First off was the third annual Elphingstone visit. Hiking, fishing, and a fun woodworking project along with a trek to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison were the highlighted activities with Paige, Scott, Will and Reed. The boys always seem to enjoy the time outdoors with high temperatures well below the 100's seen in Dallas during the summer and we enjoy having them explore the area with us.
A day after Paige and the boys left, Roger and Susan Carollo finally made it out to Ridgway. We had a lovely dinner together their first evening here and we took them up Courthouse Mountain on Saturday. It continues to be one of our favorite hikes for those that are willing to climb some steep, exposed terrain. They both seemed to love the area and we are hopeful that we will see them here again in the not too distant future.
We had a quiet few days before Brian, Megan and Gwen arrived. The same evening Ben Scott was able to join us for a weekend after a week long conference in Aspen.
The 
group of us did a hike in the Sneffels range to Blue Lakes. This was Gwen's first visit and she really seemed to enjoy the backpack journeys to Blue Lakes, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the Portland & Baby Bathtubs trails just outside of Ouray. Brian, Megan and Mike also got out 
for a summit 
hike to Mt. Abrams while Barb had a grand time with Gwen in Ridgway. Gwen continued to walk farther and farther distances and was thrilled to try her skills on the stairs. Brian and Mike went flyfishing one afternoon while Barb, Megan and Gwen spent some time in Telluride. Brian caught a rainbow trout which 
he enjoyed for dinner that evening.
Karen and Kaivon Mortazavi made it 
out here for the third year in a row and were able to trailer their bikes successfully over the mountain passes this time. They were with us a few days before they headed off on their bike journey covering more than 800 miles with stopovers in Aspen, Crested Butte and Durango. We hiked with them up in Ironton and the Amphitheater area outside of Ouray as well as a great 4wd journey up to Yankee Boy Basin. They overlapped for a few days with Kay Phelps, a very dear friend from Denver who stayed with us while dropping her son Brian off at college down in 
Durango at Ft. Lewis. 
We didn't see as much of her as we would have liked but we did get to do a great hike up to Ice Lake just outside of Silverton. After Karen and Kaivon returned from their bike trip we split up for a girl's day at the Orvis Hot Springs and the guys went flyfishing on the San Miguel where Kaivon caught a few trout. Unfortunately they had to head back to the heat in Texas and we were left with an empty house.As of now, our only other visitors will be at the end of October when our friends from Chicago - Beth, Kathryn and hopefully Glo come for a visit before the snow falls. Ski season isn't too far off at that point and the skier friends and family will hopefully join us for some time on the slopes at Telluride.
