Frozen River

The Rio Grande River rolls through South Fork very close to our home.  Next Spring we hope to learn how to fish in it, and next August there will be a great music fest next to it called Rhythms on the Rio, which is put on by the South Fork Musical Association.  For now, however, the river is starting to freeze.  Ken and I stopped to take some pictures of it the other day...  it is so pretty...  It will be interesting to see how it changes throughout winter.

And an awesome sky!

Skiing on Nov 10

Not too many words required:

My boots for this season are AWESOME.  My feet never hurt now.

Riding the lift is part of the fun.

Getting to the top and seeing this all around you is a big part of what makes skiing magical.

As you can see by the sign, there is no shortage of trails to explore.

I get so HAPPY on that mountain!  I can sometimes be heard hollering things like WOOHOO really loudly on my way down.  It is otherwise quiet up there... other than the other people who yell WOOHOO too.  There seem to be a lot of happy people up there!  :)

It got cloudy when I took this picture but the powder is still so pretty.

When the sun shines on fresh powder, it sparkles like little diamonds.

Ken is getn good!

See how we have the mountain to ourselves?  This will change as we get further into the season, but since Wolf Creek doesn't have any lodging, it is usually one of the least busy ski areas in CO.  Nice!  And since we are the closest town to Wolf Creek the powder hounds from out of the area stay with us at Foothills Lodge and Cabins.

I LOVE my skis!

If you ever in your lifetime get an opportunity to try Alpine skiing, don't miss it.  It is an experience with nature unlike anything else.  It's not that hard, and the pain from falling down is totally worth it.  Seriously, it's a human experience that is not to be missed!  Thank you to Karen for getting us up there on that mountain!

Biggin

His name is Biggin, and he stands at the restaurant next door to where we live.  He is 24 feet tall and was carved in 1907 from a Douglas Fir that was 460 years old!

 When we first got to town it was dark out and I thought the sign said, The Hungry Blogger.  :)  It's actually called The Hungry Logger, and although it is currently closed it will be opening again soon.  Hopefully we will be eating again by then.  We're doing a Master Cleanse!

Our Neighborhood

 Thanks to TerraTrike sending Ken a new rear wheel (Thanks TerraTrike!) we were able to go for a ride the other day.  We did an 8 mile loop through our neighborhood along the Rio Grande River.

Of course Simon went too!

See Ken in the bottom left corner?

We still can't believe that we get to live here!!!

Wolf Creek Ski School

We were lucky enough to get to go to Wolf Creek Ski Area on opening day, thanks to our new boss and friend Karen.  There wasn't much snow yet, but there was enough for us to learn how to fall down in it.  :)  We were the only ones in school so Ken and I each had our own ski instructors, and we got to go all the way to the top of the Bonanza lift, something most newbies don't get to do.  The lift ride took about 10 minutes and from the top we could see white snow-covered mountains all around us.  We will be going back FOR SURE.  Thank you so much Karen!

Standing in a short line on opening day.

Karen is as silly as we are...

Maybe even sillier!  :-P  We love her so much already. 

Getting dressed and ready to go takes a long time.

 Sizing up Craig the Ski Instructor to see if he has what it takes.  :)

Lets hit the slopes!

C'mon Craig.. I wanna ski, not WALK!

I love it here.

 Hey!  I'm skiing!

And so is Ken!

Yep, I am definitely skiing now!  I think we're ready to try the bunny slope!

What a fun feet shot!

 Oh no! Ken knocked the instructor down!  Ha ha ha!

Ken's first fall on the slope.

See that guy on the ground between Craig's feet?  Ha ha!  He couldn't get up.  It's hard to get up with big long skis on your feet.  Just ask Ken.  Snicker.  I fell down too, it's part of it, but you won't see any pictures of that here!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!  They said we were ready for the BIG lift, so we hopped on...

And we came all the way back down.  It was awesome!

 We practically had the place to ourselves!

Look at the little ski pup.  :)  So cute!

 Stay tuned for some pics of our cabin and our first trike ride here in South Fork!