billbares

Day 9—Telluride

Had a great day relaxing at the hotel in the morning and exploring Telluride in the afternoon. It’s an amazing little town framed by a high-walled box canyon that rivaled the best scenery we’ve seen in the national parks. The 9,000 foot elevation of Mountain Village (over the Telluride mountain by free gondola), where we’reContinueContinue reading “Day 9—Telluride”

Day 5—Estes Park to Steamboat Springs

We spent the day recovering from a pretty harrowing night in the Stanley Hotel’s “Heritage Room.” For those that don’t know, the Stanley Hotel inspired Steven King‘s “The Shining.” He thought of the whole thing after waking from a nightmare about his son in room 217. Apparently more than 50% of the guests stay thereContinueContinue reading “Day 5—Estes Park to Steamboat Springs”

Day 1—Omaha to Denver

If there’s a more boring drive in the United States, I’d like to see it. The 8 hours were a haze of cornfields dotted with trees that shrank as we moved from Lincoln to Grand Island to Kearney to North Platte. Impossibly, Northeast Colorado along i76 is even more boring than Nebraska’s i80. This partContinueContinue reading “Day 1—Omaha to Denver”

Day 14—Gaspé Peninsula

The easternmost part of Quebec, the Gaspé Peninsula, juts out into the Atlantic Ocean and forms the souths side of the St Lawrence River. It is wild, and contains at least 4 iconic Quebec nature parks that we’ll be visiting in 3 days: Bic, Gaspesie, Forillon (also a Canadian National Park), and Bonaventure Island. WritingContinueContinue reading “Day 14—Gaspé Peninsula”

Day 10—Fairmont Richelieu

For my birthday, we spent the day hanging out in the Fairmont Richelieu—analogous to Asheville’s Grove Park Inn. I asked the boys what they wanted to do and we all agreed that staying put, enjoying the hotel and relaxing would be a welcome change from the sightseeing. It was a gorgeous day so we spentContinueContinue reading “Day 10—Fairmont Richelieu”

Day 6—Quebec

Leo was sick this morning, so it was just me and Arthur that hit The Links at Lang Farm at 7:20 this morning. Short, affordable, incredibly well maintained golf course. So fun that I decided to play the back 9 by myself in the rain! I’m sick but it was totally worth it. Burlington wasContinueContinue reading “Day 6—Quebec”

Day 2—Washington D.C.

Well-rested after a fantastic dinner in the brand new Wharf area of DC near our hotel last night. We woke up with energy to tackle the task of seeing D.C. in a single day. Didn’t expect to spend most of the day at the new Museum of African American History, but we did. Unbelievably well-doneContinueContinue reading “Day 2—Washington D.C.”

Day 20 – Lake St Leonard and Barryland

We had a pretty easy day today—no hiking, by design. Started with a trip to Lake St. Leonard—supposedly Europe’s largest underground lake. Neat atmosphere, but honestly, after Mammoth Cave and Carlsbad Caverns, this was a bit underwhelming. Next we drove to Barryland, which was unique and fascinating. This is the home base of the foundationContinueContinue reading “Day 20 – Lake St Leonard and Barryland”

Day 15 — Hiking Verbier

Note: we have been remiss in updating this blog because we had to postpone our updates until we found sufficiently fast internet to upload our pictures. As beautiful as it was, our rented house in the French/Swiss Alps was not up to spec, technologically. We are now closer to (wired) civilization and so will beContinueContinue reading “Day 15 — Hiking Verbier”

Day 6 – Last Day in Korbach

Most of the day was spent recovering from yesterday’s party. Inspired by the World Cup, Leo and I played soccer early in the morning. I tried a Maradonna right off and immediately regretted it. Leo of course did not since it must’ve been one of the most hilarious things he’s ever seen. We spent theContinueContinue reading “Day 6 – Last Day in Korbach”