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.

Sean and I jump off of tall things into river

Sean and I found a place to jump off tall things, it was fun, I jump from high, camera chord around arm break, camera still record fall down to bottom, I scared anne beat me up cause i lose camera, fish swim across screen two times, i find camera i happy.

Drew's fun fact: Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a novel with over 50,000 words, none of which containing the letter "E"

Red Rocket

We found a new old car for Drew. He needed to get one because we only took our Subaru out to Colorado and I’ll need it for my new job. He wanted something to drive around town but that would also be good for snow and off-roading. He ended up getting a great deal on a 1995 Land Rover Discovery. It has 135,000 miles but since we got such a great deal it’s okay if it needs some work. He nicknamed it Red Rocket.

He registered it with the state of Colorado and put on his new CO tags this morning. After that we had to drive up to Longmont again to sign the contract for my job and sign the lease for the rental house. We knew it might be a bad idea to take our new old car on the highway right away but we were feeling adventurous. Sure enough, about 30 miles outside of Colorado Springs the temperature gauge started to creep its way up. I should’ve known that would happen, especially since we had two important appointments to get to. But after we turned off the A/C the temperature returned to normal and we didn’t have any further problems. We drove the rest of the way with the windows open and, luckily, made it to Longmont on time. We were able to sign the lease for the house, which we’re really excited to move in to. And I signed a contract for my job: no longer jobless and homeless all in one day! Now we just have to figure out what to do for the next two weeks…

Drew’s fun fact: 12 newborn children in the US will be given to the wrong parents daily

Seriously, Are We There Yet?

This week has not gone as smoothly as the last. After leaving my parents we came back to Sean’s house to stay for a few days. We thought we’d find a place to rent, move in over the weekend, and have plenty of time to get settled in our new house before starting work. Well, things didn’t quite go as planned. We spent all day driving around Ft Collins on Friday and had no luck finding a house to rent. Apparently we just have bad timing because since Ft Collins is a college town all the good rentals are taken by now. We decided to check Longmont for a rental since it’s closer to the mountains and it’s where my job is based. Again we spent another couple hours driving around neighborhoods and searching on craigslist for a house. We finally found a cute little 1920s bungalow for rent in a great neighborhood in Longmont. We called the realty company and set up a showing immediately. The house ended up being perfect and the landlord was there as well. We filled out an application and shook hands with the landlord. They said they just needed to run a background check over the weekend but they would get back to us on Monday and we’d probably get to move in Tuesday or Wednesday. So we spent the weekend hanging out with Sean- the boys did yard work while I watched Glee (my new favorite tv show) on Hulu. We went to a river at the base of Pike’s Peak and jumped in 45 degree water and then went to a bar/outfitter/venue in Manitou Springs. That night we grilled venison burgers and drank beer while Drew played his Mandolin (thanks Devon!) on the porch; maybe a little too much beer because Sean accidentally fell down the porch stairs. It was a great weekend of relaxing but we were very anxious to get in our new house. Then Monday morning we called the rental company to verify that we passed the background check (not that we were worried or anything). But then we found out that the landlord rented the house to someone else, even though we had given him a deposit check and everything! Apparently there are jerks here in Colorado too. We had wasted the whole weekend thinking we had secured a house and now we had to start the search all over again. We were pissed. So we jumped back in the car, drove an hour and a half back to Longmont and did it all over again. This time we found a really cute house, which is actually better than the first one, but it’s not available until September 1^st. We were disappointed that we would have to wait two weeks to get into the house, but life is good at Big Bird so we decided we could wait. We have an appointment with the owner tomorrow to sign a lease. Hopefully she won’t screw us over like the last one…

Our next mission: find a new old car for Drew.

Drew’s fun fact: A cockroach can live 9 days without its head. It only dies because it cannot eat.

Are We There Yet?

After much deliberation Drew and I finally decided to move to the front range. The job in Durango would have been great but the town was a little too small, a little too touristy, and a lot too far away. So today we left my parents and the trailer and drove back to Big Bird in Colorado Springs. We are so sick of the car! It took us 5 ½ hours to get here and we were so tired of driving that we almost didn’t care about all the amazing scenery we drove by- Sand Dunes National Park and the Sangre De Cristo Range. Thank goodness for Red Bull and Gummy Bears. We finally made it back to civilization and are so happy to be in immobile housing. We plan to stay with Sean for a couple days while we line up some rental houses to see in Boulder and Ft Collins. The great thing about the job I took is that we can live anywhere between these two towns. I’ll be doing house calls and seeing patients at different assisted living facilities and nursing homes in Longmont, Ft Collins, Loveland, and Greeley. The job has great hours, no weekends, no holidays, and no call! I’m really looking forward to taking care of a patient population that is often forgotten and neglected and also to having a great work-life balance. And since we have so much flexibility with where we can live Drew will have more opportunities in his job hunt. We’re so excited to find a house to live in, meet new people, and have a real life again!

Drew’s fun fact: A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why

White Knuckle Week

Again, a lot has happened in the past few days. We spent the night in Vail Sunday night to break up our drive to Durango. We met up with Drew’s high school friend Lori who has lived in Vail for the past couple years. She tried her hardest to convince us to be fellow ski bums but we decided it wasn’t in the cards for us. The next day we wanted to see Aspen so we drove farther west to Glenwood Springs and then turned south. After seeing the town, which was very cute and very pricey (gas was a dollar a gallon more expensive than anywhere else in Colorado), we decided to move on. We had also always wanted to see Crested Butte and we figured there had to be a way to get from Aspen to Crested Butte without going the long way around. Our National Geographic atlas didn’t show a way so I looked it up on my iPhone. Sure enough it showed us a county road that took you through a 12,000 ft pass. We headed that way from Aspen, drove half an hour along a road lined with multi-million dollar estates, only to come to a fork in the road- the left fork had a “road closed” sign and the right fork was an unpaved road consisting of boulders and dirt. My iPhone route directed us towards the right fork and as we stood assessing the condition of the road (or lack thereof) a big Toyota truck came towards us. Drew flagged them down and asked them about the road. They said it was beautiful with incredible mountain views and waterfalls but they had to turn around because they popped a tire. The driver kept looking at our Subaru and asking what kind of tires we had, if it was four-wheel drive, and if it had a low gear. Finally he said, “You should be alright” which for some reason was reassuring enough for Drew to want to proceed. I was absent for this conversation or else there is no way in heck we would have proceeded. So down the sketchy road we went. It got more and more rocky and narrow and windy and scary. My stomach was doing flip-flops thinking about how we were going to pop a tire out in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone service- I was sure I was going to miss my interview in Durango the next morning. But of course I didn’t say anything to Drew because I was trying to be adventurous and be a good sport about it. But finally enough was enough, I thought ‘screw adventure, this is stupid’ and thankfully at the same time Drew said “I think we should turn around.” So we did. We drove back through Aspen, up to Carbondale and then finally south again. Ultimately it turned into a two hour detour, but hey, now we know of a great off-roading trip to do one day when we have bigger tires, a satellite phone, and no next-day appointments.

The drive after that was amazing alternating with ugly. We drove through awesome mountain passes in the Gunnison National Forest, then through flat, ugly, coal-mining towns, then finally the San Juans. These were by far the most impressive and rugged mountains we've seen in Colorado. Some are rocky and craggy and some are green with snowmelt waterfalls that reminded me of pictures of New Zealand. We drove the pass through Ouray, which is nicknamed ‘The Switzerland of America’', a name it definitely earned. The bad part of this drive was that our gas tank was on empty. Drew was supposed to stop in Ouray for gas but there were only two crowded gas stations at the north end of the town. We thought we’d just catch one on the south end of the town but there wasn’t one and the road just spit you straight into a windy mountain road with no place to turn around- we had to keep driving. This was the scariest drive of my life. It took us along a road with no guardrails and cliffs at the edge that you would roll down forever. So as we climbed that gas gauge went further and further below E and I was getting more and more freaked out. We could see down the other side of the mountain into the valley and there were no gas stations in sight. For the second time that day I was sure I wasn’t going to make it to my interview in Durango. But finally we got over the pass and were able to coast. We ended up coasting in neutral literally for twenty miles into the next town; my friend Debi was right that our trip was “very Jack Kerouac”. I’ve never been so happy to see a tourist town with gas stations and cell phone service. I was so happy I even forgave Drew for killing a chipmunk in the road; he said “Anne, it was either us or the chipmunk” which I understand, but still, it was sad- may he rest in peace.

We made it the rest of the way to Durango without incident and had BBQ and locally brewed Ska Brewing Co beer for dinner. Despite Drew’s best efforts I was able to attend my interview this morning. It went very well- the doctors were great and it would be a four day work week! But now we’re conflicted about where to live and which job to take. I’m almost more stressed about this decision than I was about surviving the drive to Durango- Drew’s white knuckle drive turned into my white knuckle job hunt. I haven’t officially been offered the job in Durango but Drew and I are going to have to decide what to do if they do offer it to me. When we decided to quit our jobs and move out here I thought I’d be stressing over not being able to find a job and running out of money; I never dreamed I’d be stressing over which great job opportunity to pursue. Right now we’re leaning towards taking the job in the front range, but we’re going to sleep on it… we’ll let you know!

p.s. Sorry there aren't more pictures, I was too busy freaking out to take any.

Drew’s fun fact: Dueling is legal in Paraguay, as long as both parties are registered blood donors.