Lynn had a very busy week preparing to be away for eight days. Shortly after we boarded, she started feeling really bad. By the time we got to the hotel, she was down for the count. We got a covid test and, of course, it’s positive. The next two days she locked herself in the hotel room. I moved into Nathan’s room.

Day 1 – Lynn’s doctor ordered up some Paxlovid. While Lynn tried to recover, the guys went hiking in the local hills, got dinner together, and hung out a Matthew’s apartment.

Day 2 – She wasn’t better but rallied a bit as we drove to Yellowstone. That’s a long trip from Missoula. Four hours to get to the park; 90 minutes inside the part to arrive at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel.

Day 3 – Feeling a bit better, we took the Yellowstone South Loop drive. It’s amazing how big that park is. The South Loop is an easy two hour drive. Our stops included:

• West Thumb with many amazing hot springs. It’s so cool to see the water just boiling in the pools. The water is clear and deep but boiling like crazy. It’s not an illusion, if you touch it, it’s HOT.
• Old Faithful is definitely something to see. But it’s not the only geyser there. They all shoot very high in the air.
• Lots of other stops along the way too. So many geysers, falls and overlooks. We were on the road for most of the day.

Day 4 – Ready to vacation again, we headed for the North Loop and made lots of stops.

• We started at the “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone”. This really felt like the Grand Canyon. The erosion from the river and falls were stunning.
• Our drive through Lamar Valley was to look for wildlife. We found it in Bison. There are SO many, it’s amazing. They’re HUGE and everywhere. But we didn’t see any bears.
• The valley follows the Lamar River, Lynn wanted to stop at a “Rivery River” stop. Nathan and Matthew were climbing on the big rocks/boulders. Nathan slipped and got to ride home in his “skivies”.
• Our stop at Mammoth Hot Springs was really cool. The Travistine (expelled Limestone) created a massive mountain over the springs.
• Norris Geyser is unique in that most of the other geysers are just hot water. Norris is sulfuric acid. You shouldn’t touch this water and it looks like your on another planet.

Day 5 – We returned to Missoula. Again the drive out of the park took two hours and then another four to get back to Missoula.

Day 6 – Nathan headed for home. Matthew and Lynn toured Missoula. I worked.

Day 7 – We flew home. Our best option was to leave afternoon and arrive home at 1:00am

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The post Guys Weekend in Colorado first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

Saturday was skiing and boarding at Vail. It had snowed a couple inches that evening which made for great conditions. We skied the entire mountain; front-side, back-bowls, and big sky basin. It was a great day.

Mary and Paul took us snowshoeing at the Keystone Nordic center on Sunday. That was really cool. We hiked for nearly four miles. Some of the snow was very deep. Everyone had a great time.

Sunday we returned to Keystone to ride the mountain. The good news was the crowds were very small. We loved the Keystone terrain park.

The post Colorado 2015 first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

Date	Duration	Notes
11/28/2013	4 hrs	It was the first day of the 2013 season for Perfect North Slopes. The line to get our season passes took an hour. The snow was great, the sky was perfect and the lines are tolerable. Matthew and Jorden did some tubing and then Grandpa took Jorden for food inside while Matthew skied.
12/7/2013	4 hrs	Its a POW Day at Perfect North. After four or five inches of fresh overnight, we arrived very early. The snow was perfect all day. We expected a huge crowd but there were fewer people than we could have imagined. Great day!
12/9/2013	3 hrs	Nathan I headed out right after school/work today. It was cloudy and cool (31). The slope conditions were good but icy in some places. We found the Stokely’s and rode with them for a while. Check out the video.
12/23/2013	6 hrs	Our first day in Colorado. We headed to Vail Resorts. It was about an hour drive from Mary’s mountain house. The weather report said no snow was expected but the roads were very snowy. We arrived to discover nine inches of fresh powder. This mountain is SO BIG, we only experienced a small part of it.
12/26/2013	5 hrs	Yay!! More skiers today. Lauren and Paul joined us for some riding. We went to Beavercreek today. Conditions were very good with minimal crowds. We started out easy for Paul and then quickly jumped to the black-diamond runs…oops! Lauren is a great boarder; she makes it look so easy.
12/27/2013	7 hrs	Today we went to Arapaho Basin Ski resort. We got out early and stayed until the lifts closed. It’s a small but very technically challenging slope. The views from the top are amazing. The slopes are very close to the rocky cliff mountains. We did a double-black diamond that was crazy steep.
1/1/2014	3 hrs	Matthew and Kyle joined us for a quit trip to the slopes. We thought it would be crazy busy but it was less crowded than we expected. The conditions were very good. The only down side was our limited time (there was a football game to get seen).
1/15/2014	3 hrs	Nathan and I had a good day at the slopes today. The snow was quick and the lifts were empty. I spent most of my time on the beginner terrain park. Later we moved up to the regular terrain park and I spent lots of time working on my jumps.
1/29/2014	3 hrs	Beautiful day on the slopes. Lots of sun, low temps, no crowds. Rode lots of switch (backwards) today. It’s harder than I thought it would be.
2/15/2014	3 hrs	It snowed last night and we arrived bright and early today. It was cold but the slopes were in great condition. The only bad part was that it’s was Saturday, sunny, and it just snowed. Perfect conditions for a VERY large crowd. We only stay until noon and the parking lot was completely full; all the way to the barn. And the the line of cars to get in stretched out to route 1.
2/19/2014	3 hrs	Warm day on the slopes. Lots of sun, temps in the high 40’s, no crowds. The snow was very slow. We spent a good part of the day in the terrain park.

The post Snowboarding Log 2013 first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

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After tubing we heading over to the slopes so Sage and Matthew could try skiing. Bob and Nathan tore up the slopes on their snowboards. It was a beautiful day at 55 degrees and very sunny. Great day to play in the snow.

The post Tubing at Perfect North first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

This year, we went deep. Now that his phone is ROOTED, we’ll see what kind of a leader he really is. Can he guess the present based on the four clues given so far?

The final clue: Call Nathan after 3:00 for details.

Happy Birthday,
We Love You,
Mom & Dad

The post Matthew’s Birthday first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.