The second part of our summer was spent in the western region of the U.S.  We stopped in Frisco, Colorado (near Breckenridge) to visit Benjy’s brother (“Unkey”) and his lovely wife Donna.

Andy took us to the Continental Divide first thing upon our arrival.

Unkey and Donna are avid hikers, so we immediately set off on our first hike.  All of us, however, failed to take into account the fact that Benjy, the kids and I had just gone from sea level to an altitude of over 9,000 feet.  We started off on our hike and I nearly blacked out after only three steps.  I consider myself to be in decent shape, but that altitude knocked me on my bum!   I was out of breath and wheezing like a chain-smoker with a 3-pack-a-day habit.  Our hike was more like a saunter up the mountain and was at a snail’s pace.  The upside was that we had more time to enjoy the spectacular views.

The temperature was so much cooler and drier–a welcome relief from the heat and humidity of Florida and Hong Kong.

In addition to hiking we took a 16-mile bike ride.   Thankfully, our ride was all downhill.

For 2 nights we rented a “little cabin in the woods.”

Much to Unkey’s disappointment, it was more like “glamping” than camping.  The place had a refrigerator, gas stove, oven and sauna.

We finally adjusted to the altitude and started enjoying the hikes more.

In some areas, there was still a lot of snow on the ground.

But the scenery was majestic.

…and the company, marvelous.