6287 Feet

If you asked me, I'd tell you that commuting 350 miles each week for my job isn't that bad. At least not as bad as I had braced myself for. Certainly not nearly as bad as the summer I worked in Minneapolis, but my wife and daughter stayed in Ann Arbor.

But if you asked my wife how she's enjoying it, she'd give you another story entirely. Caring for three young and very loud children (you forget how loud they are until you're away from them five days a week) while trying to keep the house at a museum-quality level of appearance in case someone calls, like they did yesterday, and says they'd like to see it in an hour, is much more difficult than caring for one's self and making a five hour drive or one hour flight at the beginning and end of each work week.

But the end is in sight. If all goes as planned, one month from today we'll be moving into our new place. And I have to say, I'm excited about the new house. I was up there last week for the home inspection, and took the following crappy cell phone camera picture looking out the front window.

And then I took this picture looking the other way out the front window.

And here's a random web photo of my neighborhood.


And another random web photo taken from my neighborhood.

And one more, just for grins.

And just the one more, because I couldn't resist.

So I guess you could say I'm kind of excited about the views from the neighborhood. But that's not all it's got to offer. On Saturday, my son and I went hiking on one of the neighborhood trails. Yes, the neighborhood has its own network of singletrack, with many more trails in nearby Corner Canyon. Last Wednesday, I rode that same trail on my mountain bike going the other way, followed by some of the sweetest downhill I have ever ridden. Rick dubbed the downhill the "Crack Cocaine" trail because it only takes one hit to be addicted. It also happens to be about a five minute pedal from my new house.

As you may have guessed from the title, the elevation of my house is 6287 feet. Those of you averse to snow probably view that as a drawback. But I quite like it. Of course it means that every ride will end with a climb. Of about 1700 feet. But imagine what sleeping at 6287 feet will do for my hematocrit. I can't wait.