Aarnaes Family Photos

Jens Peter Aarnaes recently shared these photos with me, so I have added them to the slideshow. His parents, Morton & Karen, spent a lot of time at Rock Creek with their three children. As you can see elsewhere on this site, Peter also worked at the lodge. These are wonderful examples of the kinds of experiences so many families had in the canyon.

The Aarnaes men in Little Lakes Valley.

Peter and his dad at Golden Lake in 1971.

Peter at the top of Mt. Morgan. He climbed it with Dana Aanerud in 1976. Has anyone found the frisbee they threw off the top?

Quintessential Kib

Joe Mancuso recently sent this photo of my dad, Kib Sr. It seems to perfectly capture a typical day at the lodge.

Historic Frashers Postcards, etc.

We collect "Frashers Foto Cards" - postcards of photos taken by the famous photographer Burton Frasher. I have scanned some of the ones of Rock Creek and posted a slideshow. A few of them were actually mailed by visitors to Rock Creek (in the '40s and '50s), so it's interesting to read their messages. I also included an old brochure for the lodge I recently purchased. It's from the days prior to Roby ownership and lists the owners as Mr. & Mrs. F. P. Baugh. Note the use of Frasher's images throughout.

Jens Peter Aarnaes

Jens Peter Aarnaes and his wife Diane have lived in Colorado for ten years. He is director of marketing for a firm that sells, supports, and services digital medical imaging equipment, and she is a technical “guru” in the workers’ compensation division of an insurance company.

The Lodge fostered a life-long mountain interest in Peter. He teaches skiing part-time, and also flies and hikes in the mountains as much as possible.

The photo is of Peter & Diane near Keck Observatory in Hawaii in 2006.

Rock Creek Lodge Staff 1965-1988

1965
Pamela Hunsicker, Cathy Poole, Kim Rosander

1966
Eric Boutwell, Pamela Hunsicker, Linda Mitchell, Jack Moore, Tom Roby, Kim Rosander

1967
Carla Bemetz, Dan Gallup, Pamela Hunsicker, Ed Moore, Jack Moore, Sue Sherman

1968
Cameron Aanerud, Dan Gallup, Cindy Nielsen, Roger Nielsen, Penny Sykes, Wendy Sykes

1969
Grant Clark, Roger Nielsen, Tom Pogue, Penny Sykes, Wendy Sykes

1970
Cameron Aanerud, Jody Bauernschmidt, Roger Nielsen, Penny Sykes, Wendy Sykes

1971
Cameron Aanerud, Anne Brashears, Peter Harboe, Roger Nielsen, Cindy Parker, Sally Slemsek

1972
Cameron Aanerud, Cindy Edwards, Leonard Hunsicker, Roger Nielsen, Sally Slemsek, Penny Sykes

1973
Cindy Edwards, Linda Leslie, Dan Piercey, Sharon Porchia, Mike Reilly, Tom Walsh

1974
Cindy Edwards, Casey Fitzpatrick, Linda Leslie, Sharon Porchia, Mike Reilly, Tom Walsh

1975
Peter Aarnaes, Ollie Cramer, Leonard Hunsicker, Sharon Porchia, Kelly Reilly, Nancy Williams

1976
Dana Aanerud, Peter Aarnaes, Ollie Cramer, Debbie Haney, Robbie Nicholas, Kelly Reilly, Nancy Williams after Debbie left

1977
Shirley Akin, Anne Bogen, Brian Snow, David Waterfall, Nancy Williams, Ron Williams

1978
Leonard Hunsicker, Karen Kennedy, Kelly Kyle, Donna Mangold, John Williams, Ron Williams

1979
Peggy Brose, Donna Mangold, Gail (?), Billy Villarin, John Williams, Ron Williams

1980
Lisa Cimmarusti, Donna Mangold, Billy Villarin, Jeff Williams, John Williams, Ron Williams

1981
Lisa Cimmarusti, Dawn (?), Shelly Wilson, Billy Villarin, Jeff Williams, John Williams

1982
Ollie Cramer, Chris Hesson, Leslie Roby, Billy Villarin, Jeff Williams, Mickie Willis

1983
Sue Aguilar, Aaron Brown, Tina Ferrrara, Ria Harboe, Leslie Roby, Jeff Williams, David Williams, Mickie Willis

1984
Aaron Brown, Ollie Cramer, Leslie Roby, Susan Vogt, Jeff Williams, Susan Williams

1985
Ginny Bruce, Ollie Cramer, Ria Harboe (Aug), Shelley Moore, Clint Pearson, Leslie Roby, David Spiller

1986
Christine Ferrara, Greg Jennings, Carl Mancuso, Kathy Ripley, Kibby Roby, Leslie Roby

1987
Christine Ferrara, Carl Mancuso, Joe Mancuso, Kathy Ripley, Kibby Roby, Leslie Roby, Mark Thornsley

1988
Christine Ferrara, Carl Mancuso, Chris Reavis, Kathy Ripley, Kibby Roby, Leslie Roby


Deceased:

Cameron Aanerud, Kelly Kyle, Kelly Riley, Linda (Mitchell) Roby, Ed Moore, Jack Moore, Sally Slemsek

Pamela (Hunsicker) Stadler

Dear Leslie,

I feel left out of your blog.....here I was the first hired cook along with my cousin Kimberly the first year your Mother and Father took over the running of the Lodge from your grandparents. We gave your mother her first baby shower at the Lodge when she found out she was pregnant with you...we helped her through her "night sickness" instead of "morning sickness". Then the third year I worked as one of the cooks with my friend Carla, I changed your diapers all summer long and fed you your bottles. Granted you don't remember that, but I did get to watch you grow up for several summers until I lived too far away to come to the Lodge in the summertime. I had been coming to the upper Rock Creek campground and to the Lodge since I was 5 years. I met my husband at Rock Creek in front of the fireplace in the Lodge...he was the cook at the Pack Station. We will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in Feb. and owe it all to Rock Creek and Marge London who for years had been hoping to set one of her employees up with either my sister or me.

Pamela (Hunsicker) Stadler

A note from Susie (Lawton) Reynolds

Golly, Rock Creek...Spent the better part of my summers there. (Your Dad [Kib] was 7 and I was 4 the first year - about 1950!!)...Continued to go every summer for the next 40+ years.....Jim [Roby] once tossed me in the water.....They let me "be the first" in the row boat they built: They pushed me off into the pond and the boat sunk! I spent the rest of the summer trying to catch them....Tom [Roby] was sooo cute - a YOUNGER MAN...Martha [Roby] was always so nice....Charlie [McNeil] ran the store and was such a darling - gave me the name of "Hot Lips" and my cousin, MaryAnn (who died in 2004), "Poopsie". Remember the dogs that would scatter the planted fish - Rocky-the-Lab was a wonderful dog - so sweet with the kids who would climb all over him. Your grandparents were always so nice to everyone. The Lake store with the BEST hamburgers and PIE!!! Ice cream bars in the afternoon. My grandparents always camped at the campground...in the same spot for up-teen years! I remember when your parents got married...and when you [Leslie] were just a babe in arms!!

Fishing with my grandfather on the big rock near the store. Driving that last 7 miles in the back of a bouncy station wagon when my grandfather used to stop every few 100 feet to chop a log that was blocking the road...or crossing a stream that obscured the road...or, worse, moving a boulder that had blocked our path...no super-highway then...and he was pretty close to the first one after the snow started to leave. Monopoly games in the lodge when it was too cold, or rainy, to be outside. The smell of the pine trees...and the allergies which followed...and the clearest-best-tasting water EVER!! My grandmother making baked goods over an open camp fire...ah, pioneer stock! Watching my mother cast a line at the lake...so smooooth...and she always caught more fish than anyone.

Kib-the-elder taught me to build a fire...a talent which serves me to this very day. The showers at the lodge...the thinnest towels in the world!!!!! Cabin 8 which was my father's FAVORITE!!!! He loved to fall asleep with the sound of water in the background. I hated the trips to the outhouse in the middle of the night...flashlight in hand. Spreading a blanket on the meadow grass at night and watching the stars. Laughing at your mother [Shirley] trying to figure out how to multiply recipes for 8 or divide recipes for 50.

Susie (Lawton) Reynolds