Summer Visitors: The Bill Nye Family

At the beginning of August, Mr X's sister and her family came through town for a brief visit. They were en route to a family reunion on the Nye side but we were lucky enough that the occasion afforded them to swing by our place for a couple of days. I haven't see the Nye family for about four years! Crazy. I met the youngest one, Sam, for the first time. (He's not pictured below as he's only 18 months old and that's not a particularly suitable age for standing on a rock bridge above a waterfall.)

While I worked Mr X took the Nye family up to Mount Evans, then fishing, then to Idaho Springs. The next day we all headed up to Winter Park for some family fun riding the longest alpine slide in Colorado and exploring the mountain town. While at home the kids made forts in our back yard and the adults practiced their aim with a pellet gun.

Hiking the Continental Divide

This summer has been weird. First, Mr X missed several weeks of the beginning of it away for work. I'm going to miss several weeks of the end of it away for work. And it's been really rainy. In short, I feel like I got shortchanged on my summer. Not nearly enough time was spent hiking, biking or camping. :-) But then again, I think this very same thing every summer. I guess that's just how it goes when your summer is a mere 4 months long. We typically get our last snowstorm of the season(and when I say snowstorm I mean 12+ inches) in May and our first one in October. Anyway, so I'm bummed about the prospect of summer quickly coming to a close. But just give me a week or two to get over that and I'll be really antsy for our first fall snowstorm already. 

Anyway.....

So we did manage to go on a few glorious hikes this summer. Here's a few photos of us hiking the Continental Divide and enjoying the extended wildfire season (due to the aforementioned abundance of rain this summer). 

Belated: Mr X's Birthday

We spent Mr X's birthday this year up at the Grand Lake Lodge, near the national park. It's a really scenic and fun place to stay. They have a nice restaurant onsite, which is where we (Mr X's parents were with us) celebrated Mr X's birthday. I did a bad job of taking photos so you get none. However, there are some really great photos of a very happy Mr X fly fishing on the Blue river a week or so earlier. Oh and I forgot to mention that we got to go fishing while in Idaho and Mr X caught 4 fish. I fished as well but I didn't manage to do any catching. We ate all of the fish and they were delicious. Of course. :-)

I'm so happy whenever I get to celebrate Mr X's birthday with him. He has spent a number of them off on other continents, working. When that happens there's nobody to properly fuss over him and that's a shame, isn't it? Happy (Belated) Birthday Mr X - I expect you to have at least 50 more of them.

Summer Visitors: Mr X's Parents

At the end of July Mr X's parents came out to visit. We ran them around to various places like Garden of the Gods, Rocky Mountain National Park, Boulder, Downtown Denver and the Denver Temple. I thought it was a really nice visit - I hope they thought the same. Here are some photos taken during their stay:

(If you click on this photo to make it bigger you'll see that there is a marmot perched on the rock overseeing his kingdom.)

(Also a better picture when viewed larger - mountain goats!)

Idaho: 4 Wheeling

After we left Wyoming Mr X and I headed into Idaho to visit my parents. In recent years my parents have gotten into 4-wheeling. I think most of my siblings and their kids have gotten the chance to go out and play on these machines in the desert. This was Mr X and my first time on them. It was a dirty, gritty whole mess of a good time. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I was goofing around here in this photo.

My parents took us out to this huge cave in the desert. It was fun scrambling down into it.

In southern Idaho, ferns just don't grow. Too hot, too cold, etc. However, in this particular cave they get just enough moisture and are protected/insulated just enough that they survive and thrive. I wonder how the first fern seed got there anyhow.

This is photo evidence of the "dirty gritty" part I mentioned above. I must have been open-mouth-smiling a lot because every time I clenched my teeth together at all it crunched. Yum...dirt.

I caught Mr X goofing around too. He's a handsome chap, don't you think?

Jackson Hole: Photo Crazy

Mr X and I did several hikes during our time in the Tetons. One of those hikes was even in Yellowstone because it was raining further south where we were so we just kept driving....until we ended up in Yellowstone where it wasn't raining. I think we did a couple of hikes in the Tetons in addition. 

But we didn't take many pictures during our hikes at all so you get none of that. All you get is us going nuts with our cameras at the overlook where Ansel Adams took one of his famous photos of the Teton range and the valley in front of it.

Jackson Hole: Paddleboarding on String Lake

Mr X and I went back to the Tetons earlier this summer. It's one of my favorite places.

We never spend as much time there as we'd like. But we tried to pack in as much fun as we could over the couple of days we had there. One day we spent paddle-boarding around String Lake and enjoying the beauty that surrounded us.

(That's me way in the distance.)

We even packed our lunch with us, courtesy of Mr X and his trusty backpack, and ate while floating in the middle of the lake. Mr X has great balance and so our food never got wet. Thanks Mr X!

 

I took so, so many pictures of the scenic views surrounding us. I managed to just limit myself to 3 or 4 for this post.

 

Mr X's Homecoming Gift

When Mr X got home in June he was presented with new waders and wader boots. He was pretty happy with them.

He's never looked more dapper, has he?