More from the Mile High

While exploring Rocky Mountain National Park could have been enough for anyone on a trip to Denver... it certainly wasn't for me and the CO gang... we packed in a lot and had a blast! Every moment we weren't working, Jonathan was my tour guide... and some awesome places we did see.

One night we were there we had dinner at "The Fort" -- based on Jonathan's dinner performance, he was 'crowned' with Buffalo horns...
The Fort is an awesome restaurant a little ways out of the city, but open even on labor day. I encourage you to try some traditional Colorado fare... as the Fort calls itself "the essence of Colorado."
The fort has an adobe style and even a huge teepee in the middle of the structure.

One afternoon we headed out to Boulder for some University of Boulder comparison shopping... a beautiful backdrop for a campus community...

UC Boulder

And some great opportunities for shopping on the promonade with Anthony and Jonathan.

Downtown Boulder... for those familiar with the Commons in Ithaca, it felt very similar... just a little more fresh.

Look at that sunshine!

One afternoon we skipped over to Red Rocks, which provided some fantastic scenery for great photos and an excellent work-out while we explored. Below is the view up from the stage. We felt so cool standing where so many incredible artists have performed. Jonathan had to showcase his "air guitar talent" just so he felt like he fit in.

How tiny the stage looks from the top.... Jonathan and I on the stage...

What we didn't really think about was all the stairs we'd have to climb to get back up...

One night we got some tickets to a Colorado Rockies game. I called my Denver-based cousin and we met up with some SU alumni in the area for a night out on the town...

That's my cousin Sue and I in the middle... we had some good seats!

The very last day, on our way to the airport we headed out to the Wild Animal Sanctuary. Jonathan had been before and felt really compelled to return with gifts for the rescued animals and to show me this incredible place.

The sanctuary has an incredible mission and serves hundreds of lost animals, and it was so neat to see so many happy rescued animals so far from their natural homes.

There were big black bears...
Roaming on acres and acres of land....

All set up to mimic natural habitats...

There were lots of tigers... this group more newly rescued and brought to the sanctuary.

All in all a pretty cool trip and learning experience... the Denver area had lots to offer visitors and one day, I hope to go back for more exploring.

A Rocky Adventure

Back in the fall I packed a lot of sightseeing into a 5-day, Denver-based, work trip. In fact I did so much sight-seeing, I'm pretty sure it took me this long just to sort through the photos. In between school visits, social media programs, breakfasts with college counselors, and lots of recruitment communications... my good friend Jonathan showed me the ropes of the Wild West.

We took an early flight in that first day so we could drive out passed Estes Park for some Rocky Mountain National Park exploration. The photos from that day were just gorgeous.

The views were just awesome from every angle and location...

We even saw some Buffalo roaming (they might have really been Elk, but I like the imagery of roaming buffaloes), right from the road in our car... it was really neat.

You could climb through the whole park in your car (with lots of places to park and take photos)and it was incredible to see the climate/environmental changes on the way up...

We were there the week of the big Boulder, CO fire that made news everywhere. In fact it had just started the morning of this (below) photo and many people on the trails with us didn't yet know what was going on...

Beside the elk, we also got up close and personal with different types of wildlife that brave these climates... it was neat to see different animals and birds as we climbed higher and higher... this bright blue bird spent some time singing us a song...

And they certainly weren't afraid of us... this fat little chimpmunk snuggled right into this little girls lofty perch:


I also made Jonathan do some climbing for more photo ops...
While we climbed we added layers and layers to our outfits... it's a good thing we had our suitcases with us.



Clearly we had some sun/shade/wind issues in our posed photos... but still glad we made the climb.
Totally worth it for this awesome view:
We ended our journey at about 12,000 feet... not because we couldn't go a bit higher, but mostly because we had important dinner plans and had to get back. The last area we saw though is classified as tundra... it was such a neat (albiet very cold and windy) atmosphere...


A lot less green, no trees, much more desolate:

It also got so much harder to breathe as we got higher, you could really feel how thin the air was here... it was exhausting just to walk from the car up a 1/4 mile path.

It felt like we could just see forever... and in fact we were told some days you can see four states from the park... I'm pretty sure we never knew just exactly which direction we were facing to work that out, but we did see lots of cool things.

Definitely a place I'm glad I spent some time at, and hope the next time you're near you'll bring a picnic lunch and block out the whole day. You won't be dissapointed.

9,000 Feet

10 days on a trip with bus loads of teenagers driving across the country may not be your cup of tea... but it may have just been the best week of my summer.

We left Friday July 31st after work and drove for 34 hours straight (or some such rediculous number) watching a collection of great 80's baby movies along the way... making me realize how much of an age difference is now between me and high schoolers. We reached Colorado Springs LATE Saturday night and proceeded to check into 20 hotel rooms at the local Best Western. Up early again, we were on the road to Buena Vista- with a quick stop at the red rock formation of the Garden of the Gods. We had lunch in Buena Vista- a suburb of a small town kind of place, and then started heading up and up and up... til we reached Frontier Ranch at about 9,000 feet.

Camp sat amidst the Collegiate Peaks and at the entrance to the Mt. Princeton trail. It's a place where beauty surrounds and magesty reigns. The magnificence was magnified by the fact that the camp trip I was chaperoning was for the Christian group YoungLife... and we were reminded that God created this beauty for our enjoyment.

And enjoy it we did. From rock-climbing, repelling, hiking, horse back riding, ropes courses and ridgerunners to swimming, running, playing, water sliding and bracelet making. It was a great week, in an unbelievable place. If you're ever asked to go to Young Life's Frontier Ranch... know that it's a privelege. Drop your life and go, it's well worth it (even with the 550 teenagers).

Enjoy the photos!