And of course, did some quality soaking too!
2008
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Sharon's good friend Catherine came out in January and they skied up to the Uncle Bud's Hut
near Leadville Colorado
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Good R&R to be had after getting out of the cold. They also visited Mt. Princeton Hot Spring after
the ski trip.
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It was the big Four-Oh! for Sharon so Chris planned a "mystery trip". At the airport, the status screens showed our flight was bound
for Ontario so Sharon was led to believe that we were headed to cold Canada, what is up with that! Fortunately, there is also an Ontario California near LA, the real destination.
First on the itinerary was one of the best flower displays in the country. The poppies at Antelope Valley State Park.
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This place looks like the inspiration for the flowers in Wizard of Oz! Blossoming just in time for the birthday girl.
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The rental car wasn't too shabby, sporty wheels!
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After seeing the endless flowers, we drove through the mountains and ended up in
Santa Barbara on the coast.
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We toured the city's sites including the old Spanish Mission
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Caping it off with a great dinner downtown
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Overwhelming Flowers
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In June, Sharon's mother Delores visited. We attended cousin Darren's wedding ceremony in Crested Butte to his new wife Jennifer.
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We also visited Aunt Helen and Jim for a fun dinner in Colorado Springs.
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Over the July 4th weekend, we hit the white water on the Arkansas River with friends Paul and Valerie.
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Chris trained hard over the summer for triathlon races and knocked off an 80 mile ride in the mountains
with Paul to boot.
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In August, Chris headed to IL to visit family, compete in the awesome Chicago Triathlon and of course hit Wrigley Field to
catch a Cubs victory with Jeff and his friends Mark and Ross.
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In September, Sharon ventured out to California to visit her college friends Catherine and Pam at Mono Hot Springs resort in the Sierra Nevada.
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They did some good hiking to celebrate their 40th year.
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And of course, did some quality soaking too!
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The autumn was consumed with the long awaited project of building our cabin in central Colorado.
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The main construction crew of Dan, Agi and Tom from Logsmith Homes did a great job over the course of 3 months to get the
exterior essentially complete. This shot is in October.
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Over Thanksgiving we headed north to visit the Blackhills area. We checked out Devils Tower and hiked around it. The place was rather impressive.
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Can't miss Mount Rushmore. We swung by at night and had the place to ourselves.
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We really enjoyed hiking around and exploring the gnarly landscape of Badlands National Park. We also went on a cave tour
of Wind Cave National Park and saw herds of bison in Custer State Park.
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