Recently in colorado Category

This post-bar thing is great. We did two short hikes in the area late last week and then yesterday we headed for the mountains. Barb told us about a great hike to one of her favorite spots in Colorado. We took the suggestion and had an absolute blast. It was rainy and cool on the way up to the lake. Once we got there, the clouds opened up and the sun was bright and strong. It was perfect. We finished the day off with beer and barbeque in Nederland and congratulated ourselves on a most perfect day.

Right now I'm lounging around the apartment, trying to get some cleaning done. J is out of town for the week so I have the place to myself. As much as I love having J around, the peace and quiet is a nice change of pace. I think I might go mountain biking this evening, or maybe for a nice short local hike. There is a spot we found the other day - a 15 or so minute drive from the apartment, followed by a 10-15 minute hike and there is this great clearing where we saw TONS of mule deer (and baby mule deer!) the other night. I'm thinking of heading up there one evening to watch them and take some pictures. Or maybe I'll just sit on the deck and read.

Maddie and I have been invited to join my pal Katie and her sister and their respective dogs for a girls' weekend up at Katie's cabin high in the mountains. I've gotta check with J to make sure he didn't have anything big planned for the weekend, but it sounds like an awful lot of fun. The last two months have been some of the most stressful in my life .... I feel like I've earned a little R&R time. It won't last forever. One of these days I need to get an actual job (I'm working on it ...)

Pictures from the weekend's hike to come! I am trying to find a better way to post pictures on the blog ....

I had many strange obsessions as a child, one of which was snakes. For quite a while I wanted to be a herpetologist when I grew up. I knew the "snake people" at the local pet store and had a pet snake of my own. I'm not afraid of snakes.

But dammit if I didn't just about jump out of my skin today when we had a close encounter with that most mythical of North American reptile ...

This evening J and I were at one of the open space parks, spinning along happily wondering if we were going to get rained on (we did), when all of a sudden I noticed the rocks on the trail in front of us didn't quite look right.

STOP!!! SNAKE!!!

I've seen plenty of snakes on trails and roads and bike paths before. I've even had plenty of experience with poisonous snakes (copperheads were a regular occurence back home). But nothing could prepare me for my first run in with a rattlesnake.

He didn't rattle. I'm not even sure if he saw us. He just kept slithering across the trail. But dammit if it didn't leave me shaken for quite a while. Maybe it was because this guy was quite a bit bigger than the biggest copperhead I've seen. Maybe its because the villanous snake in any good story (at least that didn't take place in biblical times) is always a rattlesnake.

I think I need to start working on my bunnyhopping ....

(clicky for bigger image)

This weekend had the potential to be very un-fun. I had a practice MBE (multistate multi choice bar exam) today that ate up seven hours of the day today. I have EIGHT HOURS worth of bar review class tomorrow. On a Sunday. Apparently noone told the bar review folks that Sunday is the day of rest. I have eight hours of bar review on Monday and then the normal three hours on Tuesday and then hooray! Wednesday off! ... but that's only because its the 4th of July or I'm sure we would be going straight through the week. The barbri folks are slave drivers I tell you!

To reward myself for my diligent work this morning and to pre-award myself for the upcoming days of hell, I took myself, the dog, and the fiance on a hike this evening. We headed to Eldorado Canyon State Park and hiked the seven mile round trip trail that goes from the trailhead out to South Boulder Creek and back. It was amazing.

It was also hot. I was fine but I worried a bit about the black mutt. She handled it like a trooper. We stopped often in the shade and she got lots of water. After seven miles she was still pulling. She loved it.

It was a wonderful afternoon full of beautiful scenery, my two favorite people* in the whole world and NOT studying for the freakin' bar exam. It was also the best workout I've had since the mountain bike race a few months ago. It felt good to get my butt kicked again.

After our hike we went and had buffalo burgers and beer. THAT was a good day.

Josh's pictures from the hike are here.

*dogs are people too!

I spent a good chunk of time today studying with the Ironman CDA feed in the background of the computer. I have Ironman on the brain.

On my way back from running errands this evening I took a slight detour to check out a potential ride route. The drive was beautiful ... and I can't wait to get out and ride it. The only problem is that its hilly. And I mean really hilly.

I keep telling myself you live in Colorado now ... you are going to have to learn to climb. And believe me I want to learn to climb but I'm so far gone right now that throwing myself into riding out here is more than a little intimidating. It has been months since I have been on a bike and a year since I rode with any regularity. I really want to get out there but MAN I need a little bit of time to get in shape before I start riding freakin' mountains (ok, so it probably only seemed like mountains but remember that I am from Kansas!!).

I know it will make me a better rider but from the perspective of someone who sucks at climbing in general and is also way out of shape, its intimidating as hell.

This afternoon was blissfully free of BarBri so I did what I have been wanting to do since we got here. I loaded up the running gear and the mutt and quite literally headed for the hills.

Ok, so it was only a 30 minute run but it was my first chance to check out one of Boulder's Open Space parks and one of the many times I thought to myself this is EXACTLY why we moved here.

On the recommendation of a neighbor we headed for Marshall Mesa. It was a short drive from the apartment and the next thing I knew the mutt and I were cruising along a trail next to a running stream under a beautiful Colorado blue sky. Life is freakin' GOOD eh?

Despite the fact that the mutt was sporting her green Voice and Sight tag she was certainly NOT under voice and sight control. Twice the prairie dogs turned out to be too much of a temptation for her and she took off. The rangers would not have been pleased. We definitely have some work to do.

I don't think we're ever leaving. Ever.

Well, we made it.

Yesterday two people, two cars, two bikes, two guinea pigs, one dog, several house plants, and and all the clothes and food and other goodies necessary to sustain all of the above arrived in our their new home. It was a long drive across all of Kansas and half of Colorado with noone to talk to the but the mutt. She's a good listener but doesn't really have much to add to the conversation.

Anywho, we rolled into town last night and checked out the place in the waning daylight. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I kept thinking to myself "I can't believe we live here now!". We aren't just on vacation this time.

We hung around Superior today, did a little shopping, checked out the apartment, and then headed to the dog park. The hound is quite a trooper and we wanted to reward her with a good romp. A woman at a pet store directed us to the nearest dog park which happened to be a pretty nice place. Maddie was impressed.

From there we had lunch in Louisville, which seems like a nice little town and then headed up to Boulder. We hung around at the Boulder Creek Festival, met some people, listened to some music, explained to the rude dog food vendor guy that our dog was in fact not too skinny, and then headed back to the hotel. Yes, we are living in a hotel for a few days ... can't WAIT to get into the apartment!

This evening we went for a little drive and somehow ended up at one of the open space parks. We walked around (Maddie was on leash due to the fact that she doesn't have a license yet and there is some sort of nesting bird thing going on at the moment) and I smiled as I saw runners and mountain bikers and dogs and looked at the mountains and remembered I was home.

Hanging out in Boulder reminded me of one very very unfortunate fact - I am extremely out of shape. Boulderites are a bunch of skinny folks and at the moment, I am not. That is the bad news. The good news is that there is just something about this place that makes me really want to get out and play. J and I both have our tri bikes with us but unfortunately we decided to take them on the car (as opposed to packing them in the moving truck) after the rest of our bike goodies had been packed away. We have bikes but we have no shoes or helmets so the riding will have to wait. I'm gonna try to go for a run tomorrow ... and for once, I can't wait!

My dad did a pretty good job of scoping out a place for us to live. The area where we will be living is a little too full of mega stores and chain restauraunts for my taste but it seems like the nearby outdoor recreation oppurtunities are fantastic and the views are absolutely stunning. J is all excited about the proximity to lots and lots and lots of tech companies just in case he decides to leave the current gig. I'm excited that we are only eight miles from Boulder for when the suburban-ness of where we will be living starts to feel a little stifling. The apartments look GREAT and there are tons and tons of dogs for Maddie to play with, and after all, it is all about Maddie.

It has been a crazy couple weeks ... finals, and my dad's cancer diagnosis, and graduation, and moving ... but things are going really pretty well on all fronts. I'm almost to the place where I can exhale.