Summer Break

Three weeks every year there is a lull in Aspen when ski season ends and summer hasn't started yet. Hotels, restaurants and the like all shut down and all the employees flee to destinations unknown. While a large group of my friends headed to Thailand, me and two of my closest friends headed out on a west coast road trip before heading to Mexico City then Peru.

Our first stop was Antelope Canyon, this place is the perfect example of, "true beauty lies beneath the surface."













The second stop was Las Vegas where we stayed at the Bellagio and the Cosmopolitan.

 

The next destination was San Francisco where we biked across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. We ate at Smitten Ice Cream where they use liquid nitrogen to make ice cream to order. After San Fran we drove down Route 1 to Orange County.

Elephant Seals

While in Orange County we spent time on the beach and watched the sunset. While there the Santa Ann winds were blowing which is something I have never experienced.We also went to Disneyland.

Aspen, CO

Well I am in Aspen, Colorado for the winter. I haven't posted in a while because I didn't have internet until today. I moved to Aspen around the middle of October and began training at Ajax Tavern in November. Our entire group at work became instant friends, since none of us could go home for Thanksgiving we decided to have Friendsgiving. Emily and I were in charge of cooking the turkeys, we played on the mountain all morning then began cooking around 1pm. We made one herb and one honey/whiskey/bacon turkey, we also had several bottles of wine. But we were so preoccupied with basting our turkeys and our wine we forgot to have lunch, so by the time dinner rolled around we were toasted.
When snowboarding the other day I hurt my knee because I have no idea how to properly snowboard on powder. When you live in Kentucky the only thing you see on the mountain is ice so now I have to learn what to do in powder. It is a workout because the powder is so deep you are pushing through the snow instead of gliding on top of it. Next week we get to attend an experience day where we act like the customer so we understand what our guests get.
Aspen is beautiful this time of year with the mass quantities of snow we are getting and the trees being lit up for Christmas. We got over a foot of snow on Tuesday and temperatures reached the -15 degrees on Thursday. I have put layer over top of layer on just so I will stay warm. There is so much that has happened that I feel I can't even communicate it properly so check out the pictures.  

Group Trip to Loveland, CO

Aspen Mtn.

Maroon Bells, October

Forgotten Pics from Wyoming

I have a really crappy memory so of course I forgot a few pics I forgot. I wanted to show you all in a single post all the animals I saw in Wyoming.

Black Bear across the river

 This wasn't my only encounter with a bear. There was a female grizzly and her three cubs that kept coming into the ranch every night. We had been trying to see them but always missed them. Well one night my boss was walking across the yard to her cabin when she saw three small heads pop up in front of her cabin. Those three little heads were three grizzly cubs, once they saw her momma bear started walking towards her. My boss turned and ran back to the lodge where I was upstairs preparing for bed. I heard this thumping but wasn't sure what is was. Then it came again, so I started making my way out the apartment into the main lodge. Once I get there I hear my boss start to yell for me so I try and speed up but I was pitch black and I had to weave my way around the banister and chairs then down the steps. I get there are she jumps in the lodge and shuts the door. We then ran back up the steps to the upstairs porch just in time to see all four of the bears turn and head back out of the ranch.

Big Horn Sheep

 These cool sheep normally live in the high elevations of the mountains but come down from the mountains probably due to the large amount of snow the higher elevations got. While I was in Cody it was hunting season for these guys but its not like back home where we go to Wal-Mart and buy tags to kill deer or turkey. Here it is like a lottery, you put your name in the pot and then if you are lucky your name will be drawn for tags. I met one lucky hunter and he told me that the tags are drawn for specific areas and only so many tags are in each area. The area that I was in only had two tags that were drawn.

Big Horn Sheep

Bison

 I researched yesterday the different between Bison and Buffalo because I wasn't sure of the difference. So just in case you don't know either the easiest way to tell is that Bison have beards.

Mule Deer at Ranch

After the guest ranch season ends in Cody, WY the land is given back to the wildlife. You can see each of these animals right in your front or back door. They day I left I found a Bison sleeping right behind our tack barn. As you can see in the picture above there were several deer grazing in the ranch. A lot of the animals I have been told move into the land between Cody and Yellowstone because the mountains protect them from the harsh winters.

Moose and Calf in Tetons

Aspen, CO

I drove to Denver and went out with a few friends the 9th then woke up early the next day and drove to Aspen, CO through Independence Pass. Going to Aspen was amazing the trees had all turned yellow and it was snowing. I drove to Aspen to go to the Aspen Skiing Company job fair. Since it is getting colder I decided it would be warmer for me if I found a place to work that also had employee housing. I was lucky enough to be offered a job with Ajax Tavern as a hostess. Ajax Tavern is a ski-in/ski-out restaurant at the base of the Silver Queen Gondola. I looked over the menu and I am extremely excited about the truffle fries and double cheeseburger! I get a free snowboard pass to all four of the mountains for the season which I am really excited about and a discount on equipment. I FINALLY get the Ride board I have been wanting!
After I was offered the job and I accepted I left to make my way the Beulah. When I got back to the base of the mountain the pretty snow that had been falling was now deep and slushy snow. I am from Kentucky and well when it snows the whole town shuts down, I also drive a mustang which doesn't have the best traction in the rear or four wheel drive. It took me twice as long to make it back over the pass and I promised Betty (the mustang) that if we made it safely over the pass we would stop at the first town and get a hotel for the night. The only vehicles I passed going back over the pass were SUV or trucks, all of which probably were think that I was an idiot way out of my depth. Which I probably was but I didn't have many options, and I was afraid if I stayed the night it would just get worse. I trudged on through the slushy, slick snow. I passed several cars that were parked at the base of the mountain on the opposite side that didn't even attempt the mountain pass, one was a mustang just like mine. I made it down slowly but surely and stopped in Buena Vista for the night. I had the best pizza from Pizza Works - Italian Pizza with pepperoni, mushroom, roma tomato, roasted garlic slices. The garlic slices made it one of the best pizzas I had ever had.

Aspen Trees - golden and old tuck with logs

Mountain with the trees turned

On the way back over the pass- Base of the mountain

Left Wyoming

So on October 9th I left Wyoming and drove eight hours to Denver. I wanted to post some final pictures that I haven't posted yet.

I wanted to take a picture of this mountain because of the story I had heard about them. While talking with the locals I was told that the Indians in the area used to believe their ancestors were the rock formations you see at the top of the mountain. I though this was cool and made me look at the mountains in a different light.

 The house above was something I passed every time I went to Cody from the ranch. The story behind this unique house was that an architect built it but while he was working on completing the top part he fell off the roof. He had fallen off the roof twice before, but this time he wasn't so lucky. He passed away from the fall. His daughters are currently trying to raise money to finish their fathers dream. I am not sure how many of you all watch Tim Butrons Lemonysnikets but this is the kind of house I envision.

Wrangler in Cody, Wyoming

For the past week and a half I have been in Cody, WY working as a horse wrangler for Blackwater Creek Ranch. It has been a great few weeks. I have gotten to work with some fun horses and met some really interesting people from all over. We are in shut down mode right now getting the horses shoes pulled and wormed then we will move them to a pasture for the winter. I will be done next Monday then headed down toward Colorado. 

Baldface on top of June Ridge

Antelope Mountain

Beartooth Pass Mountains

Buffalo Bill State Park

Snow on the Mountains

Dead Indian Pass Monument

Pilots Peak Beartooth Pass

Overnighter - Surprise Lake - Grand Tetons, WY

Sorry it has taken me so long to update the posts the wifi here is a wee bit sketchy. Well Mom and I did an overnighter at Surprise Lake the day after we did the Jenny Lake hike. We started at Bradley Lake trail head which wasn't the "recommended" start, the park rangers did not like that we weren't going by the recommended route. They kept on looking at us like we were crazy. So we started early the next morning Greg hiked up to Bradley Lake and Taggert Lake with us then looped back to the truck. Both Bradley and Taggert Lake were beautiful blue lakes that were so clear and had the beautiful Teton Mountains in the back ground. We had lunch at Taggert Lake then left Greg to continue up the mountain. There was a never ending amount of switchbacks and we had to stop a lot due to my allergies and not being used to the high altitude. We saw a Mule deer that was right beside the trail and two Grouse (birds). Once we finally made it up to the top (which felt like it took 12 hours) and we were misled by hikers coming down who told us we were half way there when I think we were actually only a quarter of the way up. Once we finally made it to the top I stuck my feet into Surprise Lake which felt amazing. We accidentally set up camp in the wrong spot but decided against moving it because we were to exhausted. Once we started to get dinner ready for whatever reason the smaller fuel I bought for my pocket rocket wouldn't work. But luckily we had plenty of food that we didn't have to cook so we had a decent dinner. The next morning we woke up and walked up a quarter of a mile to Amphitheater Lake before packing up and heading out. The hike down the mountain was a lot easier than up. We met two guys from the Carolina's that were finishing the four day Teton Loop Trail. Once off the trail we found a nice brewery and I had a massive burger.

Bradley Lake

Taggert Lake

Surprise Lake

Amphitheater Lake