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.

Kickin' it in Colorado: Everything is Better in Boulder

We had less than twenty-four hours in Boulder. We decided that the best course of action would be to drop off our things at our Airbnb (highly recommended, by the way) and making a beeline for the Flatirons.

We started our hike at the Chautauqua Trailhead where the views got us so excited, we could barely wait to snap a quick picture before taking off:

It was midday when we began our ascent with temperatures in the mid-eighties with a starting elevation of around 5,700 feet. We were drenched in sweat approximately three seconds in.

I call this the Leaning Vitruvian Woman

Along our hike we came across "fields" of broken-up boulders that we had to traverse to continue:

"Please God, let me get tan."

Five points if you can spot the critter shell.

It took us about an hour and a half to hike the Royal Arch and wind our way to the peak of the 1st/2nd flatiron, where we took a break and enjoyed the marvelous views before heading back down.

Smiling because I achieved something, and also perhaps from oxygen deprivation

It was such a beautiful, different trail to hike - full of tight switchbacks and friendly locals (who didn't seem to be breaking a sweat at all, meanwhile there we were filling buckets with ours!) And definitely a challenging one too - over the course of about five miles, we experienced an altitude change of 1,422 feet. At one point we even saw scramblers slowly making their way up a wall of rock; way too scary without rope for my taste, but cool to see nevertheless. 

In the evening we returned to the Flatirons, but this time in the comfort of our dry, air-conditioned car. 

We picked the summit of Flagstaff mountain to watch the sun set over the city.

We encountered this huuuuge rock that offered amazing views but that required a tricky bit of maneuvering to get on top of.

Ravenous, we found Korean food dinner (typical) on campus and washed it down with local beer at Mountain Sun brewery - a great spot for people watching if you can get a seat outside facing Pearl Street.

Boulder is one of those places where you show up and think to yourself, "Is this place for real?" Everything is sort of perfect. There's a beautiful college campus surrounded by young, smart people. There is Pearl Street with all of its art and restaurants and street performers. There's a babbling creek that gurgles pleasantly through the city. There are little breweries and dispensaries. There's the Flatirons range looming in the distance. There are bikers and runners and climbers all along the unbroken mountainous trails. There are dreamy old houses on tree-lined streets. There's a requirement that you must have a six pack to be a resident. It is a wonderful, curated, privileged bubble. 95% of me is completely smitten with it, and the remaining 5% of me is like, "what the actual fuck."

For all the reasons above, Boulder is also where we picked to have our wedding next summer. We're beyond excited for our guests from all over the world to come and see what this cool place has to offer - and we're hoping a few of them might fall for it as hard as we have and move to Colorado with us and live the rest of our days outfitted in head-to-toe Patagonia, driving Subarus and swapping stories of our latest backcountry expeditions.

Kickin' it in Colorado: Golden Days

We spent a few days of our trip putzing around Golden, Colorado, a city that lies west of Denver. There one evening, we got our first taste of the Rockies at Lookout Mountain where we watched yet another glorious Centennial State sunset.

The next day, we set out for a day hike at North Table Mountain.

I was impressed by the assortment of flora we encountered. 

Phallus flower

Dandelion XXL

An enormous wild cabbage

Desert-y flowers and beyond, the city of Golden

The hike itself was rather wonderful. To get to it, you had to drive through a beautiful windy neighborhood on a street which turned into a dirt road that eventually led to the North Table Mountain trailhead. We were so close to the houses and buildings beneath, yet we were also on a legitimate, moderately-difficult hiking trail. Within just fifteen minutes or so of ascending the path, we came across climbers. We also ran into several mountain bikers and many other hikers, all peacefully sharing the path. Everyone was also incredibly friendly - exchanging "Hellos" and "How are yous", and telling you where they'd encountered wildlife further up the trail. Basically, more reasons to fall in love with Colorado and its residents.

The Coors factory in Golden

Started from the bottom now we here

Once we'd reached the table, we ended up accidentally making a wrong turn and doing some of the loop backwards and the long way 'round (lol). But that was okay because we had been having a rather sedentary vacation so far, and also because we were technically supposed to be in week one of marathon training (more lol).

It took about four hours total for us to complete the hike. Satisfied and hungry, we headed back into Golden's quaint downtown area for some well-deserved beer and burgers to refuel.

My future sister-in-law raved about Golden and now, I can absolutely understand why. It's close enough to Denver to easily commute to and from work, but the vibes I got from it were much more family-oriented and laid-back than in the city itself. I also loved that there was climbing and hiking all right there - North Table Mountain was just one of many that surrounded Golden. City-by-city, Colorado was seriously raising the bar.

Next up: Hiking the Flatirons in Boulder!

Kickin' it in Colorado: Impressions of Denver

The boy and I recently got back from a week of visiting beautiful Colorado, a wonderful land that boasts the trifecta of microbrews, Mexican food, and mountains beyond mountains.

On the surface, the main reason for this trip was to visit wedding venues; we knew we wanted to get married somewhere in Colorado and we had to see the sites and meet with coordinators in order to make a decision. But the bigger reason we went to Colorado was to get a feel for the different neighborhoods and for what life was like out there, as it's been a dream of ours for a few years now to get a dog and live close to the mountains. So aside from our hard appointments with wedding venues, we didn't have much of an agenda. Just a rental car, a borrowed tent, some Marriott points to burn, and dreams to chase.

We flew out with the boy's brother's fiancee's son (my soon-to-be nephew) and dropped him off with his dad at the airport. Then we picked up our rental car - the Hyndai Veloster, a funny little subcompact that only had 4 miles on it - and met our friend Steve, who had flown in from Texas.

X and Ms. Rose, ready for take-off!

The very first meal we had in Colorado was at African Grill and Bar, a highly-Yelped-about affair. The suburban location and unassuming exterior of the restaurant were deceiving; inside, we instantly took in the aromas of something delicious on the grill, and we were greeted warmly by the owner and his family who treated us as if we were family too. It ended up being one of our best meals of the whole trip and was a most excellent way of kicking off the vacation.

Beef samosas and fried donuts filled with beans... both delicious. The owner boasted that nobody has ever disliked the samosas, and that he would gladly refund anyone who claimed to hate it. 

Okra and goat stew with a side of plantains. I gobbled this up.

Our view as we ate. Gorgeous sunsets are no big deal in Colorado.

Happiness is a good meal with friends. Note the beautiful sunset reflected in the window.

We spent the rest of the weekend exploring the best that the Mile High city had to offer. One of my favorite neighborhoods were the Highlands. Think Subarus everywhere, quaint little boutiques, and a flagship REI in the middle of it all. Basically, outdoorsy yuppie heaven.

We spent the sunny afternoon exploring the downtown area too, where more gallivanting ensued.

Downtown Denver felt a lot more calm than Chicago. It still has almost everything we do here in the Windy City - stadiums, parks, and of course the business district - but it's all taken down a notch.

We also paid a visit to Wash Park and took a long lazy stroll while Zillow-ing the houses nearby to see if we could afford them (spoiler alert: we could not).

I look like the little boy in Up.

There were a few things that I absolutely loved about what I experienced in Denver:

- the Mexican food. None of it pictured because I did not have the self-discipline to photograph it before I stuffed fistfuls of it into my mouth, but it was damn good and very plentiful.

- the activeness. Even in the heart of the city, where you'd think there'd be the least amount of activity, we saw bikers and joggers everywhere. Plus, you know, REI was like Mecca.

- the creeks. Denver doesn't have Lake Michigan hugging it from the East but what it lacks in lake, it compensates for in lovely creeks nestled between even lovelier unbroken paths for joggers and bikers to enjoy

- the laid back feel. Everyone seemed really casual and I felt no air of pretense or flashiness anywhere I went. We spent a good amount of time just hanging out in bars or breweries and were able to strike up conversations much easier than in Chicago. Also, five million bonus points for all the dog-friendly bars.

- the sunshine. Oh, my god. Compared to Chicago it felt like we were on a different planet altogether. Clear skies and sunshine every single day... where was the grey, dull weather I was used to?

I think there was only really one thing I didn't love, and that was the relative lack of public transportation. In Chicago, I've been spoiled by the CTA for a cheap, reliable, and environmentally-friendly way of getting around almost everywhere. In Denver it really seems like you need a car too go anywhere. Which I know is the reality for pretty much any American city that is not DC, New York City, San Francisco or Chicago.

But let's be honest, Denver isn't the reason we were attracted to Colorado; it's the mountains and quality time in the great outdoors that we were really thirsting for. Coming up next: adventures in mountains!