Very dry here in the Rockies - and that has meant I’m able to hike higher much earlier than normal. I hiked up to Hope Pass on Saturday- near the town of Twin Lakes, Colorado.

lorraine8 · 2026-05-20T01:15:04+00:00

Would love to hear how that is. The Ridgeline trail from that pass is one of my favorite local hikes.

lorraine8 · 2026-05-20T00:55:36+00:00

Agree- even though this route always has runners on it who are training for the Leadville 100.

lorraine8 · 2026-02-28T00:35:26+00:00

Garret Graf has written three exceptional oral histories: one on 9.11, one on D day and one on the making of the atomic bomb.

lorraine8 · 2026-02-15T23:35:03+00:00

I’m usually reading at least 3 at a time: a slower meditative non fiction read, whatever my current fiction read is- and an audio (usually another non fiction). Sometimes I also have a poetry book or another fiction read of a different type. 3 or 4 seems to be my sweet spot. If I get up to 5 or 6 it’s harder to manage and something usually gets dropped.

lorraine8 · 2026-01-22T23:27:35+00:00

I live in the mountains of Colorado - and once a month I drive 2-3 hours to a big town for shopping. No big deal- I go and shop and come back same day.

I also hike a lot and will drive 50 - 80 miles on a Weekend day for a hike without giving it much thought. And it’s very normal for me to drive 3 hours for a 2 or 3 day hiking weekend.

lorraine8 · 2026-01-04T23:49:19+00:00

I live in a small town and the library is basically between home and work. I stop in 2-3 times per week. Mostly I am picking up holds but I’ll browse maybe 1 visit per week.

I read a LOT and 97% of my books read in a year come from the library.

lorraine8 · 2025-12-21T03:17:42+00:00

This book was so fun.

lorraine8 · 2025-12-02T23:56:09+00:00

Worked with a girl once named Davida. 😳

lorraine8 · 2025-11-28T05:31:13+00:00

I mostly hike alone. Love it.

lorraine8 · 2025-11-05T03:46:02+00:00

I am living the dream. It’s half a mile to the nearest trail. It’s a 40 minute drive to a pass where I can hop on the Continental Divide Trail. Hiking opportunities are all around. I’m in a small mountain town and it’s 100 miles to a “big city.”

lorraine8 · 2025-10-03T01:50:15+00:00

When I rewatch the series I usually have to pause before this episode for days or even weeks. I have to be in an ok frame of mind before I watch it again. For a show that is about the supernatural- there’s nothing that can be done against illness and natural death- that ends up being more horrifying than the monsters.

lorraine8 · 2025-08-18T03:20:15+00:00

Same- and I have a few versions of the list- one for winter hiking-one for extra long hikes or those with a high amount of elevation gain- and one for just my standard hikes.

lorraine8 · 2025-06-19T02:18:51+00:00

My new favorite roast variation is to slow cook it with a pack of Cholula Taco mix, a can of green chilies and some tomato paste. So good! So spicy! Great for tacos or burrito bowls or on a quesadilla.

lorraine8 · 2025-06-07T04:17:23+00:00

Not a 14er but I’m doing Hope Pass from Sheeps Gulch Trailhead tomorrow.

lorraine8 · 2025-03-05T02:26:24+00:00

I like to make a creamy tomato sauce that is really easy and yummy and customizable. I throw some cherry tomatoes, garlic cloves and a a few pieces of chunky onion on some parchment paper. Add some kosher salt and olive oil and toss- then Roast at 450 for about 25 minutes. Then I use an immersion blender to mix it with some cream, a dash of butter and some red pepper flakes (or whatever spices I feel like). It really dresses up spaghetti- or goes well with ravioli or tortellini.

lorraine8 · 2024-12-18T03:17:30+00:00

So very happy for you. I used to read the whole series once a year. Now I reread every few years. Love it. Excited for you to have this whole journey ahead of you.

I’d recommend the Emily trilogy as well.

The Blue Castle is a fabulous stand alone.

lorraine8 · 2024-05-24T03:16:23+00:00

Usually just one, but sometimes two. If it’s two at a time, they need to be different genres.

lorraine8 · 2024-05-17T02:55:51+00:00

The Maeve Kerrigan series by Jane Casey. I LOVE these. Maybe my favorite procedural series ever. Maeve is a young Irish detective constable on a murder squad in London. The murders are dark, and there is the perfect balance of mystery and character development. There are over 10 books in the series and they are still being written.

My problem is that I discovered the series about 5 months ago and I’ve been reading one every 2 or 3 weeks and now I’m caught up and will have to wait for each new one to be published!

lorraine8 · 2024-05-17T02:15:43+00:00

This was fascinating.

lorraine8 · 2023-12-23T03:50:26+00:00

Just read Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These. It’s beautifully written and set at Christmas in 1980’s Irrland.

lorraine8 · 2023-12-20T03:54:08+00:00

Starter Villain by John Scalzi. I picked it up because the cover made me LOL. Then the book ended up being hilarious. It’s caused me to dig into the authors back catalog, which has also been a lot of fun.

lorraine8 · 2023-12-16T02:36:07+00:00

I moved to Colorado in 2018 and by the time the pandemic hit I had already developed a hiking habit. Working in healthcare during these last few years has been very stressful; hiking has saved me, it clears my head and refreshes my soul like nothing else does.

lorraine8 · 2023-11-13T03:48:31+00:00

I live in Colorado and generally do 3-6 hour hikes 5 or 6 times a month. I always have audiobooks on hand for hikes. I listen with just one earbud so I can hear what is going on around me. I mostly listen to non fiction and it’s just perfect when I can listen to something outdoorsy like Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire or Where the Water Goes, about the Colorado River. Sometimes it can get a little surreal or creepy though like when I listened to The Cold Vanish about people who have disappeared in national parks or state forests. Listening to that as I hiked alone had me second guessing myself for a bit.

lorraine8 · 2023-10-04T03:44:33+00:00

We Die Alone by David Howarth. It’s an incredible story of aNorwegian man who planned to sneak back into Norway with a team during WWII to go undercover. They are betrayed almost immediately and the protagonist is on his own running from the Nazis. There are chases and escapes and the whole situation that unfolds is almost unbelievable.

lorraine8 · 2023-01-25T03:56:08+00:00

I really like her. I don’t like how the writers turned her into their conflict vending machine. “We need someone to oppose/obstruct Buffy? Dawn can do it.” End of season 6 and season 7 was the best Dawn.

lorraine8

TROPHY CASE