On top of the world at Mount Evans

Hello. It's me. I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon. More specifically, I launched myself off of it, got rolled over by the wagon several times, and lost all semblance of sanity in the clusterfuck that is wedding planning.

But I emerge victorious, with a ring on my finger and one hell of a wedding story (which I'll go into another time.)

People keep asking me what life is like now that I'm hitched. And I'm always tell them, it's the exact same. Seriously - nothing has changed, other than feeling relief that the big day is over. And I guess it doesn't make as much sense to refer to Derek as "the boy" anymore. He is hereby officially promoted to the exclusive title of "my husband."

But he was still "the boy" when his parents came into town the week before the wedding and we made a trip out to Mount Evans.

Mount Evans is one of Colorado's 14ers and is particularly famous for its eponymous scenic byway being the highest paved road in North America. To my delight, its peak is also home to some incredibly photogenic goats.

Living Ikea rug

The baby stole the show, for obvious reasons.

Squad goals.

That tongue!

That smile!

This goat was definitely flirting with the camera.

We watched the goats for probably twenty minutes, enthralled by their weirdness and totally ignoring the majestic views around us. Eventually we pried our eyes away and walked the couple of switchbacks that took us to the peak of the mountain.

A small man fell out of Derek's shorts.

The background looks awfully precarious. I promise I was very secure when this photo was taken, Mom!

Altitude can make people do funny things.

Mount Evans is well worth a gander if you're looking for a half day trip from Denver. I left feeling cheery, slightly light-headed and genuinely curious about where I could buy me a baby goat.

Wedding planning

We're less than four months away from the big day and shit is starting to get real.

So far, wedding planning has been 50% fun and 50% anxiety-inducing. The fun stuff includes things like small DIY projects, going to thrift stores to find decor, and picking out my bridesmaids gifts. The not fun stuff includes looking at my credit card statements and slowly but surely becoming insane. Some recent episodes:

(while on a hike in Boulder) "Should we use pinecones as placeholders? Quick, let's collect 120 pinecones. But only pick ones that will stand up on their own!"

(while scrolling through Pinterest) "Should we make a thousand paper cranes?"

(when picking out stamps) "I HAVE to have these fern ones...no other stamps will work."

Every decision is a battle between my left brain and my right. Half of me really scrutinizes every little detail and wants things to be perfectly pinterest-worthy. The other half does not care at all and reminds me about how much time I've spent fawning over one little inconsequential detail. Usually the latter wins out and I make myself move on, but I'm still surprised every time I get so caught up in the little bitty things.

I'm really curious what weddings will be like in a hundred years. Will there be a post office to send physical invitations? Will some women still take their husbands' names? Will all the popular wedding name combination hash tags all be exhausted by then? Hopefully I'll be immortal by then and I'll be able to see for myself at my great-great-grandchildren's weddings.

Speaking of hash tags... ours is #dereksnumberonefan. Pretty clever, ain't it? #istillloveyouviggo was a close runner up.

The Land of Ice and Fire (but mostly just ice) - part V

After the morning's fantastic glacial lagoon experience, we broke for lunch (simple soups and sandwiches) and romped around on the beach, posing with the colossal ice structures that had washed up on shore.

Our gracious friend Jerry was throwing pebbles at us while we were trying to get a photo.

Sketchy dealings in the mean streets of Eyjafjallajökull

I did a very undignified army crawl to get this picture

Pretty sure this is how Icelandic people are born.

Then it was time for our afternoon tour, this time of the glacier itself.

We wrestled on our crampons and took childish delight in wielding our ice axes.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

Our tour guide's name was pronounced like Aileen but I'm sure it was spelled differently. She was a fantastic guide and taught us all about the features of the glacier.

Measuring the depth of the stream with her ice axe. Some of them were surprisingly deep. Eep.

A small glacial kame. Kames form when glaciers melt and streams carry sediment that pile up as a delta.

A deeeeeep crevasse. We had to tread very carefully to get photographs of this!

At one our guide asked if we were thirsty and suggested taking a sip of pure Icelandic glacial water from one of the many streams we encountered. Of course, the proper Icelandic way was to lower oneself over the ice axe, sip the water, and do a pushup to get back up.

Phil takes a gander 

The boy showing off with his raised leg

My form needs some work...I blame all the hot dogs.

If the background looks familiar, it's because this glacier is a popular backdrop for film and television. Game of Thrones (the wall scenes) and Interstellar (Matt Damon planet) are among two of the more famous productions that have stopped by.

I was pleasantly surprised by how different the glacier appeared depending on the angle and light. It wasn't just one massive ice formation; there were different textures and colors everywhere. It was a visual smorgasbord of ice.

We even practiced using our ice axes on some of the walls and pretending to ice climb.

Our tour came to an end all too soon. We packed into the van, dozed off on the drive back to our cars, bid farewell to our guides, and headed to the town of Hofn for dinner, as we'd heard it to be described as "lobster capital of Iceland".

Well, lobster was a bit of an overstatement - Icelandic lobster is actually langoustine, which are smaller and lighter than their coveted cousins. They were still very delicious, but our ravenous appetites weren't quelled with light seafood so we found a convenience store and ate more hotdogs and soft-serve ice cream. I felt like a five year old kid. It was awesome! 

It was yet another fantastic day in Iceland filled with good food, great friends, and jaw-dropping views.