Telluride, Devil's Punch Bowl, S'mores, and Moose

Part two of the family visit. So much fun was had! Lots of girls activities while the boys attended the Dos Rios member guest tournament. I think maybe we actually had more fun. We even had movie night with popcorn. Tootsie was the choice after much deliberation. Thumbs up.

How funny we all thought this was a house/castle (utility plant)

We picked up Krissy at the Montrose airport and zoomed away to Telluride. What a cute town. Mark tells me I've been before (45 years ago) but that memory is totally lost. Busy town, everyone behaving with masks, and we wandered around for a bit, had lunch, and then drove back to Star Mt. And yes Krissy had been asked if she wanted to do this for her first day right off the plane.

nutty caravan who went down Devil's punch bowl partially rolling one jeep (all ok)

COLD! I chose to go in my hiking boots - sloppy wet but ok

Yes I was here!

 infamous water that people dive into. I missed the divers.

Ladies jeeping trip to Devil's Punch Bowl. Much fun was had and we stopped at the start and hiked down in case you were worried. Many people have died driving down the Bowl, we were not about to risk our life and limb. You'll see above a crazy jeep group did go down happily without injury except to their jeep. Nooooo. My first time hiking down it - cross that off the list. It was great!

Ended the day at Montanya with fabulous appetizers and drinks. Krissy put in a request to visit. Her first time and she said it lived up to the hype. Success!

More fun on the new patio. We watched expert Sherry on the marshmallow S'more action.

And...a moose! At a very long distance when we went back over Ohio Pass. I did not have my camera and wonderful lens, so we were forced to jump out and use cell phones. This is Mark's photo as he has the better cell phone camera. So fun - first time seeing one on Ohio Pass.

Jeeping, company, Crested Butte new normal, and Bug Zapper

Summer is marching by. It's magical to be here and the mountains never disappoint. We're even having some company (Texas Adams family) which is so great. A lovely sense of normalcy in a difficult world.

We did a repeat trip back jeeping to Engineer Pass. This time took our neighbors, Steve and Kim, who've never done jeeping or been in this area. We all enjoyed it immensely, and yes, it's worth going back time and time again. Steve wants a jeep now...

In Star Mt. woods

Lewis's Woodpecker

Part of a larger elk herd - lots of babies

the hanging baskets doing fine now after Mark trapped and released a chewing pack rat some miles away

grand display of daylilies untouched by Flap

A little animal and flower action. Pack rat removed. A new woodpecker I've never seen before has been hanging around. It's breeding season evidently. The elk babies were on a neighboring property. Elk sightings at Star Mt. are scarce now, I think due to our increased home construction. We've been having a mini building boom. Others should be able to enjoy this special place I know, just don't want all the wildlife to leave. And my daylilies are looking great this year, as unlike previous years Flap  has not shown to eat them all up. Not commonly liked by deer but hey, that's Flap.

Some Crested Butte action. Katie and I wandered to town and while things look a bit different with narrowing to one lane, masks everywhere, and lots of seating for outside dining, it still has that special mountain town feel. People are being really good about adhering to the rules and virus numbers continue to be small. Crossing fingers.

Olympic form

What's this you ask? A new form of badminton, pickleball, or tennis sans table? Ha, none of that, these are our new Bug Zapper rackets. Charged up and ready to zap those pesky flies and mosquitos. Pretty addicting and we didn't even have a big invasion of anything except gnats. Sport for the new patio.

Jeeping and the joys of summer

We went jeeping on the Alpine Loop - Engineer Pass side that ended at the cute town of Silverton for lunch. Haven't done it in 4 years. It was spectacular as always.

one of 21 avalanches we saw on our trek. From winter before last.

Lost it's top in the avalanche (see below)

This was massive mining territory in the late 1800's. Ruins everywhere. Don't know how the miners managed to survive the harsh winters.

For sale- but would you want to traverse the bridge?

The Rock in all its glory

The miracle of life right in the middle of  these immense peaks

On top it was freezing and 40 mile an hour winds

The alpine tundra is truly gorgeous. Beauty that survives under harsh conditions.

On a more domestic note, I have just replaced Scooby (the original mopping floor robot) with Scooby2. Old Scooby made a good run - 8 years but finally bit the dust and has been discontinued. This new one is a trip - wifi enabled, goes to its docking station when finished and I think it's going to be a lovely relationship.

Voila - a protected herb garden. Mark built this screen frame so our little creatures can visit but not eat.

Happy 4th of July! Be safe be well.