Seems like yesterday...

Yesssss

I wasn't allowed to put this on my blog until it had officially begun so here it finally is - TRAVIS GOT A NEW JOB!! WOO! Anyone who knows him (or me) knows how long I, I mean, he has been waiting for this. Cue collective sigh of relief.

I was under strict instructions not to reveal this information too soon lest something go awry. (Because we all know that my blog is right up there with CNN and E! in terms of world news sources.) But he officially had his first day today so I thought it was safe. Now all he has to do is follow my dad's instructions of  "Don't get fired" and he should be okay. I don't really have more details (since he has only been there a few hours) but hopefully more will come. Until then, everyone can do the happy dance for the return of my, I mean, his sanity. :)

That was one floriforous hike!

This afternoon I went on a great hike with Krista, a friend from work. I see a lot more of these in our future! Between the 5-mile hike and the 1 hour drive we discovered a lot of eerie similarities. And I mean a lot! And speaking of a lot - there were SO many flowers on this hike it was amazing! The book did describe the hike as floriferous, and it did not disappoint.

Look closely and you can see the rain pouring down... we got a bit wet. Unprepared hikers!

The weekend was also filled with seafood at Joe's Crab Shack, drinks with friends, and birthday celebrations at Oskar Blues Brewery complete with delish coffee/toffee ice cream cake from ColdStone. YUM. 

Much love from the Rockies!

An unclaimed baggage STORE?

Did anyone else know about this? It's like the grab-bag of Goodwill donations! (Albiet, unintentional donations.) It is nice to know that if you have lost your bags you can go to AL to get buy your stuff back!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42592119

Obnoxious Music and Firearms, I mean.... Camping!

Camping this weekend got off to a bit of a late, soggy start. It rained the whole drive to the campground and we didn't arrive until about 10 p.m. Luckily Ben and Alicia got there early to snag us a spot! The area was awesome and our campsite neighbors made it even better by blasting 90s rock well into the night. And then the guns came out. Literally. None of us wanted to risk our life to tell them how obnoxious they were, so we just carried on with our card game and hoped they were shooting the other direction. Sweet. Aside from them, the weekend was great! The rain stopped just long enough for us to get our tent up on Friday night, and then we had a great day on Saturday. 

Heading out for our hike on Saturday - you can see the town of Leadville in the distance

Mt. Elbert is Colorado's tallest 14er... we DIDN'T go that way up to the summit. We took an easier hike to some lakes. We didn't summit, but I'm still a bit sore after 9.5 miles! (And what scarily resembles a stress fracture on my right foot courtesy of snug run. Apparently "walking it off" this weekend didn't really work. Dang.)

Awesome aspen forest

In a clearing

We made it to the lake! And there was a pretty busy beaver (ha) making this dam. I kept my eyes peeled, but didn't see him. 

Beaver hut on the left, camping buddies on the right

Sunday morning... packed up the campsite and headed to turquoise lake. (This is not the lake)

(This IS the lake)

Self-timer group photo!

Mt. Elbert in the distance... maybe some day I'll make it to the top! Definitely glad we hiked on Saturday and avoided all of those scary looking clouds

Much love from the Rockies!

Interesting

Today I saw my first bad student review at work - apparently I'm "not helpful at all." Which made me feel bad. Reading further into the evaluation survey I saw that said student also referred to the entire population of her host study abroad country as "duchebags". I felt less bad, realizing that maybe, just maybe, this was not necessarily a reflection on my work.

Today I got a nice e-mail from a different student thanking me for all I did to help her out in her summer study abroad program and letting me know that she wants to study abroad again in the spring with us. Made me feel good!

Today I called a student and got his voicemail (normal), and his message was in Spanish, then German, then English (less normal).

Today I also stole a super-cute picture of my new nephew from Lori to put on my blog. Look at that cute little face!

It's that time of year again...

... Crawl for Cancer! Just doin' my part to support cancer research. With a tutu.

 All girls Team Tutu! (Not really our team name, but I think it should have been.) The guy on the right wearing green looks obviously annoyed by us. 

Kate and Brynne "matching up"!

Helloooo, ladies

Why yes, that is Captain America talking to a Ninja Turtle

Roomies :)

I was super-excited to find out there is a Brothers in downtown Denver. Obviously, since I took this picture AND made sure to send Edum a text! (I guess I hadn't been downtown in a while since I didn't know this existed.) It is in the old Real World house, apparently. I didn't realize Real World was taped in Denver, either. I've never been one to keep up with pop culture, now, or 10 years ago! 

Scheming...

Does this mean it's time to go home? 

Until next year, CFC!

Training

This week has been training week at GlobaLinks Learning Abroad... The out-of-towners come in for the week and we all sorts of official things including, but not limited to, Minute-to-Win-It games (including head-banging, leap-frog, and chubby bunny. For those wondering, I got 14 marshmallows in my mouth! And yes, I almost vomited several times in the process. Gross), garden work and painting at the Boys and Girls Club, happy hours, Dutch song and dance, 80's workout outfits, and fish tatoos. And a bit of work training thrown in there, too.

Not a bad place to work :)

Also for those wondering, my team came in last in Minute-to-Win-It. Guess I won't make it on the show to win a million dollars.

Twin Sisters

Having been on few hikes this summer, I thought that Sunday would be a great opportunity to get one in and break in my new hiking shoes a la REI garage sale. Travis agreed and we were on the road by 8. (wow!) He has a great hike guidebook (and we all know how much I love guidebooks!) so I picked out a hike that was relatively close (near Estes), relatively short (7.5 miles roundtrip), relatively easy (rated "difficult", but at least it wasn't rated "strenuous"), and relatively quick (suggested hiking time 3-5 hours). HA. I'd like to see who completes that in 3 hours!! We were right on the upper end of that estimate. Plus 45 minutes. Or so. Sheesh. 

But it was a great hike nonetheless with some awesome wildlife sightings!

 The first of the wildlife... we noticed pinecones falling from the sky and looked up to see a squirrel perched on the tip top branch of this tree. He was biting off the pinecones and dropping them to the ground, and then biting off the tiny end of each branch and dropping at as well. Does anyone really know why squirrels do this? If not, I am going to continue to assume he was neurotic. 

 Finally getting above the trees, and the views are great!

Once we popped above the tree line it was all rocky terrain up to the peak. REALLY rocky terrain. As in, I'm-sure-I'm-going-to-twist-my-ankle-and-have-to-be-chopper-rescued-dang-it-why-didn't-I-buy-that-insurance rocky. 

Up at the top! We just hiked toward the antenna. 

Gorgeous day

Looking out from the top of Twin Sister #1. (Technically they are North Sister and South Sister...like I actually know which one we were on!)

There was a fire lookout here - now dismantled, unfortunately. Look closely and see 1915 carved into the rock, which was when the lookout was built. Look closely and use your imagination. 

Having a snack and relaxing out of the wind. 

Wildlife sighting #2. Well hello, marmot, you are cute but we are not feeding you. 

"Um Travis, he's getting kinda close to my toes!" (And the marmot moved on to the next people - overheard, "Hey dad, that beaver is back!" "Well quick, take a picture of it with Mom!") Ohhhhh my

We were going to scramble to the top of the other sister too, to see what we could see, but you see, it was THE WINDIEST PLACE ON EARTH!! You see? Seriously, I thought it was going to blow me over, especially with my legs a bit tired. So we took our summit self-photo and started to head down. (See how we are both holding each other's hat on? Really, THAT windy.)

Heading down through the rocks. The hike down felt sooo long (and our feet definitely needed a break from our new shoes). We finally approached the trailhead and saw...

Elk! Just grazing away

We saw about 6 of them, (spotted) baby included. So cool!!

Awesome ending to a great hike, and it took my mind off my tired feet and legs for a while. A large pink gatorade later and I'm good as new. Well, nearly.

Much love from the Rockies!