On Edge
If you followed our trip last year and read about the time we spent at Grand Canyon, you’re familiar with my fear of edges (precipices, to be exact). I don’t mind heights, it’s just the edge between my high point and the distant low point (the plunging, cavernous chasm below) that causes my heart to race. Unfortunately (as I don’t want to pass my anxieties along to my children either genetically or behaviorally) Julianna seems to have the same fear. So, we were quite the pair in Mesa Verde National Park as we toured the Balcony House, an ancient cliff Continue Reading …
A Coat of Arms
During a recent visit to the Texas Renaissance Festival, our boys set their hearts on shields. These weren’t the high-dollar shields gilded and adorned and safely on display in one of the many weapon shops at the festival. They were the high-dollar cutouts of pine, void of decoration and character. I placated our 8-year-old son, saying I would make him a shield at home. I knew I could easily make a simple shield to match the one he had set eyes on at the festival. My heart, however, was set on making something grander. In the days that followed I Continue Reading …
Running Retrospective, 2018 Edition
I recall spending some time reflecting on my 2018 running adventures in the fading days of December. This was largely inspired by a curiosity of what my Strava Heatmap looked like for the year. I have often joked that much of the reason I collect so much data on my activities is I like the pretty pictures that come about as a result. Of course, I am an engineer, and some may challenge my assertion that charts and metrics are a form of high art. The reality, however, is that I am fascinated by the physiological adaptations that come about Continue Reading …
He didn’t get to grind the coffee…
There was one job to be done. Mommy and Daddy really needed their morning coffee, and we’d discovered that grinding the beans (RVs need coffee standards, too) was a favorite activity amongst the children. This day, I gave the job to Elijah, turned away to prepare our eggs, and immediately heard cries of protest from Theo. I say cries, but maybe I should say screams. It was a serious fit—you know it’s a big one when you have time to search out the phone, open the camera, frame the shot and take a few, adjusting for the low light of Continue Reading …
Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad
We live easy lives now—fast lives that demand as much of us as we expect of them. We can drive in one hour what it took six for us to travel on that train. I am so thankful for the access we have to the technology of this day, but want also to appreciate that it hasn’t always been, and doesn’t have to be, like it is today. Continue Reading …
Mountain Moments
As we broke out of the expanse of west Texas, we felt the landscape rise and change, taking it in like a breath of fresh air. We love entering the National Forests of New Mexico. Last year Lincoln National Forest took us by surprise, an oasis between the deserts of Carlsbad and Alamogordo. Cloudcroft stopped us for two days and left us enchanted with giant dandelions, murals painted on dumpsters, and fairy gardens. We found nothing we had planned for and all that our little family could have wished for. We relaxed fully into the moment. This year our path Continue Reading …
I am a Runner
There was a time when I did a lot of cycling. I fell into the sport shortly after moving to Texas, drawn into the cycling community through a MS150 cycling team sponsored by my employer. My first training ride was on a heavy mountain bike, which didn’t fare well against the well-tuned road bikes of my companions. Before long, I upgraded my equipment (a couple of times) and found myself logging 100 miles each Saturday morning. As the family grew, the time consumed by cycling became more than I was willing to give and I put the bike aside. A Continue Reading …
Spirit of the West
I wonder at our destinations, and the surprise joys we find, as they unfold along our journeys. If not for choosing Vail as our anchor destination (the place we aim toward to spend a week relaxing), I may not have explored what there is to see in the Texas panhandle. Heading northwest, however, put it right in our path, and one day to the next, we moved from a tribute to America’s pioneering spirit to a tribute to its free spirit. When I saw we’d be passing through Amarillo to northern New Mexico, I reached out to my friend Jeanne, Continue Reading …
Play All Day
Recently, my children have each insisted to me, passionately and frequently, that I do not play with them enough. They’ve actually said, “you NEVER play with me,” which I’m sure isn’t true, but their general protestations aren’t completely unfounded. I do let the busyness of my days carry me away. Faced with an opportunity to wrest some cleanliness and order into our home or sit and play a game, I most often choose cleanliness and order. But I do listen to our precious ones, and I have planned fun and play on this trip!! When we pulled into our first Continue Reading …
Westward Bound
Last year was a transformative experience for our family. After years of living overseas and working internationally, I settled completely into married, family, and local life, contracting my travels from international to national to nil. The same was true for Tim: international travel for work and fun was replaced with the local concerns in our life. By the time Theo was two, we’d mastered the art of the family Staycation and making the most of what our hometown had to offer. Then three of my closest friends moved away at once, and the comfort of home, though still real and Continue Reading …