House remodels stink.
I think I'm over the silly notion that renovations for a home are easy-peasy and take hardly any time at all. That's the lie that I, gullible as I've been, bought into with countless program episodes on HGTV. On all of those shows - primarily "Love It or List It," "Fixer Upper" and "Property Brothers" - they never tell you how much time these "renos" take. It seems like only two weeks, tops.
I didn't think it was going to be that much of a hassle to create an open floor plan in our front room and family room, add walk-ins to the girls' bedrooms and a new peninsula breakfast bar to the kitchen, as well as install new floors. But now said two weeks have passed, and I'm getting super-antsy because we are confined to only two rooms in our home - our bedroom (the master) and the basement.
Go ahead, you can laugh at my naivete now...
Apparently, word from our contractor is once we have the hardwood floors installed, we'll pretty much be in the homestretch, and we'll have our house back again...and not a moment too soon.
Until then, we've all been dealing with it as best we can. RAS has work, so that pretty much takes care of his day. But since the girls had spring break, they handled with hanging out at friends' houses, a ski weekend at Keystone on the front end, and a quick getaway to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, with us on the tail end. But we ended up doing the one thing that we've never done in a half-dozen visits to the place famous for its gigantic hot springs pool (which we did, because it's really what you essentially do when you go to Glenwood).
Hanging Lake, Colorado
One of the other places Glenwood visitors flock to is Hanging Lake. Created by a sinking fault line, it's a geological wonder. Travertine, a spongy-looking limestone created from mineral springs, lines the shore, so much of the walking area consists of a plank boardwalk. The shallow jewel-blue and turquoise waters comes from dissolved carbonate. It's become one of Colorado's top visitor destinations.
The only problem with this place? It's truly a hike from hell. It's peppered with rocks to navigate and grades that wear you out after walking ten feet. I can only say that I'm glad we didn't attempt it in the middle of a burning mid-80's summer day.
Not surprisingly, the girls were reluctant to take on this nearly 2 1/2 mile roundtrip hike with a 1,000 foot elevation gain. We've heard many times that this hike challenges everyone, no matter what fitness level they are at, and that definitely proved to be the case on our hike. In an effort to make the trip more palatable, RAS told them it would only take 10 minutes to get to the lake.
What the he-? It took us ten lousy minutes to walk the bike trail along the Colorado River just to get to the trailhead!
This hike didn't take just ten minutes - Hanging Lake, Colorado
Maybe it takes that long to run a little over a mile, but not schlep it to the top of a steep mountain trail. He was trying to be encouraging, but that wasn't one of his smartest claims here, for sure. We came early to avoid the inevitable crowds that would stream in later.
The trail follows a creek with a creepy name, Dead Horse. Apparently one of the first explorers in the area found one when he was looking for gold. He followed the canyon up to the end, where the lake awaited. After its tenure as part of a privately owned family homestead, the city of Glenwood Springs purchased it, then eventually the Forest Service.
Dead Horse Canyon, on the way to Hanging Lake
Another view of Hanging Lake
Crystal-clear water in Hanging Lake
More than once, with ever dwindling patience, we considered heading back down, with RAS going up on his own to see the lake. The slick ice and snow patches and the ensuing mud pits made our trek all the more difficult. But we pushed on, and we were all so glad we did. If you should ever be in this area, steel yourself, bring some water and make this amazing trip to Hanging Lake yourself.
Hurray - we made it back in one piece!
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