Another Rainy Day

Today we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park to check out what kind of hiking trails they had. When we pulled up to get our park sticker the gentleman at the booth told us most trails were still coverd in 50 inches of snow. But we found one that wasnt. On our way up we saw a huge heard of elk, a few new kinds of birds, and some hampster/gopher like things we called "Humphrey(s)." Humphrey burrows multiple tunnels underground - all connected of course - and he scurries around the prairielands popping in and out of different holes. Of course, anything resembling a squirrel and Daniel is all over it, so we'd already had a great day and it was only 9:00!

This guy's actually very vivid blue and black and quite a pest. He was sitting on the elks neck pecking away. But the elk didnt seem to mind.

So, when we did start hiking, we couldnt just stay on the trails. First i'll preface these next pictures and story I am going to tell with how we have been listening to my sisters "The Secret" book on tape series. We decided to test the "law of attraction" by stating out loud that, "we want to see the bones of an animal killed by a mountain lion." So we went hiking up this mountain, and along the way we came across a few ribs, and a huge antler and a few other pieces. Then...we hit jackpot! We basically found what was obviously the boneyard of a mountain lion (or some other large animal eating machine) which was poised overtop a large hole looking like a possible kitty-den created by large boulders. The pictures dont really tell the truth very well, but there were two spines with attached pelvis', femurs still attached to lower legbones, plenty of ribs, an antler, etc. We thought it was sweet.

Antler found on our way up the mountain/foothill?

Our trail...from the viewpoint of the lions den (we think).

Just before we found the bones we stopped to rest on a rocky cliff. This was the view looking downward.

And...our boneyard.

the femur (or something) with joint cartilage disc still intact. Sweet. Course i picked it up silly!!! This is the same girl who dissected the duck in Andrea's neighbors yard when we were little. :)

One pelvis,

two pelvis...

No mountain lions though. You'll all be happy to know we are fully intact and healthy. Tonight we are staying in Boulder and enjoying a regular bed for the first night in 7 days. Happy Easter to you all!

Love,

Marlayna & Daniel

more from the last blog....

After a few hours there (Shambalah Mountain Center), and a scrumptious meal of brown rice, beans, kale and salad, we left for Estes Park. When we arrived it was rather cloudy and rainy but it quickly opened up to reveal some beautiful snow capped mountain peaks, a bavarian style downtown, a pretty rainbow and the historical, and picturesque Stanley Hotel.
The Stanley Hotel was a neat stop because it was more than just the inspiration for Stephen King's story "THE SHINING". It was built by F.O. Stanley, famous for the Stanley Steamer (which is not a vacuum - as I had thought when I remembered the advertisement, "tough on dirt, gentle on carpet." That's me for ya.) Stanley settled in Estes Park in 1903 when he believed he was sick and near death. He decided to purchase the gem of 160 acres the Stanley Hotel sits on today and build what you see here. The main building took 2 years to build and was built with timber from the nearby Rocky Mountain National Park. F.O. Stanley died in 1940 (a bit later than he'd originally planned) so he got to see the town blossom as he helped develope a sewer, power and water company, as well as Estes Park's first bank. Apparently room 217 is the best place to be because Theodore Roosevelt (1915), Stephen King (1973), Jim Carrey (filming Dumb & Dumber), and the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown Titanic Survivor all stayed there. We thought it was sweet.


So of the 300 days a year of sunshine Colorado boasts, i am pretty sure we have seen at least 7 of the rainy/cloudy days. And, would you believe we still think its fabulous?

We're On The Road Again...

Daniel took this picture to show everyone back home just how many bikes people ride around here (Fort Collins). This is a small portion of the bikes in this community. As he put it,"people ride horses like we ride bikes, and people ride bikes like we drive cars." Actually, quite an accurate statement so far.

So we finished up in Fort Collins by touring the Poudre canyon which was beautiful. Huge walls of rock jutting straight up from the earth to touch the sky, the poudre river meandering over boulders and between the rocky walls, coyotes playing in the grassy meadows, and bighorn sheep trimming what little grasses grew on the cliffs.

After traveling through the canyon for about an hour we took this tiny little dirt road all the way up to a place called the Shambalah Mountain Center. Can I just tell you guys that even back there we saw a truck that was stopped next to a bunch of four wheelers that read across the back windows, "MONA VIE: Drink It, Feel It, Share It." How did someone think of these people all the way back there!? I was quite impressed to say the least. Anyway, Shambalah Mountain Center is a Buddhist retreat on 600 acres, boasting what is called The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya. A project that took 14 years to build and is the largest and most elaborate example of Buddhist architecture in North America. It was amazingly interesting to see what and why this monument was built. What it represents cannot even begin to be described in this measly blog, so peak at their website. It's fascinating.

More Flower's From Grandpa's House

This guy was so cute. Standing all alone in our yard. Until somebody ate him. :(
Just thought i'd post these in the spirit of Spring! And cause our blog looks a little drab to me.

Fort Collins

So here is our adventure through the city of Fort Collins. Initially the city seemed not green enough to me...which is almost crazy to say because actually it is one of the most "green" cities ive ever heard of/been to. Of course, it is still April and, while it is 60-70 degrees out and, we went mountain biking and hiking, the trees are allowed to take their sweet time to bloom again. We were quite amazed with how active the city was as soon as we pulled in. There are bike lanes on every street, and they are all being used!!! Everyone here is super concious of pedestrians and cyclists because they're almost more popular than drivers! There are also beautiful parks wrapped around every neighborhood (practically), and hiking trails throughout the city...not to mention along the foot hills ("Front Range") and mountains skirting the city.
I thought it would be dry here since it looked so rocky in pictures but, in fact, their is a huge reservoir here and a few lakes too! When we pulled in, I almost wrote the city off altogether because I "wanted my trees"...but to be honest, this is day two and we are LOVING the landscape! Its so useful! This next picture is for you D2.

And the city is lined with trees and parks so in the next month or so it will be amazing im sure! Oh, and pretty much everywhere you can imagine there are recycling centers, bike/snowshoe/etc rentals, organic & local food shops, little "mom & pop" stores, etc. Best of all, the people here are incredibly friendly. Our jaws have dropped many a time since yesterday because of the courtesy and friendly remarks people made to us. Daniel and I decided that it must be because these people aren't inside their houses all year round like we are in Michigan. They actually see eachother, realize they have PEOPLE as neighbors, and interact with them because EVERYONE is out and about. :) We highly recommend a jot through this city if you can make it here.

Check out this EXTREMELY tall bike. Its kind of hard to see but the guy seemingly climbing down from that tree is actually using the tree to get off his incredibly tall bike.

A small village nestled in the mountains. We passed a sign that said Stout - Population 47.5. Daniel asked a very good question, "how do you get half a person?!" Also, check out how nice these log cabins and homes are. No one seems to live in a shabby place.

Getting ready to hike up Horsetooth Mountain. Fort Collins is approximately 5000 feet and we are going to work our way up to 7,600.

Mid-hike. Layers on, layers off. Its warm, but there is snow. Its freezing in the wind, but warm warm in the sun.

This is Horsetooth Mountain.

Our view from Horsetooth.

This is a lovely resturaunt that we had dinner at tonight. Its local, organic, and vegan. Sweet. I had a fabulous salad with marinated tofu and seaweed, and Daniel had a tempeh/blackbean burito with sour "cream" and guac and a salad. Oh, and we shared a cup of this exotic white bean, tomato, fennel and lavendar soup! I never would have put those ingredients together. The couple that owns the resturaunt is very nice. Moved here from North Dakota with their 4 kids last September and started the business which has been open for 2 months. Soon to have organic beers & wine. Next time we'll take pictures of our food! Its way more fun that way!

Road Trip - Iowa, Nebraska....

Yesterday evening we arrived in Fort Collins, Colorado. We have been sleeping in the back of our Honda Odyssey and loving it. So far we spent the night in Stuart, Iowa at their AmericInn - well, their parking lot that is.

This is a picture of a huge coal train we saw when we stopped to stretch for a second. We were amazed at how long it was...and where did all that coal come from?!

The corn/soy/canola fields of Nebraska....

These reminded me of the gangly swampy trees in Florida...and it was hot like it too!!!

It was bitter sweet when we would see all these "happy" normal cows w/their babies...and then pass 3-4 cattle trucks carrying these guys off to....cow hell.

Goodbye House, and A Day in the Windy City

These were my pretty flowers outside Grandpa's house. Goodbye flowers - stupid snow. Goodbye Grandpa's. I had quite a moment the other day as I closed the garage door to the house behind me. I've been so excited, and anxious to move forward with our plans...and I finally stopped for the first time in a few weeks, to look around me and realize that I, yet again, rushed past another point in my life.

Our first home as newelyweds. What a beautiful home and fabulous times we had there. I really enjoyed the many movie nights I got to share with Daniel in our basement, or cold winters days by the fireplace, my own laundry room (beats the apartments!), entertaining at Thanksgiving, raking our first yard, cold walks at 6 am around our neighborhood, bike rides to the park, basketball at the elementary school next door, being within a bike-rides distance to family. All so wonderful. Slow down Marlayna. This is one my life lessons. Slow down. :) Ok. Maybe I should tattoo that somewhere I would see it often...inside my wrist or something.

I would live in Chicago. Its like an insane ant farm....everyone's so busy with their individual world, each creating their beautiful little life - all of them so separate but so interwoven. Its like a little tornado of humanity.

I dont have a picture but Iowa is full of windfarms! Daniel said they went from horizon to horizon. As much as I feel controversial about what they do, they sure are beautiful to look at!

WELP, Now we're on to Colorado... check you later! :)

Love,

Marlayna (& Daniel)

Father-Son Motorcycle Time

So my Dad and I are planning a week long motorcycle trip down to South Carolina in mid-May to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway, Cherohala Skyway, Deal's Gap...etc. For those of you who don't know him, my dad is legally a Motorcyclaholic. Seriously. I think he has the world record for most miles on a motorcycle in one year for someone who was working full-time (it is going to be WAY higher this year now that he is retired!). To put this into perspective: You could blindfold my dad and drive him out to the middle of NoWhere, Michigan and within 5 seconds of taking his blindfold off I am quite confident that he could tell you where the nearest gas station is, where the bathrooms are inside of the gas station, the road with the best scenery and most curves to get there, and where you will most likely see a police officer waiting to catch you speeding. THIS IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION!!!

Anyway, my dad wanted to take me on a long ride to see how long I can stand on a motorcycle in one day to better help him plan our trip. I made it from just after sun-up (8:00AM-ish) to just before dark (8:00PM-ish) and I was still having a great time and could have easily done more... I think I passed the test!

We had a great ride and saw some really nice places. We stopped at a nice historical covered bridge in Ada, stopped in a really nice town called Rockford, drove through Sparta (and yes I did yell "THIS IS SPARTA!" ala the movie 300 in my helmet), and ended up at our destination in Muskegon where we got to walk through the USS Silversides WWII submarine (see image above) and the USS McLane WWII Coast Guard ship. It was especially neat for me because my dad used to be an officer on a ship and I got to see what that part of his life was like. In fact, the ship he was an officer on, the "Dar Pomorza" (see image below), is now at the Polish Maritime Museum in Gdansk and I am planning on going to check it out while we are in Europe next year!

All-in-all I had a wonderful day with my Dad and am looking forward to our trip to South Carolina in May!

~Daniel

For Love Of Water - FLOW

My family watched this documentary the other night on the world wide water "crisis". I say that this way because this movie makes you instantly present and conscious of this seemingly insurmountable global issue we have, and then brings you right back up high to realize just how simply we can augment, if not, correct it. It does an incredible job of demanding your awareness and consideration of the way water moves throughout our world, who it "belongs to" - if anyone - or everyone, and the unconscious way some cultures are using it up...

Here is a snipit I found that relays a little bit more info about the documentary:

Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel. Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question "Can anyone really own water?" Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround. Run time: 84 minutes

Sound boring to you? I can understand. A few years ago, I wouldn't have even come close to picking up this film to give it a glance-over much less considered it worth spending 84 minutes of my life on. But now I am SO THANKFUL that I am in a place in my life where I don't spend much time concerned with my own well being and I have the space in my heart to consider other's lives and well being. In America, we, even the lowest income families, are some of the richest, most secure, people on earth. We truly don't have to travel far, or do something so extreme to find a place to sleep, something to eat, a helping hand, or water. I mean no disrespect to those who feel they do have these burdens here. I just mean that, if what we think or believe, is what we create, and what we live, then this country has one of the most limitless spaces for creating or believing in whatever you want. What a blessing. It always requires hard work, ample giving to receive a hefty taking. This is the cycle and FLOW of all things in this world. But wow, we have opportunity.

So if i have not caused you to turn away yet, you might like to know that this movie mentions the story about Nestle Co. and how they are pumping (for free) our water out of areas in Michigan, packaging it up and selling it back to us. Very interesting. There are so many wonderful points to this movie, it is hard to recall and post all of them. Like I said earlier, one of the main things I walked away with was a higher level of consciousness, an awareness of how I am effecting the world, of the blessing (and responsibility that comes with it) of having a faucet that, with very little effort, I can flip on and trust will supply me with adequate amounts of clean water.

I highly recommend you find 84 minutes and watch this movie. For the time it takes of your life, it will repay you many times over.

Much love,

Marlayna