Our final Silverton Hoowah

Near the end of September, we took our final trip to Silverton for the year. It's always a sad day since our Silverton season is so short, but it was a beautiful drive as always. A bit rainy, but the colors were just starting to change.

Due to the rain, we decided to keep driving and ended up in Ouray. We headed up Yankee Boy Basin just as the sun was trying to come out.

Looking up at the Camp Bird Mine and Imogene Pass

Heading up Yankee Boy, we came around a corner and were greeted by this sight! Unfortunately, no one was around so we weren't able to be the heroes and save the petrified Durango owners, but we got quite a chuckle out of their predicament. Is that terrible? Most definitely, but I can't tell you how many times we've been in that exact position!

Look at those cute explorers!!

The view down the valley

Some cute cave explorers!

A grand adventure

This fall, the opportunity came along for Chris to put in a bid on a big telephone job in Kansas. The contractor he was bidding under lives in Moab and wanted Chris to ride with him to a pre-bid meeting in Stockton. Instead of Chris just driving to Moab to hop in with Howie, I saw this as on opportune moment to sneak off to Salt Lake City to hang out with all our rock crawling friends. We drove into Moab late on a Tuesday night and Chris left the following morning for Kansas. The kids and I drove into Salt Lake and began our adventure. After some mini golf and a visit to Summit Machine, we were off to IKEA. My very first time, by the way!


We stayed in Magna with our really good friends the Herzog's. They were so kind to open their home to us and on Thursday, we went into downtown and saw where Shane works. Amy, Caulen, Shane, the kids, and I then walked to the Gateway which is this killer outdoor mall they have. It was a beautiful day!


This is a kick ass restaurant that Shane introduced me too. It's an island grill and their pork sandwich with sweet potato fries is to die for!! Plus, they have fry sauce which is just delightful!

In the middle of the square are these fountains. Every half hour there is a 5 minute show set to music. It was really fun! Of course, my kids, being the country bumpkins they are, immediately ran into the water as soon as the music was over!

They got soaked!!

Riding the "alligator" as Alyssa used to say when she was little.

This Porsche was parked in Shane's parking garage and Brendon told me he's going to have a car just like that one of these days!

The Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point was absolutely fabulous! We spent Friday afternoon there and had a blast! If you're every in SLC, go check it out!

Lou-Lou and her drawing

A little excavating.....

Chris joined us in Salt Lake on Friday night and took the kids to a museum on Saturday so I could take advantage of the Sandy Mall.

That girl LOVES horses!

Miss Sophie Divine the great traveling Yorkie!!


The highlight of the entire trip for me was the BBQ we went to on Saturday night. We have made so many amazing friends off of our rock crawling forum, most of whom live in the Salt Lake area and we all got together on Saturday. Shawn and Alayna hosted it and man, did we ever have a good time! It was so great all being together at once and just hanging out.

Ben and Kami

That is crazy ass Shawn. He is not right, but I love that guy.

Shawn, Alayna, me, Lory, and Jeremy (Hickey)

The great Cody McKendrick whom Brendon absolutely adores!

The ever stoic Carl with the very non-stoic Chris

Shawn and Alayna's kids are some of the coolest kids we know. Shay is 10 and Nash is 8 and they all play so well together. I really wish we lived closer, they are such good buddies.

That would be Amy Herzog, Miss Sophie's new Mama. They absolutely adore each other and if Shane was okay with it, I think Sophie would've stayed in Magna!

As a favor to Howie, Chris got to drive "Betsy" the boom truck from Dodge City, Kansas all the way to Price Utah! No AC, radio, or any other creature comforts, but everyone survived and now Chris can say he has driven a boom truck across 2 1/2 states!!

And this was the "loaner" truck that Chris got to bring to Salt Lake. It was hilarious, he barely knew what to do with all of MaKenzie after driving this and Betsy for a few days! :)

And there is the short version of our trip to Salt Lake City. It was terribly hard to come home, we love everyone there so much. But it was a fabulous trip and Pagosa will always be home......they all just need to move here! ;)

Random thoughts from Brendon

This morning Brendon informed me that when he gets a dog, he's going to name him "Root Canal". You would never know he was our child now would you??? :)

Work day

One of the many joys of homeschooling is the freedom to enjoy whatever the day may bring. One lovely September day, Chris had a telephone job way up in Lost Valley of the San Juans. I packed us a lunch, Chris made room for us in Henry, and off we went. Lost Valley is about an hour up in the mountains and it is so pretty up there!



The money making rig:
Henry towing Horatio on Bindi the trailer :)




Our view from the customer's front lawn where we enjoyed our picnic.














Another view from the job site.

It's these kinds of days that I envy Chris getting to work outside!













Getting started: First Chris digs a start pit for the plow blade which basically looks like a big steel crochet hook. He sinks the plow and then runs the cable down the shoe. The plow vibrates along and feeds the cable into the ground at about 12 inches.











One of the huge advantages of plowing in cable is the lack of an open ditch. Here is the rip line from the machine. Yes, there's telephone cable in there!!











While I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this, in the 6 years we've owned Horatio, this is the first time I've plowed in cable with him! I've driven him around and used the backhoe, but this is my first cable plowing experience right here! I put in 70 feet of cable. WOOT! :)










The helpers filling in the hole where Chris pulled the plow out of the ground. Don't you love Brendon's hat? He's had that since he was born!














Roxanna Banana inspecting the rip line after Chris ran it over with the machine. If it wasn't for Horatio's tracks, you'd never know we'd been there!

The job barely took an hour to complete, but we all enjoyed the afternoon out. After rolling back into town and dropping off Horatio at the yard, we went out for ice cream. The kids feel that they "need" that after working with Daddy.

Lovin' on Lemon Joy

As much as I try to deny it, fall is coming so we took the opportunity last weekend to run down to Aztec, New Mexico and get in a little rock crawling at the Rock Garden. The weather was absolutely perfect and we were with the Bridges family whom we absolutely love. The wheeling kicked ass, the company was awesome, Lemon Joy was on her best behaviour, and best of all, we didn't break!! Yeehaw! :)

Dropping into "The Butt Scratcher"I love that wicked flex!

I know I'm biased, but that's wickedly cool right there!That is an amazing girl right there!
Brendon kicking it in a Toyota
A little known fact is that Ted is a hard core rock crawler!
The fearless rock crawling Yorkies
Jack always gets the girls
That truck always impresses me

She really is the best thing ever


I got to ride with some cute boys!
Yes, it really is that steep!!