Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Meet the Rockies

Mid July seems so long ago! I left Memphis to head to Winter Park, CO where I was arriving early for a girls weekend with friends.  Having audio books for the car ride make it go so much faster! I arrived in Denver and decided to stop at the REI store, being told it was pretty impressive.  And it did not disappoint.  I got my last few items I needed for Sweden/Peru and headed out of town towards Winter Park.  By the time I arrived at the condo, it was dark and I had a hard time finding which condo was ours.  It seemed like it must be the one where there lights were on and a truck was in the drive.  Hmmmm...

I knocked on the door and a guy answered and we quickly worked out that I was arriving earlier than he was told and he was the handyman fixing some things in the bathroom before our girls weekend.  All worked out :)

I then got really lazy since I had wifi again and no real committments.  I did a lot of laundry to get the bedding ready for everyone but otherwise was a bit of a couch potato.  Sometimes when I'm somewhere completely new,  I get overwhelmed and just do nothing.  I'm also figuring out that when TV and internet are options, I'm horrible about being productive and/or going outside.  

Luckily Thursday night Stephanie arrived and then Friday morning her friends Stefanie and Bridget came.  We went to the Winter Park ski resort area for the day - during the summer it turns into a bike park and there was a big mountain biking competition going on.  All ages and sizes of competitors.  They also have a big luge/slide you can go down, which we did and it was awesome. I don't' seem to have any pictures from Winter Park, but Stephanie posted some.  Then we went grocery shopping to grill out for the weekend and even enjoyed the hot tub that night.  We were up in the mountains, so even in mid July it was cool enough for a jacket and jeans at night.  Saturday we went to the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) - I bought my annual National Park pass (only $80) and we drove about halfway through the park and did a couple of the short hikes - the skies kept threatening rain so we didn't wander too far.  On Sunday we headed to Denver and they dropped me off in town to see a friend who had been in Singapore with me but was now back in the US.  We had lunch at a really cute place and did a ton of catching up.  Then he dropped me downtown and I met the rest of the crew at Coors Field to watch a Rockies game.  Then we said our good-byes - Stephanie and I headed back to Winter Park for a last night.  Monday I started early and decided to continue our Saturday drive through the RMNP.  It was early enough there still weren't too many people and the people that were coming had come in the other entrance.  The weather was beautiful and the Rockies definitely impressed me after our first meeting.  

Some elk near the RMNP entrance

Stephanie's signature jumping picture

Maybe I knew this at one time, but it was interesting to know this is where the water splits

Stephanie and Stefanie on one of our hikes

Our lunch spot - we saw a momma moose and then her calf a ways off in the distance

The Rockies game - I couldn't even tell you the score or opponent :)

We saw Mr. Fox as we drove along one of the side streets in a small town

Several moose right outside Winter Park

Me & my driving clothes enjoying the drive through RMNP

I did one walk up to this view point.

Stefanie, Stephanie and me

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