When my siblings and I were kids, my parents took us hiking at Pikes Peak State Park in Iowa during our spring breaks. The park is thirteen miles from Guttenberg, and free to visit, so when we were coming up with activities for our vacation with Gina and family, it immediately came to mind!
Gina, Steve, and Luca, Mom and Dad, me and Steven
For awhile I’ve wondered why Pikes Peak Iowa has the same name as the mountain in Colorado, and I finally looked it up – it’s because they are both named for the same explorer – Zebulon Pike. Thomas Jefferson authorized Pike to lead several expeditions, including one through Iowa in 1805-06, and the one through Colorado in 1806-07. When Pike was in the Iowa area, he was looking for areas for military posts. He recommended the high point on the Iowa side (now Pikes Peak) for the strategic advantage, but the government choose the low prairie across the river in Prairie du Chien, (now) Wisconsin (info from here).
This area has a interesting history. In the 800s-1200s Native Americans lived here and you can still see their effigy mounds on the trails! You are at street level with them, so it’s kind of hard to make out the shape of the animal, but I can always tell where the head, legs, and body are. The Native Americans built these to celebrate their oneness with mother nature.
And there’s your history lesson for the day!
We visited Pikes Peak on Tuesday, August 1st. A tornado went through Pikes Peak and McGregor, the town north of it, on July 19th, so some trees were damaged and parts of the trails were closed, but none that affected where we were going. I looked at the trail map for the first time on this visit (I had always visited as a kid and didn’t have an interest!!!) and realized there are eleven and a half miles of trails!
We’ve only ever visited the area I circled in red on the map above. I need to get back and check out more of it. Maybe a trail run for River Trip 2018?
On this trip, we stuck to the Bridal Veil, East Hickory Ridge, and Weeping Rock Trails. We saw stunning vistas of the Mississippi River,
that area in the back right of the photo is Prairie du Chien
A little photographer photographer action going on
a waterfall,
71% of our crew was wearing Asics!
cool rock formations,
and beautiful forests.
Our hike ended in the shaded woods, which I appreciated, because it was getting close to midday and was hot out. We ended up hiking 1.6 miles and everyone did well. Gina had been taking Luca on lots of morning walks this summer to get him ready for the hike, which I thought was super cute (and smart)! I wonder if we’ll go back next year, or if I will ever check out the northern trails!
This is the fourth year in a row we’ve vacationed with Gina, Steve, and Luca (nuestra otra familia) in Guttenberg, Iowa. Why Guttenberg? Because my family has cabins there (free lodging!), it’s on the Mississippi River (fun on the water!), and it’s beautiful and relaxing (Gina and Steve’s phones don’t even work there!).
The firsttwo years, our river trips were over Labor Day. The trip shifted to July the third year/last year so Gina could do RAGBRAI, and because Luca started kindergarten before Labor Day. At the end of each visit, we always lament how fast it went, and last year we decided we should try to extend it to a whole week (from three full days and two partial days). It takes Gina and family two days to drive to Guttenberg from their home near Dallas – there should at least be more vacation days than car days, right?!
So, this year, we were in Guttenberg almost an entire week – we arrived Friday night and left Thursday afternoon. RAGBRAI kicked off our vacation in Iowa, but we did a lot more (besides bum around on the beach) while we were there! And now, you get to read about it… starting with ziplining!
Ziplining wasn’t on my radar for this trip until I saw a post on Facebook in April about Sky Tours Ziplining in Dubuque (near Guttenberg). Gina and Steve were interested, so when we were all together and river trip planning in May, we added it as a definite possibility on the activities tab on our trip spreadsheet (oh yes – there was a spreadsheet and LOTS of planning for this trip!). Gina looked up all of the information about it so we’d have it ready to go when we were in Guttenberg!
[Side note: I don’t know why it’s my style to include all of these decision making details and extra information in my blog posts. Like I think I will need to remember this down the road? Ha ha.]
At first glance, ziplining seemed a bit pricey to me – $65 per person, for nine lines/an hour and twenty minutes of entertainment. But that is probably (just guessing) cheaper than it is in tropical/exotic locations? However it compares, it ended up being worth it, and a total blast!
You have to have a reservation to zipline, and Sky Tours recommended making it twenty-four hours in advance, but when we called late Sunday night (I was impressed someone answered) we were able to make an appointment for Monday July 31st at 11:00 am.
Sky Tours asks that you get there fifteen minutes before your appointment to sign waivers and put the safety gear on. I was happy that they were prepared for us, and ready for us to go right at 11:00!
Our group consisted of the four of us, a woman (and I am assuming) her daughter, and two guides. The guides said they can do groups up to twelve or fifteen people! I liked our smaller group size.
Our guides were friendly and funny. They teased each other, teased us, and made jokes the entire time. It was right up my alley (although maybe a serious person wouldn’t like all the safety jokes?!?!).
We started with putting our harnesses on – it consisted of two leg straps, a strap that goes around your waist, and the front straps and carabiners that actually attach to the zipline. The guides pointed out to us that there was no upper body harness and to not tip upside down, because you could fall out of your harness (eek!). And they told us our helmets were just to protect our heads from hitting the lines/trees, etc., not from a fall. And with that, we were ready to go!
We walked to the first line and the guides started with sharing the history of the area we were in. It’s currently (and has been since the 40s) a YMCA camp, but in the 1890s, it was actually Union Park (click on the link for cool old drawings and photos) – an amusement park owned by the local electric company. It thrived until it flooded in 1919, and many structures were destroyed. Parts of it were rebuilt, but it was never as popular as it was in its heyday. In the mid 1930s the structures were dismantled, and in 1946 the YMCA and Boy Scouts bought the land.
While we were ziplining, we could actually see remnants of some of the structures – paths, walls, bases, and the large Olympic size swimming pool (rumored to fit 2,000 bathers). And we could see how they were built in low-lying land that flood waters would fill.
There are nine ziplines in the park, but recent storms made the dual-racing line unsafe (sad face), so Sky Tours actually cut the lines on that one until it could be rebuilt, and we ended up doing the longest line twice so that we still got to do nine lines.
Our first line (and most of them) started in the woods. One guide went to the other side to help us come in, and one guide stayed back to get everyone clipped in. For the first line, they went over basic safety (don’t tip back, where to put your hands, etc.) but not how to steer. I hadn’t even though of the fact that we could spin around on this thing! But you do! Weeeeeeeeee!
Steve coming in off the first line
Gina coming in off the first line
I was definitely spinning on my first line (and the following seven lines). When we were all done with the first line, and getting ready for the second, they explained how you can put one hand on the carabiner and turn it toward the direction you are spinning in order to not spin that way. Or hold it steady and turn your knees toward the way you are spinning? Yeah, I didn’t quite get it and found it counter-intuitive. But I tried to figure it out!
Most of the first few lines were from a high spot to a low spot in the woods, and had a short hike between them. Each one would have a different start and finish – sometimes you had a running start on the ground, sometimes you stepped off a platform, sometimes you finished on the ground, sometimes you finished on a platform, etc. The guides would explain each time what to expect, and what to do with our legs/body so we didn’t hit anything!
One of the middle lines we did went out to a tall freestanding platform. When we got out to it, we had to be strapped in to another line, so we wouldn’t fall off. The platform was wobbly, especially as more people got on it. I could see people being scared by that, but it didn’t bother me.
Steven coming in to the platform
Steven getting ready to leave the platform
In fact, I was never scared, or hesitant doing this, at all. I didn’t even have any gut reactions like “don’t jump!” when we went off the platform.
The line we did after the tower had what they called the “beanie drop.” They opened up a big box FULL of beanie babies and told us to pick one to take with on the line and try to drop in to a red bucket on the ground!
Our guides had stickers all over their helmets, and one of them told us it was for how many people they had fall off the lines (ha), but they later said it was actually for how many successful drops they’d made it to the bucket on the beanie drop. None of us made it! I swore mine was close, but there was another guide on the group batting at the dropped beanies with a stick, and he hit mine when I dropped it, ha ha ha.
We had a bit of a hike between some of the later lines, and got to see some of the ruins from Union Park. The tour guides provided water at two of the stops, which we appreciated.
The last lines we did were the longest ones – I think the longest was 1200 or so feet long and about 75 feet above ground (I turned my watch on and got to 34 mph on it). We hiked to the long line, rode it, zipped back down on another line, then finished with the long line, and I FINALLY FIGURED OUT THE STEERING (you can tell I am corrected my spin twice in the video):
Yay! Only took nine tries! Ha ha.
After we finished, it was a short walk back, we took off our equipment, said goodbye and were done!
The tour went by quickly, in a good way. With our smaller group, there was less waiting for everyone to do the line (and it’s fun to watch people go/come in, anyway). We all hiked at a good pace and the guides were organized and kept us moving. I enjoyed our guides, and the stories they told about the park and their ziplining adventures.
The ziplining itself was exciting! It was neat to be up in the trees, seeing things from a perspective I’ve never experienced before. I loved the flying sensation. It was never scary (even when I was spinning and landing backwards) and I always felt safe. We all had fun and agreed that we’d love to do it together again! Gina mentioned there is a place that does it by where they live in Dallas…
We finished the Rockefeller book! I will eventually post the long list of words I had to look up. There are only a few I recall without looking at my list: sobriquet, scion, and platitudinous, and only one I am using daily: scuttlebutt.
Next up in the “book club for two” rotation is Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time and if we like that, Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul.
Last weekend was our quick trip to Dallas! We had a great time with our otra familia, and got super pumped planning our next trip together (a week long summer vacation)! The Dallas trip almost didn’t happen though – our flight out of Milwaukee was canceled and there weren’t any other options out of there. Luckily American Airlines hooked me up with flights at the same times out of Chicago and back. American Airlines was so helpful and pleasant! I was stressing the eff out and they calmed me down. (Well, that, and a quick run.)
I mentioned I tried a spin style class at Gina’s gym on Saturday. What I didn’t mention is that a lady was sitting on the bike I reserved when I got there. You use an app to reserve a seat in advance, then all your bike data from class is linked to your account. Cool, right? Gina politely told the lady the seats are reserved and that if she sat there, all her hard work would be credited to someone else (me). The lady responded with “I’ll make your friend look good.” Ha. Ha ha ha. The lady had major beef with getting off the bike and finding another open one, even though there were other options, and we were helping her by looking at the app and telling her what was available. When we told her about the app (because Gina didn’t also didn’t know about it when she started taking the classes, and wanted to be helpful!) she said “I just work out, I don’t use computers.” OMG. It was so funny… but not really. She finally got off. She was probably annoyed she had to set up a new bike, and that I wanted to sit by my friend that I traveled 1,000 miles to see, but… sorry? I really did want to see my stats! Geesh.
I finally signed up for the Saturday RABGRAI ride yesterday. I am not sure what took me so long. I saw my dad this week and we discussed signing up, and when we looked at the website, we saw there is a June 1 registration deadline! Eek! I would have been so mad if I missed it. Dad and Gina signed up too!
Two of our kitties aren’t feeling well. Data has some strange eye booger leakage going on (I have a picture but I’ll spare ya) and Snow has a cut on his chin. Data is seeing the vet tomorrow, and I will ask them what to do about Snow. These kids. They just can’t stay out of trouble.
I was in Dallas last weekend for Luca’s 6th birthday!
Steven and I have celebrated Luca’s 2nd, 3rd, and 5th birthdays in person with him! Steven wasn’t able to make this trip because of work though. Sad face. Luckily, I found affordable tickets for both of us to go for a weekend trip in May that won’t interfere with work. Yay! Better late than never!
Family pic minus Steven
We had a chill weekend <— my favorite kind! On Saturday am, Steve and I ran, then we volunteered at a 5K put on by the PTA at Luca’s school. Then we got lunch, did some shopping downtown, TOOK NAPS!, watched Luca open his presents (while we Facetimed Steven), and went out for dinner.
I found a cute Iowa decoration while we were out shopping!
On Sunday Gina and I ran, then we all chilled before going to Luca’s birthday party. He had a bowling, pizza, and arcade games party, and the kids were so well behaved! We went home for a bit after, then went out to dinner. On Monday Gina and I ran then I had to head home. Short but great trip!
The title of this picture is “Tan=delicious.” Clockwise from top left: custom vegan pizza at Mellow Mushroom, nachos from Frankies, Pad See-ew from Silk Road Thai (not pictured: super strong Mai Thai), and our traditional homemade pancakes (we try to make them each time we’re together!)
Even though we see our otra familia several times a year, I’ll always wish we had MORE time together, so I am happy for the chill times when we can hang out, catch up, and be ridiculous together. And I am happy Steven will get to be a part of that in May!
I’ve been to Kansas City every month this year! Craziness! In January we went to meet Baby William. In February I went with my parents and my maternal grandma, so my grandma could meet Baby William. And this month, we met Gina, Steve, and Luca there for the beginning of Luca’s spring break!
After all that, it feels odd not to have the next trip planned. Maybe we’ll go back for a Royals game this summer?!
We had a good mix of hanging out and being out and about on this trip. On Sunday, we went over to my snister’s to see her, Will, and William.
And on Monday and Tuesday, we played tourist! On Monday we rode the new streetcar,
Showing off their Emmy for their show Steve & Steven
and Union Station. Luca loved the train exhibit at Union Station. And bonus – all of Monday’s activities were FREE! And surprisingly, after coming to Kansas City for years, I hadn’t been to any of them except the River Market.
We saw a lot! We also ate A LOT. A lot a lot. I think I should feel hungry again in a few weeks. Ha. Happily, we walked a lot when we were sightseeing, and we also went on walks from Steven’s dad’s house (where we all stayed), and went on a few runs. I was grateful to move so much – I feel like a slug if I sit around for too long!
It worked out that Steven’s brother, Andrew, got to hang out with us quite a bit on this trip, which was fun! And Steven’s dad was able to join us for everything (in case you were wondering who that guy was in the pictures, ha ha)! I love how our families blend together!
And I love spending time with my otra familia (Gina, Steve, and Luca). I’m happy they took time out of Luca’s break to go to Kansas City! Hopefully we’ll see them next month in Texas for Luca’s birthday!
Two weekends ago, I had a four-day weekend in Texas with my otra familia:
This is the third year in a row I’ve gone with Luca to see Santa!
Steven couldn’t come, but we FaceTimed with him, and sent him some photos (including drawings by Luca).
I got to go to Luca’s school and have lunch with him.
Family pic!
Then after a short (and BUSY!) week (work, work holiday party, dentist, celebrating with Anne and Terry, house prep and shopping…), I had a four day weekend here celebrating an early holiday with Steven’s family:
Carbs, carbs, carbs
Me and the boys!
Up this week? Another celebration, Steven’s birthday, and Christmas with my family! I am having a lot of fun but I am so freaking worn out! I am definitely sleeping in on January 1st! (<— just kidding, if it’s nice, I will probably get up and run!)
I’m in Cincinnati for work and had time for a short run this morning. And bonus – I’ve never run in Ohio before so I get to add that to my “states run in” list (I also ran through Kentucky today, but I’d run there before, also on work travel).
I wasn’t sure how safe it would be to run alone, but I talked to the front desk about it, and they said it was safe, and then I saw A LOT of runners out – yay! I wish I would have had time to run farther!
Now, let’s hope my work day goes as fast (and is as enjoyable?) as this run did (was)!
It’s awesome the Cubs won the World Series! They’re not the team I follow, but them winning has made so many people happy, and that makes me happy! All that being said, I’m making sure I’m NOT working downtown the day of the celebration parade (if there is one), ha ha.
It’s totally fine not to be interested in following mainstream stuff like the World Series, and to say it’s not your thing. There are plenty of things lots of people like and get jazzed about that I have no interest in! But what’s not cool is being a complete sourpuss about it. Newsflash – you aren’t special if you are moody about a thing that a lot of people like when they are all excited about it. It just makes you, well, moody. And makes it seem like you can’t enjoy other people’s happiness and feel left out. Grow up!
We don’t have antenna (or cable) and couldn’t watch any games at home but got to see Game 4 because we were at a hotel, and part of Game 7 at Red Robin (and we listened on the radio at home after that). What a series! The last game was a real nail bitter!
We were at a hotel last Saturday because Steven surprised me with a night away on Lake Delavan in Wisconsin! It was so sweet he planned all that and surprised me, and recognized that we both needed a break. We had a great time!
Thanks for voting for Data in our veterinarian’s Halloween costume contest! He got second place, and will receive a $20 gift card to PetSmart! Should I use it to get him something fun, or more food for all the cats?
The election is making me feel so anxious I decided to vote by mail this year, because just thinking about making it to my voting office on Tuesday was stressing me out.
The last time I posted about the pond level, it was almost gone. It actually did completely go away in August/September. But we’ve had so much rain in October and November (5.50 inches in the last 30 days), it’s back, and in a big way!
In 2013, I was in Salt Lake City with my mom and we decided to visit the Salt Flats. We took a rental car there, and made a video of us driving on the flats to share with family and on the blog. Oh, and the rest of the internet, on YouTube. Buah ha ha, it was humorous to see someone took the time to write this comment on our video, just a few days ago! I apologize that me visiting the Salt Flats was so lame for you, random YouTube commenter! (What’s even funnier to me, is that my caption for the video was “Driving the crappy rental car on the Salt Flats on 4/21/13” – I didn’t imply I was breaking land-speed records, ha ha ha.)
Callie is such a flirt!
I am getting close to finishing Christina’s baby blanket! I think I’ll finish the knitting part this weekend and start blocking it (I actually started over with this blanket and saved the first one to practice blocking on, so I’ll do that first).
I’m running a 5K tomorrow. When I signed up for it I was planning to run it for time, but I am not in shape for that, so it will be for fun. I hope to run around a 8:00 min average pace. We shall see!
I ordered the invites for my snister’s baby shower! I hope they turn out good (mostly, that I understood the bleed guidelines correctly).
I “decorated” for Halloween again. Can you find it in the picture? Ha!
As part of the work trip I am on, we checked out a bit of ArtPrize (a large international art competition spread across town and open to public and expert jury vote for top prizes) in Grand Rapids, MI. There were a lot of cool pieces! I really liked “Victory (huge figures made out of chairs), “The Smoke” painting (a neat painting of smoke with seven women hidden in it, which was supposed to have an actual smoke machine with it), and all of the beautiful Michigan sunset over the lake photographs. I love that there is a such a huge variety of mediums and styles – it really makes it so there is something to interest everyone.
I was worried this work trip would be exhausting from being “on” and around people for two days. Luckily, I can be myself around my coworkers! So, it’s not exhausting in that sense, thankfully!
Hi! I'm Kim, a 34-year-old living in Chicagoland with my husband, Steven, and our cats, Khali, Apollo, and Starbuck. I work in the design industry (architecture), follow a vegan lifestyle, am addicted to running, and am an ACE certified personal trainer (working at Essential Fitness, LLC ("Efit"))! I write about a variety of topics, and consider this a "life" blog - a place I can share anything that's on my mind. Please visit the "About" page to get a better idea of who I am! :-)
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