An Abert's Squirrel

We saw this squirrel in our campground yesterday and thought it was some freak accident between a rabbit and a squirrel but it turns out that its actually "normal"! Clint says they are called Abert's Squirrels ....and people hunt them here. check it out!

Hi Mom,

This is for you. We only have a few moments before we head out to dinner here in Boulder with Adriane. We are going to a restaurant called Sunflower that serves local, organic vegetarian cuisine. Check out the website.

MTN Biking Training Course

This is so sweet that this is loaded! So here is a park in Fort Collins that trains you for extreme mountain biking. I was already out of comission on the first thing I tried. Anyway, here is Daniel's spectacular performance.

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.