Capturing the Moment

View into Smuggler's Notch at the top of Vermont      September 22 means the first day of Fall, and that is a big deal here in Stowe, Vermont. This part of the Northeast of the United States, is quite famous for its beautiful fall foliage. To celebrate the turning of seasons I hit the mountains with the whole family. First we grabbed our Epic ski passes for an early season trip up the Gondola at Stowe Mountain Resort. This took us very close to the highest peak of Vermont, called Mount Mansfield. We had a great view from the top. The kids really wanted to do some rock climbing and some mountain goating, which is what they call hiking on the boulder strewn trail heading up towards the peak. It is pretty impressive to see how there hiking skills and coordination have really improved.     After waving at every gondola on our way down, we had one more stop to check out. At the entrance to Smuggler's Notch, there is a beautiful boardwalk trail which heads into a beav...

 Today was a holiday for school, Junteenth, but summer camp was in its first day. So Catalina was busy with camp, Dela was doing her one nap a day, making it the perfect time for some special 'father son time' with me and Fisher. The Stowe gondola had just opened for the summer season, and I did renew my epic pass, so I scooped up Fisher to head up the mountain for a fun adventure.    The last time I was on the Gondola it was to get my last few snowboarding runs in before packing up the family for our winter move to Maui. It was a vastly different view today. The mountainside was as green as green can be. We stopped for a few fun jumping photos in front of the gondola before heading up.  Fisher getting some mad air  Once we got to the top, I wanted to go explore the steep trail leading up to the top of Mt Mansfield. I didn't expect Fisher to get very far but it was like he has turned into a little mountain goat all of a sudden. Not only did he do a great job scr...

Queenstown, New Zealand   Queenstown, New Zealand   Queenstown is the epicenter for backpacker adventure thrills in New Zealand. Stories of bungee jumps, sky diving, canyoning, jet boating, luging, all in one day and bar hopping at night are things of legend out of this city. We had two days planned just for this one town so we got right to work when we showed up.   First thing on the list, buy advanced tickets for the world premier midnight showing of the Hobbit II. We waited in line for over an hour, behind a few people dressed as hobbits. Since New Zealand is in the first time zone we were the first ones to see the movie anywhere, and I couldn't imagine a more fitting place to see it, surrounded by the scenery of Middle Earth. Many of the scenes from the movies were filmed in and around Queenstown. View from the Gondola    We also packed in a Gondola trip up the mountain overlooking the town and a couple of luge passes, which is pretty much like g...