Roxborough and Chatfield State Parks

August 16, 2025August 16, 2025 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

We left Ridgeway and drove the nail-biting 11,312 feet through monarch pass pulling the clamshell. It was slow going but Rusty (the Rav4) made its 9th trip across the Continental divide. George has diagnosed me with hill anxiety. There’s a beer for that. In fact. I want someone to name a beer ‘hill anxiety’ in my Honor.

We parked the camper at Chatfiel turned the AC on, went to eat Mexican and moved onward to Roxborough State Park. Roxborough is a hidden gem but doesn’t allow dogs. Ringo was pleased. I think he needed a day off.

We had a relaxing evening at Chatfield before getting up early to drop Fiona at the Denver (circus) airport to return to Raleigh for her last year at NC State.

The top out temperature was 106 degrees yesterday somewhere in Kansas. The last picture is on our way home. Shawnee lake outside of Topeka Kansas, which was 22 bucks. Cha-ching. We should arrive at Edgar Evans State Park in TN tonight.

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Molas Lake outside Silverton

August 14, 2025August 14, 2025 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

At first we were just going to Ouray but realized the hikes we planned were actually on the perimeter trail. It was also a hot day, so we headed for higher elevation. The hike we did yesterday outside Silverton was at 12k feet so we headed back that direction and stopped at Molas lake. It was also less smoky today. (Bonus)

We by-passed Silverton since we had already decided to eat in Ridgeway. We ate at the local brewery (again) and had pizza (again), but it was delicious. The wood fired pizzas are yummy in these small mountain towns.

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Telluride, CO

August 12, 2025August 13, 2025 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

Headed to Telluride today after an another amazing campground chef breakfast. I do love some eggs at the campground.

Telluride is about an hour away and it was pretty smoky this morning. I guess the fires are kicking it. The hike we took was called Bear Creek canyon with two beautiful waterfalls at the end. After the hike. We ate at the smugglers Union brew house and wandered the streets of town in search of the best Colorado stickers.

It was a great evening chilling at the campground, playing cribbage, and reading books. Dinner was smoked salmon that Fiona brought from Alaska and free dadcation cheese.

Ouray

August 11, 2025August 11, 2025 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

Beautiful hike today on the perimeter trail around ouray in the same Juan mountains. We are staying in Ridgeway state park which is also beautiful. We are having a great time. Honestly, on the hike I got a little tired so my soak in the hot tubs was amazing. George was a good sport about letting me get my soak on. It felt so good.

My ass was in those hot springs within the hour

Colorado

August 9, 2025August 9, 2025 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

I met up with George on Wednesday at the end of dadcation3.0. He dropped the Dad’s and picked me up the same morning. They probably caught the same plane . Courtesy picture of the dads.

We have been staying at Chatfield State Park South West of Denver in a town called Littleton. We’ve spent some time hiking after work and catching up with family and friends in Golden. News flash Sally and Luke got married the day before we met up with them. Cheers to the newly Weds!

Fiona arrived today exhausted but she got to see the borealis from the plane. We are on our way to Ridgeway state park. We hope to avoid the Rio Blanco fire that has burned 75,000 acres in 7 days.

Asheville to Colorado

June 2, 2024 / rugreen4u4632 / 2 Comments

We are on the first leg of our summer adventure. The farthest we’ll be from home is the Canadian Rockies, but we are lolly-gagging our way there. We are spending the first 4 working days in Colorado at Eleven Mile State Park starting tonight. We made tracks across the prairie. We stayed in Cumberland Mountain State Park West of Knoxville Thursday. Then drove 600 miles to Arrow Rock State Park in Missouri. Saturday evening we stayed in John Martin State Park in Colorado. We’ll be working while on the road using star link (Skynet) for connectivity and hoping I don’t get fired.