Slacking Off

Today I got home from work 2 hours early (love my job!) so Drew and I went to the park in our neighborhood to play frisbee, slack-line, and enjoy the beautiful fall day. It quickly became apparent that Drew has had some free time lately because all of a sudden he's really good at slack-lining. He can walk across the whole line without falling, while I can't even get up without almost choking Drew to death while he helps me up. After watching this I'm pretty sure he'll never have a problem passing a field sobriety test (not that he would ever have a problem anyway).

After that we let Bogey embrace his wild side. We let him off the leash to chase some squirrels, but he just ended up playing hard to get with Drew.

Drew's fun fact: In Fruita, CO, the town folk celebrate 'Mike the Headless Chicken Day'. Seems that a farmer named L.A. Olsen cut off Mike's head on September 10, 1945 in anticipation of a chicken dinner - and Mike lived for another 4 years without a head.

Big Break

So I think we had a major break through on Sunday. Ever since we moved to Longmont Drew and I have been trying to make friends. We find ourselves being extra friendly to strangers and are often tempted to follow/stalk anyone we see that's our age. We've also been struggling to find a church that we like. This is all a new experience for us because we've always had such great community everywhere we've lived. But hey, new experiences are what we moved here for. So on Sunday we met and had coffee with a lady who is trying to get Young Life started in Longmont. She knows some people that will be great contacts for us as far as making friends and getting to know people in the area. She invited us to the next Young Life committee meeting and to go stay at Crooked Creek (a YL camp near Winter Park) for the weekend in early December. She also told us about a couple good churches in the area. It was so great to sit and talk with her, now I have some hope that we will make some friends that actually live in Longmont (right now all our friends live in Denver or Colorado Springs which means that we have been driving 30+ miles to hang out with people).

Also of note, we're having a Halloween party this weekend. We bought a fog machine and a black light so I'm pretty sure it will be awesome. We've also been watching a lot of scary movies lately (thanks for the free Netflix Dad!). Then, every night after we finish watching the scary movie Drew dares me to go to the basement in the dark. The one time I was brave enough to do it he hid in the corner and scared the crap out of me. So now I won't do it. It's really scary down there, especially with the lights off, which is exactly why the Halloween party is going to take place there. I'm going to be Carrie (from the scary movie, not from Sex and The City) and Drew is going to be a toilet. I'll be sure to post pictures.

The other big break is that a couple ski slopes opened up yesterday and today...

I haven't taken any pictures recently and since a blog with no pictures is no blog at all- here are a few from Drew's trip to Moab with the GE Johnson boys a few weeks ago.

Drew's fun fact: A watermelon is a vegetable not a fruit.

The Altitutes

This past week has been a lot of fun. Last weekend Drew, Sean, Hunter and I hiked Mount Democrat. We all met Friday night at this hole-in-the-wall bar in Alma, CO called Alma's Only Bar. We had a couple beers and talked to some of the locals, who definitely seemed like they didn't get to the big city very often. There was a lady camped out in the single stall bathroom the whole night crying in the corner. She wouldn't leave or accept any help from us, so I had no choice but to use the bathroom with her sitting right there. She didn't seem to even notice, and I'm still not sure if that was a good or bad thing. Anyway we camped that night at the trailhead which was at 12,000 feet. It wasn't a very restful night since it got down into the 20s and I was sleeping in a tent with 3 boys with the "altitutes" (apparently being at altitude gives some people gas). The hike the next day was very cold but very beautiful. It was completely different from the other 14ers we've done because the trailhead was above treeline which made it feel like we started half way through. It was still pretty difficult and took about 5 hours total, but as always the views were worth the effort.

Last night we had a girls' night which turned into a slumber party. Mindy, Brett, and I spent the night at my new friend Danielle's house. I've known Brett and Mindy forever because we went to preschool and did Girl Scouts together back home. I lost touch with both of them after high school, but since we all randomly moved here we've been reunited. Last night we drank wine, talked about boys, and painted. It was just like when we were younger except we got to drink wine instead of milk. We all painted some pretty awesome paintings, especially my Day of the Dead skull. We even froze Mindy's underwear (because she was still wearing her bra) when she fell asleep first during the truth or dare portion of our party.

The other big event of this week was that Drew and I bought season snowboard passes. We're getting so excited! There's been a lot of snow on the mountains in the distance the past couple days which is beautiful but causes me to be a very bad driver (I can't not look at it).

Now if I could only figure out what to be for Halloween...

Drew's fun fact: The movie "Halloween" was shot in the spring and used fake autumn leaves.

Fall!

It's definitely starting to look and feel like fall here, and it's so exciting to have seasons! Last weekend we went to Rocky Mountain National Park with a few friends who had never been. All the aspen trees had yellow and orange leaves, something I've always wanted to see in person. I was not disappointed. We had a great time driving around and taking pictures. It was kind of a random group of people, but as you can see we all got a long pretty well (except for that one creepy guy in the back).

It's supposed to start snowing in about a month, which means snowboarding season is almost here! Drew and I went to REI over the weekend and I had to decide between climbing shoes and snowboards boots. Looks like I'll be climbing at the gym in my sneakers for a few more weeks. The pictures of snow-capped mountains on the walls in the store tipped me over the edge. Everyday when I look over at the mountains I can see a little more snow in the distance, I wonder if I'll ever be this excited about snow again. We'll see what a season of driveway-shoveling and windshield-scraping does to my enthusiasm.

This weekend we're planning another 14er, well one for me and four for Drew, Sean, and Hunter. There's a route that takes you across 4 peaks which the boys are going to do, but I plan to just do the first one since I'm slow and my left knee hates hiking. Hopefully the weather and my knee will cooperate, especially since 14er hiking season is just about over.

I still love my job and Drew's still looking for a job that he will love. He stays busy planning our adventures and scheming up different business ideas. So many exciting things around the corner...

Drew's fun fact: Denver's earliest recorded snow was September 3, 1961.

Home, home on the front range

After four months of transition, we finally have a home again. We moved into our new house on Sept 1st and have loved living here so far. We live in "Leave it to Beaver" neighborhood- the first day we moved in our next door neighbors brought us homemade apple bread. There are two big parks within three blocks and on Friday nights we can hear the high school football game from our house. I love my new job so far. Doing house calls is a lot of fun and very laid-back. Drew is still looking for a job and enjoying being a stay-at-home Dad for Bogey. We've been to a couple Rockies games and have been watching the Gator games at the Rocky Mountain Gator Club in Denver. I can't say enough how great it is to have a home, especially one right next to the mountains.

Drew's fun fact: The "naked recreation and travel" industry has grown by 233% in the past decade.

Birthday Blizzard

Yesterday Drew and I hiked Mt Elbert to celebrate Drew's 28th birthday. Mt Elbert is supposed to be the easiest 14er, but its also the highest at 14,433 ft. We thought it would be cool to hike to the highest point in Colorado for Drew's birthday. After spending the day climbing with Sean and Hunter (when it was my turn to climb Drew remarked that he had "never seen anyone fall up a mountain") we drove to the trailhead just south of Leadville and camped for the night.

The trail for this 14er was marked much better than the last one we did. We hiked up the trail through a nice pine forest until we got to tree line.

Above tree line we had a great view of Mt Massive, another nearby 14er. It had a big storm brewing at its peak. From where we were on the trail we couldn't see the summit of Mt Elbert and we were worried it had the same storm developing.

As we hiked it started to drizzle a little, then as we got higher the rain turned into snow. We kept hiking but the weather quickly turned from bad to worse.

We ended up having to turn back at about 14,200 ft because the weather was so bad. The snow was blowing horizontally into our faces- we couldn't even look up to see where the trail was. The snowing was sticking to the ground and Drew was worried about losing the trail. Hearing thunder was the final straw. And since Drew's mom had told Drew the day before not to die on a mountain on his birthday we figured we should honor that request. We were really disappointed that we didn't reach the summit, but it was pretty fun to be in a snow storm in August.

When we got back down close to tree line there was an awesome rainbow. It's not very often that you get to look down on a rainbow.

We made it back down the mountain safely, grumbling the whole time about not getting to summit. A few of the people we saw on the mountain were hanging out in the parking lot when we got back. We stood around talking with them while Bogey passed out on the ground. They guys offered us a beer and told us about some other great places to climb and hike. All in all it was great adventure to celebrate Drew's birthday.

Drew's fun fact: There's more real lemon juice in Lemon Pledge Furniture Polish than in Country Time Lemonade.

La Plata: Obscure and Unsigned

Yesterday Drew and I hiked our first 14er with Sean and his friend Hunter. The trip started out when we all went to grab a beer Friday afternoon when Sean and Hunter got off work. After talking for a few minutes we all decided we should hop in the car that evening and drive towards Buena Vista; I barely had time to finish my beer before we were out the door. It took us a couple hours to get our act together but we finally left Sean’s house around 9pm. We got to Buena Vista around 11 and drove another half an hour to the trailhead. Hunter had a guidebook on Colorado’s 14ers that said the trailhead for La Plata Peak was obscure and unsigned which definitely turned out to be true. It took us another half an hour driving around in the dark to find it. Once we did we drove a couple miles past it down a dirt rode and found a spot to camp for the night. Drew and I set up the tent while Sean and Hunter built a fire. The four of us drank a PBR by the fire and went to bed. Then next morning we woke up at 5:45, 45 minutes later than we intended to (we all slept through Sean’s watch alarm). It was so awesome to wake up to a sunrise in the mountains.

In the mountains in Colorado thunderstorms move in quickly in the afternoon (just like Florida) so it’s important to get on the trail early so you can get off the mountain before the weather gets bad. So we quickly ate breakfast, packed up camp, and drove back to the trailhead. We started down the trail and after half a mile the trail became very indistinct. We would lose it then find it again and it seemed to be too flat. We ran into another group of four with a dog that was having the same trouble. We all hiked together for a little while hoping the trail would become more obvious. After another half a mile we all realized that we couldn’t have been on the right trail. We looked at the topo for a while and realized we took a wrong turn way back near the trailhead. Apparently Hunter’s guidebook wasn’t kidding when it said this mountain was obscure and unsigned. We hiked back and found the right trail and headed up the mountain.

Since our little 3 mile detour cost us 2 hours we weren’t sure if we would be able to summit. We decided to hike as far as we could before the weather turned bad. The trail took us through the valley along a river, up a bunch of very steep switchbacks, past tree line, and through more switchbacks. After we reached the saddle we had to hike a bout a mile through boulder fields to the summit. Luckily the weather was great- no storm clouds in sight. Once we got to about 13,500 feet we started to feel lightheaded, dizzy, and nauseous. It was awesome. I stopped to rest and let some people pass me, when they did I made sure to tell them I was from Florida. We made the final push to the summit (14,336ft) and when we got there everyone yelled “Yay Florida!” I was so proud we made it.

As hard as the hike up was, the hike down was worse. We were so sore and tired and it took forever to get down the mountain. When we finally got back to the car Sean and Hunter were waiting for us with water and beer. We packed up the car, drove back to Colorado Springs, and fell into bed. It was the best and hardest day of my life. I can’t wait to do it again.

Drew's fun fact: Nebraska's official state soda is Kool-Aid.