Welcome to Colorful Colorado!

Who doesn't love a vacation? Especially after just about reaching my one year anniversary in WI. And what better place to vacation to then the place I really I wish I lived? COLORADO :)

My flight left bright and early Thursday morning where everyone's favorite airport security personal put yours truely through the full body scanner. The line took FOR-FREAKING-EVER. I do suppose if they want to see what I look like nudy pants at 4:30am, then who am I to stop them. I should be flattered, right? I think of my semi-nakie body scan as a special treat to them as, according to brand new data, (F as in Fat, 2011) "Wisconsin was named the 25th most obese state in the country" and "Wisconsin's adult obesity rate is 27.4 percent." And while I have my 'fat days' (c'mon girls, you know what I mean) I'm banking on the fact that I'm at least more attractive naked that about a third of the population of the state. (It's ok- you do not need to comment about this portion of my blog to verify or discount my beliefs)

Beautiful sky in Milwaukee before take off

My first day in CO was spent exploring downtown Fort Collins and shopping with the most wonderful gal I know, my mama. We went for an authentic Fort Collins bike ride (hello wheezing lungs, this is high altitude speaking) and finished the evening having dinner with some of my mom's friends who happened to be from New Zealand and Hungary so I got to become increasingly jealous hearing about all their travels, but gained a bit of info on my up and coming NZ vaca in November.

Friday morning I went to work in the morning with mom to see what she does and keep her company! That was just a tiny precurser to the rest of the days activities though.... when we finally got to bail on work, we drove up to Tip Top Ranch to go horseback riding! We got placed on the 2 most obese horses they have (Hey now, are they implying something here since I'm in from WI?!) and off we went! Of course being on the fat horses, they kept trying to stop to eat or fart. At least it was funny! And the scenery was beautiful. Pedicures followed our saddle burned butts!

Me and my fat horse, Fancy

I brought up the rear of our parade - so I got to the the bowel movements of each horse in front of me. Yum.

Our cute toes for all your blog followers with a foot fetish.

Friday night I drove down to Longmont, CO to meet with the wonderful Allison Sterk who I graduated GVSU echo with! I hadn't seen her since graduation and it was a lot of fun catching up (even though I'm wildly jealous of her as she now lives in Denver!!!)Alli and Me!

The weekend was where the most fun was at! Saturday bright and early we went white water rafting in the FREEZING COLD 38degreee snowmelt Poudre River. Sure we had wet suits on, but when that water hits you, if you weren't awake before, you are now! Thankfully, we were all pros and not a single one on our boat fell off (Thank God! Hypothermic shock does not sound like a great vacation adventure) I opted not to buy any photos of the event as I'm hard pressed to want to buy $75 worth of photos where I freezing and have an oh-so-attractive contorted 'this is my paddleing hard and trying not to fall out' face. Trust me, you aren't missing anything.

At the entrance of Mountain Whitewater Descents

Goofing off before the trip

Geared up (in a stinky wetsuit) and ready to go

The afternoon was spent at the very popular, book it 2 months in advance, New Belgium Brewery tour! It was a blast - or maybe that's just the 6 beers talking. Any brewery tour that ends in a twisty slide is ok in my book. I only wish I worked there as there was a climbing wall for employees and after a year of employment, you get a free bike!!! Children's Hospital of WI...you're slacking on the employee perks here!

Working off the beer before she even drank it

On the Fat Tire bike

Our post-rafting drunk faces.

I think this was #5....

The grade finale- the twisty slide!

Sunday we drove through the ever beautiful Estes Park and went hiking up Lily Mountain. It wasn't a crazy long hike - 4 miles total - but between the 1000 ft altitude gain and the nearly 10,000 ft summit, it winded you climbing up. But the view from the summit was breathtaking and absolutely worth the sore legs I had the next day. My photos don't do it justice. It was raining and thundering by the time we made it to the top so we weren't too keen on staying up there, which was a bummer, but at least the weather held out enough to make it up.
The rest of Sunday was spent exploring Boulder (and by exploring I mean shopping :P)

At the trailhead - before my legs started hurting

See me? I climbed way up on that rock to get some better pictures

Excuse the hat/rain hair. And believe me - the view was soooo much better than this!

Did I mention that after this hike, I have a love affair with my Vibrams? Well I do. They are fabulous.

Pretty! (The Mountains- not sweaty,bad hair me)

Monday I went to Swetsville Zoo with my mama! Swetsville Zoo is a collection of different creatures that the owner made from old scraps and farm equipment. I first went to Swetsville Zoo on my Colorado 2008 roadtrip with Nick. It was fun to go back and take a stroll down memory lane!

Mom at the zoo entrance

Here I was in 2008...

and now 2011!

2008...

2011!

We also visited Horsetooth Reservoir (Very pretty), but it was just too damn hot to get out and hike...so we just drove around and hopped out to take the occasional photo or two!

This sign was surprisingly hard to climb.

My time in Fort Collins was wrapped up in a very Fort Collins way, on a bicycle! It was a great ride complete with prairie dogs, a fox, and a bicycle crash (oops! I am my mother's daughter...and down I went!)

Prairie Dog (one of many!)

Foxy!

Oops! My scuff on John's expensive bike seat after my fall!

All in all - the trip was successful (minus the screaming babies on the flights, but hey, what can you do?)! I wish I could post pictures of how beautiful it actually is out there, but the camera just can't capture it. So if you haven't gone, I highly recommend it! I know I'm already planning my next trip!

See you all again after my move in August!

(On a side note.... it's always nice to come home after a week long vacation to clean up diarrhea cause the damn cat decided to eat 2 raw chicken breasts. I'll spare you this time..no pictures)

Is it just me, or did June FLY by?!

June went by soo quickly, I'm not even sure where it actually went! I meant to update my blog sooner that this, but I've apparently been having so much fun that I haven't been able to get to it! So if you'd please take a seat in my DeLorean as we go back about one month...and please don't touch the flux capacitor, thank you.

The first weekend in June was the much anticipated rock climbing for the first time outdoors adventure! I'd love to brag and say I totally kicked ass, but I won't, cause I didn't. I was thinking climbing outdoors would be easier than in a gym since you can choose whichever route up you want, but I was sorely mistaken. Just ask my arm and leg muscles and they will verify this soreness! I didn't make it to the top of any routes, but I did alright and I wasn't disappointed in myself one bit. Plus it was hot as Hades which didn't help. I think the biggest challenge of the day was not climbing itself, but rather trusting complete strangers who just learned how to belay with your life as you slowly start shimmying up a vertical rock face. But no big deal. I mean, c'mon, as if plummeting to the ground from a few stories up would be the worst thing to ever happen to me! But all went well and look ma! I still have all my appendages!

Jim got significantly higher than I did - can you see him up there?

Here I am! Going up up up!

So fashion saavy

The next day was spent at the Milwaukee Zoo as it was a free 'Children's Hospital Employee Appreciation Day!' You don't have to ask me twice to go to the zoo! Free snacks, drinks, and dinner were provided as well as an EPIC trip on the zoo train and a cow milking demonstration (oooooh ahhhh! Wisconsin is too damn cool for the rest of you! Who needs California anyways?)

My favorite Mold-A-Rama Machines! This one as a blue moose!

How cute is this guy!? He has a cleft palate so his tongue stuck out the side of his mouth.

The imitation is so close to reality, it's hard to tell the difference

It's only .25 to feed the goats! Who wouldn't want to?

Some girlfriends from work and I decided we needed to go out and that the best way to do this was to take a late night party cruise down the river and into Lake Michigan on the oh-so-fabulous Edelweiss boat (Note: at the time it was awesome. Upon passing the boat dock in the daylight a few weeks later, the Edelweiss looks like a special piece of work). For one small fee, we got an hour and a half boat trip with endless beer and nachos! What else could a girl ask for?! We met what had to be the largest group of short men congregated into one area ever, but thanks to the beer, had a fun time talking with them anyways. There was even a group sing-a-long of the Reading Rainbow theme song led by yours truly. Post boat cruis, I felt it necessary to ride the mechanical bull at the nearby bar. In a dress. Because I am One.Classy.Broad. It was a blast.

Who's the tallest person in this photo? ME!

This is the only nice picture of Sara and I

It's the Texan in me coming out!

The aftermath....

There was a baby shower thrown in there somewhere for one Miss Chelsie Vanden Heuvel who has to be one of the cutest pregnant ladies around. And I even won a game! That was a small small small victory and a short lived one as afterwards one of the other guests told us how she recently spent 7 months in Australia and prior to that spent 6 months running across the USA to raise money for MS! Talk about feeling lazy! (But really, what an accomplishment! I am fortunate to have the opportunity to meet such interesting and great people while living here!)

GreekFest was attended. Like other fests before it, it is just a tacky carnival with a specific food theme, but it was free and that gyro sure was tasty! Nothing like hanging around some carnies to feel real good about yourself and counting the number of mullets you see is always a tried and true American pastime.


Speaking of 'fests' though... The very end of June SummerFest started! It's actually still going on now ( I think it ends the 9th or 10th...) To those unaware, it is touted at the "World's Largest Music Festival" and they are not short of amazing acts to see! I could easily have sound someone worth seeing everyday of the festival, but I settled for just going on the first day and seeing my all time favorite "Jack's Mannequin" (same singer/songwriter as Something Corporate which, as you may recall, I purposefully moved to Milwaukee 2 weeks early about a year ago to see in concert). It was glorious (and I'm not just referring to the cheese sticks I ate!) I had a blast and the lack of sleep that night was definitely worth it. I would have liked to have been closer, but (contrary to popular belief) I'm not so much of a nut that I'll skip out of work and wait 10+ hours out in the hot sun for the show to start. I'd say on the nut scale, I'm more pistachio and a little less walnut.

SummerFest was so crowded - it was terrifying just walking around!

Waiting, waiting, waiting and waiting for the concert to begin.

Yea!

While we waited for the show to start, there was some EXCELLENT people watching (an insane # of girls in club wear - odd for outdoor concerts). The biggest faux pas was no shoes! EEEEW!

Since I've been here about a year - that means my lease it up! I opted not to renew (which inevitably is causing some issues with the apartment complex as they now begin their ritual of nickle and dime-ing me to kingdom come despite a great tenant track record) and instead signed a new lease on a charming little lower half of a duplex only 3 miles from work. Hopefully NOW I'll be able to cycle my little hiney on into work (unless it starts snowing in August!) Expect pictures sometime in August once I do the ever stressful move. By the way, I am now taking applications for moving help. Be advised that pizza and beer will be provided for your hard work.

We'll end this blog on my 4th of July weekend. This is the 1st 4th in a very long time that I didn't spend in Grandville! It was a little sad, but I made the best of it. It was a gorgeous weekend (I hadn't mentioned before that June's weather was a wee bit iffy - rather chilly and raining for the most par). It took long enough to get here, but it finally feels like summer ( I feel the sneers from California already, I know I know, it's felt like summer there for months and months and months) Sunday was a great day spent at the beach where I remarkably got some color other than white or red! It was followed up by a BBQ, fireworks and a bonfire. The actual 4th was fairly lazy as well with the majority of the day spent stretched out on a blanket in the park. Coveted 'Buffalo wieners' were grilled and beers were consumed (and from what we figure, both of these activities were slightly illegal in the area they were being done...) I missed a parade and any fireworks that day, but oh well. I have a feeling that this holiday is kind of an annual thing, so many next year.

Ahh - Sandy toes!

Look for me - I'm the white one in the picture!

Beautiful park day!

We forgot utensils for the brats (and buns) so I ate mine with tongs!

Upcoming shortly in July is a trip back to the mitten to visit friends and then out to Colorado!!!
Keep in touch!