Rocky Mountain High

Last week, John and I enjoyed a second family vacation with the Gilberts to Colorado (there has to be some benefit to being married and having to share every Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthday with two families...two vacations! Wahoo!). We had a GREAT time, and I definitely recommend everyone visit this state at least once.


Day 1
We left Dulles International Airport at 8:35 and arrived in Dallas Fort Worth a couple hours later for our 20 minute layover. at 12:15 mountain time, we were in Denver, Colorado! Our first stop was to the Budget Rent-A-Car where John's parents were set up with a Cadillac! The Cadillac became the butt of many of our (John's) jokes through the week.


After we got our bags loaded, we headed out in search of lunch. AAA did a wonderful job recommending the Wynkoop Brewing Company--I think I could eat there every day! I had a dish of mouth-watering sausages atop a bed of perfect mashed potatoes, and John had some of the most yummy fried chicken in chicken gravy I had ever tasted. Once we had finished our meal, we took the hour and a half drive to Colorado Springs and rested for the remainder of the day.

Day 2
We began our day with a hike through the Garden of the Gods park a mile or two from our hotel. My father always told me that Colorado was named so because of the big red rocks, and I never believed him--it was more along the lines of an "Ok dad, whatever!" type thing. Well, not only was I facing larger-than-life red rocks to prove his theory to me, but this sign sure made me feel like a fool:


I can't even describe how beautiful and unreal the big red boulders and rock formations were. Half the time I felt like I was on a Hollywood movie set, surrounded by concrete set props and fake mountain backdrops. We hiked a total of 3-3.5 miles through a few trails, and this city girl got to see things she had never seen before, like young mule deer bucks munching away on grass, or a real life cactus growing in the wild!

Lunch time quickly approached, and John's sister and dad found a neat little Buffalo BBQ Festival in Manitou Springs (20 or so minutes from Colorado Springs). We dined on buffalo brisket, burgers, and brats, which honestly tasted just like beef, spiced a little differently. After lunch, we strolled around the downtown area of Manitou Springs (which is very adorable) until our reservation time for the train ride on the Cog Railway at Pike's Peak came around. The views on the way up to Pike's Peak were INCREDIBLE.



At 14,110 feet in altitude, we passed a layer of clouds on the way up to the top.


Unfortunately, weather was not on our side, so we remained in the layer of clouds while at the summit.


Things cleared for a brief two minutes, and I was able to get this sliver of a view:


Day 3
So, a note to people with asthma and other pulmonary problems: going to Colorado during their allergy season and pushing yourself to walk around at the summit of Pike's Peak are probably not a good idea:


I woke up with severe chest pain and shortness of breath, and promptly went to the ER as I had been having the same symptoms since the night before. My doctor today was not very apt at treating me, and though I was not admitted, I stayed in the hospital for about 4 1/2 hours getting x-rays, nebulizer treatments, and bloodwork done. Once we got out of the hospital (I still wasn't feeling much better), we went to a pleasant dinner at John's mom's cousin's mountain home. Even though we had been eating interesting food for the past few days, a home-cooked meal is always welcome!


Day 4
I wasn't feeling too much better still, so I went to the ER again, this time to a more competent doctor. He felt that I was having lung irritation from the allergens in the air which would have been manageable by themselves, but the addition of going to Pike's Peak pushed me over the edge. My chest pain was explained as severe bronchial spasms, and I was given a treatment plan and sent on my way. The doctor even cleared me for our white water rafting trip on Thursday!

Finally starting to feel better, we drove a couple hours to Canon City for a relaxing train ride through the Royal Gorge. This ride also offered beautiful views (I don't know what in Colorado doesn't though) and we even got to enjoy a top-notch lunch on the ride.


After the ride, we headed toward our river house in Buena Vista, but not before taking an accidental 30-mile detour to the Continental divide:



We finally reached our rental home later that evening, and were all pleased to see that the house was indeed on the Arkansas river, and contained even more of that Rocky Mountain scenery.


For dinner, we went to this weird Mexican place called Casa del Sol. The food was ok, but they served the strangest meatball soup which consisted of beef broth and two tiny meatballs. As with the Cadillac, the meatball soup became the butt of many more of our jokes for the week.

Day 5
Because of my two ER jaunts and because John's mom wasn't feeling too hot herself, we decided to take it easy and relax today. John's father and sister went hiking for half the day, while I worked on my thesis a little bit and read one of the books I brought on the trip. Today, I made it my project to capture a decent of this ruby-throated little guy:

Of course, he remained elusive and I never got a great picture, but it was great to be in his company nonetheless! I was able to get a couple photos of other hummingbird friends and a little chipmunk too:



We stayed in for dinner today. John's dad made a great steak dinner, while his sister and I chopped and roasted some veggies. Mmm.

Day 6
Whitewater rafting day! We'd all been looking forward to this since the beginning of the week. Unfortunately, we have no photos to show for it because the professional shots were selling from $30-$50!! Outrageous! John's sister bought a waterproof camera, but we haven't developed the film yet. Hopefully, decent photos are forthcoming.

The trip was absolutely amazing though! John's dad and sister fell overboard (they were sitting up front) but made it through and got back on the raft like champs. The views, as always, were fantastic, and my only complaint was that the day was too short. John and I took a short walk in the surrounding area of our rental home when we got back, and we found the biggest dandelion-like puff thing we had ever seen!

And, in case you were wondering, these were the views we got to see from our house, every day for three days:




Day 7
Time to head back to Denver for our flight back the next day. We stayed at a Hyatt Place, which was really comfy and cozy. For lunch, we went to this great sushi place called Bara Sushi and all had the generous bento box. I had some of the best salmon sashimi I have ever had! Definitely drop on in if you're ever in the Denver area. We kicked back until dinner, and again ate fabulously at Rock Bottom Brewery. John's sister got a whole beer sampler (all brewed at the restaurant, much like Sweetwater Tavern) and I scarfed down an awesome meatloaf with a gravy made with the on-site brewed ale. Not too much sightseeing, but good eating today!

Day 8
Our flight was delayed, but we had a rather uneventful trip back home (aside from the babbling child sitting behind me). Though we had a great stay in Colorado, I think all of us were pretty happy to be back in Virginia again.

Musings on chores

I have a question for everyone out there. How does the laundry hamper fill up so quickly???

e-mail

Just wanted everyone reading to know that I've been a horrible e-mail pen pal lately. For some reason, my brain turns to peas when I come home and I get out of touch with the electronic world. I'm starting to get the ball rolling on everything again and am not so much in "vacation mode" anymore. So, if you've e-mailed me in the past month and haven't heard from me, you will soon!

Mamma mia!

Anyone have any tips on getting songs out of your head? I have ABBA's "Mamma Mia" stuck in my head because of all the movie trailers going on right now. Plus, it doesn't help that the musical is coming to DC soon, so we have all the commercials for that too. What's even worse is I don't really know the song well, so I only have a few lines (the ones you hear on the commercials) stuck in my head..."Mamma mia/here I go again/my, my/how can I resist you?"

AAHHHH!

Help me!

Adventures in the public library

When one (attempts) to work on one's thesis away from school, one must utilize the public library. Today, I decided to go check out the resources of the larger public library in my immediate area, and was pleasantly surprised. Most noticeable was the improvement in lighting--I always hated how dark the library was, and it seems like other people did too! I had to make a new library card since I lost my old one. After re-registering, I found out how much stuff I could do online. It's so similar to the university library systems with renewals and such, I love it!

It's been eight years since I've stepped foot in there, which is bad, I know. I've just relied on my university libraries and have been buying my novels used or at bargain places, as I usually turn them in so late I've almost bought the book anyhow. I broke my record today though, and got one novel (thought I'd try and see if I'm any better at returning things) an four dvds. Yay public library! I'm actually looking forward to doing work there now.

Happy birthday, John!

Yesterday was John's 25th birthday. We didn't get together with his family until today, so we celebrated at home with my family first in the way my family knows best--with food, and lots of it!

For lunch, John I made him a strange conglomeration of leftover linguine and meat sauce, fresh sweet peppers, and a modified version of egg-in-the-hole. A weird mix of things, but he still probably ate better than his buddies at work:


Mom made an amazing meal full of John's favorite Asian goodies. Appetizers included:

Cucumber Salad


Shrimp Toast

The main course consisted of John's ultimate favorite dish, mom's secret recipe chicken masaman curry:

(the Ginormous Pot was full at one point, this was taken after everyone had gotten a large helping)

I was in charge of dessert, and whipped up a coconut cream pie, per our new tradition (est. last year):

I had to include this picture, for none of us have ever cut a less sloppy piece of cream pie.

Today, festivities continued with John's side of the family. John's parents took all of us out to a fabulous brunch at Brio, where they have the most fantastic lasagna bolognese. We feasted on flavorful bruschetta, beef tenderloin, crab crepes, and eggs benedict. Dessert was a real treat--Brio serves sample sized desserts (at sample sized prices, thank goodness) and they really were a perfect portion after such a decadent meal. I had the chocolate hazelnut brulée and it was AMAZING. Usually when you get chocolate hazelnut anything, it just tastes like pimped up chocolate but you don't really get a feel for the nutty flavor. It was unmistakable in my brulée though--bravo, Brio!

Afterward, we all went to see Get Smart, which was absolutely adorable. I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the series as a youngster, or anyone who enjoys comedies in general. 99 was a bit sassier in this version, and Maxwell Smart was actually more competent than in the series, but I thought that made it all the better.

Heh heh heh...

(click for full size)

It takes one bad apple...

There seems to be a pattern emerging in my life. It's not enough that I'm a big dork; I feel the urge to pull others into the depths of dorkdom along with myself. What can I say? It's lonely down here. ;)

Exhibit A (lemon-lime sisters):


Exhibit B (Mr. and Mrs. How-Did-You-Know-We-Were-Tourists?):

I'd also like to add that these two photos were taken within a week of each other. Think of the atrocities I will be able to commit by the end of the summer...

GoodReads

Thanks to CBH, I am now addicted to GoodReads. Check it out! Add me as a friend--wingedquartet@gmail.com.

America the beautiful

We just got back from the beach Sunday evening, and all of us had a blast!


Of course, family vacation wouldn't be family vacation without a little drama. My sister's Ford Explorer had transmission trouble and was having trouble starting and going. Her husband ended up loading up all of the luggage Saturday night and left at 5:30 am to avoid traffic and try to get the truck back home in one piece. My sister and her two boys hitched a ride along with grandma and grandpa later in the morning, all of us worried about whether or not my brother-in-law would be able to make the whole trip himself. Thankfully, he called at around 10:30 am and confirmed that he had arrived.

John and I brought up the rear end of our two-car caravan (the two friends that had come along this week went ahead in another car), and as our worry over the truck drama subsided, car conversation turned to dreamier musings about life, happiness, and the future. We have been driving around so much of the US these past few weeks and have seen so many things--scenery, botany, animal, funny misprinted sign. It's amazing what an expansive country we live in! We have mountains, deserts, rain forests, ocean life, not to mention the vast array of climate you can experience in any given day in any given state. Having finally started to realize this, John and I fully intend on taking one of those two-week cross country RV vacations as soon as we get the chance. We spend so much time dreaming about traveling to Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean, but I am starting to think we're missing what's right under our own noses.

On the road again

Today, two weeks after our big trek home, John, a bunch of family, family friends, and I packed up and headed on over to the Outer Banks, NC for a little vacation. Thankfully, this trip was only 5 hours instead of 18! We didn't even listen to our iPod on the way down, but had fun talking, laughing, eating, and caravaning. We thought we had it good, filling up our tanks with $3.94/gallon gas, until we went a few more miles down the road and saw some for $3.83/gallon. D'oh! Better luck next time, I guess.

I've had bronchitis all week, so I'm not expecting to do much during the next couple days but relax and sleep--if the coughing will ever let me. Thankfully, it's been getting better day by day and I'll be up to horsing around on the beach soon. Poor John is looking forward to sleeping in since I've been keeping him up at nights with my cough and he's been going to work regularly during the week.

This week should be great fun though--vacationing in a large group is always pretty exciting. We're all taking turns cooking dinner for each other (there are 15 of us total, we split up in to groups) and I'm really interested in trying everyone's food! My group is making spaghetti and meatballs, a salad, and cheesy garlic bread--I figure you can't really mess any of those things up. For dessert, we're having the banana cream pie I promised I'd make my sister after she gave birth and got rid of her gestational diabetes, and my good friend is making crepes with a yummy mixed berry sauce.

You know how some people keep a Bible in their nightstand? I have apparently gone off the deep end. My beach nightstand is currently holding Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. Why do I even have it on vacation with me? I'm not quite sure.


Oh, and can you believe it's June already?