Rocky Mountain National Park Hiking

Three hikes each at ~12 miles each:

Mills Lake to Black Lake and towards Frozen Lake - view of Black Lake

Lake Haiyaha to Loch Vale to Andrews Tarn and Glacier - the Tarn and Glacier below

Finch and Pear Lakes - Frank and Susan with pears at Pear Lake

Road Trip 2011

Friday, August 26: the road trip begins.

First stop: Lincoln, Nebraska. After a quick visit to the tourist office in the Haymarket area, we located our roller blading path for a bit of leg stretching 8.5 hours into the drive. Starting at the Sunken Gardens we bladed out away from town for about ½ an hour. The trip seemed a little like going back in time – kids on bikes yelled “call you later,” as they headed opposite directions home from school.

Second stop: Kearney (pronounced Carney), Nebraska. Kearney has a surprisingly vibrant downtown by the railroad tracks where trains whiz by at speeds I’ve never seen – a little scary frankly. By the tracks, we stopped in at one of the local breweries, Thunderhead, and had dinner and two good beers: their Scottish ale and the chocolate orange porter (really, you could barely detect hints of chocolate or orange). After dinner, our walk around downtown took us by Fort Dentistry (in neon at night), Daylight Donuts (a stop for Saturday AM), and the local coffee house, Tru Coffee, where they clued me into the local farmer’s market in the Kmart parking lot on Saturdays at 8am.

Saturday morning started with a visit to Daylight Donuts (it was packed!) and then to the large and plentiful farmer’s market where I loaded up on fresh local produce to take us through our first few days in Colorado before the Thursday market in Estes Park.

Summer's in Full Swing

There's been a lot going on since those early spring thunderstorms...many more thunderstorms...and storms in the morning...lightning over the lake for hours. Wild and beautiful and happy to still have power!

In mid-June, we made our annual pilgrimage to Lewes, DE. We met the uberbuddies for a classic weekend of Mexican food, the Lewes 5K, Dogfish Head beer, and beach time. New additions this year included a visit to the farmer's market and seriously authentic Ethiopian food. Thanks, Mary Kay. Yum, yum, yum!

On July 18, our 6-year wedding anniversary, we attended Chicago's Clandestino Supper Club. The temperature was hot, hot, hot. Luckily, there was a little breeze -- some, very slight! We had a wonderful meal and good company in a truly beautiful setting.

This past weekend, we made our second trek of the summer to Charlevoix, MI. We rested a lot and celebrated Frank's cousin's birthday, which included delicious ginger and chocolate gelato and vegetarian stroganoff - made with mushrooms, onions, garlic, and sour cream. Super simple, very satisfying. We checked out the Bear River Valley Recreation Area, in Petoskey, MI. The waking/hiking path is part of the North Country Trail, http://northcountrytrail.org/, which when finished will span from North Dakota to New York. We tried a new brewery, North Peak Brewing Company - http://www.northpeak.net/, in Traverse City and watched the sunset over the West Arm of the Grand Traverse Bay. We roller bladed 6 miles of the Little Traverse Wheelway - http://www.trailscouncil.org/trail/little-traverse-wheelway - outside of Charlevoix: parts of the path overlook Lake Michigan. Stunning! And I almost forgot, a canoe trip on the Jordan River in perfect weather.

Spring Storms and Summer Starts

Approaching May storm to the east, Chicago, IL

Approaching May storm to the west, Chicago, IL

Susan and Frank on the trail in Manistee National Forest, MI

View from Old Mission State Park, Traverse City, MI

Door County Wisconsin!

View of mostly frozen Green Bay from Fish Creek, WI

View of Lake Michigan, Cave Point County Park, Door County, WI

On Saturday, we headed out from Chicago and just north of Milwaukee turned off the highway to stop at Cedar Valley Cheese, where we picked up their famous string cheese and a blue and brie cheese spread. Tasty.

Our meanderings took us next on the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive through the north unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. Patches of snow on the ground and beautiful views of the kettles and forest...

Next stop: More cheese! Henning's Wisconsin Cheese provided us with a super-spicy mango hanbanero cheese and a horseradish cheddar spread. Yum!

In Green Bay, we stopped off at the Titletown Brewing Company for lunch. Good food and beer. We tried the Railyard Alt and the Dark Helmet Schwartzbier. Both recommended!

From Green Bay, we headed onto the Door County Peninsula. After a much needed nap, dinner at the Whistling Swan Inn and Restaurant was on the agenda! As an added bonus, the town of Fish Creek has a small park, which offers views of mostly frozen Green Bay and is situated perfectly for beautiful sunsets! See pictures.

At dinner, we warmed oursleves by the wood burning fireplace, ate delicious food, and sampled great drinks - namely Hinterland Brewery's Maple Bock. We could not have asked for a better end to our Saturday!

Sunday allowed us to relax and read while watching it snow all morning. In the afternoon, we tried Door County's only microbrewery, Shipwrecked. After lunch, we visited Stone's Throw Winery, which uses grapes from California to make wine in Wisconsin. A final stop at Cave Point County Park showed us some mighty winter waves in Lake Michigan. See pictures!

Spring…maybe

Winter in Chicago is not completely over, but the skiing fun has come to an end!

We really made the most of it skiing. We ventured out 5/6 weekends starting January 15!

We went to seven different areas. (The first 5 were new!)
1. Warren Dunes State Park, MI
2. Allegan State Game Area, MI
3. Pigeon Creek Park, MI
4. Skuppernong in the South Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, WI
5. Zillmer in the North Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, WI
6. Lapham Peak, South Unit, Kettle Moraine State Forest, WI
7. Nordic Areas, South Unit, Kettle Moraine State Forest

Best classic cross country skiing (decisions made over multiple visits): A tie!
• Pigeon Creek Park, West Olive, MI
• Lapham Peak, South Unit, Kettle Moraine State Forest, Delafield, WI

Our ski trips also allowed for many visits to Mexican restaurants and breweries in Michigan and Wisconsin. The Mexican restaurants were all tasty, and the Hop Cat in Grand Rapids was a true stand out!

Other than skiing, a little culture has come in the form of Music of the Baroque concerts and theater. I recently saw Reasons to Be Pretty at the Profiles Theatre. This was only my second Chicago play. Last year’s Becoming Ingrid at the Second Stage theater in Wrigleyville started a trend of great, intimate performances.

Winter Wonderland (continued)

These photos are from a recent ski weekend in Kettle Moraine State Forest, South Unit, the Nordic and Scuppernong Areas, near Whitewater, WI.

Winter Wonderland

Frank skiing at Allegan State Game Area, MI, January 29, 2011
Pigeon Creek Park, West Olive, MI, January 30, 2011
Susan on Calumet Avenue, Groundhog Day Blizzard, Chicago, IL

Susan's snow angel near Lakeshore path, Groundhog Day Blizzard, Chicago, IL

Chicago Area Highlights

This photo is from our recent trip to Warren Dunes State Park, Sawyer, MI.

Some highlights of life in Chicago lately have been:

The Sunday Dinner Club has had some has had some phenomenally good food. The highlight of their 5 year anniversary dinner in October was the rosejat, a Catalan pasta dish akin to risotto and paella in that the angel hair pasta is broken up and slow cooked in a tomato sauce. This variety was served with shrimp and sausage. Another favorite from the second dinner was homemade pasta and a slow-cooked Bolognese sauce with buffalo mozzarella garlic bread. Yum! The famed cassoulet and chocolate mousse dinner is scheduled for early February. The perfect mid-winter comfort food!

The Gene Siskel Film Center - Films include:
• the Chicago premiere of Summer in Genoa,
• a re-screening of the Secret of Kells, which is beautiful,
• the informative and thought-provoking documentary, Bhutto, and
• the wonderfully and embarrassingly hilarious, Heartbreaker (a must-see for those who love Dirty Dancing). Check out the trailer!

Just this past weekend, we made our first excursion to Michigan for cross country skiing. (See pictures.) We visited:

• Warren Dunes State Park, Sawyer, MI – not groomed or tracked, but tranquil and serene. Check them out, #80 on A1Trails.
• Pigeon Creek Park, West Olive, MI – groomed and tracked with lots of people, but we got away from the crowds on the southern outer loop. Check them out, #82 on A1Trails.

The Michigan excursion also took us to two local breweries:
• Founders, Grand Rapids, MI
• New Holland, Holland, MI

We have enjoyed both breweries’ bottled beer in the Chicago area. Founders’ great brew is the Dirty Bastard (Scotch ale) and New Holland’s Cabin Fever (brown ale). On tap stand outs for New Holland were the Dragon’s Milk (stout) and the Caber Toss (scotch ale).

I’ve gotten back to re-thinking soup, and as always the speakers are inspiring and the soup delicious. The most recent stand out was an incredibly delicious carrot ginger soup before the holidays. Amazing!

Fall 2010

September brought visitors and touristing. We got to Uncommon Ground in Wrigleyville for brunch and dinner, and we did a lot of Logan Square exploring:

• Lula Cafe's Monday night farm dinner
• 90-miles Cuban Cafe's Cuban food
• Revolution Brewing's local beer and Oktoberfest celebration
• Sunday Dinner Club's secret supper - a highlight of my foodie world

In October we traveled to San Diego for a wedding and enjoyed beautiful warm weather. Highlights included: the Little Italy Farmers' Market's refreshing beverages and local pomegranate, walnuts, and dried fruit and brunches at The Mission and Hash House a go-go.

November took us on a 10-hour trek to West Virginia. It was all worth it for the Hellbender's burritos, Sirianni's pizza, and most of all the company of the uberbuddies in a winter wonderland! See the picture of Dolly Sods Wilderness Area!

November has brought more visitors, and this time we were on a mission for some must have Chicago standards. With advice from my Mad Science of Chicago folks, we tried Portillo's for Chicago-style hot dogs and Lou Malnati's for deep dish pizza. Coffee at Intelligensia and pastries from the French Market (Sweet Miss Givings' cherry chai scone) also fortified us for a sunny afternoon at Garfield Park Conservatory and finally for the tour at the Newberry Library. FYI, they have an awesome bookstore. It's paradise!