Christine, Molly, and me.  We camped on the north edge of Dillon Reservoir near Frisco for five days, and I was very happy to take a nice hot shower this afternoon when I got home!

Kite Lake and Lake Emma (July 1):

View Kite Lake and Lake Emma in a larger map

Quandary Peak (July 2 -- didn't quite make the summit since thunderstorms were rolling in early):

View Quandary Peak in a larger map

Crystal Lake (July 3):

View Crystal Lake in a larger map

Old Dillon Reservoir:
 
View Old Dillon Reservoir in a larger map

14 inches and still snowing....

So I'm sure it's been on the news nationally, but Denver got a nice big snowstorm -- we've got 14 inches at the house and it's still snowing a little.  Thankfully it was spread out between Thursday night and Saturday morning, so it wasn't too bad.  I even managed to make it in from Phoenix, though we were quite a bit delayed.

The snow is a little deep for Molly to run around in... She kept having to jump like a gazelle to get clear of it.

We filled up the gap between our driveway and our neighbors house.

Molly likes to stick her head down in the snow to try to sniff under it.

Puerto Vallarta Nov 2011

Just got back from Mexico (for Stefano's best man Barn's wedding)! Great trip!  To see more pictures click on the one below or go to my Picasa page:

Great Plains Zoo

Went to the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls today, since I'm here for the weekend but I don't have to be working.  Pretty neat zoo for such a small city, including some animals I don't get to see at the Denver Zoo, such as wallabies and guanacos (which are the non-domesticated versions of llamas).  They're also connected with the Delbridge Natural History Museum, which is "a one-in-the-world collection of 150 mounted animals including 36 vanishing species" (from http://www.gpzoo.org/).  It was originally the private collection of an avid hunter through the 1940s-1970s, and after his death it was purchased by a zoo supporter and donated to the zoo.


Some highlights from the visit below, and all the pictures are up on my Picasa page.

Can I keep him?

Guanacos

Wallaby