We went snowmobiling over in the White River National Forest. Here is mom on her snowmobile.
Here is Bevan on top of the mountain. Notice the awesome view in the background.
Here is my sister Carla.
We drove over to Vail and took the family up the mountain on the gondola. Here we have my brother-in-law Alan, Carla, mom, dad & myself.
Myself, mom, dad, Carla & Alan from another vantage point on the mountain.
I booked the family on a sleigh ride over in Keystone. They take you on the sleigh ride out to this rustic cabin on this farm. It was very cold that night though. Probably close to 0.
Here we have Mithcell, dad, myself, Alan, Carla & mom.
Here is my sister-in-law Jeanne & my nephew Mitchell on the slopes at Breckenridge. Mitchell took up snowboarding this trip and loved it. He'll be shredding in no time.
Here is my brother's family. Jeanne, Clark, Mitchell, PJ & Jennifer. Jennifer and PJ just recently got engaged a few months back.
Here's another picture of the little powder hound Mitchell. I've never seen one kid eat so much snow in my life.
We spent Christmas with our best friends Cammie & Jeff down in Colorado Springs this year. Here is Cammie (aka Lieutenant Dan) with her new legs. Cammie and I played hooky one day and went skiing. Unfortunately she took a spill on the slopes and tore her acl. She has got a long recovery ahead of her, but her legs are as good as new.
Here is Bevan and Jeff digging into the great meal that Cammie prepared for all of us.
I love presents. Notice we couldn't wait until Christmas morning. We're all still a kid at heart.
Here I am measuring the fire pit on the back patio. It reads 27 inches as of noon with a little more still to come.
Here is the snow in the back yard. As you can see it is up to my waist. Pretty cool to live through my first blizzard.
Here is a view of 29th Avenue in Stapleton. All of these people were digging out their cars. I have no idea where they plan on driving since most of the roads are undriveable.
Here is Bevan making a path out the back door to the back yard.
Here is a view of the house from the street.
We traveled to Breckenridge for the weekend to do some skiing. The slopes opened on Friday and they had 10% of terrain open. Here is Cammie, Bevan and Jeff waiting for the shuttle to take us to the slopes. Notice Cammie's new ski's. She is so proud to have her own ski's & boots. No more rentals with smelly boots and beat up ski's.
This is a picture from the chair Cammie & I were riding up. They are expecting another winter storm on Monday evening that should dump 1 to 2 feet of snow. Hopefully by the time my family visits for Christmas the slopes will be close to 100% open.
Here is the speed demon Cammie going through the obstacle course. Her instructor told her she wasn't ready to do this yet, but someone didn't listen. She told me to go check it out and let her know how difficult it was. The next thing I know here she comes behind me. I bet it won't be long before she'll be skiing black diamond. Go Cammie!!!!!!!
All this week Bevan's mom and step dad have been visiting from Alabama. We took them to Breckenridge today to see some of the fall color. Over the past 2 days the mountains have had 2 feet of snow.
Here are some aspens in the condo complex. You can see Bevan to the right of the tree getting a close up shot with his camera phone.
Here is a view from the complex towards the ski runs. Hopefully this early snow means a great ski season is ahead just like last year.
Here is a shot overlooking the town of Breckenridge up towards peak 8. You can see the golden aspens in the background.
This is my favorite shot of the day. It looks like someone took a paint brush and painted specs of gold on the mountains. I have never had the luck to see golden aspens amongst snow covered pines before. It was truly beautiful there today.
We traveled to the "Loveliest Village on the Plains" this past Saturday to witness an old fashioned slugfest between the two Tigers of the SEC. Auburn vs. LSU lived up to its billing and left everyone on the edge of their seats in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Final Score Auburn 7 vs. LSU 3. This game was brutally HOT. It made for a miserable day in the stands. We were all physically drained as time expired.
Here is our eagle "Spirit" making his pregame flight. I had a feeling we would win after his flight that day. He must've stayed up in the air for about 3 minutes circling the stadium 4 times before landing to a thunderous roar of "War Eagle, Hey"!!!!!
Here is my brother Clark in the middle with his son Mitchell and his best friend Pat. Don't hold it against Pat for being an LSU fan. Those cajuns have to pull for someone.
Here is a picture of myself, Mitchell, Clark & my dad after the game was over. You can see in the background the scoreboard that reads Auburn 7, LSU 3.
Dad, Clark, Mitchell & Bevan after the game at Toomers Corner. For those of you that don't know about Auburn football, after every home win our fans congregate at the entrance to campus and roll Toomers Corner.
Here is Bevan, Clark, Mitchell & myself at Toomers Corner. Waaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr Eagleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!
I was driving through Evergreen, CO and came across this herd of elk. This bull elk is huge. Wouldn't you agree?
Here is another picture of the bull. I wish there was a way to upload small video files on this web page. He was yelling big time to the doe's nearby.
Here are some of the doe's and their calves.
Here is a doe checking me out from the car. You don't realize how big these animals are until you are right up on them. Gosh, I love Colorado and the chance to be this close to nature. Isn't life great!!!
This is a picture taken in Estes Park. The elk are always in this town. They are on the golf course, in people's yards & walking down Main Street. I lucked out and was able to get pretty close to get this shot.
This is the Santa Fe Depot in Canon City, CO. We caught the Royal Gorge Railway and traveled on it for 12 miles up the gorge and then back. The train is really neat with dining cars so that you can have lunch on it. We rode in an enclosed dinner car with a glass top so that you get a great view of the gorge. Also, they have an open air car that you can walk out on to experience everything.
Here is a view of the Royal Gorge Bridge from the train. This is the worlds largest suspension bridge and is 1050 ft in the air. We later drove to the bridge and you can walk across it. It definitely bounces a little when you are on it which is kinda scary. Everything below you looks so small.
Here is a view of the train. As you can see we are following the Arkansas River through the gorge. You can see one of the open air cars with a lot of people site seeing from it.
If you look closely in the center of this you can see a person swinging back and forth. They pull the people back with a chord and then cut them loose. These people then swing out across the gorge. Talk about crazy.
This is a view from the bridge looking down into the gorge. You can see the river and if you look closely you can see some red dots in the river. These are white water rafters.
This is a picture of the sun rising as we were leaving the bay. My dad took Clark, Alan, Bevan & myself fishing on his boat that he got last year. We caught a ton of fish and dad showed us all how it was done. He caught the most fish out of all of us. Some of the fish we caught were red & black grouper, scamp, amberjack, red snapper & one wahoo. We lucked out on the conditions for the day as well. The water was very calm almost like it would be in a lake, but it was rather hot once the afternoon came. We left out of the pier at 6 am & didn't arrive back at the dock until 7pm. Needless to say we were exhausted.
This is the first catch of the day. On the way to our destination to bottom fish, we put out the trolling line & within 2 minute's a Wahoo hit. Dad brought this bad boy in with no problem.
Here is a picture of the Wahoo on ice that my dad caught.
You have to look closely at the picture, but here are 2 dolphins that started following the boat. Dolphins are always nice to see while you are out, but you don't want them around you while you are fishing because they will steal your fish off your line when you are bringing them in. One of us had caught a grouper that was to small and we turned him loose. Some times when you bring the fish up so fast with the electric rods it takes them a minute to adjust once you turn them back loose. When we turned this grouper loose he was on top of the water and I saw a dolphin swim by. About a minute later you saw a big splash and there was no grouper left. The dolphin devoured him within a second.
Here is Clark with the Amberjack that I caught. We let him go since no one on the boat really cares for the taste of Amberjack.
This is my dad's fishing boat. It is a great boat, but the only thing it doesn't have is a sleeping quarters. This would be great while driving to your destination. Oh well, you can't have everything right? just kidding. We are extremely blessed.
Here is a picture of some of the fish we caught. Starting from the left is my brother Clark, myself, my brother-in-law Alan, Bevan & dad.
Here is a picture of Clark & myself. Clark is holding up the Wahoo that dad caught.
These are my brother's 2 English Bulldogs. Abigal is on the left and Max is on the right. They are a mess. I always thought Abigal was huge, but she is nothing compared to Max. The last time I saw Max was a year ago and he was still a puppy. He is HUGE now. They are both real sweet and wouldn't hurt a flea.
Here we have my nephew Mitchell. We were riding around on his "tricked" out golf cart that Clark & Jeanne got him. He loves driving this around the compound where Clark & Jeanne and my parents have a place. I meant to get a picture of the golf cart at night because that is when it looks the best. It has purple lights that shine from the bottom of it while he drives around. It is too funny to see. Next up has to be a kickin stereo for it. Wouldn't you agree Mitchell???
