Coloradopalooza

Jake's Gma Marlene and all 7 of her siblings stayed really close through the years. They started a tradition way back when with their parents of getting together every year, no exceptions.  Not that this is unusual, many families have reunions like this.  What is striking about this group though, is that the cousins have continued this tradition even when most of the original siblings have passed on.  Every 5 years it's hosted in Colorado and so this year it was held at Harmel's close to Gunnison.  If you ever want to have a Colorado family reunion, this is the place to be.  Each family had their own cabin, with a free breakfast and lots to do during the days.  Because of work, we didn't get up there til the reunion was pretty much over but still really enjoyed our few days with family.  I had only met a couple of these cousins prior so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Every family system is unique.  

Wednesday evening when we arrived, Jake and his uncle played the guitars while the rest of us tried to sing...without books...trying to use phones without service as flashlights and getting lyrics.  It didn't work that well.  Then the volleyball tournament was the next morning, and my team won!  Which, I got leveled by Herb, Marlene's 80 some year old brother, and he got leveled by Dan.  So, it wasn't a very graceful win!

Afterwards Jake and I took a bike ride to Spring Creek Reservoir.  We didn't make it to the reservoir because at 10.3 miles and 1444 ft of uphill climb, we weren't sure how much further it was.  When we got back and looked it up it was 1.3 more miles.  Jake wished we woulda pushed through but I'm glad we stopped, I was worn down.  A road bike is no match for uphill gravel roads. Or downhill for that matter, on the trip home, I thought my arms were going to shake off!

On Saturday we drove north of Crested Butte up Schofield Pass road.  It was lush with wildflowers and wide open valleys.  We drove as far as we could in our car, and walked the last little bit to Emerald Lake.  After getting rained out at the lake and chilled to the bone, we walked along a mountain bike trail and the East River so Jake could fish more.  He didn't catch anything but did fall in once.  All I heard was a "wooo wooo" and looked up and he was crawling out of the river!  The river cut through Slate rock and so everything was really slippery. Apparently the current carried him down about 20 ft.  I really wish I would have seen it! 

The last day of our adventure mostly consisted of driving home. We stopped South of Fairplay along the South Fork Platte River, Jake fishing and me reading.  He caught tons of fish which we cooked up for our supper.  We both got majorly sunburned but it was a relaxing end to a fun couple of days in the mountains!

 

 

#stcvaca

The last time my whole family was together was in May of 2012 for Chel's wedding.  And even then, mis cinco sobrinos were not in tow.  While that still hasn't happened to date and not sure when it will occur in the forseeable future, us sisters did get to have a mini reunion in San Diego.  Steph turned 30 in December and Chel and I decided a sister weekend would be the perfect gift.  We were right.  This trip, even with having your typical sibling spats every once in a while, was indeed perfect!

We all flew in around the same time to San Diego airport and then made our way to our first nights accommodations.  When I say made, I mean I made my sisters walk 3 miles with all our luggage to a hotel I booked that was actually a one bed, no bath hostel.  Yes, it was a surprise to me as well!

Steph had booked us a much better hotel downtown for the next couple nights with hot tubs, a pool and TWO QUEEN BEDS.  Much better than sharing a twin bed for 3 nights! The Wagenbachs let us borrow their van, which we were ever so grateful for.  We were able to drive around the city and explore places like La Jolla, Balboa park, Point Loma, Ocean Beach and more.

We ate a lot of great breakfasts... 

 ...great meals in general!

 

Relaxed a lot..

...and walked all over.

  

We had a lot of laughing moments but one of my favorites was on our last day, before the stress of getting to the airport and then learning all our flights were delayed.  We decided to eat good seafood at the Ocean Beach Pier Cafe.  When we got to the Ocean Beach area, we ran in to a street fair.  I think we drove around for 20 minutes, about gave up, and then magically found a parking spot amongst the masses, about a 30 minute walk to the pier.  After faithfully directing, our GPS ended at the pier leaving us clueless about where to go next.  We looked up and down the streets and couldn't find the cafe anywhere.  So Steph asks a parking natzi "Do you know where the Ocean Beach Pier Cafe is?"  Her sardonic response, "probably on the pier..." left us in shambles.  DUH!  Wala, there it was, on the pier, as we should have assumed!

 Sadly that last day ended rather rushed and stressful because I had misread Steph's leave time and then after rushing and moodiness, it got delayed anyway. Bleh.  My flight was delayed as well and so I spent 4 hours in San Diego by myself.  I had never paid for a massage before and felt this was a great time for it!  Well worth the money spent!  But disappointing as well because I found out Steph could have joined me because her flight had been delayed even longer as well : (

I love my sisters and looking back, am so thankful for the time we had together!  I think it meant a lot to each of us and fue muy divertido to live a little of life together again!

 Oh and for the record, I blended in with a couch. yay.