Few would ever confuse Karen for a camper.  As they say in Austin, you can take the girl out of Northwest Hills, but you can’t take the NW Hills out of the girl.  Still, she was quite a sport this Labor Day weekend as we camped out with a pack of neighbors at the Handcart camping site 5 miles west of Hwy 285 on CR 60 in Hall Valley and a short hike from Whale Peak.  Karen even cooked everyone some tasty breakfast tacos Sunday morning.

It’s been an awesome weekend.  We were a bit late to arrive Friday night.  Couldn’t cut out from work any earlier and hit heavy holiday traffic on I70 and Hwy 285.  But we got there with plenty of daylight to pitch the tent.  We didn’t have to worry about cooking as Dave had posole ready for the first course and grilled us up some fantastic fajitas.  A cool front rolled in offering us the first taste of fall with a low of 45° overnight and 60s during the day.

Several of us hiked up Mt. Bierstadt Saturday.  This picture captures Susan, Scott and Julie about half way up the trail.  We alternated donning our wind jackets as the clouds danced back and forth across the sun.  Kieth cooked a shrimp boil Saturday night that could have made a Cajun cry for having missed out.  I drank some beers after the 2.5 hour hike, followed by some wine, topped off by a handful of TnTs in honor of Keith’s British background.  The clouds threatened us with a few rain drops but held it in check as we enjoyed a magical night around a perfect campfire.  Ellie sang us some tunes and before I knew it I was sound asleep.  We finished the camp out the next morning with Karen’s breakfast tacos.  Back home on the eastern slope of the Front Range now enjoying the start of autumn.