High and Dry in Frisco

Aug 11th

Having recuperated from three weeks with our ever energetic grandchildren, we flew to Denver for some R&R with old friends Annie and Trygve Johnson. They had just purchased a mountain cabin in Frisco and we were interested in seeing the progress on their remodel.  It was a wonderful three story, ski resort type house just two blocks from beautiful downtown Frisco. 

Three weeks after I shot this photo Tryg repainted the house, which must look brand new now.

The house is nestled at the base of towering mountain peaks and the air is alive with the smell of mountain spruce. We all slept in the basement, as the top floor was down to studs and plumbing. Every once in a while something would come crashing down from the ceiling as the contractor knocked out a wall upstairs.

One of the traditions when staying with Annie and Tryg is taking advantage of Annie’s extensive DVD collection. In this case we used Netflix to start watching a series Annie raved about, House of Cards. Even though A & T had watched the first season, they were interested in viewing with us to help figure out the somewhat complicated plot line.  After one night, Meryl and I were totally hooked.

That first evening we walked the short distance to town and enjoyed some of the best sausage and micro-beer I’ve ever had at Prost, a small restaurant on main street.

An easy hike around the lake near Lower Cataract Falls.

The obligatory "three hikers on the fallen log bridge" photo.

Amazing we're still hiking after all these years.

Meryl and I had been bemoaning the lack of aerobic exercise on the boat. Well, Tryg took had a solution for that problem. He had scheduled a full day for us on the 12th, starting with a hike up to Lower Cataract Falls. Given that you are hiking at 9,000 to 10,000 feet, we were glad our first day was a relatively easy hike. Not to be shortchanged, Tryg took us on a short bike ride to the marina on Lake Dillion near downtown Frisco.

While this photo is a little out of sequence, it does show some of the great bike trails around Frisco.

 The amazing thing about Frisco is the plethora of great, and I do mean great, biking trails.  I thought we’d be doing an Alp d’Huez type climb, but there is a whole system of bike trails featuring paved surfaces that follow the valleys and are perfect for road bikes. These trails link most of the towns and ski areas in a 20 — 30 mile circumference from Frisco. You can literally ride to Vail, Breckinridge or Copper Mountain viewing some of the most spectacular scenery in the US along the way.

The 12th was Annie and Tryg’s wedding anniversary and they invited us to a great little restaurant called the Blue Spruce Inn. The food was excellent, especially the Colorado Goat Cheese Chicken (as quoted from their menu: Marinated and grilled chicken breast with Colorado Goat Cheese, sun dried tomatoes and basil Beurre Blanc).

It was wonderful to share such a special evening with such good friends.