Christmas in Colorado

This year Drew and I stayed in Colorado for Christmas. We moved to a new house in Boulder, which is a terrible endeavor to attempt on Christmas. Moving tends to provoke an attitude that is the exact opposite of the Christmas spirit. Thankfully we had amazing weather yesterday, along with a foot of snow on the ground. We took a break from unpacking to take a snowshoe trip with our friends Kevin and Holly. We stumbled upon a beautiful snow-covered lake with a view of Long's peak on one side and the Indian Peaks on the other. As you can see, lots of snow shenanigans ensued.

When we got home we made mexican hot chocolate, Abuelita, in my new crockpot Drew gave me for Christmas. We also beat the h-e-double-hockey-sticks out of a piñata that Kevin and Holly gave us for Christmas. Having a slick, icy deck added a whole new level of difficulty to the game. Somehow no one got hurt. I'm not sure if our new neighbors appreciated our loud rendition of Feliz Navidad, sung while aimlessly swinging a trekking pole in the air, but I sure did.

Drew's fun fact: In Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.

Twinkle Toes

Drew's fun fact: The major ingredient in ice cream is air.

Close Encounter

Lately Drew and I have not been having our weekly climbing date nights because it's been cold and we've had so much snow. Plus, it's been getting dark before 5 o'clock. We really miss climbing so today Drew decided we should try a nighttime climb of the second flatiron. It's really easy climbing (rated 5.0) and Drew actually solo'ed it a couple months ago. We planned to rope-up though since it would be dark and cold and probably pretty windy. We got to the trailhead at about 5:15 and it was already dark. We piled on all our warm layers and started the 0.7 mile hike to the base of the climb. It was a beautiful, chilly night and the trail had great views of Boulder Valley lights.

After about a half hour of hiking in the dark Drew spotted a pair of eyes watching us ahead on the trail. Initially it was about 100ft away, but within seconds it moved to about 50ft away. This was obviously pretty alarming, and just as we started to debate whether we should keep going or turn around, Drew caught a glimpse of the body- a large cat with a long tail. AKA Mountain Lion, Cougar, Killer Cat. Drew remained freakishly calm, I did not. We slowly started to walk away, but the cat started to follow us. Luckily, after a few steps it stopped and we were able to successfully, and somehow calmly, walk away.

When we got back to the ranger station we looked at some of the posters to see if we could identify what it was- sure enough, it was a mountain lion. Then we got on our cell phones and started looking up what you're supposed to do if you're attacked by a mountain lion (I know, 'closing the barn door after the cows get out' ). Apparently you're supposed to act big and scary, yell at them, and fight back if they attack you. However, usually you don't get a change to do all that because when they attack they tend to surprise you and kill you immediately. Awesome.

Anyway this all probably sounds more dramatic then it really was, but the bottom line is, next time I'm packing heat.

Drew's fun fact: You have a better chance of being struck by lightening than dying because of a mountain lion attack.

I'm dreaming of a white.... Halloween?

Yesterday we had our first snow of the season. We got 12" of snow in less than a day, which is more than we got in one snowfall all last year. I think Colorado's weather is in cahoots with all the retailers to skip Halloween and Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas. It's a little strange to see everyone's pumpkin's and skeletons covered in snow, though it does add a little eeriness. Here's a picture of our backyard, where we're supposed to be having a party in 2 days...

So we may have to come up with a plan B for Saturday. Luckily I found matching Pumpkin costumes for Drew and I, which is sure to be entertaining (that is if I can actually get him to wear it...)

Drew's fun fact: Drivers kill more deer than hunters.

Angel's Way

Drew took me to do my first multi-pitch climb yesterday in the Flatirons, a route called Angel's Way. He had done this climb with our friend Hunter a couple weeks ago and thought it would be a good first one for me. We got up at 6am to get an early start, and saw some deer on the drive in.

It took about an hour hike to get to the start of the climb. The majority of the approach trail either consisted of bushwhacking up a slippery riverbed or hiking through fields of poison ivy. At one point I had to climb up and over a boulder (this was before we were roped in) so Drew stood under to spot me. Just as I was about over my foot slipped and I started to fall (expletive, expletive), but my wonderful, strong, dependable husband caught me. Had he not, I would likely be writing this from a hospital bed.

The first pitch felt a little sketchy because the route went up and over a ridge, so Drew had to climb out of my sight. It was weird to belay him from below when I couldn't see him, and even weirder to not be able to see the destination I was climbing to. After another pitch or so I got used to it. The climbing was easy (rated only 5.2) but very fun. We had amazing views of the flatirons and the front range along the way.

We reached the top after 8 pitches and about 3 hours of climbing. The hike down however was actually the hardest part. We had to hike down a 4th class gully full of more poison ivy. Usually when I hike down something that steep I brace myself with my hands a lot, but I was afraid to because I didn't want to get poison ivy. So instead I ended up flapping my arms in the air trying to keep my balance. I imagine I probably looked something like a drunken stork trying to get down the mountain.

Luckily we made it back to the car without rolling our ankles or going into anaphylactic shock from poison ivy. Then, we made it home in time to see the Gators beat Tennessee, which is always a joy.

Drew's fun fact: The uroshiol oil from a poison ivy plant can stay active on most surfaces for up to 5 years.

50 year-old Floridians at 14,000+ ft

I had a fabulous 3-day weekend in the high country camping (RV style) and hiking with my parents. Drew stayed behind to work on Friday and climb a Flat Iron on Saturday, so I made the drive to Buena Vista Thursday night after work. It was an awesome sunset drive into the mountains, then I happily went to bed soon after arriving at the campground. We left the RV at 4:30am Friday morning to make the hour and a half drive to the trailhead for Quandary Peak. We started the hike at 6am, had a 30 minute detour (aka got lost), summitted at 10:30am, and got back to the car by 2pm. It was a tough hike, but my parents were troopers.

Luckily we were able to summit and start hiking back down before the noon storm rolled in. There was lightning and thunder all around us, but far enough away that we weren't in danger. We were very glad to be on our way down from the top at that point though. We did get rained on a little on the way down, but we were lucky enough to see a mountain goat!

The next day we took it easy. We drove around Buena Vista and hung out by the Arkansas River. We were driving along by the river, looked over, and saw 3 big horn sheep! They were standing next to the river, looked up at us for a minute, then decided to get the heck out of dodge. They trotted across the road and up the hill out of sight.

First a mountain goat on a 14er, then big horn sheep- we were livin' large at that point. After that we drove to an old mining town at the base of Mt. Princeton and Mt. Antero called St. Elmo. It was a very strange historic town with houses and buildings from the 1800's. Apparently there was a fire at some point...

That night we grilled hamburgers and talked about our good luck, then my Mom started planning another 14er for the next day. What?! The first one wasn't enough torture? They must be gluttons for punishment because my Dad didn't even put up a fight. We decided on Mt. Sherman. So Sunday morning we woke up at 5am, got to the trailhead and started hiking at 7am, reached the summit at 10:00, and made it back to the car by 12:30. Mt. Sherman was a lot easier than Quandry, and we had beautiful, perfect weather.

After the hike I drove home to Longmont and collapsed on the couch. Then Drew and I decided to have 'early birthday' and we gave each other our presents. Not a bad way to end a fantastic weekend.

Drew's fun fact: Mt. Sherman is the only 14er that has had a successful aircraft landing on its summit.

His & Hers Saturday

His:

Today Drew hiked Long's Peak with Hunter and Travis. Long's peak is the only 14er in Rocky Mountain National Park and one of the most well-known mountains in the Rockies. It is also one of the more difficult 14ers, but the boys smoked it. They started their hike at 2:00am, summitted in 6 1/2 hours, and made it back to the car within 12 hours. Thankfully, they also made it home safe and sound, and didn't even smell that bad.

Hers:

I am on call this weekend which means I have to be available to answer phone calls from our patients. I don't have to go in to work but I do have to stay within cell phone range. So instead of climbing a mountain, I painted. About a week ago when I was jogging with Bogey through our neighborhood I spotted a desk on the side of the road. I had been wanting to get a desk for an empty corner in our living room, so it was quite convenient that the universe happened to provide a free one for me. It had a very bad paint job so today I planned a makeover. Those who know me know that I usually tend to like blah, neutral things. Those who know Drew know that he tends to hate blah, neutral things. But since most of our furniture is blah and neutral, Drew and I actually agreed (doesn't happen much in our household when it comes to furnishing/decorating) that the desk should be painted red.

Before:

During:

After:

And then there's Bogey. Dogs aren't allowed in the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park so he didn't get to hike with the boys. Instead, he stayed home and did this all day:

Drew's fun fact: A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

Just for the Halibut

It's good to have friends in high places, but it's even better to have friends in Alaska. Two weeks ago Drew and I went on the vacation of a lifetime with our friends Ryan and Lisa to visit Jeremy and Kara. They moved to Alaska last year around the same time that Drew and I moved to Colorado. When we were home for Easter Ryan and Lisa mentioned that they were planning a trip to visit Jeremy and Kara this summer, so we decided to tag along.

Before it even started this was one of the best vacations ever for multiple reasons. The first was that I didn't have to do any planning. We already had a place to stay, a car to use, and lots of amazing excursions planned, all thanks to Jeremy, Kara, and the Rowland family. It is the best thing in the world to show up and have everything already taken care of. That hasn't happened since our honeymoon.

The other reason this vacation was awesome before it even started was the group of people. Drew and I are always missing our friends from home so we were really excited to get to spend a week with some of them. I already knew that the whole week would consist of Ryan and Drew acting like idiots, Jeremy giggling like a school girl, and the girls doing a lot of eye-rolling. I was not wrong.

Our flight arrived in Anchorage at 2:30am, an hour after Ryan and Lisa's landed. Jeremy and Kara had stayed up all night and killed time by going to see Harry Potter. They picked us up, we all went grocery shopping for our camping trip, drove through the night to Whittier, and arrived to a beautiful sunrise over the harbor.

There we met up with Raymond, Brenda, and their son Estevan to go fishing. We had a beautiful morning cruise through Prince William Sound where people come from all over the world to go glacier and whale watching.

Fortunately, I slept on the plane the night before, but I was the only one. Everyone else was operating on zero sleep at that point. But luckily that morning was filled with adrenaline to keep us awake because 30 minutes into our boat ride we saw a whale! At first we just saw a water-spout from far away,

but then it slowly moved closer and closer. It came up for air a couple of times so we got some great views of its hump and tail.

After a few minutes of no action we thought he was gone. Then he came up in front of the boat, did a mini breach move and sprayed the boat’s windshield with water. Really? Sprayed by a whale in Alaska? Yep.

After our real-life Shamu show was over it was time to get to work. We boated to this little island to set up camp and have a hot dog breakfast. Here's a picture of Raymond's boat and our view from camp:

Brenda and Raymond are serious fishermen, I mean fisher-people, and after breakfast they put us on some serious fish. We caught halibut,

silver salmon,

and a bunch of other fish I can't remember the names of. Estevan kindly demonstrated to us how to properly bash the fish on their heads after pulling them into the boat.

After fishing for many, many hours our perfect weather started to deteriorate. We finally headed to camp, snuggled into our sleeping bags, and went straight to sleep. It rained and rained all night with 60mph wind gusts. Luckily Jeremy and Kara had bought a new, heavy duty tent so we all were safe and warm. The next morning the rain and wind continued. We were camping on the beach of an island, and since the water was too stormy to cross in the boat, we were stranded. All 9 of us piled into the tent to wait out the storm. It might sound miserable to be stuck in a tent with a bunch of people for several hours, but it was actually really fun. We told silly stories, watched Drew and Ryan act like goofballs, and caught up on all the sleep we had missed the night before.

Finally, at around 4pm the weather subsided enough for us to make our escape. The storm chased us the whole way back. It was a very wet boat ride.

It took a couple hours to cross back over to Whittier, and when we arrived we were quite happy to be back on dry land and that much closer to coffee and hot showers. We made the 2 hour drive back to Palmer and crashed (into beds, not cars).

The next day we drove to Talkeetna which is a cute little touristy town where a lot of excursions to Mt. Mckinley are based out of. Our friends Beth and Joe, that are also from Palmer but live in Ft. Collins, have a cabin there. We all spent the day drinking Alaskan-brewed beer, checking out the little shops, and acting like obnoxious tourists. We even met some random SEC fans who out-did us on the obnoxious tourist part.

We had a great campfire at the cabin that night and even convinced the boys to jump in the river in their birthday suits. Yes we took pictures, no I will not post them.

Our driving tour of Alaska continued the next day to Denali National Park. Jeremy, Kara, Ryan, Lisa, Drew, and I all piled into Jeremy's pick up truck for the 180 mild drive. Needless to say there were plenty of shenanigans and beautiful scenery. The national park was cloudy that day so we couldn't see Mt. Mckinley, which was disappointing but I had already seen whales up close so I couldn't really complain. We hiked a little, saw some moose, and then headed back to Palmer. On the drive back the clouds cleared a bit and we were able to catch a glimpse of Mt. Mckinley.

The next day Jeremy took us to a couple of his local fishing spots and that night we had a little birthday party for Lisa's 29th birthday. We ate halibut that we had caught a few days earlier and had the best birthday carrot cake I've ever eaten. Ryan and Lisa flew home later that night, again at 2 in the morning.

Drew and I still had two more days after Ryan and Lisa left but Jeremy and Kara had to get back to work. They let us borrow a car so Drew and I went to check out a nearby glacier. We spent a couple hours exploring, going farther and farther up the glacier. It was very slippery and difficulty to maneuver without crampons, and I am clumsy to begin with. And you were surrounded by hard-packed ice so you knew if you fell it was going to hurt. Drew kept stopping to ask "are you sketched out?" I would answer "yes!" and then he would keep going. Typical.

The next day we slept in and then went to an old mining area called Hatcher pass. Then we packed up, went to Anchorage with Jeremy and Kara for dinner and a movie, and then to the airport. Like I said, vacation of a lifetime.

Drew's fun fact: The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London.