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

Road Trippin

Howdy from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  As I pulled into the hotel parking lot I rolled the rental car odometer over 5129 miles, and I picked it up on Monday at 4128 miles.  Yeesh.  1001 miles already.

Thankfully I'm here a week plus two weekends -- until Halloween.  I was in the black hills and then the center of the state for a gravel roads research project this past week, and I have a project here in Sioux Falls next week.  Then I have one more gravel roads site to inspect at the beginning of November and I get to go home!  Of course, at that point, there will be a 12-13 hour drive standing between me and Denver, but Stefano will be home waiting for me so it'll totally be worth it.  Yep, we're both going to be home.  At the same time.  It's like magic.  Molly might just die from happiness.

What's worse than driving through extremely rural South Dakota where the only good radio is NPR?  Driving through that area during NPR pledge month.  Gah.  Thankfully I had my iPod and the cable to hook it to the stereo, but I really prefer cruising radio stations and listening to NPR stuff while I'm driving.

The test site I was at near Custer was pretty close to where they're carving Crazy Horse monument so I snagged a picture of it on my way out of town.

Oh, and for those of you who don't stalk/follow me on Google+, I took a detour through the South Dakota badlands on my way from Custer to Miller.  Pretty awesome; I'll need to come back with Stefano some day. Pics after the break.

IKEA!

Finally went to our new IKEA tonight. Awesomeness.

Busy but Happy

I rocked my race on Sunday -- 2 hours, 16 minutes, 37 seconds.  That's about 45 minutes faster than my race back in June!

Stefano got a picture of me right before the finish line:

That expression on my face?  Joy and agony.  My legs were cramping up really badly and I was exhausted, but I knew I was doing great and the finish line was in sight!

In other news...

I'm remembering how much I love fall in Colorado -- the trees are starting to change here, the tallest mountains have a beautiful coat of fresh white snow, and the weather is in the 40s-50s at night and 60s-70s during the day.

On Saturday, Stefano and I finally had time and motivation to do some much-needed shopping.  Came home with a bunch of new work shirts for him (he doesn't have much left that fits him well), a dress for me to wear to a wedding in a month, shoes for me for a wedding in January, new running jackets (it was cold for the race), and we finally got a rug for the living room!

Oh, and I ran and made two batches of soup tonight.  Tired!

Nutrition info:

Winter Vegetable Soup (without the cream or half and half) makes 5 one-cup servings at 106 calories per serving.  

Grandpa Varga's Stew makes 14 one-cup servings at 223 calories per serving.

Running Update

I'm going to be racing in a half marathon on Sunday starting at about 7am mountain time, and you can track my progress online at http://runkeeper.com/user/ctruschke/.

MADNESS

Mary is leafblowing in the middle of a crazy windstorm.  The leaves are just going to keep falling you crazy old woman!  Not to mention that you don't actually pick them up, you just blow them into your neighbors' lawns, so they're going to blow right back into your lawn!

Madness, I say.  Madness.

One Green Leaf

We decided to make salad for dinner since Mom and Grandma had lots of big lunches and dinners on their trip here. Mmm tasty salad with avocado and grilled chicken. Mom had to pose of course.

USA Pro Cycling Race

So the USA Pro Cycling event went right by our house a few weeks back, and I completely forgot that I had photos on my camera until I plugged it in after the national park today...

Police escort. 

Rocky Mountain National Park

Went to Rocky Mountain National Park for the first time today, along with Stefano, my mom, and my grandma.  Overall, beautiful scenery, wonderful fall colors, and lots and lots of tourists!  Glad we got there as early as we did, since the lines of cars when we were leaving at about 2:30 stretched for miles!  Of course, it's elk rutting season and people were trying to go in the evenings when they're most active, but still, seemed a little crazy to be going so late in the day!

Pictures after the break...

Ten Years

One of my memories of 9-11-01 was being back at home with my mom, and her saying "I think that's enough" and turning off the TV.  Like everyone else, we'd had the TV on all day.  It was mid or late afternoon, and the media didn't have anything new to say.  They were just replaying footage and speculating on what the larger picture was.  I'd already seen the towers collapse and the Pentagon burning live on TV at school before I came home.  I was a sophomore in high school and my sister was off at college.  My mom knew that they weren't going to have anything new to report, and we were both getting shell shocked.  After turning off the TV, we talked together a little about what had happened, tried to make sense of it, then went about trying to keep ourselves busy.  My dad worked at the Navy Annex just up the hill from the Pentagon, and he wasn't home yet.  I'm not even sure if we had heard from him yet -- phone lines were pretty spotty and he was busy being a hero (he wanted to run into the Pentagon and help pull people out, but the first responders [wisely] weren't letting people without proper gear into the building.  He "settled" for getting a communications headquarters set up down the road and helped to track down who was and wasn't accounted for.)

I kept reflecting back on my mom's wisdom today.  I was traveling from Denver to Syracuse via Chicago, so I had plenty of time in airports, and though I was thankfully never stuck by a TV, I caught bits and pieces of 9-11 coverage.  If it weren't for football, I think that's all that the TV stations would have played today (never thought I'd be grateful for football).  I know that practically all the stations would be playing tributes or commentary or TV movies "remembering" 9-11.  I read most of yesterday's newspaper (didn't get around to finishing it yesterday) and all of today's, which both had a number of very well written pieces on 9-11.  Altogether, it made for an overwhelming and emotional day. And I can't help but feel that the media was a bit too heavy-handed in dealing with the anniversary.

So, that's enough, America.  Go spend time with your families.  Pray.  Remember.

One more rant

I remembered something else obnoxious from the flight... The tray tables were completely covered in advertisements on the side that shows when you put it down.  Ahhh sensory overload while just trying to have somewhere to put my kindle and my waited-two-hours-for drink!

Rants from cruising altitude

It never ceases to amaze me how much some people love to hear themselves talk.  I sat through a three-hour flight on Sunday being forced to listen to a political discussion (aka polite argument) between a NASA contractor and a former military member.  I "tuned most of it out" (i.e. I blasted music on my headphones) but the pieces I caught were the tired old science spending vs. military spending disagreement, and why we don't just capture tides for energy because "the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine".  Wow.  The tides don't always flow, you massively interrupt tidal ecosystems, the power is difficult to store and/or transport, etc.  But otherwise, gee, you should be the next head of the department of energy.

Sorry.  I just hate it when people talk endlessly about topics they don't fully understand.  I will never understand why people can't make a few minutes of polite chit-chat with their neighbors then entertain themselves quietly for the duration of the flight.  I know I'm pretty far on the anti-social end of the spectrum, but still.

Doesn't help that the two main people involved in the conversation were sitting in the aisle and window seats, and conversing loudly over the poor bastard in the middle seat (who joined in occasionally but was otherwise drowned out by the two main loudmouths). And the loudmouth behind me, in an effort to more easily communicate with the woman in the window seat, put his tray table down and leaned on it (thus moving my seat [directly in front of him] whenever he shifted weight, gestured, etc.).  Oh and he was a foot-tapper, which on a plane with thin hollow floors means everyone else gets to "enjoy" the rhythm of his foot tapping as well.

Other disconnected thoughts:

I might die from happiness if all airlines realize it's stupid to charge for checked bags.  If I see one more person almost drop a bag on someone's head because they packed a bag to heavy for them to lift, I'm gonna scream.

Bitter old women should refrain from venting about their children and grandchildren to random strangers on the flight  I'm sorry your son has OCD and it bothers you.  You do realize it's an ILLNESS and not a way to make your life miserable, right?  I'm sorry your other son bought you a car without consulting his siblings because he didn't want it to turn into an argument between them.  I'm sorry your city doesn't want you to put a wheelchair lift on your condo building.  It probably violates code.  Anyway, it makes the rest of us paranoid about mistreating our moms/grandmas and I have the urge to go hug mine.  Hug!!

We didn't get drinks until two hours after takeoff on my first flight, since us airways decided that one person was sufficient to serve the entire full A320 cabin and the other flight attendant was selling overpriced snack boxes.  Loudmouth behind me decided it would be a good idea to flirt with the stewardess and slow her down further.  Seriously dude, shut up.

US Airways had apparently shifted the seats on the regional jet on my second flight so they could fit a few more rows of people in.  The seats didn't line up at all with the windows, and I barely had room to move.  I fly on RJ's pretty often, and they're not usually this bad.  And I'm short!  The more I fly, the worse I feel for tall people.  Sorry, Mom :)

But happy thoughts!  I'm going to be in Chicago for labor day weekend and I'm actually going to get to be around for a family gathering.  So excited!

Denver Zoo 8-12-11

Went to the zoo on Friday with Kris and Dan.  Little on the crowded side -- I think a lot of kids begged their parents for one more zoo trip before school starts -- but very nice.  Highlight of the visit was definitely the four one-year-old tiger cubs running around like crazy.

One of the cubs was fascinated by something down in the pit at the edge of their environment so he was dangling his paws over the edge.

Mama tiger was chilling up on a fence around the tree to stay out of the cubs' chaos.

And of course the big-horn sheep are always popular with me...  They had lambs!!

Golden Gate Canyon State Park

Went on an awesome hike this morning with my sister Kristin and her boyfriend Dan.  I thought I'd have a leg up since I'm used to the altitude, but they kept up with me easily -- and kinda kicked my butt!

View Golden Gate 8-14-11 in a larger map

Stopped in Golden for lunch and to walk around.  Coors!

Go Bike Go

Went grocery shopping on my bike today -- I was a little worried that I grabbed too much stuff and it wouldn't fit.

I felt pretty awesome.

Local lunch

Colorado sweet corn, Colorado cantaloupe, Colorado eggs (I figured out hard boiled eggs at high altitude!) and non local tomatoes (oh well).  The sweet corn is extra awesome since I bought it from a farm stand in northeast Colorado that we stopped at between airport inspections yesterday.

Remember Vinetra?

Remember the stupid vine from one of my first ever blog posts? It's back with a vengeance. Guess that really needs to go on my to-do list for the weekend!

I'm sorry beautiful bicycle

Dear Bike,

I'm so sorry I hadn't ridden you in forever. I got in the habit of driving for my errands, and I was traveling for work. Plus I hadn't been going to the gym, since I was just running and I'd been doing that outside.

But I still love you! I took you back to the bike shop for your "ride it around for a month or so and bring it back and we'll adjust things" tune-up.  And I bought us a present so we can do grocery shopping easier!

I promise I'll use you more now!






P.S.  I took those pictures with my new phone.  Pretty awesome for a phone camera, eh?

Camping and Hiking Weekend (and Race!)

Life's been a bit unpredictable lately...  Stefano came home for a visit the second weekend of July, but then his project kept getting pushed back little by little.  I was pretty upset about it since I had to still go out of town the week after his visit, and I thought he'd have to leave right when I was coming back.  But lo and behold, things worked out, and he got delayed through the weekend, and then delayed again through this week and weekend.  It's been so hot in Chicago, though, that it's not looking likely that he'll have to go back for much this summer, and they might just start up again in September.  We'll see.

But in any case, I was already planning on going up to the mountains to camp with Christine, Sean, and Jamie, since Sean was running a 50-mile trail run on Sunday (Leadville Silver Rush).  Yep.  50 miles.  Don't worry; I have zero desire to ever run for that long.  He was running for almost ten hours... And that was a great time!   He ended up finishing 10th in his division.

So instead of heading up to the mountains Saturday with just Christine, Stefano was home and I finished a day early, and the three of us headed up to meet up with Sean and Jamie on Friday night.  There was a complication finding a campground (a lot of them in the area are non-reservable, and they were full already when Sean and Jamie went up), the two of them camped by the roadside and Christine, Stefano, and I found an easier (and closer site) for the night near Dillon Reservoir.


View Hiking and Camping July 15-17 in a larger map




It all worked out well though.  The three of us got up and headed up to a trailhead near Leadville, did an awesome 6-mile hike, and by the time we were done, Sean had found us a campsite for the night (one had opened up since there was a mountain bike race Saturday morning, so some people were just camping Friday night).  We didn't make it all the way to the end of our hike (we were hiking to Native Lake) because it was getting a bit rainy, and the trail was very wet and marshy.  Even with it being the middle of July, there was plenty of snow left on the trail melting, and it was a bit of a mess.  I'll never complain about getting too much rain or snow though!


All in all, a great weekend.  Hopefully Molly camps a little better next time -- she was a bit whiny since we kept her tied up and she couldn't jump all over everyone else.  Sigh.  And she insisted on sleeping on top of my legs a bunch of the night in our tent.  Pictures after the break.

Hiking at Golden Gate Canyon State Park

I just realized today that I never posted this.  Woops.  Hike was the weekend before last, and Stefano's actually still home since his project is delayed.


Went on an awesome 6.5 mile hike today with Molly and Stefano (yes, he still exists! He's home for a visit!).


View Hiking July 9, 2011 in a larger map


Lots of pictures after the jump...

Lamar

Howdy from Lamar, a town snatched straight out of the old west...  they're so committed to authenticity here that there's no electricity! Oh wait, no, that's because apparently there's a huge outage affecting all of southeastern Colorado. Fantastic.
Thankfully I was mostly done showering when it went out, and we found a truck stop restaurant serving cold sandwiches and a salad bar so I didn't have to have granola bars and gatorade for dinner.  Unfortunately, we only have a quarter tank of gas, which isn't enough to get us anywhere with power, and I'm not sure if any of the gas stations have figured out a way to pump gas -- not that any of us have cash to buy gas anyway.
What a mess. Hopefully it's back by morning.

Very Squeaky Puppy

So Stefano's home for a visit after being gone for a month.  Molly was a little excited to see him...

Molly vs the Bath

I gave Molly a bath tonight, which of course made her miserable until the time for drying off came. She loves to run around, shaking all over the house (shedding fur of course). And I have to put a towel down for her so she can do this:

Happy Fourth of July

It just wouldn't be the Fourth of July in Colorado without going for a hike.  Christine, Molly, and I headed out first thing in the morning to Golden Gate Canyon State Park, in the mountains above Golden.  I got to drive Pepper up an awesome windy mountain road, and we picked out a nice hard (but short) hike to kick out butts.  Felt good, since we'd both been slacking on the running ever since the half marathon...


View Fourth of July Hike in a larger map

Molly was just looking at the camera, then as soon as I pressed the shutter, she snapped her head to the side.

And she did it again...  But Christine looks awesome!

Molly is a happy hiker.

"What are you waiting for guys?  Enough with the pictures!  Let's go!!"

So the hike was great.  Glad we got out there early; it ended up being a very hot day-- 101 in Denver.  And, it really wouldn't be a Fourth without grilling, so we had a nice spread of burgers, chips, and guac after sunbathing.

I Can't Complain... But I Will Anyway!

I swear, today was just determined to not be my day.  Woke up out of some weird nightmares that I couldn't shake all day (the kind accompanied by vivid imagery that keeps popping back into your head), tried to run but felt awful, tried to elliptical but the machine was broken, tried to eat a healthy breakfast but the only things that taste decent at hotel breakfasts are fat- and sugar-laden, the breakfast area was packed with vacationing families following the "I don't need to watch my kids, I'm on vacation" method of parenting, etc.

And then there was work!  Got off to a late start, nothing was working out like we intended it to, was trying to make decisions on the fly and on an empty stomach, the weather was brutal, etc.  Just... not my day.  Didn't get back to the hotel until 7, and by the time I'd gotten rehydrated, mentally recovered, showered, talked to Stefano, caught up on my work email and put out other fires at work, it was 9:30 and I just didn't have the energy/motivation/time to go out to dinner. Didn't help that we didn't have lunch until 2:30, and I'd been chugging water and gatorade so I wasn't very hungry.  So I made microwave popcorn for dinner.  And maybe later, I'll have some trail mix.

I guess no one in their right mind goes into civil engineering for the glamour... Well, maybe the structural engineers and construction managers who build skyscrapers.  But that's like the fighter pilots of the military world.  Most soldiers are just guards and soldiers.  Most civil engineers are just grunts doing a dirty, unpleasant, and mostly-thankless job.  I'm especially bitter right now because I have four more week-long trips coming up this summer.  Really? Really?  Even if Stefano ever comes home, we're barely going to have any time to hike or camp.  Argh.

But to end on a positive note and a bit of americana, we are staying across the street from the Flintstones theme park and campground.  I love our country.

Oh, and I passed a British family in our hotel, all five or six of them wearing stereotypical Wyoming/South Dakota cowboy hats, just like this one:

Edit/addition:  I realized I wanted to show the type of hat they were wearing, since the reason it stuck in my mind is that they weren't the typical touristy cowboy hats that people get, like this one is:

The fact that they all had really nice (probably $60-80) hats just really amused me for some reason.

Oh, and I'm really really missing camping right now because the Black Hills look (and smell) like the sparse pine forests that I love to camp in in Colorado.  I couldn't stop just standing around and sniffing the dry piney air this morning.