April 26, 27 2014 Carbondale, Colorado

Quite the fun filled weekend.  First kayaking.

Mandy, John and John- going,going, gone. We put in at the park right by Martha and Jimjim’s house and boated first on the Crystal river, which ran into  the Roaring Fork. We got in and out before the storm started.

John, Mandy, Martha, Jimjim  and John on the Roaring Fork. We saw Canadian goose goslings from the river. We counted 18, we also saw an elk on the river bank and deer on the way home.

Here I am with my inflatable kayak. The water is so cold I wore my dry suit.  Jimjim and John piling the boats on the car afterwards, Martha is supervising.  My boat is rolled up on the ground behind Martha.

We got back from kayaking just in time to get to the 5 point sports adventure film festival in Carbondale. We saw a movie called Damnation. It is about the unused dams they are taking down and restoring salmon habitats and of course great rivers for boaters. Afterwards they had a discussion with the film makers and Katie Lee-who wrote the book All my rivers are gone- about beautiful Glen Canyon before they flooded it with Lake Powell. She is in the movie. She is in the pink dress in the photo. We went to many more cool films about surfing, biking, skiing, rock climbing and roller blading that evening. Excellent movies, great photography. Sunday we went up to Aspen Mountain to ski in a full on winter blizzard.

Mandy and I. I am wearing my hiking rain gear from the car, borrowed gloves, goggles, and Martha’s ski’s, boots, and poles. I can still ski, but my legs wore out before the day was over. Out of practice.  Mandy getting a chair massage in the lodge at lunch. I got one right after her. Francisco the  massage therapist is fabulous.

The aspen are rimed with ice and snow. Jimjim, John Gross, Mandy and I at the Jerry Garcia shrine on Aspen mountain. Besides the photos of him hanging on the trees there is a guitar , snowboard boot and  other mementos. John stayed home and shopped for  and cooked dinner.

Half way down the mountain, and under the clouds you can see the town of Aspen below.  Martha in the car on the way home. Fat Albert has his head in Martha’s lap, Zoe has her head on Fat Albert and Martha has her head on Zoe.

Sue using Fat Albert as a foot warmer and John serving the first course of dinner, roasted pesto tomatoes. It was followed with butternut squash bisque course, then pizza and salad course , next course sautéed chicken breasts. Finished with Martha’s home made cookies.