February 22, 2017

Burns' Go West: Part 2

From Kansas we headed into Colorado. I wanted to see a couple national park sites that I had missed out on when I lived in CO. Our first stop was Sand Creek Massacre.
Road to Sand Creek
It is down 8 miles of dirt roads. It was super windy and there were tumbleweeds blowing everywhere. We were the only ones there and the ranger gave us a nice little talk on the horrifying history of the site. There's really not much to do besides read a couple interpretive panels so we did that and headed over to Bent's Old Fort.
Bents Old Fort
Jess and I had previously driven to the fort but arrived just as it had closed so I was so excited to actually see inside the fort. I have been to a ton of forts in the national park system but this one was unique because it was not a military fort. Rather, it was used as a resupply post for travelers. I thought it was really cool.
Bents Old Fort
While grabbing some brochures I saw that our next stop, Capulin Volcano, was closed for repairs. I didn't want to continue to a site that we couldn't visit so I decided that we would head into Taos instead. The whole trip had been driving across the wide open, flat prairie so I thought Don and Amber would enjoy some mountains. We had finally glimpsed mountains off in the distance so we kept heading west towards them.
Colorado Mountains
We crossed over La Veta pass and then cut south into New Mexico. It was so neat to drive through the mountains again and be surrounded by snow covered peaks.
Taos Gorge
We went over the see the Rio Grande gorge in Taos and then spent the night in Taos. The next morning we checked out Taos plaza before driving down the High Road to Santa Fe.
High Road to Santa Fe
Chimayo
We stopped at a couple overlooks and in Chimayo before arriving in Santa Fe. We checked out the state capitol. Compared to IA and NE it was a very different looking capitol.
NM State Capitol
We wandered around the historic Santa Fe downtown and grabbed some lunch before heading down to Albuquerque via the Turquoise Trail.
Basilica
We drove up to Sandia Crest. Jess and I had done the drive previously but it was a cold, rainy, cloudy day so there was no view. This time there wasn't a cloud in the sky so the views were gorgeous.
View from Sandia Crest 
On the way into ABQ we attempted to drive the Singing Highway in Tijeras. Apparently if you drive 45mph over rumble strips it plays America the Beautiful but the rumble strips are so small that you have to align your tires correctly so we only heard the end of the song. We spent the evening in old town Albuquerque doing some shopping. It was a great way to end the trip. I had such a good time and was so happy that Don and Amber decided to spend their vacation with me. I loved showing them the country and exploring with them. The weather was absolutely perfect the whole way. It was sunny and in the 60s every day. I was sad to leave them at the airport but excited for the ranch season ahead!

Burns' Go West: Part 1

After a wonderful winter spent at home I had to get packed up and head back to the Ranch. Mom and Dad did the drive with me previously but this time I invited Don and Amber along for the ride. We left on Friday evening to get a jump start and spent the night in Cleveland. The next morning we headed out bright and early on Interstate 80. We saw signs for the World's Largest Truck Stop and decided to pull over and take a break.
I80
After that we headed on to Herbert Hoover's National Historic Site. It has his childhood home, a schoolhouse, a Quaker meeting house, and a blacksmith shop that you can tour.
Herbert Hoover
I always associate Herbert Hoover with the Depression so it was nice to learn a bit more about him. We also visited his gravesite.
Gravesite
We drove into Des Moines for the night and arrived at the state capitol just as the sun was setting.
IA State Capitol
The capitol was beautiful and had a lovely view down into Des Moines. We decided to walk downtown from the capitol and eat at Tacopocalypse. It's a Korean taco place that Don and Amber had seen on Diners, Drives Ins and Dives and it was delicious.
Des Moines
The next morning we saw a sign for John Wayne's birthplace so we dipped off the interstate to check it out.
John Wayne
It was nice to explore farm country for a bit. We hopped back on the interstate and drove through Omaha and into Lincoln.
Farm country
We checked out that state capitol as well.
Nebraska State Capitol
Since we were in town during lunchtime we headed down to the Haymarket district to eat. It was a very cool historic district that has been renovated into shops and restaurants.
Haymarket in Lincoln
For the afternoon we headed out to Homestead National Historic Site. The visitor center had a great exhibit on the history of homesteading.
Homestead
There was also an education center with an exhibit on farm implements and the longest operating one room school. The rest of the day was spent driving across the back roads of Nebraska and Kansas.
Nicodemus
Near sunset we stopped at Nicodemus National Historic site. It was basically a ghost town and was kind of creepy because there was no one around. It had a vintage playground with a merry go round and teeter totter that we played around on to stretch our legs. As we drove to Colby, KS for the night we saw a very cool lightning storm and drove through a bit of a downpour.

February 8, 2017

snOw, Canada: Part 2

As I was perusing Instagram, I saw a post that a new ice skating trail in Muskoka just opened so I decided to go check it out. It is located on the waterfront at Hanna Park in Port Carling. It was about an hour away from Huntsville. I showed up first thing in the morning and there was a fresh coat of snow on the rink. There were shovels there so I laced up and spent a half hour skating around and shoveling the rink. I also found some traffic cones so I put them up over a few thin spots I found. As soon as I got a lane opened a family came and their 2 kids were using those skating assist bars so they took up the whole trail. I got annoyed at having to skate around them so I left. At least I did my good deed for the day. 
Hanna Park
My next stop was Johnstons Cranberry Marsh. They also have an ice skating trail but this one goes around a cranberry bog so its wide open. I was the first one there so I again got to make first tracks. They had gotten more snow though so the snow was going over the tops of my skates which was slowing me down.
The one glimpse of sun all weekend
They also offer snowshoe trails so I took a break from skating to traipse through the woods. They had signposts up with interesting facts about cranberry farming so I learned a lot. I headed back to the ice skating trail and did one lap before they finally sent out a plow to get the couple inches of snow off. After that, it was much easier to get around.
Johnstons Cranberry
I finally exhausted myself after skating and showshoeing for 4 hours so I got a hot cran-apple cider and headed back. It had snowed all day and the way back to Huntsville was via backroads that were completely snow covered so it was a bit of a white knuckle drive but I made it safely.
Snow
The next day I decided to stick close to home because there was a freezing rain warning for later in the day. I went back to Arrowhead Provincial Park.
Tubing hill
My first stop was the snow tubing hill. I love snow tubing and had a blast. Once again, I was the first on the freshly groomed trail. It was so much fun to fly down the hill but then you had to turn around and walk back up which was exhausting.
Meadow Lake
 I did the Meadow Lake snowshoe trail next. It was marked as easy but the long loop had some elevation with a narrow trail that I kept sliding off. I got back and headed over to the ice rink where I strapped on my snowshoes again and headed to Stubbs Falls.
Stubb Falls
This was a much more level trail and it was nice to see rushing water in the winter wonderland. The only annoying thing was there were stairs to get down to the falls so I had to take my snowshoes off. After that, I was tired of snowshoeing so I decided to put on my ice skates one more time and go back on the ice trail. It was nice to see it in the daylight. It was also much less crowded.
Ice skating trail
I decided to head over to the warm up shelter to eat my lunch but as I pulled in the parking lot I felt the front of my car go over the lip of the parking lot into soft snow. My tires started spinning and I was freaking out that I was stuck but there was a guy in a truck next to me who said he had done the same thing. Luckily he had four wheel drive and a rope so he gave me a tug backwards to get me out. Thank god for nice, prepared Canadians. I figured it was time to call it a day so I headed into downtown Huntsville and did some window shopping for a couple hours until the storm moved in. The next day it took me over half an hour to scrape my car of all the ice. I had such a blast playing in the snow for a few days but I was happy to be back in the land of dry roads and parking lots!

snOw, Canada: Part 1

It has been a whirlwind since I got home in November and started back at KJT. I was so thankful that they wanted me back to help out and it was nice to get back in the rhythm of things. After I finished there, I decided I wanted some sort of vacation before I headed back to the ranch and the first thing that popped into my head was CANADA! Years ago, I had seen images of a beautiful ice skating trail that went through the woods and I had always wanted to go. So I bought a pair of ice skates on Craigslist and headed north.
Bracebridge
On my way up north I stopped in Bracebridge because they advertised having an outdoor skating trail. It was in a town park and was a figure eight that went around a gazebo and a war memorial. It was a picture perfect Canadian scene. However, the ice was really crappy and after I broke through twice into divots I decided to call it a day. Plus I hadn't been on skates in years so I figured it would be a good warm up. I continued on up to Huntsville where my hotel was. I checked in and had some soup for dinner before bundling up and heading out to Arrowhead Provincial Park. The ice skating trail is open occasionally during the evenings for Fire and Ice nights.
Fire and ice trail
They line the trail with tiki torches and you can skate at night. I got there just as the zamboni was coming off the ice so I was the first one on the trail. It quickly filled up though. I alternated between skating a few laps and taking time to warm up by the fire. It became insanely crowded and it got to be too difficult to navigate the couples skating hand in hand and the kids inching along. It was still very cool though.
Algonquin
The next day I headed up to Algonquin Provincial Park. I drove through to the east side of the park, monitoring the roads for moose because there were warning signs everywhere. I never saw one though.
All bundled up
I spent over an hour at the Visitor Centre because it had some beautiful exhibits. Their dioramas were excellent. I went across the street to Spruce Bog where there was a snowshoe trail. It went past 2 bogs and it was lightly snowing so it was a beautiful walk. I got back in my car and headed to Mew Lake campground, because I saw in the park guide that there was an ice rink there but when I arrived the roads were pretty snow covered and it looked deserted so I gave up on ice skating and went across the road to Two Rivers snowshoe trail. It was more of an uphill walk but it went along the ledge of a cliff so the views were a bit more open.
Some color in the vast whiteness
It's been a pretty mild winter down in NY so I haven't seen this amount of snow in awhile. Everything was just buried, it amazes me that things survive up here. There were a few other spots on the park guide that were indicated to be open for snowshoeing but none of the parking lots were plowed. Even Spruce Bog and Two Rivers weren't plowed but other people had driven through so it wasn't too awful. I was too nervous to attempt any other parking lots though because I didn't want to get stuck, You'd think with the amount of snow this place gets that they would be more adept at plowing. Even the hotel I stayed at didn't plow my whole stay.