Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

One of many (too many) family photos

For our final day full day in Colorado, we decided to drive, as a family, to the Continental Divide.  To prepare, we slept in, had a breakfast on sticky-buns and coffee, and packed into two cars.  The drive up was stunning.  We entered the Rocky Mountain National Park from Estes Park and took the 11 miles long, one way uphill, Fall River Road.  The drive was more than beautiful offering wild life (we had to stop as a Marmot waddled past), scenic views (we stopped almost every opportunity to just exhale), and places to stop and hike (we hiked to the top of Marmot Peak at just over 12,000 feet the highest point of the trip so far!). 

Water to the Atlantic Ocean

I just added some pictures the our trip to CO.

Tina says:
I wasn’t as excited about the new LCD Soundsystem as my rock critic friend Charlie was. Rumor has it he didn’t sleep the night before it was released. On release day he was on iTunes at 12:01, downloading the album, and at 8:30am he had already memorized all of the lyrics and melodies of the album. I, on the other hand waited for my album to arrive on a burned copy in exchange for a cup of coffee.

After receiving the album, I placed it in the CD player of my car. It hasn’t left my car since. This is Happening is a great windows down, volume up, summer album! I can’t get enough of how the songs build and the beats continue to build throughout each song. The volume was up and I was startled in Dance Yrself Clean, when it switched from the silent and calm rhythm to the bass driven drive in the middle of the song. It literally made me jump! I like the instrumentation and the strange sounds that this band creates throughout the album. This album has a good variety of sounds, and beats to keep the listener engaged. I will admit that sometimes this genre of music tends of leave me a little board, as the songs continue to drag on and on. I didn’t feel this with this album. I enjoy and continue to find new sounds and beats in songs like Pow, Pow, Somebody’s Calling Me, and All I want. LCD Soundsystem is Happening! I think that is should go without saying that on the Tina/Charlie deny it, promote it, lend it scale….I give it an enthusiastic promote it!

Charlie says: 
Well Tina, I did stay up the night before but I did not download it from iTunes, I wanted a hard copy so I was at Target at 12:01 am to buy a copy.

A little history, I first heard LCD Soundsystem on Sound Opinions.  Jim and Greg had just selected LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver as one of the top albums of 2007 and on a whim, I bought it.  It blew me away.  After waking from my techno haze I purchased LCD Soundsystem self titled album and again was head bobbing until my neck was sore.  So yes I was a bit excited when This Is Happening was due out.

This is a great summer album, full of energy, humor, and just great music. 

James Murphy writes songs that make people want to move.  On their first album, "Movement" stands out as a fist pounding call to dance.  "All My Friends", on their second album, continued the call.  And now on This is Happening "Drunk Girls" does not disappoint. 

Along with Murphy's gift to write music to dance to, he also writes funny sarcastic songs.  Songs like "Losing My Edge" which addresses getting old and being made insignificant by the youth.  Then "North American Scum" dealing with how Americans are perceived around the world.  Now "You Wanted A Hit" is a song about writing a song.

LCD Soundsystem has some just flat out great music.  It started with "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House", continued with "Someone Great", and now with "All I Want" and "I Can Change".  I few lines: 

• "You learn in your bed you've been gone for too long/ So you put in the time, but it's too late to make it strong."
• "Love is a murderer"

I love this album, an album that on the Tina/Charlie promote it, lend it, deny it scale I give a promote it.

Sarah and I left early to avoid the crush of people at the park and to get our hike in before the rains hit.  We were at the the trail head by eight at exactly the same time as the other thousand hikers who where hoping to beat the crush of people.

The first three miles got us to the beautiful Loch Lake.  I was reminded of the last time I hiked to The Loch with my dad.  We fished for greenback cutthroat trout.   It was an amazing experience and being at the Loch again was great.  I saw several large trout and wished I had my fly rod. 




From the Loch the trail headed up, way up.  The trail got very difficult.  At one point we just hiked for about thirty minutes using our hands.  We came across a couple heading down.  After talking with them for awhile I found out they had started two hours before us.  My mental outlook dropped significantly.

I started to think about how much further we had to go which is not good.  I tried to focus on my breathe which helped but I could not quite my mind.  I still found myself focusing on how far we had come again not very productive.  The only way I found to make it up to the top of the hike was to focus on how beautiful the world around me was.  It was truly amazing to views.

When we got the to the top, Andrew's Tarn was an amazing powder blue lake.  It almost looked like it glowed.  Andrew's Glacier was a short walk and let us throw snow balls at each other in August.

The weather was cold, the wind blew steady and after all the sweating I had done, I was shivering.  We huddled behind a rock and ate a Cliff Bar each.  Sarah noticed the clouds which were becoming threatening and we headed home.

The hike back was fast and easy.


We got home in time to shower and then picked up the kids from camp.  Village Pizza was the new destination and after eating my fill and drinking a few beers we headed home to bed.  Sore but happy.

The boys loved camp.  Picking them up filled the car with a cacophony of sound as they all spoke at once.  They were not yelling or even upset that it was impossible to understand what anyone was saying, they were just talking to share.  Hikes, horseback rides, climbing wall, games, new friends...

A brief interlude about mornings for me in Colorado.  I have been getting up between 6am and 6:30am and have a few minutes to sit with my dad who always brings me coffee.  We talk about what we are reading or the day and spend a few minutes reading.  It is very relaxing and gets me ready for the day.

The planned activity for the day is an adult hike to Cub Lake.  This hike started in the Rocky Mountain National Park and passed by three beaver ponds.  Along the way we saw Trout, Elk, and  two Marmots.  The final destination was a lake filled with water lilies.  Other than the aggressive ducks, lunch was serene. 

It was an excellent hike during the best part of the day.  We arrived back at the car just as the afternoon rains came.

Dinner was enchiladas.  Excellent.

The crew then when to see Cowboy Brad who sang John Denver tunes and requests.  He we very good playing, I am embarrassed to say, some of my favorite songs (Rocky Mountain High, Annie's Song, etc.).  John Denver was better than I give him credit for.  Cowboy Brad also played Ghost Rider as requested by Nate.

Again, sleep came easily.

by Thomas Levenson

Einstein in Berlin is an ambitious book portraying a place and time in history as well as highlighting a person who tried to affected that place and time. Einstein's physics changed Berlin and the world yet his social activism could not open the eyes of his fellow Berliners or the world.


Thomas Levenson expertly weaves both the politics of the day and an individual. I grew to see why Einstein was such an important person of his day. The same man who revolutionized physics saw what Germany could be under the Weimar Republic and what it was becoming influenced by the National Socialists.

The only knowledge I had of the lead up to World War II was what I had learned in high school 25 years ago. This book gave me a view of what was happening in Germany leading up to both WWI and WWII. I really liked this book.

After getting the boys off to camp, Rangers, Pioneers, and Mountaineers, we drove to the Wild Basin Trail Head about thirteen miles from Jeremiah.  We arrived at the trail head at nine in the morning and with a light heart started down the path.  Almost immediately we arrived at Cascade Falls.  It was a beautiful sight as well as calming.  The sound of water flowing over rocks drowns out all other thoughts.

We continued on, hiking through the woods to Calypso Falls.  The trails in the Rocky Mountain National Parks are pristine.  We encountered a few hikers but only a few.  We did pass a llama being riding by a little boy.  When we passed the family, I asked the older sister if she had ridden the llama, she responded "NOT YET!!!".

Two and a half miles further we arrived at Ouzel Falls, it was stunning.  This mountain waterfall was the most impressive so far.  We experienced it from several different views.  I even spotted a trout in the stream. 

We pushed on to Ouzel Lake another two miles through a burn.  I was amazed to see so many perfect small pine trees.  Who was caring for them?  How could the be so perfect?



Ouzel Lake was not impressive.  We ate lunch, shared a bottle of water and headed back.

Ten miles and we were back at the trail head.  My feet and ankles hurt.  Dad had offered and I took him up on a pair of new boots.

Dinner was steak and mashed potatoes that were eaten with little conversation.  After dinner the Minnesota Cauthorns went to see a blue grass band consisting of a husband and wife.  We liked it but only stayed for 30 minutes.  My favorite song was Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

We were happy and tired as got into bed.

We woke the first full day in Estes Park to homemade pancakes.  The Minnesota Cauthorns supplied the Chokecherry syrup and the Texas Cauthorns supplied the pancakes.  There were no leftovers.

All that was officially planned for the day was a family hike to help us acclimate.  After registering the boys for three days of camp at the YMCA, dad randomly selected the Gem Lake trail.  I am not certain the exact reason for the selection but I think it was the distance (4 miles) and the elevation gain (1090 feet).  Both turned out to be excessive.

The hike started out in the trees with lots of shade.  The boys were bounding ahead with the adults lagging behind.  The last mile was difficult, steep and rocky.  We got to Gem Lake with only half our party.  I headed back down to find mom and dad who where not far behind.  It was agreed that the name Gem Lake was a bit optimistic, Gem Puddle, or Gem Pond would have been better names.  The boys found a rock with a perfect hole in it, and I found a rock formation that I named "Estes Moon" (or "Butt Crack").  We all love the view of Estes Park and the mountains and agreed (after having eaten) that Gem Lake was an enjoyable hike.

We played put-put golf and had wild rice soup for dinner.  Vacation was off to a wonderful start!

Our vacation really started several weeks before we left for Colorado.  The boys started to associate all situations to Estes Park like, "I can start reading that in Colorado", and "I'm going to wear that sweatshirt at camp".

After arriving in Denver, we rented a car and drove two hours to Estes Park.  The drive snakes through the Rockies delivering beautiful vistas.  I am always amazed and surprised seeing mountains again.  Next to the mountains, all my worries and cares shrink to nothing.

I took the kids on a small hike around our cabin Jeremiah after we arrived.  The altitude affected all of us as we huffed up the side of a small rise.  It could not have been a better introduction, we saw three deer, found an arrow, and discovered prints that I am convinced were a bear.  The deer were eating the grass as we passed, at times as close as twenty feet.  At one point, a deer looked up at Anthony one ear pointing at me and the other ear pointing at Nate.

Dad made a beautiful homemade apple pie.  We each had a piece except me, I had two.
Jeremiah was to be our home for the next seven days.