Beauty in Snow

Yesterday I dressed for a winter hike and drove about 20 minutes north to Bobcat Ridge.  This open space is a lovely spot for various outdoor activities year round. Now it is covered with snow.

I wear STABILicers on my boots.  The bottoms are covered with little sharp, metal cleats and they work wonderfully on ice or snow.  I have had my pair for many years now and use them whenever I am shoveling or doing any winter outdoor activity so that I don't have to worry about slipping.  I also have snowshoes when hiking in deeper snow, but I am not as fond of snowshoeing. Mostly because they are so large and I prefer walking with my feet closer together in their natural walking position.   But in deep snow, they work.

STABILicers

Here are some pictures I took along the path of an approximately 4 mile loop.

Upon returning to the parking area, I spoke with a ranger who was looking through a big spotting scope. He said he was looking at elk and let me look at them too. They were probably about 1/2 mile away on the hillside.  A small group sitting in the snow.  He said that the day before there had been a herd of about 100 that he had been watching.  Earlier I had seen where a large herd had crossed the area where I was hiking.

Another bunny....eating.

WINDY WONKY TREE

Once upon a time, in the high country forest, there lived a clan of gingerbread folk.

They lived in their own special tree that they had picked because of it had lots of branches with lots of soft needles for protection from the sometimes fierce elements.  They were tough cookies. Having escaped from the clutches of small children long before, their little bodies were now hard and dried and as such they were able to exist without fear of crumbling.

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One day a blast of wind rolled down from the hillside.

"In blows a wintry peppermint wind,

Hold on tight, little Gingerbread-Men!"

.........and they did!

THE END

ITALY at Lago di Como (Lake Como)
September 1 - 12, 2013
A travelogue and other recollections
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Monday, September 2, 2013

The lakeside village of Santa Maria Rezzonico 

It is 4:15p here.  The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing the sailboats swiftly along Lake Como.  

Here is our Fiat.

We did laundry.  There is a washer.......and a dryer    

Italian drivers are fast and Italian motorcyclists are insane.  They pass even when cars are coming in the opposite direction, roaring down the center stripe in the road!  The roads are also very narrow so we are talking inches of room sometimes is all they have.  When we arrived Sunday, the traffic here around Lake Como was fairly busy and there were many motorcyclists routinely risking everyone's life, their own and the life of the pretty Italian girl with long flowing hair who was clinging to their back.  Pretty amazing. Now that weekend is over it is much, much better.

There are many tunnels to drive through around the lake road.  They have tunneled through the hillsides, underneath the homes stacked on top.  The tunnels are dimly lit, so headlights are essential.  We saw one old, boney man on an ancient bicycle riding on the almost nonexistent edge of the road through one of these tunnels.  No helmet, of course, and a bag of fruit hanging from one handlebar.  Several tunnels have nice bypass lanes for pedestrians and cyclists, but not all of them.  Even so, the narrow roads here sometimes can barely fit the width of two cars, much less a cyclist too.  That might account for the ambulance sirens we hear daily.  Although I love to and had planned to cycle while here, I think it best not to do so.

Grocery shopping has been interesting.  We found a few gluten free items at the regular market for Merle and more at the farmacia (pharmacy). 

Meat labeled "coniglio naturale" in the meat counter gave us paws  :-)  They are rabbits.

There are little in-home grocery shops run by local families within walking distance of where we are staying and we have gotten food there a couple of times.  The larger grocery, but small by American standards, is 6 km away when we need greater variety.

9:45p.  We were going to hike up to an old church earlier around 5:30p but couldn't find a street that had been obvious when checking out the route on Google Earth, so we hung out in Tremezzio, ate lakeside at a restaurant and talked with a couple from New Zealand.

The church bell just rang 10p.  Time to read awhile and then try to sleep.  After 4 days here our bodies still don't want to hit the sack when they should.

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Our 3 story duplex villa was built in the late 1800's sometime. It has been updated with a nice kitchen and two very nice bathrooms.  We are in the living room right now, reading and emailing.  Two bedrooms and one of the baths are upstairs.  It is owned by a couple from Germany who rent it out when they are not visiting Italy.  I found it on the VRBO website. Vacation Rental By Owner.

The ground floor kitchen

The storage room next to the kitchen

A view from the upstairs bedroom balcony

During our evening walk, we wind through narrow rock walled passages that are everywhere and tall villas with terracotta roof tiles.  Many are very old and others look quite new.  Waterfalls tumble down little valleys between various homes. We are in the pre-Alps area and so there is a lot of water flowing from the mountain tops.  

We visited an old cemetery at the bottom of our mountain yesterday next to the very old Catholic Church.  Each grave has a little lantern on it.  Some use a small solar panel instead of being wired to electricity to power the light at night.  There are very large family crypts also.  The church bell rings every hour and half hour throughout the day but stops at 10p each evening.

Solar panel with light in lower right hand corner

 Two of several large family crypts

After lunch today we hiked a steep cobblestone pathway to an old church.  On the way up there were several small chapels and in each one a scene from the last hours of Christ was depicted in life sized sculpture.  They were in pretty bad condition and are being restored.  You can see patches on them where some of the paint has come off or where there are cracks. 

There was a little restaurant behind the church where we had lunch.  It was the best and least expensive meal we have had here.

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Switzerland, Sunday September 8, 2013

We woke to misty weather today.  It rained some during the night and the tablecloth we left on the outdoor dining table was soggy.  While outside examining all of the wetness,  Merle discovered a really big snail slowly slithering along the rock wall carrying its large brown shell on its back.

Up until today we have had lots of sun.

Yesterday, Saturday, after a day of sleeping late, grocery shopping, reading and walking down and then up the very old cobbled and winding pathways from our duplex villa to the beach below two times, we decided that today we would do something in the line of sightseeing.  So, after breakfast, we loaded some snacks in a cooler, grabbed our fleeces and rain gear and headed to St. Moritz, about a 2 hour drive.  The weather was foggy-ish and so our hopes were not high that we would be able to enjoy views of the Alps.  However, the drive there was very beautiful despite the low hanging clouds.  Occasionally a couple of them would open and treat us to the sharp rise of a spectacular craggy peak here and there.  

We started looking for a place to eat first.  The plan was then to hike around Lake St. Moritz.

Merle said, "I smell food".  His ample sniffer directed us to a buffet style restaurant in the heart of the town that was very busy.  We looked at the buffet through a window.  Everything looked appetizing.  Lots of expensively, casually dressed people were digging in and taking piled plates back to their table.  We were seated and then we too (especially me) piled our plates and started eating.  I tried a couple of what I assumed were regional dishes and enjoyed them although I couldn't tell you what they were other than one of them had a juicy date in it. Dessert was little bowls of fluffy mousse heaven that had a delicate caramel flavor.

We were given the bill.  The total with tip came to 53,00 euro or around $70.00.  This WAS St. Moritz, the exclusive playground of the rich and famous.   Expensively, casually dressed people should have given us a clue

1 US Dollar equals approximately .76 euro right now.  This is something that we were aware of before coming but it doesn't really hit home until you get $300 cash at the Bancomat ATM and then when you check your online checking account you see that you were charged $395 US Dollars of which a small portion is US debit card fees.  That's right.  So, before going to euro country, check the exchange rate (it changes all of the time and usually never for the better) and figure if you spend 5,000 euros, it comes to approximately $6,590.  You really can't escape it.  Whatever you pay for in euros at this point in time will cost you more in dollars.  We have done this before on other international trips and the memories have always been worth it as I am sure they are for all of the other Americans that do it too.   But I digress.......

                                                                 

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St. Moritz

We donned our rain jackets and started on the trail by beautiful Lake St Moritz and  hadn't gone far when we stopped to watch a cute terrier chasing a bright orange rubber ring rolling down the path.  The dog's owner, a Swiss woman probably in her 50's with very long black hair and white roots engaged us in lively English conversation about the dog, then how much St. Moritz has changed for the worse on account of the filthy lucre, then how I wouldn't be able to wear the shorts I was wearing in the winter there when it was -30 C, then how Italians coming over the border is not a good thing and so on. However, she then recommended that we follow a dirt trail just ahead off of the lake path for a bit and stop at a little restaurant for coffee and kuchen (cake).  We did and it was very delicious and pleasant and cost $25.  After that we walked in the forest.

I ate so much buffet and kuchen that I will not eat tonight.

It is raining heavily.  Lightening is flashing and thunder is thundering.  Quite fierce.  I am on the upstairs bed with the patio doors open so I can get the full affect without getting soaked.  Merle is reading downstairs. 

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Other Pictures

A narrow street in Italy.  That is a camper coming in the other direction.  

We saw several RV campers during our stay.   On some of the narrow passageway streets, there are traffic lights at each end to insure that only one lane of traffic goes through at a time. 

 BUT, that is not always the case, and then you get to drive by a fast moving vehicle coming toward you with inches to spare.

 

Lakeside pool

Me at Villa Balbianello., a beautiful villa with very ornate gardens.  

We took the English language tour of the villa.

A better view of the pillars.  The vine is 150 years old.

More Villa Balbianello

Our church at the bottom of the hill.  

The old bells kept us aware of the hour of the day.

Pretty self explanatory

One of many old fishing seats precariously perched on the sides of the lake. 

 They were not in good condition and we never saw anyone using them.

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Every time we walked to our car that was parked some ways away from our villa,

 we passed a very fragrant climbing rose on an iron fence.   

After our first sniff, it became a habit to stop and sniff them every time we passed by.  

They were the most pungently sweet, wonderful roses we had ever smelled.

Always stop to smell the roses 

no matter where you are.....

and if there are no roses to smell, 

look for the sweet fragrances of life.  

They are out there 

no matter how life seems sometimes.

Compulsive Creating

I cannot not create something.  Our home is filled with art and things that I have created.  

I know I am not in a minority amoungst artistic folks when it comes to creating stuff.  There are some of us who just have to do it.  I am one of those.  Not that I do it everyday, but I'd say 80% of the time I am thinking about creating something or creating something.

For instance, in the last two weeks, I have painted a painting, made a hat rack from an old twisted tree root, have two ongoing projects involving a table centerpiece and a vase/lighted plant with created fountain arrangement.  I am also making a rock sculpture and just completed this....

I love miniature things that are a little rustic.  I have a dollhouse that has turned into a longer term project than originally intended and eventually I will post pictures of it.   Anyway, I bought this little cabinet a few years ago at a flea market.  It was one of four in a big plastic bag.  I paid $8 for them.  They needed little repairs that were fairly easy to do.  The cabinets have been sitting in the upper reaches of my supply closet now for some time.  I decided that maybe painting this one and adding things inside would be nice.  This came about because I am considering it as part of the table centerpiece   The wooden dishes and "food" book came from a tray of little miniatures I have collected over the years.  I hand painted them for this cabinet and hot glued them in place.  Needing some variety I made little cloth napkins  from my vast supply of quilting squares (I do not quilt but I do use the material for other things).  Now it is done and it gives me a lovely feeling when I look at it.  I have no trouble imaging the little village of people that are part of this sized world.  They are hardy souls with round faces, chafed cheeks and bright eyes.  They ride brightly painted fat tired bicycles everywhere or shaggy ponies or they walk miles and miles across the windy moors surrounding their village.  They laugh and sing too.

See, I told you I had no trouble imagining them.

On the way Home.............

I forgot to mention that on the way home from Utah, we stayed overnight at a cabin north of New Castle, Colorado.  Here is the little watercolor I painted to try and capture the look. The painting in my little travel watercolor journal is about 6.5" x 5"

.....and below is a little video so you can hear the stream and "feel the fall".   The guy on the porch at the end lifting his coffee cup in greeting is my hubby (of course).

Utah and Arizona - September 2012

While hiking into Canyon de Chelly in Arizona this past week with our Navajo guide, we came upon this sight around a bend in the steep path.  There was no particular evidence for how this pony met its demise, but it wasn't eaten as if by a mountain lion so it may have broken a leg on the rough terrain and had to be killed as a result of that.  We will never know - we didn't stick around to examine it closely. 

We started the trail at the bottom of the "V" in the picture above.  The descent into the canyon took careful foot placement and the ascent 4 hours later around noon was arduous with midday temps in the upper 80's.  

This is the view into the canyon when we were about half way down the trail.  Very beautiful.  Canyon de Chelly (link)

Our hired guide was disappointing considering the price paid ($30/hour with a minimum of 3 hours).  Based upon reviews on TripAdvisor, though, this was not the usual case.  It sounds like most of the guides got rave reviews.  However, ours showed up late in a glassy eyed state and provided little interesting information and when he did provide information, he mumbled it and so it was very difficult to understand.  We asked if he had been out with the boys the night before and he acknowledged that this was the case.  

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Canyon de Chelly was a side trip we made from the mecca of Moab, Utah, our favorite place. We came back to Moab after visiting the canyon.  We stayed in our usual campground that had all of the amenities, showers, clean bathrooms, a laundry, lots of shady trees and the Colorado River to sit by in the mornings with our coffee.

Cycling was a big part of what we did while in Moab.  This activity is a newer one for us in that we used to four wheel drive all over the backcountry trails, but vehicle changes and gas prices have made it difficult to do that anymore. Seeing the huge towering sandstone monoliths from a bike or on a hike where you don't hear the sound of an engine is a very positive experience.  Plus, the health benefits are great and the endorphins are wonderful.

We were not aware that the Moab Century and Metric Century (link) cycle rides were taking place our last weekend there.  The 100 mile (the Century) and 65 mile (the Metric Century) routes were ridden by a variety of riders.  One, in particular, was a man in our campground, from Pagosa Springs, Colorado, aged 66.  He was going on the more difficult ride (the Metric Century) .   Quote:  "The Metric Century (65 miles over the La Sal Loop including the infamous "big nasty" section of 3000 feet elevation in seven miles); climbing elevation:  approximately 5,350 feet."   Amazing stuff.  We opted to ride the Potash Road to it's end and back, a mere 34 mile round trip ride all along the river.  It was great.

Aspenglen Campground in June

Camped for a few days in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was hot, too hot. It was hot and dry everywhere except the highest elevations.  The Colorado wildfire season was in full swing and a very appropriate fire ban in effect.  Visited with friends and family while there and ate at the Rock Inn (as depicted).  Drew myself some petroglyphs.

Utah In May

We were hiking in a the Capitol Gorge canyon, the wind was blowing, sand was flying around and sandblasting our faces.  We had only one bandanna with us. So, in true pioneering fashion we found a sharp rock, laid the bandanna on a flat rock and while I held it, Merle cut it in half.  

Here is a watercolor "map" of the trip we made in late May for two weeks.  It will hopefully help us remember the trip when the old gray cells start to wither away.

One hot day, we navigated Sulphur Creek for 5 miles of twisting turning canyon including slot canyon areas where we had to wade in the creek, waterfalls that we had to climb around and encounters with the occasional hiker.  It was a one way hike so when we arrived at the visitor center in Fruita, Utah we tried to hitch a ride back to our car up the highway.  No luck....until two hikers we had met in the canyon saw us walking along and gave us a lift.  There's a little red car with angel wings on it on the map - that's them - our guardian angels.  It was very hot and the walk would have been exhausting considering that we had been hiking most of the day in Sulphur Creek.  


Fruita Utah is beautiful  It is a old town once settled by Mormon pioneers and is now managed by the park service.  The campground is situated in a beautiful green valley with orchards.  It has to be one of the prettiest campgrounds we've stayed in.  However, due to the fact that we were there over Memorial Day weekend, it was way too crowded.  We would like to go back sometime in the fall.  Here are some pictures.

Wind was a factor during our stay in Capitol Reef National Park.  In Fruita we were protected by the trees, but before we went to Fruita, we stayed in a private RV park in Torrey.  Our site was a good one with fantastic views but the wind was too fierce.  Here is a picture and as you can see, we had a wonderful red mesa to look at each day.  But, the wind..............

One day we decided to drive to Boulder Town and drive on the BurrTrail and Notum-Bullfrog roads.  While crossing over the mountains to get to our destination in Boulder Town we encountered snow on the high pass but not enough to stick to the road.  Once in Boulder Town we ate at a wonderful little cafe called Hell's Backbone Grill.  It sat in a cool green oasis of flowers, grasses and tall trees.  The food was great.  After relaxing there, we drove through some lovely scenic areas that would eventually take us back to our campground, particularly on the Burr Trail portion.  The Notum-Bullfrog road was rife with washboard ruts and we were relieved to eventually get off of it.  Washboard roads are rough on cars.


A hiking trail just above the campground led to a fairyland canyon called Co Hab Canyon.  There were pockets in the rocks and old trees and we were so glad that we decided to climb the steep winding path that led to it from our campground.  It was like nothing we have ever seen.  

Our trip ended in Moab where we had a good time, as usual.  At one point, we were heading home and suddenly decided to go back.  It was Merle's idea.  So, we went back and stayed another two nights.  That's the fun of being free and easy.  I guess free isn't the exact word because it did cost us, but it was worth it.