Father/son windmill adventure weekend!

January22

Calico and I had a fun weekend!

We drove over to Nazare and stayed in an old windmill from the 1870s. We hiked, grilled, started fires, cooked, played with knives, and watched some movies. We had a blast! And we ended it on Sunday at the beach playing on the sand dunes in front of some beautiful waves. The 3rd floor of the windmill was the bedroom with a big window overlooking a beautiful view.

The only bummer was somehow I screwed up navigation and went 2.5 hours north, then almost 3 hours South on Friday. It should have only been a 2-hour drive…

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Graz Austria, last city on the fast trip…

April24

We had a wonderful stay in Graz Austria. It was nice to be in a smaller town and we were a little out of the city so we had a little yard. It was amazing to wake up to the sound of birds. I got a few bike rides in and we had an awesome easter hike. It was especially nice to stay in a place that had a real office chair (my back was super happy).

Whats next? Some much needed downtime in rural Croatia for at least a. month to recharge.

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Spring In Boulder!

June11

Just a quick post to celebrate that Boulder finally got warm in May and that Calico is now 17 months old :)

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Hiking Backpack For Calico!

December22

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Coulson Gulch Trail: Mountain Biking & Hiking

December6

I am a newb when it comes to mountain biking on single track. I’ve done a lot of forest/logging roads but not much of anything else. I am trying to learn so I decided to do Coulson Gulch Trail. A local guide book rated it as “Technically easy to moderate with a few steep sections of rock and sand”. Unfortunately, I only made it 0.71 miles in before my back tire died :(… so I hiked the rest.

It was a BEAUTIFUL hike. There is an abandoned cabin 1.8 miles in, and the canyons are stunning. I also found several deer legs that were pretty fresh so watch out for animals. The trail did not seem like it was used very often, pretty overgrown. Some old wagon trail road for part of it too.

The book (referenced above) was written before the trail was washed away and a bridge (link goes to forest service details). I was able to leap from rock to rock to get across one area, but it is a mess. It made for some adventuring though. I walked along Button Rock Trail for about half a mile (which was amazing).

Hiking? Beautiful and fun! If you are feeling adventurous cross the stream and go up Button Rock Trail. Watch out for bears.

Biking? Good for about ~2 miles in max, and I am not sure it is really good for newbies. Pretty difficult with some of the washout, and a steam climb back which you are mostly walking.

It was a blast driving the new truck on some dirt roads, and some off roady type things. So much fun :)

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Nice easy hike around Boulder.

March28

This weekend I went on a easy hike called Meyers Homstead Trail, or the Meyers Gulch Trail. It was a relatively flat hike with a wide path and the out and back added up to a total of 5.5 miles. Beautiful pine forest, old barn, etc. Highly recommend! Good one for kids too I think.

If you want something more challenging, Walker Ranch is right around the corner which is an 8 mile loop with some climbs and beautiful walks along the river. I see people fly fishing out there quite often.

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Workout Summary 2015!

January1

2014 was a pretty tough year on my normal workout routine due to injury and health problems. 2015 was much better but still very challenging. For the first half of the year I was only doing rehab and walking. Slowly I was able to add back in biking and running. I had hoped to do a lot of yoga, but with Lindsey and I traveling it fell by the wayside. It didn’t help that the first eight months of the year were pretty stressful and I just didn’t have as much energy left as I normally do.

For 2015, I did a total of 254 hours of tracked workouts. 226 hours of that was hiking/walks, which was especially boosted by the big Hardrian’s Wall hike I did. Fun stats:

  • I hiked/walked 727.9 miles this year for exercise!
  • I biked a mere 115 miles, I didn’t get enough biking in for the 2 months I had a bike. About 50 miles of that is one ride.
  • Over the entire year I ascended 58,000 feet walking (which isn’t very much when you think about it).
  • My rehab to make my core stronger didn’t go great this year, but it has gotten better. Most months I managed to do it every other day. I should be hitting 80% but it is hard to build that type of routine in when the exercises are so boring. I’ll get there.

    What are my workout goals for 2016?

    1. My main goal is to do Yoga 3x a week. I did a ton of Yoga in Nov/Dec 2014 and want to pick it up and make it a habit. It helps my core stay strong and it is very relaxing. I need more core strong to take more of the impact off my back and keep my annular disc tear from ever bothering me again.

    And, two smaller goals.

    2. I wanted to be able to start running, but the doctor said it was not good for my back. So I am working to switch over to biking, esp mountain biking. I am aiming to do a bike workout 3x a week while I explore that option.
    *Goal shifted late Jan 16.
    3. I want to build up to be able to do 10 minutes non-stop on my core rehab ball workouts. That is going to be tough.

    European Road Trip!

    April11

    Lindsey and I rented a car a few weeks ago and saw a ton of Europe :), where did we go?

    Screen Shot 2015-04-11 at 7.59.20 AM

    First we drove up to Milan to meet two friends, then to Lake Como, then through Switzerland to check out Geneva, and then down to the Cathar region of France near the Pyrenees mountains to hike.

    What does gas station food in Italy look like?

    In Lake Como Lindsey found us an amazing place to stay, we managed a little hike even though it was windy.

    We visited Geneva for a day, and drove through all of Switzerland which was pretty stunning. Our photos from that area didn’t turn out well since they were all taken from a car :). We spent a half day exploring Geneva since that might be where Lindsey goes to grad school too!

    Next we drove down through France to the Languedoc region where we did a lot of hiking. I’ve always wanted to go to visit this region of France, I was very interested in the Cathar religion, the Crusade against them, and the castles that emerged from that fight and subsequent border fights with the Spanish. I got to crawl around a lot of castles, we went on a lot of hikes, and we tried to stay warm as the Tramontane wind was out in full force.

    Lindsey is an awesome navigator and got us from point A to point B which was hard considering we had no net/gps and no paper map :).

    I also realized I’ve now been to 40 countries with my trip to Switzerland :)!

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    Hike From Biot to Valbonne!

    March22

    Lindsey found an amazing hike for us this weekend! We took the train to the Biot stop, and hiked from there to city center, and then along a beautiful 7 mile path to the village of Valbonne. We ended up staying the night (instead of riding the bus back), and hiked back in the morning. Fun weekend :)

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    Pictures From Japan

    March13

    Descriptions and titles if you click the image. Basically my trip went North to Sappora, then to Abashari where I took an ice breaking boat out to sea, then back to Sappora, then down to Kyoto for temples and a palace, then to Hiroshima for the memorial, then to Kagoshima for a ferry to this awesome island called Yakushima. This island inspired the director of Princess Monokyo and the forest was amazing, trees as old as 3,000 years old. Ferry was a bit rough to get there though, 3 hours through dark stormy seas with huge huge waves (fun! especially when you were smart enough to remember Dramamine). Then back to Tokyo for 8 days and met up with Gina and Eunah for 3 days while they were visiting from Korea! They were a ton of fun, and hopefully I get to visit them in Korea at some point!!

    Explanation of each picture and comments if you click through to the picture…. These are roughly in chronological order of the above trip outline too.

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    A Hike Near Denver

    November12

    Me and Joel went on a Hike a few weeks ago and here are some pictures, hopefully work calms down and can do this more and hopefully try out some cross country skiing!

    Can’t wait to do more as I get time over the next months. I can’t fraking wait for some snow too! Haven’t seen any in a few years due to being in Egypt!

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    This is bwb’s personal blog, so he can share his thoughts with the world, however scary or silly they might be. Plus family and friends can track what I am up to, and where I am in the world.

    I am pretty simple. I love Mangos. I love the ocean (although mostly at sunset, as I’m a ginger). I love to travel, eat exotic food, do long bike rides, read, and use my imagination. At some point, I decided it was better to be a pirate captain than an admiral. I am a globalist and see the entire world as my responsibility and playground. And I am married to an amazing woman who makes life even more fun :)! And we are now the proud parents of Calico Jack :).


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