I've had a few consecutive stressful weeks at work that culminated in having to go back into work after taking a Friday afternoon off. I figured the best way to get ahead of things was to take the following Monday (Feb 15th off.) We were scheduled for a C-Section for our baby girl on Thursday, Feb 18th so I figured why not?
I got up early and went to play basketball at the Y. I had one house project I needed to finish as well (insulate our laundry room) so pretty soon after getting back from the Y, I took a couple hours and knocked that out. The rest of the day was mine! I considered working on Bioshock 2 (which I finished a day later anyways) but instead Chili and I went hiking! We decided to hike the Brooklyn Wildlife Segment of the Ice Age Trail. 
I made it my goal to hike the whole Dane County portion of the trail in 2010 so what better way than to knock out the southern most point and part of Green County too! We got to the trail head and headed out around 10:30am, quickly passing the only person I ran into all day. We made quick work down to Hughes Rd for an out and back. 
Then we went back up through the woods and marshes of the state wildlife area. The birds were out in full force and there were lots of classic XC ski tracks but my new hiking shoes (Oakley Nail) had no issues all day! I was still going strong when we crossed Highway D to go up into the highlands area. I got to the top and across the highlands when I could no longer find the trail. The highlands are supposed to be a loop but we went to the farthest point and headed back. By this time I was starting to fade (as was Chili) and everything was a repeat so the sense of adventure wasn't as great. The sense of accomplishment (and the fact we had to get back to the car to go home) however was more than enough to keep me going. It also started to snow some really big flakes, it was a perfect winter wonderland! 
I turned my ankle a bit about a mile and a quarter from the lot but at this point we were moving pretty well so I kept rocking it! The last third of a mile was downhill so that helped and by 1:30 I was back at the parking lot, my car was all alone, here are the stats. I was tuckered out. Even Chili was tired, and those who know him know he's never tired and never lays down in the car, this photo taken 30 seconds after returning to the car!
Only one thing could help me recover from a hike like this, a burrito. I opted for Taqueria Quadelajara this time as for $5 you get a cheese covered behemoth!
It was the single biggest burrito I've ever seen (besides a place trying to make an intentionally huge burrito) and it was delicious. They make their burritos pretty bland, almost like a cheesesteak with veggies and pico, so not really mexican but just all around awesome!
I made it my goal to hike the whole Dane County portion of the trail in 2010 so what better way than to knock out the southern most point and part of Green County too! We got to the trail head and headed out around 10:30am, quickly passing the only person I ran into all day. We made quick work down to Hughes Rd for an out and back. Then we went back up through the woods and marshes of the state wildlife area. The birds were out in full force and there were lots of classic XC ski tracks but my new hiking shoes (Oakley Nail) had no issues all day! I was still going strong when we crossed Highway D to go up into the highlands area. I got to the top and across the highlands when I could no longer find the trail. The highlands are supposed to be a loop but we went to the farthest point and headed back. By this time I was starting to fade (as was Chili) and everything was a repeat so the sense of adventure wasn't as great. The sense of accomplishment (and the fact we had to get back to the car to go home) however was more than enough to keep me going. It also started to snow some really big flakes, it was a perfect winter wonderland! I turned my ankle a bit about a mile and a quarter from the lot but at this point we were moving pretty well so I kept rocking it! The last third of a mile was downhill so that helped and by 1:30 I was back at the parking lot, my car was all alone, here are the stats. I was tuckered out. Even Chili was tired, and those who know him know he's never tired and never lays down in the car, this photo taken 30 seconds after returning to the car!Only one thing could help me recover from a hike like this, a burrito. I opted for Taqueria Quadelajara this time as for $5 you get a cheese covered behemoth! It was the single biggest burrito I've ever seen (besides a place trying to make an intentionally huge burrito) and it was delicious. They make their burritos pretty bland, almost like a cheesesteak with veggies and pico, so not really mexican but just all around awesome! So Chili and I have probably 13 miles of Dane County Ice Age Trail under our belt in February. I have a couple more sections of my radar, perhaps later this week. The most important part was how good it felt for the soul. My pooch and I getting fresh air and exercise in the woods for a few hours, avoiding the stresses of work and life for a morning/afternoon and mentally preparing for the birth of our child on Thursday made this day perfect!
2009 was a year of change, or at least setting the tones for future change. We were told in 2009 that we’d have a baby in 2010. 
I was also told in 2009 that my job was ending in 2010. So 2009 was a year of preparation for an almost new life in 2010. As of right now it appears we are heading for a C-section on February 11th. I also have my job until at least March 30th. So the 1st quarter of 2010 will be crazy.
Caches in 2009: 485 found, 1 placed (near Rice Lake.) We found caches of all size and shapes in all sorts of different places:
States I geocached in: 11 (Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Florida, Colorado and Pennsylvania) Jess didn’t get to cache in PA. This is our favorite cache ever, located near Ames, Iowa, a crazy night cache that was cold, hard and high! We basically had to find a shiny little reflective point with a flash light, head to it, then shine the light again to find the next one on a little trail. While a ladder was supposed to be required, I gave Jess the ultimate boost to tackle this one.
We also caches in 5 countries or territories: 5 (US, St. John, St Maarten, St Thomas, Bahamas)
and Breckenridge 32 which was actually 37) I weighed 12lbs more this new years than I did last new years. Played a lot of basketball, went downhill skiing and snowboarding (once) and swam twice. I then sold my wetsuit. Snowboarding on January 3rd, 2009: 
I summited 5 14ers this year and 
I attended 15 baseball games (9 home Brewers game, 2 Brewers/Cardinals games at St Louis, 1 game each at Kaufmann Field in Kansas City and Coors Field in Denver, an Iowa Cubs minor league game and a Madison Mallards game.) I even got to play triva at a Brewers game on the jumbotron and won me a sweet bat!!!
February we went on a cruise with 6 of our friends. 
It was the best and most memorable cruise yet! Bahamas, St Thomas, St John and St Maarten were all dominated including getting destroyed by a jet engine at Maho Beach, a once in a lifetime experience. Zip lining rocked!
June 2009 was a great month, we found out we were pregnant! A dream come true and a great start to the second half of the year!
In early September my grandmother Larson passed away. She’ll be greatly missed.
for a triple feature concert of my favorite bands (Silversun Pickups, Manchester Orchestra and Cage the Elephant)
October and November were rather tame months with work travel and house work but we did head to Chicago to cheer on our friend Kyle in the Urbanathalon 
and Jess created the best Halloween costume I’ve ever seen. 
We got an unseasonably warm fall/winter day and hit the Wollershiem winery with friends in late November.
December was all about family and friends. We had our annual Christmas party with some of our friends in addition to our work Christmas party. We celebrated Christmas all over the state with family. We even flew down to Florida for a week with my parents! Even rode the teathered hot air balloon over downtown Disney. 
Disney World and the beach both happened but took a back-seat to just relaxing and not being in the cold and spending time with family. From there we went to two Christmas Parties (one for work and one with friends) and then we celebrated Christmas 4 seperate times with family! It was a great time. 
Kyle is a pretty fit dude and we had been at elevation for a few days so he was up for the challenge. He set a pretty rippin' pace early that I struggled to keep up with (I pride myself on being average speed but all day long endurance) but eventually he leveled off and we were able to find a great pace we both could maintain for the duration of the hike. We made quick work of the mountain early passing everyone we saw and we hit the false summit (which isn't very false) in under an hour. 
I snapped a black and white shot back with one of my next conquests, Grays and Torreys in the background. Looking towards the sun caused a neat haze.
We also spotted mountain goats down the mountain towards the resevoir! First goats I've seen in my (5-7 14er climbs)
The last part of Quandary is steep and relentless but we were pretty sure we would have a clear summit and with no one else so we hauled up to the top passing the two people that were in front of us! And we were alone! Kyle's first 14er summit! 
And here's my summit shot too! Elbert and Massive are in the background, way back there! 
Summit certified!
And then a father/son combo from Chicago came up and took this photo for us! 
The view to the north was stunning. That's the upper part of McCullough gulch. 
Kyle was not afraid to live on the edge on the way down. The weather was beautiful! 
We saw no less than 500+ people accending on a perfect Thursday morning so glad we got there early. There was a school field trip, a group of maybe 50 people each with balloons to let fly at the summit to honor a friend who died exactly a year ago and loved climbing. Many retirees who didn't even care of they made the top, etc. Oh yeah and 6 non-people too! 
Some mountain goats! They were curious and probably looking for food and standing right in the trail! Too much fun! 
We kept making our way down the mountain and were to the treeline in no time. Going down is easier on the lungs but harder on the joints but we made it down with no injuries or falls so all was well! Here's me in standard warm weather Colorado climbing gear. 
The road back to Breck has a pull out to view Quandary. My camera viewed us and Quandary. What a fun day with a good friend, perfect weather and a nice sense of adventure!
We then met up with Hez and Jess and got our spelunking on. This was a pretty cool gold mine and freezing cold in there!
Jess and I went around Breck to find our favroite spot, a nice mountian stream with a little ropes course action!
And no blog post would be complete without the trip to Keystone. Because Jess was pregnant no biking for her so it was just Kyle and I again. Keystone is the single most fun you can have on a mountain bike as far as I've experienced. Shuttle up and then dozens of different routes down. The easy routes are some sweet flowy and rocky singletreack! Perfect! 
You can also opt for harder routes with drops, stunts and features. What to do, the double black diamond bypass or the triple black diamond corkscrew?
Why the corkscrew of course! It's hard to ride when you are shaking in fear but I had no choice but to not crash! 
Here is the finish (a reenactment) but it shows the whole thing. Pretty cool, I've missed seeing this stunt on previous trips so glad we saw it this time! 
Kyle liked bombing steep, rocky drops! This was just the start of a black diamond natural terrain trail with rocks, jumps, ledges and many successive drops. No problems! 
That pretty much catches you up on my Colorado Adventures for 2009. Thanks for reading!
