Days off in dillon

I've been off trail since the evening of June 30th.  I arrived in Breckenridge early which was nice.  I had the morning to send with Homemade before I headed off to my friends house.  So we packed up our gear and headed off for brunch in Breckenridge.

On the streets we saw this guy.
Very orange!

A dog wearing goggles to protect his eyes.
Our dog would eat them.

A car from Nebraska!
Hmmm...doesn't appear to be a work related use of the car.

This house always has a lovely garden.
I now need to buy seeds for pink poppies.
Wish I could grow delphiniums and lupine like they can here.
Sigh.

I took the bus to the Frisco Station.
I was amazed to see the revised section of Highway 9.
No more steep little hill to ride up.
I will have to come back and check out the new bike trail route.

I went to REI to get my fuel and met Mitchell.
He is from Calgary and is riding from Mexico to home.
He is also a ginger and has to cover up.
He told us about the lack of courtesy he has encountered on his trip while biking.
And all the traffic he has had to deal with.  He is primarily using dirt roads.
He is missing his home and his bed.

My bedroom for the next 4 days.
My resupply box was waiting for me.
It didn't take long to spread my things out everywhere.
I did sort thru my stuff and trimmed off 2 1/2 pounds.
But I will be taking on a few things so the weight savings is probably nill.

It was nice to wash my disgusting stuff.
The dryer made my clothes much softer than what they are when I hang them over bushes or on a line to dry.

I spent the day with my hostess friend.
We went to the Artisan Gallery where her husband's scroll saw work is displayed.
Across the way was a Columbia store.
(They are in the outlet mall in Silverthorne)
This little note made me laugh.

This is the view when you look down the highway from my host's house.
You can see where the fire was near Silverthorne and on Buffalo Mountain.

We headed to Frisco for lunch and sweet potato fries.
Saw these unusual colored petunias.
Beautiful.  I want them at my house!

Cheeseburger and sweet potato fries.
Mmmmmmm..

We went to visit this fiber store but it was closed and empty.
Too bad.

Then we drove up to see where the fire was.
It really was close to the houses.  Wow.
The back yard of one house was right next to the burn area.

During our visit to Frisco we visited a thrift store.
I picked up these snazzy pajama pants (snowboarding themed of course).
The sweatshirt is borrowed.  Thank's Chris!

For me, these are two survival items in the dry mountain air.
Also, a Neil Med sinus rinse bottle and salt packets.
Moisture, moisture, moisture!

The blisters on my heels which were caused by my new inserts are healing very well.
I trimmed down the inserts.  They should be better now.

I bought thread to do the dreaded job of mending.
I like to sew but hate mending.

I fixed my torn pocket my phone goes into and hemmed both pants.
I have pretty short legs.   I didn't hem them earlier because I didn't have time.
So I had just turned up the cuff which became a catch all for dirt and debris.
I am jealous of those who can wear shorts, short sleeves and tank tops.
I have to cover up from the sun and then roast in the heat.
That's one advantage to my umbrella.
It's like 20 degrees cooler under it.
When I walk around all covered up I feel like a vampire hiding from the sun.

Not one that gets all sparkly in the sun......

More like this....
Feeling pain.

It took me FOREVER to finish this.
Of course I was distracted by my phone, texts I received, the dog and my hosts.
All good interruptions.

The next day the 3 of us ran around and did errands.  

I picked up a couple of items and also got an 8x10 photo at Walgreens for Chris.

It was a pic of mountains, flowers and smoke from one of the fires.

While we were out it started to rain.  A lot!

All of this rain fell on the 10 mile range and also appeared to be at Copper Mountain.

I'm looking forward to going to Copper again.

The last time I was there it was like this.

I enjoy it in the summer too with all the flowers.

And there is a Starbucks.

I picked up some Sharpies and decorated my chest pouch.

I used several of the flowers I have seen along the way.

And of course I had to add my trail name!

I was tickled to see Chris bought a car like mine.

I love my Subaru.

And mine is red too.

She doesn't have the leopard neoprene seat covers I have.

But her seats don't have white fabric like mine which I covered up because I didn't want them to eventually look like dirty pits of a white t-shirt.

Today is the 4th of July!

We didn't go to any of the festivities.

I have ridden a firetruck in a 4th of July parade and shot water at people.

(my husband is a fireman)

Once you have done that the bar is set pretty high.

So instead she took me to Tuesday Morning.

I had never been in one before.

Pretty cool store.

I found some good deals and Chris agreed to deliver it when she passes by my area.

They had this tent.

Bah ha ha!  It would be funny to show up with this on the CT.

We had lunch at Which Which.

Mmmmmmm....turkey, pesto, cucumber, spinach, avocado, tomato, ranch and dijon.

We talked about what we would do/have if we were trail angels.

My stop would have canopies, chairs, a trash can for dumping trash, a grill, burgers, pancakes, salad, homemade pies and maybe even margaritas

Of course I had to stop and buy gifts for my boys.

I hope I bought the right sizes.

This guy caught a nice sized trout.

I was too late to get a pic of it before he released it.

I like fishing so seeing all the fisherman made me want to run and rent equipment and get to fishing.  It would be fun to catch trout.  I will have to come back.

The water through the outlet mall is so pretty.

We have an outlet mall near our house.

Nothing like this.

I couldn't believe this dog hung out by his owner while the owner was fishing.

I'd be afraid to hook the dog. Or the dog would jump after the hook.

It was an old dog.

He looked contented to just cool off his feet.

We met them later on shore and like a golden, the dog called Chance, demanded his head be rubbed.

We also saw an Osprey nest in the parking lot.

The mom was feeding babies and making a lot of noise.

That's what made me look up and see them.

We went back to the gallery to let Len know I was helping Chris spend money.

He said I need to leave now. Tee-hee!

I admired his work again.  I really like the eagle pic.

He does lots of outdoor themed items, but unfortunately had sold out of the hiking themed pieces.

If I had a house in CO or where there were moose I'd have this on my wall.

But, I live in NE.  If he made a wall pic it would be of trees all bending north due to the constant 20 mph winds, blowing prairie grass, tornadoes, bugs and humidity.

Not sure how you'd show humidity but it needs to be included.

The rabbits always eat all of my annual flowers.

I used to shoot them.  Now they have built houses around us.

Our husky found a rabbit nest about a month ago.

I didn't stop her.....

We met this husky, Tundra at the ice cream store.

He is only 4 months old!

I wonder if he has malamute in him.

He is too big to be a husky.

He has those funky two colored eyes.

What a beautiful dog.

Very fluffy.  (wouldn't want him shedding all over my house)

Mmmmmm....peaches and cream on top and coffee underneath.

The peaches and cream was very good.  I should have just gotten that.

The blue sky was beautiful.

The sun was behind this cloud.

As it moved over us it was very striking.

Beautiful holiday weather.

Lets look....oh dear, my home is experiencing a heat advisory.

It's 92 with a dewpoint of 79 and a heat index of 101.

I think I will stay in CO a while longer.

We drove around the area and saw this home with all the hanging baskets.

Just beautiful.   Down the street some kids had a lemonade stand.

Several guys dressed up like Uncle Sam in sparkly outfits (probably were in the parade) were crowded around with other family members and neighbors so we didn't stop.

My haul from the Tuesday morning store.

Wool yarn, yummy coffee, a light for my studio and a carry on bag that is purple (my favorite color) and a neck thing.  Both will be good for the trip home.

I hope to be able to get a flight home when I am done.

It won't be on Frontier that's for sure.

Tonight it is dinner with my hosts at another friends house.

Then off to bed when we get back.

I have to hike up to the treeline campsite tomorrow so not a long hike.

We plan to have an early breakfast in Frisco at the Log Cabin Cafe.

(If you are ever in Frisco, have breakfast there, I highly recommend it)

Then off to the trailhead in Breckenridge.

Then up early the next morning to hike over the pass and down to Copper and beyond.

I hope everyone else on the trail is doing well.

Saw the rain on the 10 mile range peaks as we drove to our friend's house.  

Sure am glad I am not hiking there now!

Good food, good drinks, superb company. 

It was an incredible evening with our gracious hosts.

A great way to end the holiday.