MmmBop. August 26, 2008

Picture links in BLUE.

 

P2 is here!  By P2 I mean, Danielle Poynter.  My partner is crime…my other half…the only person I can hold an entire conversation with by just making obnoxious noises.  Yeah, that’s her.  We go from jumping off bunk beds into a pile of blankets, to jamming to MmmBop by Hanson, to sliding down hallways while wrapped up in blankets.  Yes, we do this totally sober…that’s the sad part.  It was nice re-connecting our dumbness over the weekend.  I haven’t had a chance to hang out with her probably since we dormed together freshman year of college.  “Sounds like there’s a war going on in there.”  That pretty much sums it up.  I’m glad some things never change!!!

 

Danielle got here on Thursday, August 21st at 10:23pm.  She was pretty much right on time.  I pulled up to the airport curb right as she was walking out.  Couldn’t have asked for better timing!  It was the start to an almost perfect weekend.  Yes, ALMOST perfect.  I’ll explain later.  Before her trip, we caught up over Facebook.  It was a nice little introduction before she got here.  And we were able to catch up on each other’s lives.  The drive back to my house from the airport consisted of non-stop conversation about family, jobs, school, life, etc.  We pulled in my drive-way around 11:30pm and decided it was too late to do anything.  I gave her a mini tour of the house and we hung out in my room for the rest of the night.  She INSISTED to sleep on the floor, so I got her a few blankets and tossed her some pillows.  I know, she’s weird.  We stayed up having “girl-talk” till almost 1:30am.  It was nice to just hang out and catch up.  There was no “I haven’t seen you in a while” awkwardness.  We got right back to the normal Katie/Danielle issues.  It was almost like we picked up right where we had left off and by 2am we were sound asleep. 

 

Friday we were both up by 9ish and had previously decided to do a hike in the morning.  We took our time getting ready, grabbed some bananas and water, and we were out the door by 10ish.  We headed north to a place called Tent Rocks National Monument.  It was totally out in the middle of nowhere, but so worth every minute of the 45 minute drive…and seeing a vendor on the side of the street selling “Watermelon, blessed by Jesus.”  After greeting the lonely, but very friendly Mexican at the ranger station, we headed back a gravel road for about 5 miles until we came to an unmarked parking lot.  We figured that was it.  We parked, grabbed our stuff, fumbled around a little, and we were off.  Easy hike we thought.  Pretty flat, cool scenery, and met some extremely nice people.  We had heard the hike got to be pretty steep…but steepness was nowhere in sight, so we kept pushing along.  After about a quarter mile, the trail got to be extremely narrow and we went through some caves and rocks.  Some of the paths were only as wide as our feet.  It was very interesting place!  As we hiked through the rocks we snapped a ton of pictures, had some good talks, and reminisced old times.  Well, the friendly people were right.  The last lag of the hike was almost straight uphill and Danielle took a nice fall…because she wasn’t paying attention (like always).  Although it was clearly marked, some turns were a little tricky.  But we took our time, had some water, and made it to the top easily!  What a view.  You could see for miles!!  The tent rock formations are amazing.  It’s unreal how natural disasters can create such amazing formations.  These tent rock formations were caused by volcanic eruptions billions of years ago.  It’s truly breath-taking.  We stayed up at the top for a while taking silly pictures and talking with our new friend from New York who “almost took a shit” because he thought he dropped his knapsack over the edge.  Typical New Yorker…huge accent, dark hair, nice looking, tattoos, earrings, and very funny!  He was taking a video on his cell phone for his wife, and he made sure we were in it and made us say hi to her.  He also insisted on saying “say shit” instead of “say cheese” before he took our picture.  Really cool guy!  We also met a nice family, although didn’t talk to them much.  It was a mom and dad and their 2 kids (probably ages 2 and 4).  They were just heading back down as we got up.  As they slowly got their backpacks back on and were getting situated for the hike down…the little boy ripped the loudest fart you would ever hear in your life.  Danielle and I wanted to crack up so bad, but we couldn’t.  The dad says “THOMAS!!!” and we just look at each other and think “did that huge fart really come out of that tiny kid?”  They left, and we laughed for 5 minutes straight!  We had a good laugh, ate some cheese crackers, re-fueled, took some more pictures, and headed back down.  The walk back down didn’t take near as long and we couldn’t stop talking about how we were so glad we did this hike!  We ran into a few of the same people we saw on our way up.  One older man was telling us about a Margarita bar in Santa Fe and said we HAD to go.  They have over 160 different kinds of margaritas and he says the food is wonderful too.  After that hike…being out in the sun all day…a margarita didn’t sound half bad!  But then Danielle realized she didn’t have her wallet or ID and we decided not to go and save it for another day.  Overall, it was about a two mile hike and took us a few hours…considering all the playing around we did.  On the ride home we talked about what we were going to do later and we jammed to a play-list I had made consisting of all the old songs we used to listen to.  At home we laid down for a few hours and watched a movie.  We decided it would be fun to go downtown and see Route 66 and grab some drinks at Maloney’s.  Around 4 we took showers and got ready and headed downtown.  Maloney’s wasn’t as crowded as I thought.  Considering we did get down there at 6ish.  We grabbed a table outside on the patio and ordered two Corona’s and chips and cheese.  As we were drinking our Corona’s I get a text from Adam asking what we were up to.  I tell him we’re down at Maloney’s and I extended the invite.  He met us down there a little later and had some beers with us.  Danielle and I decide it would be a great idea to start ordering shots.  We had a Kamikaze, Tequila, and a Purple Hooter (which Danielle knocked over and broke the glass)…along with 3 huge Corona’s.  Needless to say, we were having a good time.  Danielle gets up to go to the restroom and about 3 minutes later a security guy came up to me saying “your friend won’t be coming back in.”  That was a bust for the almost perfect weekend.  Apparently she “stumbled” coming out of the bathroom.  I find her outside on the street corner crying hysterically.  Adam and I comfort her and tell her its okay and everything’s fine!  Adam drove us home all while Danielle cried the entire way and I was on the phone with Justin for our weekly drunk dial.  5 miles from home I get a nasty feeling in my throat and make Adam pull over.  Yes, I puked.  I guess it’s because I hardly ever drink anymore and wasn’t used to it.  For those of you who know me best know I never puke!  This was crazy!  We get home around 1 and go straight to bed.  Seriously.  I woke up at 5am to go to the bathroom…and I was still in my same outfit.

 

Saturday morning came too quick and I’m pretty sure we both woke up still drunk.  We had no energy to get out of bed or do anything.  So we laid around all day, watched some tv, and hung out.  Later we decided it would be a good day to head up to Santa Fe and do some window shopping and eat at Maria’s (the margarita place the guy from the hike told us about).  We finally got motivated to take showers and get ready…but somehow, Danielle’s bra and flip-flops had disappeared causing a wardrobe mal-function for about a half hour!  Oh well, forget it….and we were out the door and heading up to Santa Fe around 2.  Turns out there was a huge Indian Market thing going on in Santa Fe, so parking was terrible and it was mega crowded.  I finally found a spot (I think it was illegal), but I grabbed it.  We walked around the market, in and out of a few stores (I bought a turquoise and silver ring), people watched, and called it good.  People who come to visit are amazed that Santa Fe doesn’t have an actual “downtown,” it’s just a plaza with a few art stores and restaurants.  Not too much to do, but it’s fun to experience it, and that’s all she wanted to do.  After about an hour or so of walking around, we both got hungry and made our way to Maria’s.  It was a hole-in-the-wall type of place, but sometimes those are the best.  There wasn’t a wait, so we sat right away.  We starred at the margarita menu and decided on peach and pomegranate.  I think the waitress hated us.  It was our first time there, so we took forever ordering (there were so many flavors to choose from).  She checked our ID’s and informed us that the people sitting next to us were from Ohio too!!  So we chatted with them for a minute, but they were just finishing and leaving.  The margaritas finally came and we immediately thought it was necessary to critique…because we’re good at it.  These margaritas SUCK!  We can’t believe people come from all over the country to check out this place.  Now we know why they have so many different flavors….seems like they just take whatever juice and dilute with alcohol…you can’t even taste the flavors.  What a waste, so we only had one margarita each and split fajitas and a quesadilla…and we were outta there.  Not to mention the rude waitress.  The drive home was relaxing.  The sun was just setting, and the nightly storm was stirring….so Danielle snapped a few cool pictures.  We were easily home by 8:00 with nothing to do and still hung-over from the Maloney’s fiasco.  In the midst of Danielle’s cry-fest on the way home from Maloney’s, she somehow managed to take off her bra and flip-flops and leave them in Adam’s car.  We sat down on the couch and turned on the TV and in comes Adam “Uhm, did you leave stuff in the backseat of my car?”  The mystery was solved!  As we were channel surfing…we were talking about shows that we watch and Danielle had mentioned Entourage.  I love Entourage!!!  Sometimes Adam and I tape random episodes, but we didn’t have any saved.  We decided it was a good idea to go rent some episodes!  We were off to Blockbuster.  We found Season 1, episodes 1-8, so we grabbed them and headed home.  We watched the first 5 episodes and could hardly keep our eyes open anymore.  Right as we were about to turn it off, Adam comes walking in with a Corona in hand ready to start drinking.  We felt bad, but we were absolutely exhausted!  We pooped out on him, and went to bed.

 

After a really good night’s sleep we got up around 9am on Sunday ready to go!  We decided to go on another hike…this time to Santa Fe National Forest to see the Jemez Hot Springs.  We left around 9:30, got up there a little after 10, stopped at the Ranger Station…had a run-in with a typically rude Mexican (again), and we were on our way up into the mountains.  Luckily I had been there before because the park ranger we talked to acted like he could care less about helping me.  I simply wanted to know where the trail was to the hot springs and he began his one run long sentence without giving me a map expecting me to know where I was going.  The drive looked familiar and I ended up remembering exactly where the hike was.  The first hike we pulled up to was Battle Ship Rock…but it was a long hike and we weren’t up to it.  But we did hang out and play by the creek for a while…and of course…took funny pictures!!  So we opted for the .75 mile hike to the hot springs.  On the way we stopped at Soda Dam and took some pictures as well.  The hike to Spence Hot Springs was a little difficult to navigate.  At first the trail was clearly marked, then started to branch off and lead other ways.  Once we had a good idea where we were going, it was easy and led us right up to the hot springs.  If you are unfamiliar with natural hot springs, know this….they are popular with the nudist colony.  I know that now!  We spot two or three nudists hanging out in the hot springs just going about their normal ways.  One guy had a whole color of food and a watermelon.  The other guy was talking to another couple.  Danielle and I minded our own business, took some pictures, hiked around a little, and headed back down.  It was a little weird, but whatever.  There was another tail a little further up that led to the Jemez Falls, but it was about a 10 minute drive and a 45 minute hike, so we decided against it and headed home.  The drive alone was worth it.  We saw some really neat rocks and lots of awesome views.  We were home around 1:30, sat down for a second, then took showers and headed down to Old Town Albuquerque.  Danielle wanted to do a little shopping and sight-seeing, so we did just that (Dad…click here!).  She bought a few shot glasses and a T-shirt.  We had a two-hour limit on where we were parked so we headed out.  Our stomachs were growling and we were craving huge margaritas!!  I asked Danielle what kind of food she felt like and since she loves Mexican, we opted for a place called Garduno’s.  Yummy!!!   We ordered two margaritas (raspberry and cranberry), a quesadilla, and a taco salad.  It was Danielle’s last night here, so we decided to make the most of it and order another round of margaritas (peach and pineapple), and another round (strawberry and cranberry).  Needless to say…these margaritas were waaayyyy better than the one’s from Maria’s.  These margaritas made for fun conversation.  We reminisced high school, senior trip, proms, homecomings, etc.  It was a great time, but it was time to leave before the waiter convinced us to have another round.  On the drive home we had the windows down and we were jamming to old school music…Mmmbop, Jimmy Eat World, Something Corporate, etc.  We got home and said “why stop now?” so we cracked open some Corona’s and hung out on the back patio.  The last few Corona’s went fast so we went to get more.  By the time we got home, we realized that we picked up a 24 pack of 7 ounce bottles.  Oops.  So we easily killed half of that case.  By then, the music was up probably way too loud, and we found it entertaining to climb on the stone wall in the back yard and take a ton of pictures.  Not too sure why.  After all this fooling around and realizing it was going on 11pm, Danielle had not started packing, and I had to work in the morning.  Oops.  So we called it a night.  Turned off the music, went inside, and headed to bed. 

 

Monday came too quick.  We got up around 7:30, started to get ready, Danielle packed, and we were out the door.  I took her to the airport, we said our goodbyes, and I was on my way back to the daily grind at work.  Boo!

 

A good time was had by all.  I’m so glad some things never change.  Danielle is one of my greatest friends, and I’m so glad we were able to re-connect!!  We had such a blast and I can’t believe we did so much!!  I’m still exhausted! 

 

Meanwhile…back on the home-front…

 

Whit got a job in Nashville, TN.  She will be the Editorial Assistant at a top publishing company.  I am way excited for her!!!!!  She hopes to be moving this weekend.  She starts on Sept. 2nd.  Her and mom drove to Nashville yesterday and found an apartment 5 miles from her work.  Everything seems to be working out perfectly for her and I’m so excited!  I can’t wait to visit!!

23 Days. August 12, 2008

“As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.”
– Vincent Van Gogh

 

I know I probably shouldn’t worry about things that I can’t help.  Sometimes life takes weird and twisted turns and you can’t help but to sit back and wonder “why?” and leave it at that.  I guess ultimately I wonder “why do bad things happen to good, innocent people?”  Life just isn’t fair sometimes.  It’s hard to see close friends go through life-threatening events and all you can do is sit back and tell yourself “there’s nothing you can do.  What’s done is done,” especially from 1,700 miles away.  It makes me want to be a better friend and help out in anyway I can.   I know his life will be changed forever and he will have a totally different look on things now.  Not to mention he will definitely be more aware of his surroundings.  It just amazes me the second something terrible happens to someone, their tone of voice and outlook on life changes immediately and without hesitation.  I can’t even imagine what he is going through right now and I just wish I could be there to help him cope.  It also saddens me to think there are actually crazy people out there in this world who get a rise out of this garbage.  How can you treat innocent people like this?  It’s not fair to the people who never do anything wrong in life.  He’s just another normal guy who loves sports and music, is dedicated to his family, has an urge to travel, and anything else that comes along with just being a regular guy.  He’s never harmed anyone or anything…so why do these things happen to such normal people?  I was told the other day to “not get worked up over it.  There’s nothing you can do.”  I hate being told that.  My close friend’s life was put on the edge and all I can do is worry.  It’s not something you want to hear everyday.  How can I not get worked up over it?  Yes, for the most part, I consider myself a pretty easy-going/laid-back person, until it comes to things like this.  My emotions pour out and I start to freak.  As he was telling me the whole story over the phone the other night…I was trying to be a strong friend and not let emotions get the best of me, but I failed.  I held it together at first, but the tears started crawling down my cheeks as the story progressed.  Over the course of 5 years…I’ve lost 10 close friends and family members.  The last thing I want to happen is to see someone else go…especially for absolutely no reason at all.   At least he can replace some things.  You can’t replace a life!  Your life is much more important than your belongings.  Just be glad you have the support of your family and friends.  You know they will be behind you 120%. 

 

I tell him “what doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger.”  Although, I feel kind of weird telling that to a strong person already.  But it’s true.  When times get tough, all you can do is overlook the bad and focus on becoming a stronger person in the end.  Concentrate on the good and how you can build from this.  It’s not worth sitting back and thinking about how you could have fixed or changed things in this situation.  You can’t focus on “what could have been,” even though sometimes it’s only natural to think that.  In the end, you will be able to grow from this experience if you set your mind to it.

 

This should teach everyone a lesson.  Lock your doors and windows, hide your valuables, and please be more aware of what goes on around you!!  You never know what could happen these days.  There are some crazy people in this world and if you don’t know what’s going on around you, your life could change in an instant!  Be aware of the people who you can trust.

 

My heart goes out to you…you know who you are.  You will be a much stronger person after you get through this.  I have so much faith!!  Thanks for being such a great friend and I know you will pull through this.  It will definitely take some time for things to get back to normal, but that’s expected.  You are such a great guy and I wish you only the best from here on out.  Never give up! 

 

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
– Michael Jordan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucky Denver Mint. August 6, 2008

So yesterday was a hella weird day and I feel the need to vent.  So I’m going to.  Deal with it.

The day started out okay…just like any other day.  I was content at work doing a few little things and trying my best to not look at the clock every 5 minutes or so.  I’m excited I finally have a few things to work on.  One being a “Company Cycle” graphic that I am putting together for our Marketing Department.  The original graphic was created in a 3-D program a few years ago and I was not able to make the appropriate changes.  So they had me re-create it in Photoshop (not wanting it to be in 3-D form anymore).  I spent just about all day working on this new graphic and sent it over to Marketing for a review.  I got an immediate response saying they wanted to keep the original graphic and make one simple change to it.  I don’t get it?  Why did they want me to re-create it in the first place?  Talk about a huge waste of time when I could have been working on something else!!  I guess all jobs sometimes come with these annoyances…but the thing that I get most aggravated about is that fact that no one acknowledges how much time I just wasted doing that.  I don’t get a “thanks anyway” or “sorry I had you do that for nothing” or “maybe we’ll use it later.”  Nothing.  The end product took me about 10 minutes and clearly I spent all day re-doing it for nothing.  Normally it wouldn’t bother me, but I had other things I could have been working on.  Whatever.  Today is a new day.

The above frustration also goes hand-in-hand with my ultimate annoyance in New Mexico.  The people I deal with on a day-to-day basis.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…people here SUCK.  New Mexicans can clearly kiss my ass.  They could care less about you and all they care about are themselves.  I’ve learned that being from out of town no one wants to accept you.  The people here are extremely clicky and want nothing to do with an outsider.  I hate to say this, because I’m usually pretty easy to get along with.  But if it’s not a two-way street, than forget it.  I’ve put myself out there to meet new people, but I’m slowly giving up and not caring anymore.  I’m very happy to know that it’s not just me who sees this either.  It’s anyone who isn’t from here.  I had a long talk with the new roommate, Bo, last night (who is from Colorado).  I’m not too sure how we got on the topic of conversation, but we ended up talking about how different the people are here.  Like me, he also can’t stand the people here and has had a really hard time meeting friendly people.  It’s such a relief to know that I’m not the only one who has been going thru this.  Although I’ve been finding it strange how most people who are from out of state meet other people from out of state.  I actually met a great guy who is from Florida a few weeks ago.  We’ve been on a few hikes, went out for drinks, had dinner, etc.  Really cool guy, but only as a friend.  I’m not looking for anything more right now.  It’s just really crazy how out of towners are drawn towards each other here.  I think a lot of my frustration on this topic sparked after my trip to Denver over the weekend.  It just amazes me how different people are in different parts of the country.  When Jamie and I went out one night for dinner, we ended up meeting 3 guys who were totally awesome to hang out with.  We hung with them all night, they bought us drinks, and we shared some great stories.  I told Jamie that if we had been out in downtown ABQ, this would never happen.  Another reason I would love to move to Denver!!

…Along that line, I started going to the gym again this week (time to myself where I actually don’t have to worry about anything else…and I love it).  So, every once in a while I run into this great looking guy while I’m there.  We are there for the same amount time about 3 times a week.  I’ve even seen him at the grocery store and liquor store before.  So every now and then we’ll give each other a look that kind of says “I know I’ve seen you outside of the gym before.”  Haha, sounds lame, but it’s true.  I so badly want to say hi to him, but I think it would be awkward.  Oh well.  Like I said, I’m not trying anymore.  If someone wants to say hi to me, then they can initiate it.  I’m done.

So after the gym I get home around 7:15ish, change clothes and eat some tuna for dinner.  Come to find out, the cats were in my room all morning while I was at work chewing thru my stuff.  I found a few broken rubber bands, a pair of my pants were chewed at the bottom of the legs, a picture frame knocked over on the floor, and Adam’s Birthday gift was slowly being unwrapped.  Great.  Just perfect to go along with my already awesome day!  So I scour my room to see if anything else was out of place or destroyed….luckily nothing else was damaged.

Finally, I get a second to sit down and get on my computer.  I’m trying really hard to not get on Myspace so much anymore.  I’ve been on once since last Friday….I think that’s pretty good.  I find it pointless and it’s getting pretty annoying.  I mean, honestly…people leave you dumb comments, send you spam, post stupid pictures, and in the end…what’s it all about?  If you really need to tell me something or leave me a “comment,” why can’t you just pick up the phone and call me?  Not that I hate Myspace (it’s actually totally addicting in a weird way), I’m just slowly jumping off the band-wagon, I guess.  Anyway…back to my story (another reason, I’m jumping ship), I’ve learned that people are so two-faced.  You see things posted on people’s pages and can’t help but wonder “what the hell?”  So-called friends will say things to you in person, but put up a totally different act on Myspace.  Real cool.  I’m over it and that’s all I’m going to say about that. 

Speaking of the internet…I also had a nice chat with my sister Whitney last night who is going thru a mess of trouble from her blog.  Her most recent post is about an author that she absolutely hates…and she definitely lets it be known.  So I guess some other people found her blog and read her post about this author and they make it clear that they disagree with her.  They post her spam comments which lead her to find a message board full of posts saying how my sister is a “cunt” and a “dumb bitch who doesn’t know what she is talking about.”  All this drama stirs up from her one blog post that just simply says she hates this certain author.  I mean seriously…who actually has the time to sit down and search out blogs then start message boards about people they don’t even know?  People like this need to get a life.  Needless to say, Whitney was very upset last night when she found this message board being posted about her.  She very politely emailed the “creator” and asked him why he did this to her and that he does not have a right to say any of this without having met her.  She continues to say that everyone has a right to their own opinion…but there is no need to be calling her such names because of this.  I hope she understands that there are some crazies out there, especially on the internet…and there isn’t much you can do.  So in the end, you will have to drop it and let them be.  With all this that happened to her, it really makes me want to delete my blog.  It never dawned on me that there are actually people out there who lead these kinds of lives.

All-in-all, I guess it’s the little things in life that can ruin your whole day.  Normally I’m a pretty easy going person, and I try not to let things bother me like this.  But when they pile up on you all at the same time…you can’t help but to let it bug the crap out of you.  But today is a new day, and everything’s in the past now and I can move on…and I have.  I just felt like writing about it today.  I’m also thankful for my best friend Katie who I can tell absolutely ANYTHING to.  She always knows exactly what I’m going thru and I love that we can relate to each other on pretty much everything.

Side-note…kinda funny.  I was watching a clip from the Today Show website yesterday because they interviewed Carson Daily.  He did a motorcycle ride along Route 66, so that caught my eye.  Anyway, I was watching this short 5 minute clip and they showed a map of Route 66 and where all he rode.  Here is a picture of the map they showed.  ROUTE 66.  Way to go Today Show.  Get some new proofreaders!

 

This is pretty much my theme song, check it:

Jimmy Eat World:  Lucky Denver Mint.

This time it’s on my own.
Minutes from somewhere else.
Somewhere I made a wish with Lucky Denver Mint.
Hurry go on ahead.
Good things won’t let you wait.
I’ll catch up when we get home.
At home I’ll leave.
A dollar under water keeps on dreaming for me.
You’re not bigger than this, not better.
Why can’t you learn.

 

 

 

 

I heard the world up, late night. August 4, 2008

I <3 Denver.

Photos are in BLUE TEXT! 

 

This past weekend I drove up to see Jamie Cain in Denver, Co.  She is out there for the summer doing her Internship for Occupational Therapy for grad school.  She finally had a 3-day weekend so we decided to make the best of it!!!  I left work at noon on Friday (gotta love those half-days) and I made it up in exactly 6.5 hours.  The drive was simple and went by surprisingly fast.  The straight shot up I-25 took me directly to her exit and there was hardly even a need for my GPS.  I absolutely love how the scenery always changes here…it made for an interesting drive.  The drive from ABQ to Santa Fe is nothing new to me…flat dry land with an occasional casino and some road construction – nothing exciting.  But I’ve never had the opportunity to drive any further north than Santa Fe on I-25…so I was excited to see what it was going to be like.  After Santa Fe the atmosphere definitely changes.  The drive thru Glorieta and Rowe is mostly a straight shot but mixed with some hills and canyons.  Once you hit Las Vegas (New Mexico) and Maxwell, the land really starts to flatten out and you can see for miles.  I’d like to know the visibility distance out there.  It’s all flat farm land…that part of the drive was mega boring, but luckily only lasted 100 miles or so (if that).  After Maxwell, you get to a decent size town, Raton…which is right on the border of NM and CO.  The drive thru Raton was pretty neat and things started to look more like Colorado.  You start to see mountains and drive thru canyons a little more.  After Raton the drive thru Trinidad, Walsenburg, and Colorado City was pretty much all the same, even a random brush fire.  Then things start to pick up as I headed thru Pueblo and Colorado Springs.  Colorado Springs was actually a really neat city to drive thru…and I even saw a sign for US 50.  It looks like they just threw a town up against the side of a mountain.  It’s a decent size city with a small “downtown” but lots to look at and see.  I wish I had more time to stop and drive around the area.  After passing thru Colorado Springs, the drive went quick.  I started to get excited about actually being in Colorado.  Although by the time I rolled into Colorado Springs, I hit rush hour traffic (5:00-ish), so I made the best of it and rolled the windows down and listened to music.  I passed lots of boats heading out of town, lots of motorcycles, army tanks, and surprisingly a LOT of moving trucks.  I guess Colorado is the place to be.  I even passed a few people who gave me ‘head-nods’ because of my skiing stickers on my back window!!  That was pretty cool.  I can already tell Colorado is my new obsession.

 

The GPS took me right to Jamie’s house and I pulled in around 6:15pm.  She lives in an older neighborhood about 10 minutes north of downtown Denver…right on the border of a town called Thornton.  Right as I pulled up we hopped in her car to go meet someone about buying roof racks for her car.  She is only out here for the summer and has accumulated too many things to fit in her car (Volkswagen Golf) for the drive home…so she is looking into buying a luggage rack.  She found a pretty good deal on Craigslist, so we met up with the guy who was selling them.  That only took a half hour and we came right back to her house.  She gave me the grand tour; we hung out, showered, and got ready.  We decided to head downtown so she could show me around a little.  We passed the Bronco’s stadium and Coors Field….both are pretty neat!!  We lucked out and found a great parking spot on the street and walked a few blocks to a bar.  The bars downtown all have open rooftops/patios.  Cincinnati definitely needs to look into something like this.  So we sat on a rooftop bar right across the street from Coors Field…had a few appetizers and beers and called it a night.  Although before we went back to the car, we walked a few blocks because I wanted to see some of downtown.  It’s a very clean city and it seems like there is a lot to do.  Definitely a younger sociable crowd.  Jamie was house-sitting/horse-sitting for her supervisor so we stayed at her house in Boulder all weekend.  Boulder is about a 30 minute drive north of Denver.  Once we got to her supervisors house, we changed and headed to bed.  Had to be up early for a hike.

 

Saturday we got up around 7:30am.  Jamie went to feed the horses and I changed and got ready for the hike.  We left the house a little after 8 and made the hour drive up into the mountains of Boulder, Co.  The drive was amazing.  We followed the Boulder creek almost the whole way into the mountain; saw some really fascinating scenery, a few lakes, and a lot of cyclists.  First we pulled off to do a quarter mile hike to Boulder Falls.  The falls were small, but it was a very peaceful atmosphere.  Once we got to the turn-off where our hike was, we got stuck in traffic for about 10 minutes.  Finally a sheriff told us there was a bad accident and they needed to shut the road down.  So he made everyone turn around.  Before we turned around we asked him where a good alternate hike would be.  He said “Ehh, go ‘bout 5 miles back that-a-way and you’ll see signs for University of Colorado and Rainbow Lakes…turn there.”  He was exactly right.  We turned at the well marked signs not knowing it was a dirt road.  It looked kind of sketchy but we thought “what the hell?”  So we traveled back this dirt road for about 7 miles before we looked at each other and almost turned around.  We finally ran into a campground and civilization.  We asked some guy if he knew of any hiking trails around.  He told us to head further back toward the lake and there should be some back there.  We did just that and he was right on!  Rainbow Lake is a hot spot I guess…we had trouble finding a parking spot.  There was a 6 mile trail and an 8 mile trail.  They were both the same hike, but the 8 mile trail just happened to go a little further.  As soon as we read the title of the trail, we knew it was going to be a good hike…and well worth it.  It was called “Glacier Overlook.”  The hike was moderate-hard and of course almost all up-hill.  Jamie and I did a lot of chatting mostly about life, jobs, family, etc.  It was great to see a friend and get some friendly bonding in.  As we made it to the top of the mountain the air was getting cold, the views were starting to clear up, and we were getting a little thirsty (luckily Jamie went out and bought a Camel Back…which, by the way, is the best invention ever!).  The view from the top took us to almost 12,000 feet.  We overlooked 4 lakes, a glacier WITH SNOW, miles of forestry, and very colorful wild flowers.  We hung out at the top for a half hour or so and debated on whether or not to go the next 2 miles up to complete the 8 mile hike.  We ran into a few others at the top who are familiar with the hike.  The one couple said it would take another hour or so, but another girl (seemed like a local) said it seemed longer than 2 miles and would take about 2 hours…plus the walk is very rigorous and all straight uphill.  We asked her how much the scenery changed and if it was worth it.  She informed us that the scenery is about the same, you’re just at a higher altitude.  So we nixed that idea and decided to make our way back down.  The walk back down definitely went faster than going up…but that’s expected.    Once we got back to the car we took off our shoes and drank a lot of water.  The drive home was nice and relaxing and it was only 2:00.  I was glad we got an early start.  Plus, it down-poured right as we were driving off the mountain…I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t continue the 8 mile hike.  We couldn’t have asked for better timing.  Once we got back to the house we were going to swim, but it was overcast from the rain.  So instead we laid down for an hour or so and watched some TV. 

 

Around 5ish we took showers and started to make plans for the night.  We both decided on dressing up a little and opted to head into downtown Boulder for the night.  Downtown Boulder is definitely a little town of its own…and I’m pretty sure we were way over-dressed.  Me in a short black dress that I borrowed from Jamie, and Jamie in black Capri’s and a tube top that she borrowed from me.  Mind you Boulder is stuck in the 70’s.  I felt as if I should be in a long floral peasant skirt with my hair in dreads carrying an acoustic guitar on my back.  We walked down Pearl St. which was lined with bars, outdoor patios, street vendors, hippie shops, and even some ski shops.  Since we got there a little early, we took some time to look around, try on hats, and watched some magician who drew a pretty decent size crowd.  Things were starting to pick-up so we decided to find somewhere to eat before we had to wait in any lines.  Things couldn’t have worked out better for us!!  We decided to eat at a small tequila bar with an outdoor patio.  We asked the hostess if there was anything available outside, but that was the hot spot so we were out of luck.  Well as soon as we said that, just our luck, some people got up and left.  Although technically we weren’t ‘outside’ but they had the big windows open and we sat street-side…kind of outside I would say.  We had a view of Pearl St., perfect for people watching and sipping margaritas.  We ordered our Mexican meal and fruity margaritas and talked for a while.  We were in a prime-spot so we were very hesitant on leaving.  As we were finishing our meal and taking the last sips of our margaritas, the guys sitting outside in front of us had a table full of empty Corona bottles and were getting a little crazy.  One guy, Caleb, finally turned around and said “Sorry if we’re being loud, we’re out getting hammered on behalf of this guy.”  He then pointed to his friend and proceeded to tell us the whole story on why they were out.  I guess the one guy’s girlfriend told him she didn’t want to be with him anymore…and he was two weeks away from proposing to her.  So I guess they had a decent reason to be out.  The three guys introduced themselves to us and bought us another round of drinks!!  So we decided to stay and hang out with them.  They seemed like a lot of fun and we were really having a good time with them.  They all thought my MC Escher tattoo on my foot was intriguing and I was impressed that Caleb actually knew what it was!!  After hanging out at the tequila bar for a few hours, our drinks were empty, we paid our bill, and it was time to move on.  Jamie randomly ran into a girl she works with, so we hung out with her for a little while at a fancy bar called The Kitchen.  After that, the three guys we met told us to meet them at another bar around the corner a little later.  So we headed there and decided that we were only going to stay for one drink.  This bar ended up being huge and mega crowded, so we never found the boys.  But right as we started walking around the rooftop patio, these three guys got up from a table and offered it to us.  So again, we lucked out and got ourselves another high-top table at another prime spot!!  Things were going so well for us!  We ended up talking to the guys who gave us the table for a while…and it turns out one guy was a huge skier and has been around the world to ski.  He showed me pictures of back country hiking/skiing in Alaska from his cell phone.  Jamie and I stuck to our pact and left after our one beer.  The ride back to the house made for great conversation.  We talked about how we both love it out west and how this country has so much more to offer, and that we are so happy we finally left Cincinnati.  We also talked about how many people we know who talk about leaving, but never do.  We chatted the entire ride home about this topic and we are both in the same boat and agree on a lot!!  I could go into more on this and what we talked about, but it would turn into a whole other ordeal.  So I’ll just leave it at that.  We got home around 1am and went straight to bed.  We were exhausted from the hike.

 

Sunday we slept till 11am.  Ahh!!  I kind of wanted to be up at a decent time so we could go do something, but I guess we were more tire than we thought.  We woke up to sun shining and a temperature of about 93.  Poolside was calling our names.  We immediately put on our suits and got in the pool and laid around on floats for about 2 hours.  1:00 rolled around and so did the clouds.  I got out and took a shower and packed up.  Jamie took care of the horses and moved around the sprinklers in the yard.  I told Jamie we pretty much HAD to eat at Chipotle for lunch before I left.  So we headed to lunch, I got a yummy chicken burrito bowl and scarfed it down in a matter of minutes.  Jamie then drove me back to my car that was parked at her house, we said our good-byes, and I was on my way back to ABQ

 

I’m so glad I went to visit!!  On the ride up I was a little unsure about my decision.  It was a long drive and I wasn’t too sure that the 6 hours was going to be worth it.  But in the end…I was so glad I made the trip.  Even the drive itself was a great part of the trip.  The scenery was beautiful and there was so much to look at.  I’m so glad I have a Jamie as a friend.  We both have very common interests in activities and in life.  You only live once, and sometimes you just have to do things that you are unsure of.  You can’t sit back and wonder what could have been.  I’m so thrilled I got to spend time in Denver and I love the fact that I got to drive thru Colorado Springs.  Even though I didn’t spend much time in Denver, I can already tell how different it is from ABQ.  The people are so easy-going, so nice, and I feel that you can strike up a conversation with anyone at anytime and he or she will be very responsive.  I even noticed on our hike people would go out of their way to ask you where you’re from and why you are here, and what you do.  It’s so different from the stuck-up lifestyle in ABQ where I find that people could careless where you’re from or what you do…especially if you’re not from here.  Jamie is currently looking for jobs in Denver and I told her to keep me posted.  I would absolutely love to get up there one day, but there is no way I could move again without knowing anyone.  So as soon as she finds a job, I would love to start looking for one as well.  Who knows what the future holds!!