Happy Birthday I guess. Anyway,
Hiking Torreys peak and Grays peak on July 10th, 2020.
2020 won’t be remembered as a particularly great hiking year that’s for sure but I’ll try to hike a few 14ers anyway. Even on a Friday it was very crowded (for a 14er that is) – People are really eager to get out there.
I love my new watch. Garmin Fenix 6 Sapphire.
A small plane passed over the summit of Torreys peak when I arrived. Very very close…
Working on two different projects these days. Refinishing all the wood work on the front porch (photos some other time) and pouring the concrete slab in the basement.
No humidity to be worried about but I’ve decided to lay an inch of gravel before pouring the concrete. So far so good. The laser level is very useful.
Ended up hurting my back last Saturday carrying the stupid bags so I’ll be quiet this week and get back to it next weekend hopefully.
I kept things simple 🙂
Using sage instead of thyme. It was delicious.
June 20th, 2020
The Mount Evans Scenic Byway is the highest paved road in North America. This year it remains closed to cars so I’ve decided to bike to the top at 14,131ft starting from Echo Lake. About 28 miles RT.
I had to abort the first attempt last week at Summit Lake mostly because of the wind. This time I decided to push through no matter what. Lots of snow on the road still so the last few miles were painful but I made it.
Amazing views all along the road.
The super old wood fence and door on the side of my house collapsed during the winter so I built a new one and set it up.
The most difficult part was breaking down the old concrete underground before setting the new posts in place.
I need to buy some hardware for the door and it’s all done. Only six hundred other projects on the list now…
Making all sorts of Baba Au Rhum.
I used Ballotin Chocolate Whiskey for the small ones to go with the Nutella pastry cream and the banana.
The bigger one is a more classic Rum Cake and includes Banana, Pineapple Pastry Cream and Strawberries
I don’t usually do a second rise for the rum cakes – it was a first – and I may need to adjust the recipe a notch.
Being stuck at home is no reason to starve 🙂
I started using Whole Foods / Prime Delivery occasionally before the lock-down and it was fine so for now that’s where I get my groceries.
– French Fries with my new Ninja Air Fryer
– Waffles with Strawberry and Chantilly
– Scallops in Spicy Oil, Glazed Pecans and Orange Slices
– Chocolate Waffles, Chocolate and Banana with Cognac (That was for dinner I swear)
– And a magnificent 1.3 pound ribeye steak
Dinner at Gordon Ramsay’s Burger was fantastic as usual.
A few more photos from the phone.
View of the Mirage Casino from the Venitian.
Mosaic work in the Bellagio…
Bellagio & Caesars Palace 
Stained Glass
Short road trip to Las Vegas, Nevada for a few days. Lots of walking around through the city and a little trip atop the Eiffel Tower 🙂
One last photo gallery (I’m catching up on things). This time from 2016 along the Oregon Coast Trail.
I was feeling pretty good and I made it a point of crossing the state of Oregon in 14 days. Since there are small towns along the way, food wasn’t a problem and I didn’t have to carry more than one day of food at a time. As for water, there are thousands of streams / rivers everywhere so that wasn’t a problem either. Weather was mostly good except for one day of rain. Not too bad.
