MurkTravels

overview / intro

We biked around the always free Garden of the Gods park just outside Colorado Springs.
Then had lunch in an airplane restaurant.

Pictures

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the Twins:

Central Gardens:

Pikes Peak in the background

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

We took a trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in central Colorado - the steepest, deepest, narrowest canyon in the world, according to the park rangers. It's one of the least visited parks, but also one of the dark skies park where there is minimal light pollution so at night you can see the stars of the galaxy amazingly.

After a few days of working remote in the nearby city of Montrose, we stayed at the campsite with friends for the whole weekend. It was nice to get in hikes, do some biking, view the canyon and river.

Afterwards we went to see family in the Salida and Poncha Springs area. With some more remote work, we also had the time to bike along the Arkansas River around Buena Vista. Right after we got back to Denver, we also packed up the bags again to fly to Iowa to see more family.

Our Stops:

• Montrose, Colorado
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
• Salida, Poncha Springs, Buena Vista, Colorado

Pictures

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It was amazing how different the canyon could look at different times of the day, from different angles or viewpoints, from higher or lower on hikes, or when the sky and sun changed how much light was shining.

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

We just did a very last minute road trip. Thankfully found someone to watch Prudence and then we jumped in the car. Overall, it was 24+ hours of driving over a long 5 day weekend, but packed in a lot of adventure as we saw the southwest US. That included stops in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and native tribal lands.

Mesa Verde has a lot of good history to learn about. We could view the homes, but couldn't go in them. We did get to go through similar cave dwellings at Bandalier Park in the US and some in Capcadocia Turkey and they were interesting. After a quick stop to stand in 4 states at once, we drove through Monument Valley. It's mostly a self guided driving loop to stop and take pictures every once in a while, at the diverse landscape views. Then onto the Colorado river view at Horseshoe Bend and the canyons around Page, Arizona.
Slot canyons develop with erosion quickly cutting down into layers of rock, but not allowing the time to widen across. So some may be only a few feet across but 50 or 100 feet deep. There are some in Spain and Australia, but the largest and most frequent area to see them are in southern Utah and northern Arizona. Antelope Canyon is a famous and photogenic one on Navajo land. It's tough to describe and capture in pictures, but highly recommended. There is an ever changing view of curved rocks, light, shadow, colors, sky, sounds, and sand that should be experienced.

Our Stops:

• Durango, Colorado
• Mesa Verde National Park
• 4 corners location (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona all at once)
• Monument Valley, Navajo Nation land
• Horseshoe Bend
• Antelope Canyon
• Wind Pebble Canyon
• Page, Arizona

Map

Pictures

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• Utah
• Colorado
• Arizona

Arizona

Horseshoe Bend

Antelope Canyon

4 corners

Monument Valley

Mesa Verde

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

After going through thousands of photos, hours of recordings, and tons of memories, we have some videos to share with you.

Videos:

• Learn about Peru - an overview (~3 minutes)
• Learn about Peru - along the coast (~3 minutes)
• Learn about Peru - mountains and jungles (~3 minutes)
• Our 3 day hiking trip through the Colca Canyon (~8 minutes)
• 1 Year in Peru - all our experiences (~25 minutes)

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

Looking Back

Another year of travels, with finishing up a year in Peru, and then heading back to the US.

2022:
Started the year off with trips in the north part of Peru. That included beach towns around Mancora, in the Piura and Tumbes departments. We also saw some historic archeological sites in Trujillo and Chiclayo, in the Lambayeque and La Libertad departments. And finally we went into the highland rainforest areas around Chachapoyas in the Cajamarca and Amazonas departments.

We also went south of Lima to check out the jungles around Puerto Maldonado, some historic sites, the Peruvian second city of Arequipa, a National Park and coastline, and saw some Nazca lines.

Then it was finally time to head back to the US. After visiting some family in Iowa, it was back to Colorado for hiking. And I ended up getting a job with Charter Spectrum here in Denver.

Now looking forward to good things in 2023 (including a new nephew).

Activities

Things that happened in 2022:

Big Travels

• beach time in Manora - January
• archeological sites outside of Lima - February
• Trujillo - March
• Chachapoyas - April
• Puerto Maldonado - May
• Arequipa - June

Challenges
Not so many physical challenges like ultra-runs this year, but more mental and emotional ones this year. We had a cancer battle (Pru), some viral infections (Ben), some surgeries, and some deaths in the family. The renters and rental company we had for the year we were gone, weren't the easiest to work with, but the house survived. And when we got back, we planted another 100+ flowers in the yard (I guess that was a physical challenge for the back). I tried to keep up with some young college kids in beach volleyball, that was a work out too.

Events & other activities

• quick visit to Ecuador - January
• relaxation with beach time south of Lima - February
• a quick trip to Lunahuana village south of Lima - April
• viewing the Nazca lines - September
• returning to Colorado - October
• Dali art exhibit in Denver - November
• continued with volleyball, biking, running, hiking, SUP, dog walks
• Prudence turned 5 in August (and she went through 5 chemo treatments without any side effects and still has high energy levels)
• starting a new job
• races: none
• concerts: none

previous year reviews:

• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

We went to an interactive, immersive, 3D display of works of art from the artist Dalí. There are some pictures below, but to get a better feel for it, check out the video.

Dali video

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

After a year in Peru, which was amazing, it was also good to get back to Colorado. So one of the first weekends back, it was time to head into the mountains for a hike and a sunset. Lake Isabelle in the Indian Peaks Wilderness near Boulder.

A few weekends after that, we went to Fraser and Winter Park to chill in a cabin in the woods. Such a relaxing weekend, we didn't even take photos.

Lake hike:

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen