On Saturday afternoon, I headed up to the small mountain town of Nederland, Colorado for their annual Frozen Dead Guy Days festival. This event is a celebration for the towns allegedly cryogenically frozen dead guy.  It costs $25 to go see “grandpa” so I cannot actually vouch for his existence. A group of six of us made the hour-long drive up to Nederland, and arrived just as the Parade of Hearses was taking place. We lucked into a couple of parking spots within a block or two of the main street, so we were able to catch most of the parade. After that was over, we explored the few little restaurants and bars in town, before heading down to a little pond for the Polar Plunge.  They had cut a small square out of the frozen surface of the pond, and people took turns jumping into the icy water.  Safety crews were on hand to assist when needed.

After the plunge was over, the Coffin Races began.  In this event, teams of seven people race through an obstacle course as quickly as possible.  Two teams race at a time, with six of the participants carrying a homemade coffin through the course, while another person rides in the coffin.  It was an exciting event to watch.  From there we stopped for some pizza and headed back to the main (perhaps only) street in town.  Here we stumbled upon Ice Turkey Bowling.  For $5 a person, you could take three turns launching an originally frozen turkey toward six bowling pins.  As this even went on it became increasingly disgusting.

Many in our group also attended last years trip to the ski joring event in Leadville.  So for us, this was just another of those crazy events that happen in the various little mountain towns of Colorado.  More information on the Frozen Dead Guy and the festival is available on Wikipedia, for those interested in learning more.  Below are some pictures I took while enjoying the festivities.

Nederland on Dwellable

This past weekend, three of Kim’s brothers came out for a visit. They arrived late on Friday night, and after picking them up, we headed back to our house to rest for the early morning wake-up call. We left before seven the next morning and drove up into the mountains for the long weekend. We only hit a little bit of traffic, and made it all the way out to Beaver Creek before nine. We enjoyed a full day of snowboarding and skiing there and covered most of the mountain. The lift lines were surprisingly small, so we were easily able to get over fifteen runs in before leaving.

Later that evening, we drove back to Breckenridge, where we had a condo reserved for the rest of the weekend. We unpacked our bags, cooked up a spaghetti dinner, and most of us fell asleep watching TV by ten that night. The long day had taken its toll. We all headed to bed at a decent hour to rest up for the next day on the slopes at Breckenridge.

Our condo was a very short walk to one of the lifts at Peak 9 of Breckenridge, where we started our Sunday morning. We immediately noticed bigger crowds than we had experienced the day before, but we made the most of it. It wasn’t until we ventured over to Peak 7 that we found the biggest crowd of the day. Unfortunately, this is a really fun part of the mountain, so we braved the crowds and stayed on those slopes for most of the afternoon. Originally we planned to go back to the condo for lunch, but when we were hungry, we were way too far away to get back quick. Instead, we stayed out for a few more runs, and then called it an early day.

We heated up some frozen pizzas for lunch/dinner after getting back to the condo. After eating and cleaning up, we ventured out to the old town area of Breckenridge. We hit up a few different bars and restaurants for a couple of drinks along with some video games and entertainment. Again we weren’t out very late after a tiring day on the slopes.

Again we got up early on Monday morning so we could pack up the car and then hit the slopes one more time. The crowds were much lighter this day, and the Ullr had blessed us with a few inches of fresh snow overnight to enjoy throughout our last day. We hit the parts of the mountain that we didn’t the day before, and had yet another great day at Breckenridge. We were off the slopes by two and our way back to Denver. It was yet another great trip for the Hais brothers.

Peak 9 on Dwellable

Our celebration weekend for Kim’s birthday started off early with a 5am alarm. We got to the airport and met up with our friends Phil and Doni, who had flown from Kansas City and were on the same flight we were down to Cabo San Lucas. Nothing of note happened on the flight, and we quickly made our way through customs and found our prearranged shuttle driver. We waited for another couple to show up, which they never did, and soon enough we were on our way to the resort, Riu Palace.

We were handed a drink before we could even check-in and I knew this was going to be a great stay. We were able to check into our rooms early, and after dropping off our bags we all met up at the pool. The resort had two large pools, with a swim-up bar close to each. Shortly after our arrival we found our friends Chris and Kelly who came down to Cabo a few days earlier for a longer celebration of their wedding anniversary.

The next few days we spent lounging by the pool, eating lots of food, enjoying all sorts of various drinks, and having a great time. I think this is pretty much what everyone does at these all-inclusive resorts. We never left until our last full day there, when we took a walk along the beach to see some of the oceanfront bars as well as some of the downtown establishments, including Cabo Wabo and Slim’s Elbow Room.

Compared with the resort we stayed at in Playa del Carmen a couple years ago, I think the food was better this time, as were the pools.  I thought the other resort had better rooms, though these at the Riu are still pretty nice.  We didn’t really spend much time outside of the resorts, but from the little that we did I would have to give the advantage to Cabo over Playa del Carmen.  It was a great trip and I’m sure that the others with us would all agree.  Thanks for helping us to celebrate Kim’s big day.  Some pictures of the trip are below, and be sure to read Phil’s recap of the weekend.

We are in the middle of the largest October snow storm in Denver since 1997. I measured 16 inches in the backyard this afternoon and when it’s all over we could add another 3 to 6 inches to it. It started snowing late Tuesday night and hasn’t really stopped since then. Last night, while out shoveling a path for Kim to walk on when she got home, I built a snowman. Some pictures of the snow are below.

Shoveling last night and my snowman.

The backyard this morning. My snowman collected lots of snow overnight.

Snow up to the garage window!

The Equinox is buried even after Kim’s later arrival last night.

Faceless snowman after more snow today.

The grills and trash cans are buried in snow.

18 inch mark is in red. Coming up on 2 feet!

Crazy snow drift on the shed.

All of this snow reminds me that I need to invest in a sled. We are about a mile and a half from one of the best sledding hills in town. I really considered going last night, but I feared the Jetta wouldn’t make it in the snow. I love seeing all of this early season snow as it can only mean good things for the ski slopes up in the mountains.

This is the last post of photos from our trip to Alaska. There are a few photos from our drive along the Sterling Highway from Homer back toward Anchorage. We made a slight detour along the way to have lunch in the tiny town of Hope. The only restaurant on the one block long town was the Seaview Cafe, and it provided yet another opportunity for Kim to have some fresh fish.

After lunch we continued along the Seward Highway back along the Turnagain Arm and toward Anchorage. We made a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. This allowed us to get a closeup view of Elk, Muskox, Moose, Bison, Bald Eagles, Grizzly Bears, and more. We had a free coupon from our cruise at Kenai Fjords, and it was a worthwhile stop. I would even say that it would be worth the $10 admission price per adult.

From there we continued back toward Anchorage. Our last stop before returning the RV was at Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria. Our lunch was later than I had wanted it to be, but we decided to stop here anyway.  Several people told us that it was a great stop to make in Anchorage, and we were not disappointed. The pizza and beers were fantastic! And the leftovers were a great meal once on the plane back to Denver. That wraps up one of the best trips I have ever been on. I would highly recommend a trip to Alaska for anyone!

Hope on Dwellable

We had a late start on our sixth full day but eventually we packed up the RV and headed out of Seward. Before leaving the town completely we made a quick stop past Exit Glacier. This is the only glacier that you can drive up to in Kenai Fjords National Park. From the parking lot it’s a pretty quick hike up to the face of the glacier. I wish we would have had extra time and energy to climb higher up the trail to the Harding Icefield, but we got within 10 or 20 yards of the glacier.

From there we continued driving north toward the Sterling Highway. From there we took the Sterling Highway back south toward the town of Homer. This wasn’t a full planned out day, but since we gained an extra day on our trip we decided to make the most of it. We spotted a grizzly along the drive and pulled over to get a better view. The bear was just on the other side of small river eating a salmon that it had recently caught. I was so happy to have finally saw a bear from fairly close, close enough!

The rest of the drive down to Homer was very pretty, as we paralleled the sea for most of it. We had a wonderful lunch along the way in Soldotna at the St. Elias Brewing Company. Once in Homer, we immediately headed for the Homer Spit, which is a four and a half mile strip of land that juts out into Kachemak Bay. We found a great spot to park the RV for the night and explored the town. I will admit that there isn’t much to do in Homer, essentially it is a fishing village that is famous for their halibut. But the scenery is amazing and it was a very nice place to spend our last night in Alaska.

Homer on Dwellable

We woke up very early on our first day in Seward. We had reservations for a six-hour tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park with Kenai Fjords Tours starting at 7am. Before getting on the boat, we stopped for a great breakfast at the Smoke Shack. This restaurant is inside a converted railroad car and has some great biscuits and gravy. Highly recommended!

Our cruise started promptly and though the inside was pretty full when we arrived, there was plenty of room outside on the back deck. We had brought along plenty of cold weather gear and decided to stay outside with a few other brave souls for the entirety of the cruise. Among the wildlife we saw were Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, a Humpback Whale, two species of Puffins, and Steller Sea Lions. These were all just bonus items, as the real destination of the cruise is the glaciers inside the park boundaries. We passed numerous glaciers, including Bear, Holgate, and Pederson.

The highlight of the trip was when we arrived at our destination of Aialik Glacier. At this tidewater glacier, the captain turned off the engines and we floated for a half hour or so about a mile from the very large glacier. Pieces of the glacier fell off pretty regularly, plunging into the ocean with a large splash and a loud rumble. This was such a cool thing to see in person, and I wish I had a video camera to record some of the action. After a quick lunch, we turned around and we on our way back to the harbor. The cruise was pricey, but highly recommended.

From there we stopped by the Alaska SeaLife Center. Here we were able to see many of the same animals we saw on the cruise in an up-close environment. Unfortunately, one of the exhibits was closed, so we didn’t get to see the Harbor Seals. I was expecting a little more from the SeaLife Center, but it was an okay quick stop for the day.

From there we walked up the street from the SeaLife Center through the main street of Seward, 4th Ave, stopping at a few of the local watering holes. There are a half dozen or so all within a block or two, which provided some much needed nighttime entertainment for a few hours. Later we wandered up to Chinook’s Waterfront Restaurant for an excellent meal before heading back to the RV for the night.

Seward on Dwellable

On our fourth full day in Alaska we sadly had to leave Denali National Park.  Looking back on our entire trip, this would likely be my favorite destination that we visited.  Fortunately, we didn’t have to leave the park without seeing Mt. McKinley in its full glory.  As we were driving out of the park, we were treated with great views of the mountain.  The skies continued to stay clear for our entire drive and we were able to see the mountain from a variety of viewpoints. We also spotted a coyote, which we first thought was a lone wolf. After looking at the photos closer, I can tell it is indeed a rare coyote inside of Denali.

After leaving the park, we drove south back towards Anchorage. Along the way there were many great views of McKinley that we took advantage of. Somehow we still made it back to Anchorage earlier than I had originally thought. My tentative itinerary had us stopping for the night in Anchorage, but we soon decided to continue driving all the way down to the small coastal town of Seward. Before leaving Anchorage we did stop for lunch at Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse. Kim got her first fish fix of the trip, which she thoroughly enjoyed. My chicken sandwich was not so good, though the beers more than made up for it.

The drive down to Seward is incredible. It starts of by following the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet. There are large mountains on the left side of the road and the sea is directly to the right. There are a number of pullouts along the highway where you can stop to see beluga whales, and possibly other wildlife. On our first stop we immediately spotted some belugas, and we continued to see them the entire length of the drive along the water.

We eventually made it down to Seward around sunset and found our way to the city campground which is right on the water and near the harbor where we would be heading the following morning. It was a long day of driving, but we had lots of great scenery along the drive and great weather throughout. I was also happy to have another day to add to the itinerary for the Kenai Peninsula.

Anchorage on Dwellable

Having a great time touring Denali on our own the first day, we decided to go a ranger led Discovery Hike up Igloo Mountain on our second full day in the park. The rangers choose these hikes up to a week before the schedule date.  Since the hikes are limited to eleven people, the park service encourages  you to make advanced reservations one or two day ahead of time. Our hike was listed as strenuous, but that really only means elevation gain more than 1000 feet.

Our guide was originally from Colorado, so we had a lot to talk about throughout the hike. I was impressed to learn that he had climbed all of Colorado’s 14ers. He offered advice to us for future 14ers that should be on our list. All of the others on our hike were European, though nearly all spoke flawless English. Most of them had hiked in the Alps many times so it was cool to hear how Alaska’s scenery compared and contrasted. We hiked for most of the day, and though we didn’t summit any peaks, we had some amazing views throughout the day.

Healy on Dwellable

On our second full day in Alaska we rode on a Denali Park shuttle bus for many hours throughout the park. As I mentioned in the day 1 recap, you are not allowed to drive throughout most of the park and you have to use the shuttle bus system to get around. With our camping reservation at Teklanika we were able to get a special bus pass that would allow us to have unlimited rides. Most of the time we were on a space available basis (which never was a problem), but we were able to make one guaranteed seat reservation for the first full day we had in the park. So on this day we caught our reserved shuttle around 7:15am for the ride all the way out to Wonder Lake.

We wouldn’t arrive at Wonder Lake until 12:30, meaning that we would be on this bus for over five hours. It isn’t that far of a drive, but the speed limit is 35 MPH and there are many planned an unplanned stops along the way. The unplanned stops happen when anyone on the bus spots some wildlife. These sightings and the beautiful scenery helped to pass the time very easily. In order of appearance, we saw a grizzly bear, dall sheep, caribou, a fox, and a pack of wolves. Also there were numbers of golden eagles, northern harrier, ptarmigan, and other birds.

In addition to all the wildlife, we also continued to see amazing colors throughout the park. Fall was really in full swing and the red, yellow, and orange colors were amazing. On top of it all, we got to see most of Mt. McKinley. The mountain, as it’s called inside the park, is often hidden in clouds.  But when we made it out to Stony Hill we had a nearly a cloud-free view. According to the bus driver 80% of the mountain was visible, which was good enough to count as a day when the mountain could be viewed.  He also said that the mountain is only visible 20% of the time, so we were pretty lucky.

By the time we made it out to Wonder Lake, more clouds had rolled in and hid much more of the mountain. I had planned to take a hike for good viewing of the mountain out near Wonder Lake, but since it was hidden we decided to continue on our original bus back to the Eielson Visitor Center for some hiking there. We hiked down to the McKinley River bed from the visitor center, which proved to offer some great views of the entire valley along with the Alaska Range. Once we were finished with the hike we caught another bus back to the campground to wind down the night.  It was an amazing day!

Alaska on Dwellable