colorado - The Random Adventure That Is Life (RATIL)

The Random Adventure That Is Life (RATIL)

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A collection of 12 posts

Why Parental Leave Is So Important

Why Parental Leave Is So Important

Hopefully by this point, there is no confusion about how important parental leave is for new parents. While maternity leave is unique in that new mothers often require time to recover and recuperate from the mental and physical trauma of childbirth, the more general parental leave is also supremely important

Kids' and Wife's First Backpacking Trip

Kids' and Wife's First Backpacking Trip

If you know me or have read this blog, then you know that I like backpacking. Last year I tried to plan a backpacking trip for the kids into Rocky Mountain National Park but we got rained out by a storm that ended up being a Derecho Storm; so good

Family Road Trip 2021

Family Road Trip 2021

I had to be in Las Vegas for work for a few weeks. Since I was planning to drive anyways, we decided to make a road trip out of it and visit several National Parks along the way and finishing the trip off with a couple of nights in Vegas.

Lost Creek Wilderness Loop

Lost Creek Wilderness Loop

I was getting the itch to do a backpacking trip. Given the pandemic situation I decided to stick close to home and went with the Lost Creek Wilderness Loop. Coming from Denver, the Wigwam Trailhead was the closest entry point. However, that trailhead has about a 3.7 mile spur

Skiing With a 2-Year-Old

Skiing With a 2-Year-Old

We took our son skiing for what could be the last time this season. As such, I thought it would be appropriate to recount the trials, tribulations, and celebrations of a season of skiing with a 2YO. Patience and Expectation Management The key to every ski trip with kids is

Squaw Mountain Fire Lookout

Squaw Mountain Fire Lookout

I am not sure where I first heard about them (probably some click-baity Facebook ad), but for the last few months I have been obsessing over renting a US Forest Service fire lookout tower. In their heyday, there were a couple thousand lookout towers. With the advent of modern technology,

Five Fourteener Frenzy Weekend

Five Fourteener Frenzy Weekend

After planning a Sunday trip to climb Longs Peak with some folks from 14ers.com I decided to fill my Saturday with the DeCaLiBron route. After the Sunday Longs trip fell through, I ended up doing Torreys Peak on Sunday. Altogether I hit 5 fourteener peaks this weekend, 4 of

Mount Evans - 14,264'

Mount Evans - 14,264'

Mount Evans is Colorado's 14th highest peak and also one of the most accessible as it has a road to the top. I tried to summit this mountain a few weeks ago with my 2-year-old on my back. We ended up turning back because he was ready to

Olive Ridge Campground - With A 2-Year-Old

Olive Ridge Campground - With A 2-Year-Old

With the weather being so outstanding, we decided to pack up the fam and head up into the mountains to get a weekend camping trip under our belts. We had previously taken the little guy camping back in Texas for one night. This trip was a test of our two-night

Mount Falcon Park

Mount Falcon Park

We were looking for a hike on the west side of Denver so that we could meet up with friends in the area afterwards. Mount Falcon Park was in the perfect spot for the time we had between nap time ending for the little dude and needing to meet up

Saint Mary's Glacier

Saint Mary's Glacier

Being in Colorado, I felt the itch to get up into the mountains before our first month in our new home was up. On a suggestion from my brother-in-law, we decided to head up to Saint Mary's Glacier. The glacier is just past Idaho Springs on I-70 so

Colorado Vacation - Lake Como

Colorado Vacation - Lake Como

We recently got back from a good week long vacation to Colorado to visit our brothers and my nephew. Aside from the great breweries and awesome beer, my brother and I also got to do some back country camping. We chose Lake Como, nestled in the middle of the Blanca,