Telluride

We just got back from a trip to Telluride to see Bob Dylan and My Morning Jacket. The show was great - we got to sit in the front row (the handicapped section) and we had a great view of Bob and his band. The music was great - he played a lot of classics - the opener of My Morning Jacket was an odd combination - but I guess it worked. I like them both so it was great for me.

Telluride is a great little ski town - probably twice the size of Crested Butte. Liz's friend and soon to be bridesmaid - Maria and her boyfriend Tim live there. Tim is a pilot so we had endless conversation about that whilst the girls had girl talk.

We drove to the top of Bridal Veil falls - which were gorgeous. We then rode the Gondola which is free and runs all day and most of the night as public transportation - which means you can ride up with your bike for free... sick. The skiing looks like a lot of fun - bigger resort than Crested Butte. On the Gondola ride we saw a deer and a black bear... which was fun.

They had Segway tours which would've been fun - instead we just tried them out. It was a blast. Here's an animated gif of Liz on the segway. I want to buy one...

Instead we bought Liz a little Mini-Martin left handed guitar that fits her a bit better than her current one - which will give her something else to do while she sits around for another 4 weeks... the Dr's report on Friday was good - but she has to keep the boot for another 2 weeks. Everything appears to be healing well and the doc thinks she'll be back riding horses towards the middle of August.

I'll upload photos from the trip here soon - it was a fun weekend get away. I'm off to Alpenglow.

Flight of the Gimp

To get Liz out and moving through space - I took her flying yesterday morning as a surprise to keep her spirits up and get her outside. It was a gorgeous day and a gorgeous flight.We flew around town and looked up the Slate River valley - we're thinking of getting married by the lake in the lower left corner of this photo.

We flew around Lake Irwin and saw the cabin where the Rancourt's stayed last month. It's so pretty up there. The mountains just north of the lake are a snowmobile playground - this is where Steve and I went snowmobiling - it's where we ate it on the sled... the video can be seen here if you haven't seen it before: http://www.mark-ewing.com/video/The%20Visit%20of%20Steve.wmv

We flew by the Red Lady (Mt Emmons) and looked at where the new mine may go in - it's crazy to think about... it would be unfortunate.

We flew by the Castles - just West of Town in the West Elks wilderness. Fantasy Ranch was leading a 3 day pack trip on their horses and we were trying to find their camp and wave... we weren't successful - but it's still impressive from the air!

This is the Dyke formation - and the scene of the Dyke Trail which was the mountain bike ride that Liz and I took the Rancourt's on early in their vacation... I'll remind you - they hated the uphill... and as you can see here - there was a lot of it...

It was great to get out and fly around purely for fun - most of the flying I do is for client's - so this was a welcome relief and a great time.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Swollen and bruised

Here's an updated picture of Liz's ankle... swollen and painful. She at least started to receive workman's comp - which has made things a bit less stressful for her - they're quite generous for Colorado Medical Volunteers.

She's still in a good bit of pain - we go to the Dr's again on Friday to see if she can start putting weight on the air cast - as of now she's still forced to use the crutches.

I've been doing my best to take good care of her and get her out and about when she feels up to it.

Wish us luck and fast healing!

Broken Liz

Liz and I were on ambulance duty for the 4th of July. We got a call around midnight to respond to a local residence for a woman that had fallen and couldn't get up (she fell from a porch onto her hip - and ended up breaking the head of her femur). Liz, one other EMT, and I jumped out of the ambulance to assist this lady. She was obviously in a lot of pain so we sent Liz back to the ambulance to grab the med kit for pain killers. On her way back out of the ambulance she stepped down between the ambulance and the curb and broke her ankle.

Needless to say it was a stressful night - I had a patient that was screaming on the ground and a fiance that was screaming on the ground... quite the dilemma. We ended up loading them both in the ambulance - the broken femur lady in a vacuum mattress and Liz into the jump seat....

Off to ER to get the report that Liz has a broken distal fibula. She is in an air cast boot and will have to remain non-weight bearing for at least 2-3 weeks at which time she'll see the doc again and may be able to walk on the boot. It'll be a total of around 6 weeks that she's out of commission for... we'll see what the doc says about getting on a horse...

Needless to say we're bummed.

Here's Liz in front of the get well soon flower box from The Ewings and the Thank You hanging basket from the Rancourt's visit...

The Ewing Family Visit

After the Rancourts came the Ewings...

We also went to the top of Mt CB.

(lifts are good for parents - though the lifts don't go ALL the way to the top).
We hiked up to Long Lake - and decided not to go swimming after seeing the leaches... the rope swing is definitely tempting though.

We played softball (I forgot to mention that The Rancourts actually played with us too!)
We went horseback riding up to Rustler's Gulch - which was gorgeous!
We watched the chainless bike race which involves riding (coasting) a chainless townie from the top of Kebler pass all the way down into downtown CB. (that's the town mayor in the America costume)
Dad and I went fishing - and he caught tons of fish!

Liz and I then raced for the EMS team in the 24 hour townie race - which was fun. We got dressed up Crested Butte style and rode for 2 hours of the 24 hour race - we had a team of almost 24 from the Fire/EMS Department. Here are all of the 108 townies after the race parked out in front of the brick oven for the after party.

Liz won the raffle at the end for all the race participants and she got this sweet new bike:
Everyone finally left on Sunday morning... after which Liz and I went fishing and caught TONS of FISH and then went to bed early to catch up on some MUCH NEEDED rest after 3 long weeks of visits...

And the Poppies bloomed.


Thanks to both the Ewings and the Rancourts for many many fine fine meals and for a great time!! We love you all!!

The Rancourt Family Visit

We haven't posted in a few weeks due to parental visitations... Here are some updates:

The Rancourts stayed in a cabin up by Lake Irwin
We took the Rancourts on multiple Mountain biking excursions - this one was the Dyke trail (their first ride in Crested Butte) which is rated as one of the most difficult rides in the area... mental note - don't take the Rancourt family on one of the hardest rides in the area...;) They all survived and had fun - though they all "HATE THE UPHILL"

We took them horseback riding and to watch the pro Downhill Mountain Bike race at the ski resort... they hiked to the top of Mt. CB. They even got to play some croquet!

They took all the pics on their cameras - so we'll work on getting more of those here shortly...

We also took a headshot for Katie (Liz's little sister) for a role in The Grinch on Broadway... let's cross our fingers and hope she gets it!!

The Rancourts got to meet the Ewings for one night and one morning of crossover during their visits. It was a blast - Liz and I took them all out for dinner and we all got along!!! Now to get those wedding bells ringing...

After the Rancourts left they went to Colorado Springs to drop their youngest son Phil off at the Airforce Academy... Good luck Phil!!!