We road above the tree line (11,500 ft) on Trail Ridge Rd after packing up camp and then headed down to Estes for a wonderful buffet brunch at The Other Side. With a full belly and a little champagne buzz we hung out at Estes's Heritage festival and enjoyed the tourist-trap shops for a while and K FINALLY got his funnel cake (about the only thing we didn't check off the list while home for the Fair). |
Monday, August 23
2010-08-22_Trail Ridge Road and Estes Park Heritage Festival
2010-08-21_Camping in Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park
We camped in Rocky Mtn this past Saturday in Moraine Park Campground. Worked up a good appetite on an 8 mile hike on a loop near the campground and definitely had a significant elevation gain as well. The weather was perfect, cool enough for the fire but not too cold and the campground was well-equipped, though could have used a few more bear lockers considering we were in the Jeep with the top half on. Although we didn't actually see much wildlife this time, there's always the feeling they are nearby! |
Paige is 7!!!
turned seven and we're saying Kaitlin turned four (we just made her
birthday the same as Paigey's). They got an early morning walk and a
special breakfast with cheese and treats :)
These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
Try it out here: http://picasa.google.com/
Weekend in Loveland/Fort Collins
friend AB lives in Loveland and was visiting Mississippi for a week
and we "house sat", taking full advantage of his beautiful yard (have
I mentioned that we have no grass in our backyard?) and wonderful
hot tub!
The drive up Hwy 25 with the doggies was a first and poor K just can
NOT settle down. Ha. Or rather, all three couldn't settle at the
same time to save our lives! Definitely made me rethink wanting to
take the girls camping.
Loveland is a cool little artsy down, from what I could tell. It was
old and quaint and reminded me of Philadelphia, MS A LOT. We didn't
actually spend much time in Loveland, other than to grab coffee as we
wanted to get on to Fort Collins for the day. Fort Collins was all
that I had heard it would be - a really cool town (and I intentionally
leave off "college" because it is large enough that it really doesn't
seem to revolve around CSU). CSU is a great addition to the town for
sure, as with any University but Fort Collins could stand alone too.
We made it to town in time to catch the weekly Farmer's Market- by far
the best one I've been to. Dogs were everywhere, all sizes and kinds.
Everyone's pooch is welcome (which seems to be universal across the
state really). After the farmer's market and seeing CSU campus, we
drove up to The Horsetooth Reservoir, which was literally 10 miles
(maybe) outside of town. No wonder CSU is called "Fort-Fun"- in the
winter you ski/snowboard and in the summer you go out on the reservoir,
who cares about class/college sports/etc. when you have all that
recreation so close! After our drive to The Horsetooth, which is
named for the shape of the rocks that surround the reservoir, we had
lunch in town at a sushi place that K frequented A LOT when he first
moved out to CO and I totally saw why- it was delicious! On a whim
(because we had heard there was no need to try if you didn't have
reservations) we went over to New Belgium Brewery for some "tastings"
along with all the other tourists! Ha. We ended up getting on the
tour list and had a great time touring the Brewery!! - minus the
metal slide at the end with gave us both surface burns. haha. That's
what you get for trying to go down a tiny, metal, spiral slide after
touring a brewery!
As always, we took lots of pics.
These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
Try it out here: http://picasa.google.com/
Thursday, August 12
Bears
Bear breaks into Boulder-area homeThis is at least the 4th news story that I have seen this bear season . . . I know there are more that I have missed and/or that simply have not been reported. It is still so crazy to me that bears are a reality here! It really is The Great Outdoors!!
By Jeffrey Wolf
9News
Posted: 08/12/2010 07:53:07 AM MDTUpdated: 08/12/2010 07:55:27 AM MDT
A bear broke into a home right through the front door on Thursday morning and began to look for food, according to the sheriff's office.
The Boulder County Sheriff's Office says the bear got in through the unsecured front door of a home near Lee Hill Road at Nugget Drive around 5:20 a.m.
Deputies say it rummaged through the food in the pantry and the refrigerator before it left.
The homeowners heard the bear and called the sheriff's office, but did not go downstairs while the bear was inside.
While it has left the home, authorities believe it is still in the area and the Colorado Department of Wildlife has gone into the area to search for the bear.
Get more news at 9News.com.
Wednesday, August 11
Monday, August 9
Reflections on the Fair
I'm sitting on the plane in Houston (written 8/4/2010), waiting for the next leg of my trip back to Denver and thought I'd finally do some reflecting from my first trip back to Mississippi since leaving last December. I had a great trip. I had a successful trip, in that I saw most everyone especially family as well as several friends that I wasn't sure I would have a chance to visit. Not much else could have been squeezed into this visit home. I am hoping that I have successfully lodged myself in MM's picture memory for now and that I will be home before she's had time to forget my voice but I'm not sure that is reality given she's only 11 weeks old. Honestly, when it was time for me to go I didn't feel like I had visited with MP enough or Y or Mom or Dad but in reality, short of being back for good that was about all the visiting we would have managed anyway.
I had a great Fair. All of my anxiety about dad was diminished (for the most part) as soon as we embraced and tears filled both our eyes. I know he missed me and I know he loves me. However, he still cannot accept my "leaving" him and I know that he probably never will – at least not as long as his perspective is that I left him not that I moved forward in my own way.
This is the first Fair that I felt like I got in good visiting time with old friends and family and I was glad for the time I had with them. For the most part, this Fair felt like any other and as if I didn't really live so far away- other than a sincere desire to spend more time with MP and MM. I realized that I never really was the type to just "be" at our cabin all that much anyway – for better or worse. Honestly, as far back as I can remember I had been spending more time away from our porch and visiting with other friends and always being told to sit down and catch up with my own relatives more. I definitely regret that trend now, but in the same breath not actually spending the night at the cabin didn't seem all that much of a stretch this year after all was said and done. With all that being said, I do hope that next year K and I will be at our cabin, it's how it should be regardless. [Please see previous post with photo slideshow of our Fair pictures- they really give a great depiction of the Fair]
K and I had a great fair all in all. We really enjoyed being at the McCls cabin. We felt so comfortable and at home, and truthfully it was nice to have an escape from the circus at the M cabin! (Not circus in a bad way but there is just always TOO much going on there and not enough relaxing.) K is such a great boyfriend and he was supper great at the Fair. He just helped out with anything and everything he was asked to do and even picked up on times when help was needed without being asked. He took MP to the midway all on his own, held MM at his own request, and kept the coolers drained and iced down at all times (this may sound silly but getting ice from the iceman and keeping a good stock at the cabin is a Large part of the Fair). He let me visit and "disappear" for hours at a time, knowing I was caught up in one conversation or another with some relative he had never seen before! I think he felt like he got to visit with everyone as well and had a pretty good fair by all accounts. However, he did have some random physical ailments – ankles swelling like crazy, stomach (no surprise given no meat for 24 days), chigger bites (who knows how he got those) . . . haha! I love him so much and fell more in love with him through the week because he was all the man I could have ever asked for or imagined with all the craziness going on around us.
Food/Eating deserves its own paragraph. I was not hungry from the moment we arrived at the Fair until the moment I arrived back at the Jackson airport a few short hours ago – given I did not go more than 3 hours without food in hand the entire 12 days in Mississippi. NO, I am not exaggerating. Just when I would think I was going to take a break on the food, someone would say they were cooking up something good and I wasn't, rather I couldn't seem to pass anything up! My first meal was boiled shrimp with strawberry/walnut salad and homemade poppy seed dressing and my last meal was crock pot roast and homegrown green beans and cream corn. If it's American food, I believe I had it in the last 12 days and as a matter of fact I probably had it twice! We would have breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night dinner every night. (Yes, I am blown up like a balloon but one of the ones with a big ass Happy Face on it!!) I feel like I should list out the meals they were so exquisite but I think your imagination will do it better justice.
We successfully surprised MP on Saturday as well. I really just assumed that she would have overheard, at least, someone saying that we'd be there on Saturday but everyone was in on the gig and kept the secret. When she came into the Cabin from the Midway and saw us, words cannot describe her emotions – mainly because she was literally speechless and simply hugged me as tight as she could for at least a full minute and even then did not want to let go. It was the sweetest thing ever. My only regret with my move to Denver (although regret is not at all the right word) is that I can't be there more for MP. I just hope that through my being out here she gets to fully experience the mountains and this part of the country like I never did and that her interests are peaked to see and do more outside of Mississippi and the South. I don't think there is anything at all wrong with living your whole life in the same place; however, I do strongly believe that you should travel AT LEAST. I also believe that there's no excuse for NOT traveling, be it air, bus, train, or simply good old fashioned road-tripping.
I realized quickly that coming back to Denver this time would be a whole different set of emotions than when I moved out in December. Mainly after seeing MM and realizing how much she would change between now and when I see her again- I was really overcome with emotions on that thought. Also, just allowing myself to realize that I do miss my family but mostly my sister- not that I hadn't already realized it but I guess I recognized how much my family really misses me this trip. At times in Denver the last few months, I have honestly not been sure. Although, as I was driving back from taking K to the airport in NOLA for his flight back I picked up Thacker Mountain Radio and the author (whose name has now escaped me) was reading from his memoir about how to move forward in the U.S. the Irish immigrants had to essentially leave a lot of their "culture" behind. Anyway, I was struck by the passage that said how often times to move forward, one has to leave the familiar and comfortable behind and is often misunderstood as turning their back on those their leaving behind. I felt like all my brooding over the last several months had just been summed up by some random author on a local radio station (and Why hadn't I said it so eloquently already!) Seriously though, that was exactly what I and my family for that matter have been experiencing. And it makes sense to me why they are having such a hard time being interested in my experiences here (other than the job front of course) since my move. They feel like I have left them behind, but yet I feel like I have made a huge step forward for my life. Of course I recognize this is an age-old concept that has been at the root of much more serious feuds than my meager family-feud!
And here I just have to interrupt this sentimental mumbo jumbo to say that I am about 40,000 feet high between Houston, TX and Denver, CO and I believe that I just smelled fried fish on this airplane!! I don't think my body has quite transitioned yet from Mississippi to Colorado!
Being home was great and it was hard to leave MP and Y at the airport and MM too, though she was quite content in her car seat. However, I am so happy to be seeing K in just a few more minutes and I realize more than ever that he is my future and Colorado was the right move for me and in the right time. I am so very happy to say that I live in Denver. I am so proud of me for taking this leap. I am so hopeful of what is in store for me in this upcoming year. And I understand why it is so difficult for my family to show and/or express any sense of pride in me or my decision to move- I really do understand the difficulty that they have had in letting me go and honestly, and maybe weirdly, that is comforting too. Everyone needs to feel so loved that they are so sorely missed and/or held on to- it's really not all a bad thing at all.
I'm proud of myself and feel confident in my decisions and that's all I need.
Sunday, August 1
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