Thanksgiving and Snowboarding

This year we did something different for Thanksgiving. We skipped the holiday traditions with family and road-tripped it to Vail, Colorado with some of our best friends, Aaron and Denise Power. This was an especially great time for the trip, as I'm mid-thesis in my masters program, Jeremy had just finished one job and was about to start another at Lockheed Martin (woo hoo!), and Denise had a week off of work for Thanksgiving. 


Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip:

Clayton, New Mexico

The Dinosaur Statues

This is how Denise learned to snowboard

Then she padded her knees and booty in preparation for Day 2...

Vail Village at night

Blended Ninja Pie at our "Friendsgiving" Dinner

Typical

Cold kisses - it was -26 F that morning!

Canada Trip - Part II

We arrived home last night from our trip to Alberta. Jeremy absolutely loved spending time in the mountains - he said it was the best trip he'd ever been on! Our second week there the smoke from the fires in BC finally started to clear out, so these pictures of the mountains are MUCH better. 

Peyto Lake

We saw incredible scenery for 230 km along Icefields Parkway from Lake Louise to Jasper

Athabasca Glacier at Columbia Icefield

Patricia Lake

Pyramid Lake

Medicine Lake. This lake was named "Big Medicine Lake" by natives, because it mysteriously disappeared every winter and reappeared every summer. Big Medicine referred to magic - the natives were afraid of the magic they thought caused this disappearance. The secret is small fissures in the bedrock of the lake - when melted snow isn't filling the lake during the winter, the water leaks out.

Lake Louise

We're already brainstorming our next trip to Canada to visit friends and snowboard!

Love - 

K

Canada Trip - Part I

We're still in the midst of our anniversary trip to Canada, but here's a little update of what we've been up to and just a few pictures. We've spent some time in my hometown of Cochrane, Alberta and have been staying with our dear friends Ron and Sandi Richard. Shameless plug here - Sandi is a FANTASTIC chef and has a show on Food Network Canada. Check out her website here and purchase some of her healthy cookbooks!

I've had a blast visiting with old friends and introducing Jeremy to the breathtaking part of the world that I grew up a part of. Last week we spent 3 days in Banff National Park. I've posted some pictures of the highlights of that mini-trip. Right now we're in Jasper National Park - look for pictures of that adventure soon!

Lake Minnewonka - just outside the town of Banff

A waterfall we passed on our 3.5 km hike up Sulphur Mountain

At the top of Sulphur Mountain overlooking the town of Banff. We were bummed that the first week of our trip was super hazy because of forest fires in BC (the province just to the west of Alberta). The mountains look grey and hazy in most of our Banff pictures because the smoke was so thick. It's MUCH clearer now, so we'll post better mountain pictures soon!

The view down Banff Avenue

Hiking up to the Teahouse and Lake Agnes just above the Chateau Lake Louise. The Lake below us is Louise. 

We spent this hike getting to know a couple from the Czech Republic. 

Mirror Lake

At Moraine Lake we climbed on top of the pile of logs and boulders creating the dam for the lake. This was the view from the top!

Early morning (and cold!!) at Bow Falls

Beautiful flowers on the outdoor terrace at the Banff Springs hotel

Johnston Canyon Upper Falls

On our drive back to Cochrane Saturday afternoon - in front of Vermillion lakes with Mount Rundle in the background

We are having a wonderful relaxing vacation and can't wait to tell you all about it! (And for good measure, just in case you didn't assume, we miss all our friends and family back in Texas, but we are not eager to return to the heat!)

Love-

K

Trip to Austin

Last week I was in Austin for the annual ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) Health and Fitness Summit. My friend Megan came with me, and good golly it was so nice to have some leisure time. We had ample free time every night after sessions ended, and we skipped out a little bit early on Friday to play ;) We stayed with a great old friend of mine, visited some great local places, and had a blast in the beautiful Austin weather! The only thing that could've made this trip more perfect was having Jeremy there too.


Here's some pictures of our lovely adventure:

Sarah, Megan and I at the Bat bridge at sunset - 

over a million bats live under the bridge and come rushing out at dusk, so people 

always gather to watch!

Sunset walk around Town Lake

Downtown Austin

Ladies and gentlemen - The Cathedral of Junk

The story of the cathedral

This one was probably not such a good idea - 

The whole ground is covered in broken glass, so my booty and ankles were hurting!

Wildflowers were EVERYWHERE at Town Lake

My Vibrams went to Austin!

This right here was enough to make me ask Jer if we could move to Austin. 

To my surprise, he didn't object. Sarah, maybe one day we'll join you down there ;)

Sigh, just what the Dr ordered. A fun trip with no work, no email, no class and LOTS of outdoor fun, amazing lectures (including one by the president of the American Heart Association), and great friends!

So sad to be back to the daily grind!