Jul - Sep 2005

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JULY 2005

Today we are on the road to Florida, to spend a week on the beach and to do some diving.  We left Lonoke at 2:00, we didn't get 15 minutes out when all heck broke loose.  The electronics weren't working properly...  the portable DVD player's screen wasn't bright enough for Chase, and the Game Cube monitor wasn't working right, so Tommy was whining, so I wasn't happy...  Mike behind the wheel was perfectly fine, and Chelsie had her headphones on so she could care less.  That is until Chase wanted her use her laptop, and the answer was a indubitable NO!  Well we got all the issues resolved, and all is well and quiet, thank goodness...

Well several games and a few movies later, we arrive in Fort Walton Beach at 12:10, not too bad...

Well all is quiet this morning here at the beach.  Mike has gone to get a key made for the car top carrier, since someone left them in his pants pockets at home...  Now we know what the spare key is for, which is also on the same key ring as the other one...  Luckily there was a locksmith right down the road a bit.  I am here in the condo, trying to places for all this junk we brought and everyone else is still asleep.  Mike brought some donuts back, and then he and I will head to the grocery store.  They may still be asleep by the time we get back.  After shopping at Wal-Mart and spending way too much money, we head back to the condo then spend the afternoon at the beach.  The boys spending it on the skin boards, which in turn makes Tommy want one.  Back at the room its dinner of burgers then off to Alvin's Island to get some stuff and yes, Tommy's wake board.  We'll see how he does with it...

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This morning Mike and I off to go diving while the kids stay in bed.  We board the Dive Boat, and head to open water.  Today we will be diving on the barge The Phoenix, and another wreck called the Miss Louise.  I am having technical difficulties this morning, my external flash for my dive camera flooded so another diver on the boat offers to let me use hers since she won't be taking pictures this boat.  While diving the first dive, my camera fogs up about half way into the dive, so not all of my pics turned out, but I was able to get a few.  The next dive was the same, we were down for awhile and the camera fog again.  I gotta get that fixed for the next trip.  But at least I was able to get the Goliath Grouper before it fogged.

Once back on dry land, Tommy was waiting very impatiently ready to go to the beach.  Chelsie wouldn't let him go with Chase and Brock to the beach with out us being here.  Which was a very good answer.  We hit the beach, and Tommy started to hit the skin board...  with alot of frustrations, it is getting the hang of it slowly.  It will take alot more practice.

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Today we slept in and had a big breakfast.  I cooked pancakes which is usually a favorite of the kids.  Afterwards, the festivities had begun out in the courtyard, and aroung the pool.  We didn't participate but we watched a couple of races...  The rest of the afternoon was spent down on the beach and taking naps...  After dinner we head down to the beach to watch the fireworks.  We make it a fairly early night since tomorrow while be an early one.

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This morning we are up early, not as early as I have to get up for work, but early for vacation.  We are heading to Pensacola, to go out on a Dive Boat/Fish Charter.  We met Lloyd a couple of months ago when we came to dive.  We really enjoyed or time on his boat, so we wanted to rent it for the day and take the kids and some other family members out.  We were getting ready to pack up and leave when Lloyd called and said there was a small craft warning, so the boat wouldn't be going out today.  So the kids went back to bed, and Mike and I headed back to Emerald Coast Scuba, to get a couple of more dives in before the storms come in.  We don't know if we will get another chance this trip to dive.  The diving was great with good visibility on both dives.  After the dives we head back to the condo, and Tommy is waiting to go to the beach, and the rest of the crew are sleeping the day away.  Go figure, sleeping you vacation away.  We spent a few hours at the beach, it was cloudy so the heat and the sun weren't bad.  We returned to cook dinner, and the "dress up" for some family portraits at the beach.  Who knows if we'll get another chance...

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Well we knew the storm was coming...  This morning we woke to major wind and rain.  Once the rain stopped, we went down to the beach to check out the waves.  They were so big that they had been breaking over the end of the fishing pier.  There were some crazies in the water, and one guy was way out, guess he was attempting to surf.  It was pretty awesome, the waves were bigger then any I have ever seen.  Well since we can't play on the beach or go diving, the only thing left to do is... SHOP!!!  Destin has some pretty good shopping, and a very large outlet mall.  We spent a few hours shopping, Chelsie bought several items, I bought a couple of workout tops, and the boys didn't buy a thing.  After the mall, we went to Fudpucker's for dinner, we got there before 5:00 but had to wait an hour to get seated...  I think everybody was happy with what they got, and I know mine, was pretty great.  I love most anything grilled, and the grilled Mahi Mahi was perfect!  After dinner we head to "The Track" for some go cart action.  We all ride the wood track, Tommy as a passenger with Mike, and I was doing good till Chelsie passed me and I think Chase was just picking on me, as usual.   The Slick Track was cool, I was in the lead, until Chase cheated and bumped me... there were BIG signs that said "No Bumping"...  he never listens.  Anyway, Mike tried to pass and I didn't let him, so I ended up in second.  Pretty good for my first time.  Tommy had to bumper boats, so he got pretty wet, then we road some more go carts.  Tommy and I were the last double cart and we past all and was about to pass the singles when a little girl, who had no business driving a cart caused a major crash... I was pretty ticked off!  Tommy had been whining about wanting to drive his own cart, so he got his wish, when he got to drive a kid cart for little people just his age.  After that its back to the condo... it has been a very long and eventful day.

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Today is a beautiful day...  We woke to a bright and sunshiny morning.  Its nice day, with a cool breeze, so we decide to go to the Gulfarium.  Its not far from our condo so getting everybody up and going and fed was the hardest part.  We arrived shortly after they opened, and our first start was the pool that houses the dolphins.  They were in the middle of a show, so we would have to come back for the next showing.  We saw the Sea Lion show, then the Mixed Species show, and some of the little side pools along the way.  The last and the best stop was of course the dolphin show.  They were sooo cool.  I love those little guys, they are just little puppy dogs, love to play and be played with.  There were three of them, all females of course, Princess, Delilah, and the baby was Lillie.  They were just as good as those high priced stars at Sea World.  Ok there is more to talk about besides the dolphins...  The Gulfarium, has several programs for rescue and recovery, a kids camp, and educational programs for the public.  One of the sponsors is the dive shop, Emerald Coast Scuba, that we have been diving with in Destin.  After we seen all there is to see here, we are back at the condo for some lunch.  Mike and I are then off to buy more groceries to tie us over till its time to pack up and go home.  Once back its to the beach for some relaxation time... the sun isn't hot today, and there is a cool breeze so its a great day on the beach.  Have I said lately that it sucks to be us?  After the beach is a dip in the pool then dinner of sloppy joes.  Tonight we are watching the weather closely... this trip may have to be cut short.  We'll find out more tomorrow. 

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This morning we are up early again, we have decided to got to Panama City to dive on a dive boat there, Hydrospace.  I had dove with them several years ago with my sister, when I first started diving, and they were recommended by Lloyd, our Dive Captain friend from Pensacola.  We really had wanted to dive with him while we were here, but its not going to happen this trip.  Lloyd is protecting his investments, by not taking his boat out.  He was able to save his boat during Ivan, but his home was damaged pretty bad.  He is not taking any chances with his livelihood.  We hope he fares better during this storm.  We are taking Tommy on the dive boat with us, and Chelsie, Chase and Brock are going to check out the beaches in Panama City.  On board and off to our first site...  the harbor is almost like glass, and the gulf is just the same.  Its probably the smoothest I have been on...  its a most enjoyable ride out.  They give us the 10 minute warning, and we begin to gear up.  Mike and I are the last pair in "the pool" so by the time we made it to the wreck, which was a large hover craft that had been sunk, the visibility had gone to pot!  I think if the viz was better, it would have been a great dive.  It still was pretty good.  Then we are back on and off to the "Black Bart".  A barge that was sunk as an artificial reef in 1994.  We arrive at the site and we still have quite a bit of time to wait for surface interval to get some good bottom time.  This time, gives us the opportunity to let Tommy to play in the water for a while.  You know he had ants in his pants dying to do something...  He was pretty happy jump off the back deck of the dive boat, then crawling up the ladder and doing it all over again.  I stayed in the water for a little while while he was doing his playing.  Well we don't have as much time out as I had hoped.  My dive plan for the depth we will be going of 80ft, only allows us 23 minutes, which including a safety stop, doesn't give us much bottom time.  We arrive at the bottom, and once again, the silt from the other divers has made the viz pretty pitiful.  We cruise around for a while, then we start some shell hunting along side of the wreck.  And man did we hit the jackpot...  several large sand dollars, a huge conch shell, with a big hole in the side but its still a keeper, and some other interesting shells like I had never seen before.  All of course were not critter homes, so they surfaced with us.  When it was time to surface, we couldn't find the anchor line so we had to surface in open water and no reference point for our safety stop...  we survived it and arrived at the surface not too far away from the boat.  Back on board, the gear packed up and so is our bag of loot from the ocean floor...  While on our way back through the harbor to the dock, 2 dolphins were spotted, so we got one last "thrill" to make the trip... The car is packed up and we are on the road back to Fort Walton.  The traffic is horrible, people are evacuating the area.  Hurricane Dennis is now a category 4, with winds of 145 mph.  The gas station are either packed with lines of cars, or they are already closed due to no fuel.  Residences are boarding up their windows, and preparing for the storm that is to come.  Many have still not recovered from the last storm, with repairing damage, or building new.  I don't know how these new buildings under construction will survive another hit.  I know I wouldn't want to be a home or business owner...  Back at the condo, we arrive to a note on the door stating that there is a mandatory evacuation for 6:00 tomorrow morning.  With the fear of bad traffic, we begin to pack up for a  departure after an early dinner.  While we are packing we hear that if there are sustained winds over 40mph at Mobile, that the Apalachicola bridge will be closed and there will be no way off the island.  We decide to make a run for it.  While Mike is taking a power nap, me and the big boys, pack up so we will be ready to leave as soon as Mike is up.  At 5:50pm, we leave what has been our Family residence for the last 8 days.  Hopefully it will still be here for the next Family Adventure next year.  Much to our surprise the traffic departing the island is not as bad as we imagined it would be.  We arrive in Mobile only 3 hours later.  Not too bad!  At around 1:00AM just south of Jackson, at the Wal-Mart camping area, stopped for a few hours for Mike to sleep... everybody else was already asleep.  Did you know that a large majority of campers have spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  And now we can say we have done the same.  We will arrive home, mid morning, safe and somewhat sound from yet another adventure.  Keep in touch for the latest in our world of adventure.

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Today we are at the Lake, one last time before Tommy goes back home.  Just the three of us...  It started out raining a little bit, but it went away.  When it did, it made for a very nice afternoon.  I think Tommy had a good time, he is really getting the hang of this snorkeling stuff.  Too bad there is not more time for him to practice...  Guess that will have to wait till next year!

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Tonight we are going to sleep on the boat.  I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out…  It started off being bad, while loading the boat, I got stung on my wrist by a red wasp.  Mike had gotten stung, in the same exact place, the weekend before and his hand and arm swelled up for 3 days.  Luckily I didn't have a major reaction to the sting, it was just sore for a few days.  We figured out that these wasps had a hive in the metal tubing on the ramp to the boat dock.  Mike ran to the marina office and brought some bug spray and squirted it into the hole where the wasps were residing.  Said he killed 10-25 with one shot.  He continued to spray the stuff in the rest of the holes along the ramp…  Maybe they'll think twice before going after us again.  We finished loading the boat and filling it with gas… then we were off.  By then the sun was starting to set as headed off across the lake, past the Narrows to find a place to anchor for the night.  The boat was running pretty rough so it was a good thing we weren't in a hurry.  With a short stop in the middle of the lake to take a quick dip, we arrived at last to our “home” for the night.  Off in the distance a beautiful display of lights from the lighting storm kept us entertained for a while till it was time to make or bed, and sleep.  He has been a long week for me, with all those 4:15am alarm clock awakenings, so I don't imagine I will have a hard time falling asleep.

This morning we wake to a beautiful sunrise…  We begin to attempt and get underway, however, looks like the boat must have woke up on the wrong side of the lake.  Its in one of its temperamental moods, I mean its always hard to get started but this morning it just wasn't happening.  Normally Mike just keeps it cranking and finally it will start, well this morning it wasn't the case.  All it did was run the battery down.  Luckily we had anchored close to the shore and a man that was camping on land walk out to his base boat that was tied to the bank.  He agreed to give us a jump and within a few minutes they were working on the boat.  The man was quite knowledgeable and was able to do some work on it and after about an hour we were underway.  A new fuel pump and filter are in order before the next outing on the boat.  Mike had discussed needing to change the plugs on the motor, but we never seem to go fetch them… while trying to figure out how to get the boat started, Mike found some brand new plugs under one of the seats, he had changed them before the good Samaritan arrived to rescue us.   Once underway, the boat that the night before was running so rough, was running like a top, going a screaming 17.1 mph, as read by our GPS unit.  A big difference from the night before!

We arrive at the spot we are going to make our first dive.  Its still fairly early in the morning, so the heavy boat traffic in the main channel will not affect our dive.  It's a calm morning on the lake, almost like glass, you know one of those mornings that water skiers dream of.  So the gearing up was easy…  As we are getting ready another dive boat anchors up close and we descend.  The depth is not much, the deepest was around 27ft.  There is a boat that sunk here, who knows how long ago, and it rest at 17ft of water.  Not much to see, some fish and rocks.  Mike brings a can of dog food down with us to feed the fish.  Expecting them to swarm on the can of food, only a few arrive, not much excitement there.  After a little over 45 minutes we are back on board, gear up and heading back to the marina.  We are picking up our friends Allen and Judy to spend the day with us on the boat.  Make it back to the marina, gas back up, then wait for them to show.  They arrive we load up and we're back out… this time heading the opposite directions past Eden Isle Marina and beyond.  Mike and I had seen some cliffs that kids were jumping off of, with cut out and openings on the side.  Looked like a good place to check out.  And boy was it… there were lots of areas to swim into, not deep of course, and ledges for fish to hide under.  The old flashlight didn't put out enough light to be able to see all that we wanted, so this site will be revisited.  The diving was done for the day so the rest of it was spent soaking up the sun, a little too much, eating and drinking and enjoying the company.  Judy even got in the water and floated around on a raft for a while.  She doesn't swim so it was good to get her out and see her comfortable in the water.  After dinner of chicken taco salads, a concoction that I dreamed up, we came back to the marina and unloaded the boat to head back home.  It's the unloading and the unpacking that hate about any of our adventures, but the rest of the good times make up for the unpleasantries of unpacking…

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 Today we are on our way to Colorado again…  I know once again, we want to try and conquer a mountain or two if that is possible.  We will “attempt” to climb Quandary Peak, Mt. Democrat, Bross, Lincoln, & Cameron…  the latter 4 or all part of one 7 mile hike.  But for today our first objective is to get there.  This time we are flying, usually we drive, but since this is a quick long weekend, we wanted to get there quickly.  We flew Frontier which has 2 direct flights to Denver each day.  The flight departed Little Rock and arrived in Denver without a hitch, however picking up the luggage and the rental car, left a little bit to be desired.  Our “Big” bag, with all the camping and hiking stuff in it was too large to fit on the conveyor belt so it did not arrive in the baggage claim area with our other bag, which caused a bit of a panic.  I mean come on… we can do without extra clothes, but not the gear!  Once the bag was obtained, we were off to get the rental car.  Mike had said before that getting a car in Denver was a pain, but I thought he was exaggerating…  I’m not sure how long it took us, but we got into Denver at 3:30, and didn’t get to Breckenridge to 6:30 or so.  Of course there was traffic to deal with through Denver which made for a very exciting trip.  After we checked into our hotel, we went wandering around Brec and grabbed some dinner at “Downstairs at Eric’s”.  An interesting little Sports Bar, 120 different beers, pizzas to burgers, and an Arcade too…  After that it’s to the grocery store for hiking food, and then back to the room.  Tomorrow will be an early and exhausting day to be sure…

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 We woke at 4:00, and by the time we packed up and got to the trailhead, it was 5:50 when we got on the trail.  Today we are doing Quandary Peak; one of Colorado’s 14er’s.  The day will hopefully bring us to an elevation of 14,265 and a round trip hike of approximately 7 miles.  They have done some changes to the locations of the beginning of the trails, and if I understand correctly there are a couple of routes to choose from.  Therefore, the book that I am getting the information from, may or may not be accurate, but this is what I am going with.  I think another published mileage says its 3.3 miles to the summit.  Oh what’s a few 10^th of a mile…?  It’s a beautiful morning, cool temperature, not like the 100 degree plus temps we are use to in Arkansas.  However, we don’t have the high elevations to deal with back home…  Normally we drive to Colorado, which gives us a gradual adjustment to the altitude, plus we don’t try and set off for a summit on our first day there, its usually short hikes to get acclimated.  A short way into our day, we weren’t real sure we were going to make it.  With waking up with an “altitude headache”, plus the exhausting day and evening before, this mountain was beginning to take its toll.  It didn’t take long to get above timber line, but when we did, it was mostly rock.  This wasn’t a leisurely hike in the woods, it was a climb…  I sure was glad I had those poles, to steady me, and help me get up some of those steps.  In some places that is what it seemed like, steep steps, with no railing to hold on to, however.  You know I told myself, that I didn’t care how many people passed us on the trail; I just wanted to make it to the top.  We saw so many people on the trail that had no business out there.  People carrying babies, dogs, people with no food or water…  What were they thinking?  With the exception of 1000’s of little catch your breath stops, we only made two stops, one for a morning snack around 9:00 and another to eat lunch at 11:00.  Oh and a few pee stops on the way…  You know guys have it made; do you realize how hard it is for a girl to go to the bathroom, above timber line?  There is no place to hide!  Anyway so much for the 1 draw back of being female…  We arrived at the summit at 2:00pm, 8 hours after we hit the trial, unaware that it would take this long…  After a short break and some picture taking, we started back down.  The trip down was faster but at the expense of my feet and legs…  We arrive back at the trailhead at 6:35, this summit day took us 12 hours and 45 minutes.  Mike decides for us to have dinner in Breckenridge at a place called the Whale’s Tale.  Very good seafood, Mike splurged and got Lobster and I had blackened shrimp.  Man that was good, but boy my mouth was on fire!  After dinner we check into a motel which had a hot tub, thank goodness, and we soak in it for a bit.  Man what a long day…  After today, we decide against our attempt to do the 4 mountains we had planned to do tomorrow…  Tomorrow we will sleep in a bit and do some site seeing by car, and give the bodies alittle rest. 

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 Man it was hard getting the body motivated and out of bed this morning.  Mike got up and took his shower before me, and when I finally did, I could barely walk.  Man was I sore… which I expected.  Once I came out of the shower there was a coke sitting there waiting for me.  Anybody that says that those things aren’t medicine needs to go without one for a few days then climb a 14er and then they’ll see.  We try to stay away from caffeine and alcohol while we are in Colorado and doing the strenuous activity, due to the effects of the altitude.  Its mostly water and lots of it…  Anyway I woke up not feeling to swoft and that made things a lot better.  We pack up and check out.  We are going to do a little bit of shopping, got to find a fuel canister for our backpacking stove, since you can’t bring them on a plane, and I am looking for a specific kind of Merrill shoes.  We found the fuel, but no shoes, guess I’ll have to get them off the internet…  Now we are going to head up Boreas Pass.  There are some minors cabins there, part of the 10^th Mountain Hut Division cabins, like Francies Cabin that we stayed in Feb 2005.  It’s a beautiful drive, the weather is great and the view is spectacular.  After a while we are back in Denver doing alittle window shopping…  The only thing, beside the shoes, that I wanted, was a ring I had spotted in the window of a jewelry shop.  Its called a Breckenridge Ring and it has engraved on it the Mountain Range, and inscribed inside it says “Breckenridge”.  I have wanted to replace my turtle thumb ring that I had lost while trying to get on the Jet Ski earlier in the summer and this was a perfect replacement.  We do a bit more wandering then we are off to the trailhead of the Continental Falls and Mohawk Lakes.  Tonight we will camp on the trail somewhere…  this will be my first Backpacking experience, with camping, tent carrying, and food preparing…  I’m gonna have to reserve judgment on this one, until I see how it goes.  We arrive at the trailhead, and begin to gather things and pack up the backpacks.  The mosquitoes are horrible and I had hoped that they would get better as we got going.  Not so lucky… there were bad all the way to our camp, while we were setting up and through dinner…  I thought Lonoke had a mosquito problem.  Don’t leave home without your bug spray… Mike said when I mentioned bringing some… Oh we won’t need it!  Last time I listen to Mike!  Yeah right…  Finally the pests subsided and its time for bed.  It was nice and cozy at 9:00 when we crawled into our sleeping bags.  Guess I should have checked a little closer to where we were putting our tent and “my” mat.  There was a bump in where I was laying, so therefore I didn’t sleep too well, plus with the altitude I was breathing too good either.  I think I may have gotten a total of about 3 hours sleep… meanwhile next to me, Mike is sawing logs, no problems what so ever.  Lucky dog!  This ain’t his first rodeo…

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 Well we wake of course I had been awake most the night, but we are up and out of the tent anyway.  It’s a nice morning, sunshine and mosquitoes.  The temp is not bad, but I am wearing my fleece pants and jacket to protect from the pests…  We are going to leave the tent and most of the gear at the camp, and will tear it down when we get back.  We are going to hike up to Continental Falls and Mohawk lakes.  As we go along, we are able to hear the water fall and all I can say is WOW when I see my first up close view.  It was unbelievable.  The pictures we took don’t do it justice…  We stop at an old miner’s cabin that has been around since the 1800’s.  It’s amazing that these things survive.  There was one cabin, from last night, that still had the bark on the logs.  Can anyone explain that?  There are several more stops along the waterfall as we continue are way up… one stop to get water, and several stops to take pictures.  Almost to the top there is another structure that still stands.  There is a wheel and cables that pulled carts up the mountain.  One of the carts still exists and it hangs over the side of the water fall.  If only that cart could talk…  We arrive at the Lower Mohawk Lake and take in the sites of the fly fisherman enjoying the crystal clear water of the lake.  Lunch is served, lake side and afterwards we head back down.  This has been some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.  We saved the upper lakes and another miner’s cabin for another trip.  Got to leave something new to see.  Back at the camp, we tear down the tent and pack for the car.  It only takes us 30 minutes to get back down.  Its 12:00 and we are off to Brec to stop in town to take care of some business, then to the community center to re-pack the bags and change for the trip home.  We had hoped to make a stop at the REI store in Denver for my shoes, but since the traffic was so bad, we didn’t get to stop.  It was so bad, that we were suppose to be at the airport at 5:00, but didn’t make it to the rental car place till 5:30.  Its just a good thing the Denver airport security was a breeze.  I couldn’t believe it, no lines and no hang ups.  Man that was nice.  With that, it allowed us some time to stop in at McDonald’s and grab some lunch/dinner before boarding our plane.  We hadn’t had “real” food since dinner Friday night, which made it better than normal.  We arrive at our gate, and it has been delayed… luckily it wasn’t too long, and we arrive home, safe and somewhat sound after a long weekend of adventure.  All in all, it was a great weekend, and the sites seen made the hassle of traffic and airport security all worth it.  This will be a trip that will be taken again.  There is too much of the world to see, and we can’t afford to miss one opportunity.  So stay tuned, the adventures continue…

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AUGUST 2005

 Today we added a new addition to our Adventure Family.  Well it will seem that way, because it will be with Mike and I for a number of years and will take us to Adventures unknown.  To boldly go where no man has gone before… well maybe not to that extreme, but you get my meaning.  A Subaru Outback, LL Bean edition, has joined us…  “Beaner” is his name, and I am sure he will serve us quite well.  Poor car has no idea what he’s in for…

This is the start of a new adventure.  This one is taking us to Florida to do a couple of days of diving.  We are bringing along a long time friend of Mike's, another Mike.  Its been a while since he has been diving, so I hope its a good time.  We started out great, got on the road on schedule, 12:00 noon.  Started is the operative word... 30 minutes out, we were humming along great, Mike was following a big truck and was unable to see the debris in the road.  This debris, decides it wants to take out one of our tires, cut that sucker wide open...  We pull to the side of the freeway, with great effort Mike said.  This suburban doesn't stop on a dime...  The Mikes begin to do the work, I felt a bit useless, but when they started having troubles with getting the spare down I called AAA.  Of course by the time I got to talk to somebody and get it all arranged, they had gotten it down and on.  When it was all said and down, we spent about 45 minutes on the side of the road.  We lucked out, it just so happens that the other Mike has relatives that have a tire shop in Pensacola, so we will get that taken care of tomorrow.

This morning we are in a bit of a rush.  We have to make a mad dash to Gulf Breeze to drop off our flat tire, so I new one can be mounted, stop at a store for snacks on the boat, grab some breakfast and McD’s and we are off to the dive boat.  We are supposed to be at the boat at 7:30.  We arrive right on time, and get loaded and the boat heads out to open water at 8:00.  We are on board with some spear fisherman, so we’ll see if they have any luck today.  It’s a beautiful day, sunshine, but not too hot, and the sea is calm, to where you could ski on it.  It’s a good day to be diving, but then any day is…  We arrive at our first dive site, a Russian Freighter called the San Pablo.  She was sunk in September of 1943 and sits at 75-85ft.  The wreck spreads out along the bottom, and the boilers still remain intact.  There was a lot of marine life on this wreck, and the visibility was excellent, maybe 60-70ft or so.  I am a bad judge of vis, but let me tell you it was good!  After this dive we are off to the Three Barges wreck.  Lloyd said it was now actually more like 7 1/2, because the hurricanes in resent past have spread the remains out.  The barges sit between 45-60ft, and the visibility on this dive was excellent as well.  It was Mike’s longest down time to date, 47 minutes.  Captain Lloyd made some free dives, with acquisitions of several good size fish he had speared.  Some of the fish he got were Red & Black Snapper, and Spanish Mackerel.  The mate Rob also did some spear fishing, but he was scubaing, don’t you like my new word, and I know he got a flounder, but not sure what or if any other fish he got.  Its time to head back to the marina, and its never something you look forward to, to unload all this junk off the boat and put wet stuff in your vehicle, makes it smell real pretty!  After all the “work” is done, we are off to pick up the new tire, and grab some lunch at “Crabs We Got-em”.  Mike and I have eaten here before, and as of yet, we have really enjoyed our experiences.  After our lunch, we head down to the beach and while I am snoozing on the beach, I think the Mike’s were drinking beer and checking out the girls going by… typical male activities.  After a few hours, we head back to our hotel to shower and change for dinner.  Tonight we are going to a place that I saw when we were diving to and from the tire shop.  I like places that have what I like to call “character” and this place had it.  It’s called the “Fish House” in Pensacola, and its down on the bay.  An old warehouse looking building, you know the type.  Anyway, when I got out of the car, the smell was incredible, and I just prayed that this place was as good as it smelled, cause when diving and being on the beach, I always work up and appetite.  It wasn’t cheap, but it was probably the best seafood we have ever had, and we all agreed that it was definitely the best Key Lime Pie anywhere.  I know my Key Lime Pie, its one of my few weaknesses along with good margaritas.  After our bellies are full, we head back to the hotel to get ready for a very long day tomorrow.  I don’t think anybody had trouble sleeping this night.

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We are off to the dive boat again this morning, after a quick stop at the dive shop to pick up our tanks being filled, and a drive through to get some breakfast.  We arrive at the dive boat, again just in the nick of time, and load everything on board.  We have a underwater photographer, a videographer, and some spear fisherman onboard today, and they wanted to go out further and deeper then the normal morning or afternoon dives.  It’s going to be a long ride out to the first dive site… 21 miles out, so today will be an all day affair.  The first dive site is the 400’ long Anteres, sunk in 1995 as an artificial reef, sitting at 90-135ft deep.  The deepest Mike has ever gone, is 93ft, and I am not comfortable taking him too much deeper, I don’t want to be the one to deal with him if he was to get “narced”.  Since I never have I don’t know how I would handle that, so I will leave that to the professionals when he takes his advanced class.  So we are going to hang out around 90-100ft.  This was discussed between the three of us before, we took the plunge.  Once in the water and start our descent to our per determined depth, Mike realizes that his computer is not activating, and not working properly.  This dive we will definitely have to stay close to each other, and we’ll have to look at his computer when we arrive back at the surface.  On our descent I see a shark down below.  I point it out to Mike, and he acknowledges… don’t know what kind it was, it was too far away.  We swim above the wreck for a while and the other Mike signals that he is getting low on air, so we start toward the anchor line, however its not ours...  My thought is to go ahead and ascend, and we'll worry about getting to our boat at the surface.  We make our safety stop, watching the air as we stop.  Mike and I surface, and the other Mike stays on the line, I try and wait on him at the surface but the current has picked up and I can't stay close.  Meanwhile, Mike is already back to the boat.  I then realize that I have drifted a good distance from our boat, and have to swim against the current to our boat.  It was a tough surface swim, and if it weren't Rob letting out the tag line, the line that is let out off the back of the boat, I wouldn't have made it back to the boat.  I grabbed the rope and he pulled me in.  Exhausted and emotional, all I wanted was to be left alone and relax.  It was quite stressful.  I decide to go to the front of the boat and spend some chill time.  After a few minutes, Rob shows up getting ready to anchor to our next dive site.  While we are chatting, dolphins are spotted, and they start swimming under front.  I hang over the edge and getting a great view of them.  Two spotted dolphins cruisin along, now that snapped me out of it and got me in a better mood. 

Our next dive site is a Navy Dive Boat that sits in about 90 feet of water.  This was a great dive with unbelievable visibility...  This was probably the best dive we have had together.  There wasn't much growth on the wreck, being that this boat and its sister sitting 500 yards apart, had only been sunk only 4 years prior.  A few more years and these two wreck will be incredible!  After this we are off to a wreck that is a barge that holds old Merry-go-round equipment from some of Pensacola's amusement parks.  Since we hadn't very long of a surface interval, Lloyd decides he is going to suit up and head to the bottom.  He had never dove this wreck so curiosity got the best of him.  He was down for maybe 10 minutes when he surfaced and said that it was a disappointment,  most of the equipment had been torn off by either the storms of recent past of by boat anchors.  So,  since everyone loved the Navy boat dive so much it didn't take much to decide to go back and do the second Navy Dive Boat.  By the time we arrive, enough time had past for a good surface interval, and we gear up and dive in.  This site was not as clear as the other, but there had been other dive boats on this wreck and so with the activity the visibility was not as good, but it was an excellent dive besides that.  Its a long ride back to the marina, and a long night ahead for some of us.  We arrive at the marina at 5:00pm load up the Suburban and are on the road...  With our mattress in the back, I sleep the majority of the way home, while the Mikes are up front driving.  Hey yes I am spoiled... someone's gotta be!  We arrive home at 3:00am the next morning.  Another adventure done, and a great one at that.

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SEPTEMBER 2005

Tonight we start off toward another adventure in Colorado.  This time, mostly just site seeing and taking it easy.  Well easier then previous trips.  We are not going to try to conquer any mountains or hike alot of miles...  more like walks in the park, well at least for us.  We depart Lonoke at 6:00 after accomplishing some "things" around the house.  This put us leaving after all the rush hour traffic has dissipated...  It will take us about 15-16 hours, driving time, to get to where we are going.  I am sure Mike will stop some time in the middle of the night for a little rest period for him, cause we all know that I will already be back there sound asleep.  This is "Beaner's" first Adventure and I am sure he will do just fine!

After stopping in Salina KS, in a Wal-Mart campground, for some needed sleep, Mike is back on the road at 6:30am.  I stay back in the bed for a couple more hours.  Hey its a rough life...  We arrive in Estes Park, CO at 2:30pm, 1042.5 miles from where we started yesterday.  The rest of the day is spent driving around and seeing the sites.  We take the drive to Long's Peak Ranger Station, which was our initial plans for this weekend, planned several months ago.  However after our last trip to Colorado we decided to attempt Long's another time.  A time when I am in alot better shape then I am in now.  We then head back toward town and stop at Lily Lake and hike the trail around the lake.  Its a nice day and an easy little hike.  A short history lesson... In 1885, Enos Mills climbed Long's Peak for the first of 250 times.  He spent most of his life writing and speaking about the area of Long's Peak.  In 1907 he proposed that Congress preserve this region of the Rock Mountains as a national park.  In 1915, that dream became reality.  He died at 52, seven years later.  He was known as "The Father of the Rocky Mountain National Park."

    "Without parks and outdoor life, all that is best in civilization will be smothered.  To save ourselves, to prevent our perishing, to enable us to live at our best and happiest, parks are necessary.  Within national parks is room-glorious room-room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plant, to rest and resolve." 

    Enos Mills

We then drive across town and up to Bear Lake Trail.  They have done alot of work on the roads and the facilities since we were here a year and a half ago.  We arrive at the trail and decide to take this short hike around this lake.  While doing so, we are joined by a curious mule deer that wanted to join us is our picture taking.  Be sure to check out the photos for this one, it is a hoot!  While heading back to town, we stop to see the hundred or so Elk grazing in this field along our route.  We weren't the only ones who stopped to see this herd.  We took quite a few pictures, but only a couple were worth keeping.  Its getting dark now, and we need to find someplace to lay our heads.  We were going to sleep in Beaner tonight, but since I wasn't feeling too well Mike felt it was best if we found a hotel, and mainly a bathroom.  Once accommodations were acquired we off to get some dinner, but as we are leaving the hotel we spot a couple of Elk in the median one being this big Bull Elk, Mike counted him as being an 16 point.  I had to do some work on his picture cause it was dark, but take a look, he was mighty impressive.   We grabbed some pizza at a place in town and watched as more reports came on the TV about New Orleans.  It seems that that is all people are talking about.  Next its off to get some groceries for tomorrow's adventure and back to the room for some much needed sleep. For tomorrow brings more miles to travel, into Breckenridge.

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This morning we are up and out the door, not early mind you, at least not like our summit mornings, thank goodness.  We are off to Rocky Mountain National Park and the trailhead for Glacier Gorge, though Mike would probably rather be taking that hike, instead we are taking a short hike to Albert Falls, only 1.8 miles round trip.  Its a great day to be hiking, the temperature is in the upper 70's and the sun is shining, however the sun doesn't do much in regards to good picture taking.  We make it to the falls and stop to take a short lunch break before heading back down.  The round trip takes only and hour and a half.  Now it is back through town, and then to the Fall River entrance to RMNP and the start of Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved road in America.  It is 1:15 in the afternoon and the temperature is 79 degrees.  You are probably wondering why I am reporting the temperature...  well this information will come in handy later when the temperature changes occur throughout this journey.  This trip is going to take most of the rest of the day, cause there are so many stops along the way for photo ops.  One of the first is a shot of Long's Peak...  this mountain can be seen for several miles on this side of the Continental Divide, so there will be several shots of it from all sorts of different views.  We reach the highest point of Trail Ridge Road at 12183ft, and a temperature of 59 degrees.  We make a quick stop at the Alpine Visitors center before heading back down, crossing the Continental Divide, Milner Pass at an elevation of 10,759ft.  We arrive at the end of Trail Ridge Road and exiting RMNP at the Grand Lake entrance 4:00pm, 42 miles and several hours later.  Oh and the temperature went back up to 73 degrees.  We arrive in Breckenridge at 6:00pm, and 64 degrees.  We check in shower and change then head downtown to Bubba Gump's for some dinner.  Its been a long day and normally we don't indulge but tonight we are having a drink, ok maybe two.  When we are doing alot of hiking we stay away from the alcohol and caffeine, but since we aren't exerting ourselves this trip, what the heck!  After dinner its back to the condo and a dip in the hot tub.  It didn't take either of us too long to fall asleep once our heads hit the pillow.  Sometimes I think the driving, or riding in my case, is harder then climbing those mountains.

 Photos this Adventure

Its a crisp morning, 52 degrees, as we start our day.  In a couple of hours we are off to Aspen, Mike trying hard to educate me in the subject of all things Colorado.  I have never been to Aspen, so today will take me to places I have never been.  Of course a year and a half ago I didn't even know where Colorado was, but that is another story...  We travel from Breckenridge through Leadville and across Independence Pass, at a temperature of 54 degrees.  We arrive in Aspen at 2:15, and park the car which was almost and adventure in itself.  We are going to take a walk through downtown and stop and have a drink and a snack at foot of Aspen Mountain Ski Resort.  While we are there I become well aware that we are WAY out of the norm around here.  You can almost see the money oozing out of the people that surround us at the restaurant.  They are not stuffy snobby rich but you can tell the haves and the have nots.  I must admit, we saw others that were more out of place then we were.  So I guess that was a good thing.  It was nice though, and such a beautiful town.  After a little shopping we are back in the car and on our way to the Maroon Bells, the most photograph mountains in the United States.  From postage stamps to greeting cards to even John Denver's Christmas Special.  After a drive by the airport, Mike wanted me to see all the jets of the rich and famous that travel and live in Aspen.  I counted six Falcon Jets parked at this airport, I wish I could find out who owns those planes...  We are off to Maroon Bells now and we arrive at the entrance we have to wait till the park is open to car traffic.  From 9am to 5pm, no cars are allowed entrance, the only way in is by the shuttle buses that run through out the day.  We park Beaner at 5:00, we got in a couple minutes early, and start down the trail to Maroon Lake and the view of the Maroon Bells.  The sun is still high over the mountains so the pictures are not post card material.  But by the time we made the 1 mile round trip hike we were sure the sun would have gone down enough to get some good pictures.  But that did not happen, our postcard perfect pictures will have to wait for another trip, and maybe a different camera...  Its getting late and we still have the long drive back to the condo over Independence Pass, arriving back in Breckenridge at 10:00, too late for a dip in the hot tub.

 Photos this Adventure

Well today we pack up and go home.  Its 42 degrees as we are packing the car.  Before we leave town, we have breakfast at the Horseshoe II Restaurant, and do some last minute shopping.  There is an Arts Festival in the town of Breckenridge every year, and artist from all around the country come to sell there works.  I checked out some of the glass artists, giving me some ideas to try myself, and we purchase a Christmas present for my sister and this neat stoneware chip and dip bowl.  We have to make a stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to get Chelsie some rock candy, then we are heading out of town.  I think its the first time we have stopped at that candy store and I haven't gotten at chocolate covered strawberry.  YUMMY!  After repacking the car, fun job, we are on the road out of town, this time over Loveland Pass, more education for me trying to get an idea where everything is.  Like that is going to happen...  Mike has been coming to Colorado all his life and I have to learn it all in two years?  Yeah right!  We are on the road now, as I type...  Mike laid down for about an hour and a half to try and sleep, like that is going to happen.  He can't sleep when somebody else is driving, guess he doesn't trust other's driving.  Me on the other hand, I can sleep no problem, and Beaner is a quite comfortable ride, so its not a problem at all.  I imagine I will work on this for a while, then sleep the rest of the way home.  We will probably arrive home around 9 or 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, after Mike gets a couple of hours of sleep in the middle of the night.  Glad I don't have to go to work tomorrow.  It was planned that way!

 Photos this Adventure

Oh my this morning we are up WAY to early...  We had gone out with some friends and stayed up way to late, and getting up this morning at 5am to get on the road to Dallas.  We are picking Tommy up then taking him shopping for some clothes at the Allen Outlet Mall.  Great place, and designer shops...  We then stop at the new REI store in Plano.  Its a pretty good sized store, but didn't have a climbing wall.  Tommy was pretty disappointed.  After that we were off to Fort Worth to the Imax to see "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea".  It was a good show, even though Mike fell asleep through part of it.  He was the one driving this morning not me, so we all know what I did while he was driving.  We leave the Omni Theater and head to Arlington and check into our Hotel.  Tonight we are eating dinner at "Texas Land & Cattle", a steak restaurant chain with numerous locations, that we've seen.  After dinner we are back to the hotel, and to bed.  Its has been a very long day, and tomorrow will be almost as long.

This morning we didn't have to get up early...  Though I woke at 5:00, guess there are some things you body gets use too.  But no fear, it didn't take me long to go right back to sleep.  Tommy was awake before us, and was great playing his gameboy somewhat quietly until we got out of bed.  Once we got up and got showers and packed and loaded the car.  We checked out of the motel and headed to Six Flags, after driving around the Ameriquest Stadium where the Rangers had played last night and looks like they're getting ready for another game.  We arrive early at the park and get an excellent parking spot right up next to the gate.  By the time we get are tickets, and make the necessary potty breaks, we only have a few minutes to wait.  We are in the park and off to our first ride.  We are going to start off right...  we are getting on the Titan first.  Its a pretty impressive thing, which I had to sweet talk Mike to get on.  Next is the Log Flume, but can't remember what they called it.  Tommy sits in front wanting to get soaked, then its me and Mike sits in the back.  Tommy hardly got wet at all, and Mike got the drenched!  Oh well there will be other opportunities for Tommy to get wet.  Next is a ride called La Vibora.  It was a strange little ride...  it was basically a toboggan car that ran on this metal trough...  that's the only way I know how to explain it.  It was really cool...  this was Mike's favorite.  After that Tommy wanted to ride this ride that looked like a big Sombrero...   He had a good time, even though he rode it by himself.  Its after 12 and there are smells drifting through the air, from fajitas, grilled corn on the cob. to kettle corn.  This of course would make anyone hungry, I am sure they do that on purpose...  we stop and an inside food court to get some and much needed drink.  Its hot of there, but luckily there is a nice breeze, and there are misting fans blowing through out the park.  Aft