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The Double E Ranch: August 6-11, 2025

Needles and Tracee, our gracious and generous hosts

The Double E Ranch was our base for five nights in Colorado. We might have to change the name of our website to Greg & Amelia’s Adventures as this was another non Airstream trip.

If you recall our blog post First Came the Thunder, we are big Chuck Prophet fans. Amelia is fanatical about his latest release Wake the Dead. She’s calling it her favorite album of the decade. We’ve been dying to see Chuck live, sure as shit, he was in San Diego while we were in Alaska. So we checked the upcoming tour dates. He had two gigs in August in Denver and Boulder. And we have friends that recently moved to Fort Collins. It was the proverbial killing two birds with one stone. We booked our flights, bought our tickets to the shows, and reserved a hotel room in Denver for one night.

The agenda was take the shuttle from Denver to Fort Collins, spend Wednesday night at the Double E Ranch. Needles and Tracee were kind enough to let us use their new Audi Q7 and on Thursday afternoon we drove back down to Denver, checked into our hotel, and caught the show Thursday night at Globe Hall. On Friday we had time to kill so we did a few things around Boulder before the 7pm show at eTown Hall. After the show we returned to the Double E for the weekend, and departed Monday.

Chuck Prophet and his Cumbia Shoes did not disappoint. It’s rare nowadays when something exceeds your high expectations. The first show at the Globe Hall in Denver blew us away. The energy was amazing. The second show in Boulder was quite a bit different. It wasn’t really a show, it was a taping for eTown. The sound quality was perfect and we were in the front row for this seated show where the hosts also interviewed the artists. 

The Double E is on a nice little 120 acre spread west of Fort Collins. They’ve just started raising Dexter cattle. They have five cows and one Aberdeen Angus bull. They are all short and stocky, just like Needles and me, since I’ve been shrinking. 

We’ve known Needles for decades. Never in our wildest dreams did any of us think he’d end up as a rancher in Colorado. 

It seems like all of us have nicknames. Needles real name is Doug. Back in the early 90s we were all calling him Neidermeyer, because of the character in Animal House, Douglas C. Neidermeyer. The classic story from back then involves Rheinhardt. Dave House had a condo in Mammoth where we all hung out. If you stayed there you left your season pass on one of the jacket pegs in the foyer. One day Rheinhardt was looking at all the passes and had Doug’s in his hand. With a perplexed look on his face, he said, “Doug Hoffee? I thought his name was Neidermeyer!” Neidermeyer eventually evolved to Needles and now he’s stuck with that name.

The ranch house and shop

The view north from the second level looking at the cattle grazing.

They are just like dogs. Shake the treat container and they come running.

Petey, the bull with Buttercup

Amelia ready to drive the side by side for the first time!

A field of Blue Chicory

I absolutely love the fact Needles has a urinal in his home!

Smoky sunset on Wednesday

In Denver we stayed at Catbird, a boutique hotel in the RINO (River North) district.

I thought for sure I’d kill myself getting out of the bed and down to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Chuck and Amelia pre show

Yes, Globe Hall is kind of a dive bar. If you’re familiar with San Diego it’s a cross between the Casbah and the Belly Up.

Amelia with Alejandro “Flaco” Gomez. He shreds the 12 string acoustic and keyboards.

Look at Chuck’s shoes!

 

 

A 38 second clip to give you an idea how fun Cumbia music is.

Showmanship

There’s always a funny guy adding an F to ART.

An interesting apartment building in the RINO district.

While killing time on Friday we drove up Boulder Canyon and spent some time on Boulder Creek.

 

Then we killed more time at Sanitas. Of all the breweries in town we picked this one because my mom loved owls.

The eTown hosts and the artists that perform for the evening always come out together and do a final song. They have a strict no videoing or picture taking policy while the artists are preforming.  Alysha Brilla, in the dress, was the other artist performing. She was really great.

Chuck was happy to see Amelia again. He said, “You’re beautiful, singing along to all my songs.”

 

The wrinkle brothers Saturday day drinking.

I’m doing exactly what it looks like I’m doing, and what a great view. That weekend we saw White-tailed deer, Pronghorn, and a Great Horned owl on his property.

 

Mabel and Lu the Pug. Lu can be a real shit ass, in a lovable way.

Beautiful glow on Saturday night

We all took a Sunday drive up Poudre Canyon and made numerous stops along the Poudre River before having lunch at Mishawaka. Poudre is pronounced “poo-der.”

Our generous hosts busted out some incredible wine for our last evening.

A storm came in with rolling thunder and hail. It was pretty exciting for us San Diego folk.

As quick as the storm rolled in, then it was gone.

 

 

All in all it was a fabulous trip, but one can always find something to complain about, commercial air travel is a drag. If you’re not a fan of people, then you are going to have a tough time with the busy airport terminals, and being packed like sardines on the plane. We are looking forward to our next big Airstream trip in October.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Glacier Bay National Park: June 13-15, 2025

Friendship is a beautiful thing.

We spent two days at Glacier Bay National Park, our 31st National Park. We don’t have some lofty goal of visiting all 63. We go to one if it’s in the area of our travels. Heck, we haven’t even visited all of them in California.

Glacier Bay, of course is beautiful, even more so than the other parts of Alaska we cruised through. The National Park has a bunch of special rules, all for the protection of the wildlife and environment. Only two ships per day are allowed, and one of them is usually Holland America. There’s speed restrictions in whale waters and vessels must maintain a distance of at least a quarter nautical mile from humpback whales. Additionally, vessels are prohibited from altering course or speed to reduce the distance between the vessel and a whale if already within a half nautical mile. And a ship can only have one skiff out at a time. So on our last day there was only a morning adventure.

If you know Amelia you’ll believe this, she was the life of the ship. The hotel manager said she wasn’t supposed to tell passengers who the crew favorites were, but she told us, and hands down it was Amelia.

The 64 passengers were an interesting mix. We had a couple from Germany and another from Great Britain. Folks from all over the United States, from Rhode Island to California. Interestingly enough Idaho and Colorado seemed over represented. The age range was preteen to an 84 year old stud. There were honeymooners and couples celebrating anniversaries. A lot of the wives were younger, with a bigger age difference than our 8 years.

We really connected with a lot of people.  I’m guessing it’s because of the shared sense of adventure and active lifestyles.  My favorite story is a 50 year old from Ohio on her honeymoon. She had never seen or been in the ocean until this trip. And she did the polar plunge! Now that’s a tale she can tell!

The shoreline of the Gloomy Knob hike.

Gloomy Knob was a steep slippery hike.

Tony found a fossilized snail.

We hiked through this slot.

Magnificent views

Laurel, our sweet, high energy guide with an infectious personality.

A great hiking group. L to R: Steve & Amanda from Eagle, Idaho. Cooper, his chick Bryce, Dwayne, Laurel, and Kendall, the wonderful family from Colorado. Amelia, Dianni, Tony, and myself.

Be careful on the descent!

The river mouth bank covered in mussels.

Waiting for the skiff

Tanner, the bartender, making one of her signature drinks of the day.

The bread and butter became a thing at dinner.

A view of the bridge

Saturday, 6:30am we slowly cruised by Margerie Glacier.

Amelia and Nico on the skiff heading to Lamplugh Glacier.

The last day, we had a choice of only one adventure at Lamplugh Glacier. Kayak, shore walk, or ridge hike. We did the ridge hike. It was an awesome finish on an incredible week.

Steep, but look at that glacier!

Some scrambling required

Nootka Lupine

The payoff, John, Amelia, myself, Levi, Henry, Aidan, Nico, and Kelly.

Lamplugh Glacier is 0.9 miles wide, 165 feet high at the face, and over 19 miles long.

Henry and Amelia goofing off. You can see the ship at 9 o’clock.

Zoomed in look

Alaska Moss Heather

Year after year they’ve been seeing this marmot.

Amelia leading the hike down.

Happy girl

We got lucky and got to also do the shore walk because we had to wait for the skiff. All the kids were putting the glacial silt on like a facial. On the left are two guides, Kira and Kelly. Then you have Amelia’s compadres, brothers Aidan and Nico, and their cousin, Henry.

The icebergs were huge.

 The kids were acting like the scene in A Christmas Story when Flick gets his tongue stuck on the flagpole.

Slow motion video of Aidan doing a backflip.

I love this photo

Walking to the skiff for the ride back.

Tradition is on the last day you do the polar plunge. It’s a festive event. Josh, one of the guides, donned a sequined dress and was dancing for everyone before the crew took the first plunges.

That’s Tony in the center and Dianni diving in. They were in the first passenger group to get into the freezing cold water.

No diving for me and Amelia!

How cold was it, you ask? 40 degrees!!

Amelia, Tony, and Dianni are nuts. They did it twice!

On the last night was the traditional captain’s dinner, but we didn’t have to get all dressed up. After eating, the captain called the crew up by name to cheers from all the passengers.

Amelia with three of her favorites, Zach, Tammy and A’Dreia.

The entire route

The crew lined up on the second deck and waved to all of us as we disembarked. That’s Amelia standing on the dock, looking up and waving at all of them.

Adios Alaska!

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Uncruise Alaska: The First Four Days

The last frontier

What a fantastic trip! Forget those huge cruise ships that hold thousands of people, Uncruise is the way to go. Our little ship had a total of 64 passengers. We were able to go places the big ships could never dream of going. It’s all inclusive, so you don’t feel like you’re getting nickel-and-dimed to death. Every day you pick a morning and afternoon activity. The choices were kayaking, bushwhacking/hiking, skiff ride, meandering along the shoreline, and one day they even had a snorkeling option. Depending on the activity it could be anywhere from one to three hours long. The food was excellent and the drinks always flowing at the bar. Yes it’s more expensive, but well worth it, and this is coming from a guy who’s frugal.

We saw so much wildlife, but my iPhone couldn’t capture them like the professional cameras on board.

  • Humpback whales
  • Dall’s porpoise
  • Sea lions
  • Harbor seals
  • Sea otters
  • Coastal brown bears, which are quite a bit bigger than the black bears we’ve seen in Mammoth and Tahoe.
  • Moose
  • Mountain goats
  • Marmot
  • One of the craziest things was two Sitka black-tailed deer swimming a long ways from one island to another. That was something none of us had ever seen, even our guide.
  • Bald eagles
  • Ravens
  • We also got four new birds: Pigeon Guillemot, Common Murre, Black Oystercatcher, and the super cool looking Tufted Puffin.

In the most enduring and loving way we were referring to the crew as a group of misfits. They were awesome! Every single one of them. It speaks volumes about the culture of Uncruise that all the employees were able to be themselves. Straight, gay, transgender, crazy hair color, piercings, whatever! Everyone was accepted and quite excellent at their jobs.

I knew it was going to be a special trip when on the first morning, while sipping coffee in our cabin, and looking out the open window I saw a whale spout, then watched it breach. I saw the fluke! Amazing!

A super geeked up Dianni and Tony.

Our first morning we took the skiff to Dawes Glacier. Wow! We saw multiple calving events. The sight of huge chunks of glacier falling was incredible and the sound was loud and distinct. The experience was something we will never forget.

Heading towards Dawes Glacier

Closer

As close as we could get and still be safe. The face of the glacier is 600 feet high and half mile wide.

A video of the waves after a calving. 

Three very happy people

We lucked out big time on the weather. Days two and three were perfect.

The dinners were the fancy small portion style with a waiter. Breakfast and lunch were buffet style.

9pm and the sun was still setting!

Banana slug

Our first bushwhack was in an area that had been clear cut 40 years ago. It was a tough introduction to bushwhacking…

…but we made the most of it and the whole group laughed as we struggled up and down terrain that sunk and broke easily.

We came in early on an unguided kayak day and Amelia for the first time ever got on a stand up paddle board. The picture shows the fantail of the boat with rollers where the kayaks easily launch and dock.

Doug, the guy in charge of all the guides, paddled around the boat with Amelia.

The Widerness Discoverer and my wife

After dinner on day three they had a special secret treat for us. We went through that gap…

…into the Red Bluff Bay of Baranof Island…

… where the water was beautiful and calm.

Eventually we came upon a 700 foot waterfall. It was the first time all season that they were able to do it, prior to this the sea was too rough. We really lucked out with the weather.

Video!

It was amazing how close the captain got to the falls.

The sun was setting after 10pm and rising around 3:45am. So between dusk and dawn there was only about three hours of darkness.

One afternoon we opted for meandering the shoreline. It was quite enjoyable going slow and really looking at everything. It’s also one of Amelia’s favorite things to do.

We saw a huge pile of bear scat that our guide determined to be a couple hours old.

Chocolate Lillies

Alaskan Violet

Lapland Rosebay

Skunk Cabbage. Bears actually don’t hibernate like other mammals. They go into a state called torpor. They can wake up if they need to, but rarely do. While in torpor they develop a fecal plug, composed of feces, dead intestinal cells, hair, and bedding material, that acts as a natural plug to keep the den clean. When Spring comes and they start moving around they will eat the skunk cabbage. It works as a laxative so it blows out the fecal plug.

Lush temperate rain forest vegetation

Moss laden tree

Another day on the water

Reflections are so cool.

I kept hearing the first bushwhack was a dud compared to the other ones, so I tried it again with Tony. It was much more enjoyable. The girls had some time away from us and did a bushwhack lite.

Shooting Stars

Dwarf Dogwood

Tony and our awesome guide, McKenzie

Yellow Pond Lillies, a couple weeks away from blooming

The shoreline where the skiff dropped us off had a lot of starfish.

Our route the first four days.

The large window in our cabin was great.

Up next Glacier Bay National Park!

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Juneau, Alaska: June 6-8, 2025

Look at the water cascading down the steep mountains of Juneau. Everyone said to expect rain and everyone was correct.

So…we drove our truck down to Amelia’s dad’s house in Pacific Beach and he gave us a ride to the airport. As the three of us were driving through the heart of P.B. there was a homeless dude standing in the middle of the street, long dirty hair, wearing rags, and looking a lot older than his age. He was waving his arms and yelling at no one in particular.

Being the smart aleck I am, I said, “We must be in Pacific Beach. We won’t be seeing that in Juneau.” Wrong! The first thing I saw when the taxi dropped us off at 10pm at the Alaskan Hotel were homeless people. That was an inauspicious start to our big Alaska trip.

Juneau is unique among US state capitals because it has no roads connecting it to the rest of the state or to the contiguous United States. Cruise ship lines are one of the big economic drivers. They own all the tourist shops right in front of the terminal. It was out of place and bizarre to see so many jewelry shops. They all seemed to be selling tanzanite. The folks working in the shops also seemed out of place. If it wasn’t for the weather you’d think you were in Egypt. Once you got out of the terminal area all the shops had signs about being locally owned.

Lucky us! We traveled with another great couple again. This time it was our friends from Colorado, Tony and Dianni. More than a year ago we booked this trip with Uncruise Adventures. What a genius name for the company. It’s not anything like those huge cruise ships. Our ship only had 37 cabins! We all arrived on Friday night. Saturday the guys went fishing and the girls went to Mendenhall Glacier. The girls were smart. We didn’t catch anything. More on that later.

On Sunday, we had a lot of time to kill. Checkout was 11am and embarkment wasn’t until 5pm. We made the most of it walking in the rain all over town, through a neighborhood with incredible staircases until we stumbled upon a great restaurant with arcade games upstairs.

The Alaskan Hotel and Bar was centrally located, rustic, and interesting. Our little room had slanted floors. I had to put pillows between the mattress and box spring to feel level enough to sleep. 

Back home on my morning walks I see coyote scat everywhere.  In Juneau, it’s bear shit, right on the sidewalk in front of the tourist shops.

Amelia at the Mendenhall Glacier.

Temperate rainforest

We were chumps to use Chum Fun Charters! It’s not really their fault, but it was stupid. The salmon weren’t running and eight of us stood in the wind and rain for two hours, casting our Mepps lures, all for naught.

Tony and I acting like we had a great time. Here’s a beautiful quote from Tony in reference to all my wrinkles and his lack of them, “Asian don’t raisin.”

Steep staircases throughout the town leading up to residences and streets.

Great tip from Brent, my buddy’s kid, to visit Devil’s Club Brewing.

Immature Bald Eagle

First part of our killing time tour

That’s me sleeping on a couch at the Crystal Barcade. No, I wasn’t hungover! Those days are long gone. I had a GERD issue the night before and slept poorly. While I was napping, the other three were playing arcade games. On Sunday all the games are free. BTW, the food downstairs at the Crystal Saloon was excellent.

Our Uncruise ship waiting for us.

Bon voyage!

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Mt. Laguna: May 18-22, 2025

Big Laguna Lake

 

My mom recently passed away. She was my North Star. I feel lost and unmoored without her. We always had a very close relationship. There’s no doubt I’m her son, the two of us are similar in so many ways, just ask Amy or any of my friends. 

The hardest thing I’ve ever done was to tell my mom in person that her son, Eric, had died in a paragliding accident. It shattered her world. After that, especially in her later years she often said to me, “Don’t pass before I do.”

Her first 90 years she was charging hard and very active. Then it got to a point where it wasn’t safe for her to drive anymore. Losing her independence was the beginning of the end. After a year of living on her own without a car it became apparent that an assisted living place was the next step. It saddens me that she wasn’t very happy her last couple years. She would not embrace the assisted living place. She became depressed and had anxiety issues. She constantly said, “Don’t ever get old if you can help it.”

Another thing she often said was, “If you fall and break your hip, that’s it.” She fell multiple times but only bruised herself. Then on April 14th, early in the morning she fell and shattered her hip. It was very painful, so that same day she had hip replacement surgery. She would only be with us for another three and a half weeks.

Amy and I were with her when she died. Each of us on one side of the bed, holding her hands.

I’d like to give a sincere heartfelt thanks to everyone who visited my mom while she was at her assisted living place and to all the wonderful folks that came by to see her while she was on hospice care. Thank you very much.

To begin absorbing life without my mom, we took a trip to our beautiful local mountains. Biking, flowers, relaxing, and reflecting on her life.

Laguna Campground, Meadow Loop, site 19

 

It looks like fake rocks from a movie set.

Velvety False Lupine

Our first day we biked with Pine Valley locals, Gretchen and Hans.

 

Straight down view of a Pine Paintbrush

Great job by San Diego Mountain Biking Association installing this much needed boardwalk over a marshy section of the meadow.

Three days of biking in absolute perfect weather!

Wild Flax

The most expansive field of Cream Cups we’ve ever seen 🙂.

It was surreal to bike through it.

Tidy Tips

Sweet Singletrack

Western Wallflower

We got up at the crack o’ dawn one morning and drove to the scenic overlook to watch the sunrise on Whale Peak.

Here are some wonderful pictures of my mom:

Look at my cool mom on a bike!

 

I was so proud of the fact that she was a Registered Nurse.

 

In 1957, her first time ever on a plane, she flew to California to live with her brother, Chuck. A year later she married my dad.

 

Look at us! All dressed up for Easter. Eric was actually born on Easter Sunday in 1962.

 

Christmas 1967, cards on the door. 😊 She always displayed them that way.

 

1984, her 52nd birthday.

 

My mom and I went up to Mammoth to visit Eric, circa 1991.

Ruth Harris

June 22, 1932 – May 7, 2025

Rest in Peace

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Shred the Red: April 6-11, 2025

Amelia shredding the red!

What a great trip to Sedona! Kathy and Mike, the couple we met last year at Gilbert Ray, rented an Airbnb home in Sedona for two months. They invited us to come out and stay with them. Truth be told I was a little leery. It’s one thing to go on a ride and socialize afterwards. But staying with someone we briefly met a year ago is pushing the envelope for me. 

As usual, Amelia was correct, all my fretting was for naught. What an awesome couple. It was so easy and fun being with them for five nights and four days. The drive without the Airstream wasn’t as different as we thought it would be, driving is driving. It’s basically seven hours to get to Sedona.

This was hilarious…as we were leaving San Diego County, we saw a guy in a big lifted truck with probably a small you know what, and a Don’t Tread on Me sticker. He also had a big sticker on his back window that read: Go Woke Go Broke. Apparently he was oblivious to the fact his guy just tanked the financial markets and threw the global economy into turmoil. 😂

Sedona is stunning and a must do for mountain bikers and hikers. Everyone should visit it at least once, this is our fifth trip. A place this beautiful is always going to have crowds. Patience is key.  If you want to beat the crowds get up early and avoid weekends. We were there Sunday to Friday.

Lucky us, Mike loves to research trails and plan rides. We didn’t have to worry about any of that. It really takes the stress and the potential for spousal squabbles out of the equation. We were so grateful!

One of the first things they dropped on us was they are selling their Airstream.  They summer in Martha’s Vineyard, the rest of the time during the last three years they’ve been on the road in their Airstream. Seven plus months out of the year is a long time to be in a 25 foot Airstream. I don’t think we could do it.  

It was truly amazing how we were so compatible.  The routine was: breakfast, ride early, back for lunch, shower, nap, lounge in the afternoon, dinner and drinks, to bed early, repeat the next day. We ate all of our meals in and didn’t go out once. Perfect! And a perfect trip! We can’t wait for them to visit us in San Diego.

Airbnb house

 

Morning and evening, deer were wandering around the neighborhood. This is a view from the backyard.

 

What a beautiful site, the truck full of bikes.

 

The girls riding

 

Kathy & Amelia at Yavapi Vista

 

Kathy taking a picture of Amelia and Mike on an awesome stretch of trail.

 

Beautiful Sedona riding

 

Bell Rock

 

Rabbit Ears

Mike and the girls at Big Park Loop intersection.

Our dear friend and former yoga instructor, Karen and Amelia went for a hike one afternoon. Karen and her husband, Mark, have been living in Sedona for years. Amelia is still working on her selfie skills. For the record, I think gray hair is hot!

Amelia pointing to where her and Karen hiked to the previous day.

 

Secret Slick Rock, not so secret anymore.

 

Kathy’s artsy pic

 

A couple of handsome guys in their mid 60s

 

You don’t see many singlespeeds in Sedona, for that matter you don’t see too many singlespeeds anywhere.

¡Salud!

Postscript: On the drive home, we came across a tragic scene on the AZ Loop 303 Freeway. A horse trailer overturned, the driver was fine, but all five horses were killed. It was gnarly seeing the dead mangled horses scattered across the lanes.