One Year

Today is our one year anniversary! Hard to believe its already been a year since we got married. Looking at some old blog entries reminded me of all the planning (and stressing) that went into our wedding. I had the spreadsheet to end all spreadsheets to help with planning. Why do we have such large events? Part of it is that we’ve seen movies and read magazines all our lives about the ‘princess day’ that is your wedding, but to me it was wanting to make a wonderful celebration for our family and friends to include them in starting this new phase of our life together. With lots of help from friends and family we had just that, and both have great memories of our wedding day. I still have to laugh when I think of our first impression of the chef - hearing him yelling at someone in the kitchen when we went to check out the venue as a possible place to have our wedding, then at the wedding he aimed to please and kept giving drinks to me and to Kevin.....everyone was well taken care of.

We’ve had a great first year of marriage, with lots of changes and adventures. Since getting married, we got our dog Smokey and in the fall I changed jobs with a lot of support from Kevin. I know these will be the first of many changes in our lives together.

Our anniversary falls on a Monday, so we both have to work today, but will celebrate tonight by going out to sushi (yum!). Here is one of my favorite photos from our wedding.

Weekend

We had a great weekend. On Friday we went to Howl at the Moon. A few people met us out there, and we had fun listening to the music, but left early so that we could get something to eat at Café Adobe.

On Saturday, we brought Smokey up to Kevin’s parents’ house to go swimming. Keith and Julia brought over Kaden and their dog Patti, and we all had a good time swimming and watching the dogs play. The best way to wear out a dog is with another dog. He’s been tired all day today! Kevin took a lot of pictures of Kaden swimming, and uploaded them today.

Today we again tried to go geocaching, treasure hunting with the help of a GPS. We found one in a small cemetary that we’d tried to find last time we tried – I’d gotten a clue from the person who hid it. It was in a tree - we'd walked right past it several times when we were there before! We were less successful with the other two we tried to find, we couldn’t find either one. I don’t know why we are so bad at it, but we are. We looked for one near a rodeo facility and another where the President statues are located, but with no luck at either one. There are so many we can try for, and the ones we've looked for are all located right near our house. We’ll try again, but its frustrating to be looking and not find anything, then read posts online that lots of other people found it, and seemingly pretty easily – especially since some find it in the DARK and there we are in broad daylight with no luck at all, oh well. We’ll keep trying, and we have fun together whether we find it or not.

Birthday fun

Yesterday was Kevin's birthday, Happy Birthday sweetie!

As an early birthday present, he got a new Wii racing game - MX vs ATV Untamed. Even with the steering wheel it is hard to control, but fun!

He got a lot of birthday wishes and a birthday phone call from Canada from his parents.

After work we celebrated by going out to eat at a local Italian place that we love -Riva's. We each had a glass of red wine, and he had a great pasta dish and I had chicken marsala, yum.

For dessert Kevin wanted chocolate cake, so we went to the Chocolate Bar (Kevin's first time there), and split a slice of cake called "Aunt Etta's". Their slices are huge, and it is a great chocolate cake, with rich chocolate icing. Even with the two of us sharing one piece we had leftovers! Their slogan is "where every hour is a happy hour". So true....

Pikes Peak

This morning we took the Cog Railway to the summit of Pikes Peak (elevation: 14,110)! The train has a cog wheel to pull it on the track rather than just the t-rails because it is a steeper incline than a usual train can take - at the steepest point a 25% incline (go up 1 foot for every 4 feet traveled). We saw amazing views on the way to the top, including the view that inspired the woman to write "America the Beautiful" in 1893. At the top, we could see in all directions and could see mountains in other states -- we could see Colorado and four other states (Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming). It was windy and cold at the top! We took pictures and enjoyed the view, then went inside to warm up. on the way back down they said the temperature at the top was 32 degrees, and colder with the wind chill! I put on gloves that I had in my jacket :)

On the way back down we saw wildlife - yellow-bellied marmots and a small group of young big horn sheep.

Afterwards we walked around downtown Manitou Springs and grabbed a bite to eat. There are natural soda springs in the town that you can drink from, I tasted it in two places, but didn't really like it.

We drove through Garden of the Gods, and looked at the amazing rock formations. Kevin got to do a little more off-roading on an unpaved road going up above the park. We were able to see great views of the rock formations and of Pikes Peak - how high we were earlier!

We stopped at Patsy's in downtown Manitou Springs for ice cream, and went to a local bar to have a drink to cap off our wonderful vacation. We'll head back to Houston tomorrow. Its been a great vacation, but we're both ready to go back home and sleep in our own bed and see Smokey. We're not ready to go back to work, but who ever is?

Royal Gorge

We had to leave Ouray this morning :( We headed east via highway 50. We crossed the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass (elevation 11,000+) - it was cold and windy! Good preparation for 14,000 feet tomorrow (Pikes Peak).
The road followed the Arkansas River for a lot of the ride. We pulled off at one point and watched rafters go down the river - good thing we saw that AFTER we'd already done our rafting. We saw bighorn sheep on the side of the road!

We took a short detour to see the Royal Gorge - the highest suspension bridge in the US, over 1000 feet above the same Arkansas River we'd been driving alongside earlier. We drove across the bridge and then walked back to explore. We could feel the bridge swaying with the wind and in the middle of the bridge it was very windy (you can see my hair blowing around in the photo below). While we were on the bridge we saw a train go by on the tracks at the bottom of the gorge - it looked like a toy! We rode an inclined rail down to the bottom of the gorge and watched the Arkansas River rushing past, swirling and crashing over rocks and along the cliff walls. Looking up at the bridge gave you a sense of how high we'd been only a few minutes before.

Tonight we're spending the night in Manitou Springs, near the base of Pikes Peak. tomorrow we'll ride the Cog Railway to the top (over 14,000 feet).

Kevin's nose is our new altimeter, the higher we go the more congested he gets, and the mountain pollen blowing in the air is making his allergies go nuts!

Adventures a-plenty

We're having a great time, we've been so busy that I've been too tired in the evening to blog or upload photos. On Tuesday - our first full day in Ouray (pronounced You-Ray) - we went horseback riding. Kevin had never been on a horse and I haven't been since Girl Scout Camp. I am so short I was given a stump to stand on to help me to get onto the horse, and they had to adjust the stirrups so that my feet were actually in a loop above where you should put your feet, again because I'm so short. The owner said "I've never done this for an adult", yes I'm shorter than the kid who was riding ahead of me. I rode a horse called River and Kevin rode a horse called Papillon (means butterfly in French). We each got bumped around pretty badly (my back still hurts a bit from the jostling), and we were at the back of the line of horses, so when the horse ahead of me would trot to catch up mine would too and then K's would also, sometimes without much warning. We rode up and saw some beautiful scenery - I didn't take pictures because my full attention needed to be on staying ON the horse. being away from the road is very serene, and the guide took our photo when we got to the spot where we turned around. He gathered each group separately, and told us to "hold our horses" while he set up the other group - that is the first time I've heard that phrase used to literally mean hold your horse still. I am glad we stayed on the horses, I'm not sure if I could've gotten back on without my stump! When we got back, K understood the meaning of 'bow-legged' -- he couldn't move his foot over to the brake pedal, so i had to drive us back to town. Seems like everywhere we go, there is construction -- there are only a few months in the year they can do construction on these roads, so they are re-asphalting and doing other work so that only one lane is passable. Every time we go out of town we have to wait through it, luckily we've not had to wait too long and have gotten where we wanted to go in plenty of time.

Later that day, we hiked up to Cascade Falls. The altitude is tough! The town is at an elevation of 7,700 feet! Quite a jump for our sea level lungs. It is a short hike, up 8th avenue (only 3 blocks over from our hotel - on main and 5th, but uphill) and then a short hike from where the road ends to the falls, and we still had to stop a few times to catch our breath. It was worth the hike, a beautiful waterfall and water rushing by us in a concrete spillway (to protect the town from flooding). We have been able to see a lot of waterfalls because of the time of year we are here. The snow is melting and making lots of waterfalls, and some of the rivers/creeks much higher and faster. This is truly amazing country, and so beautiful. Sometimes I just have to stop and appreciate our surroundings.

That night we went to the local Hot Springs pool, very soothing to our muscles. We soaked in the hot water section, and it felt so good, like a hot tub, but natural. There were some people in the cooler parts of the pool, but I dipped just my hand into it and it was too cold for me. We watched the shadow come over the mountains while were in the pool, but left before it was too dark, it was cold when we got out!! brrrr..... we came a long way to get be chilly in June!


Yesterday we went off-roading - Kevin did all of the driving. We drove towards Yankee Boy Basin, it was beautiful but I was nervous with the dropoff right next to our car, so we didn't make it all the way to the basin, but we did see some great views and K got some off-roading experience. Even the off-road trail had construction! we followed right behind a truck that was spraying something on the road (glad we're in a rental, it is filthy!). We drove a bit on the Million Dollar Highway towards Silverton and then came back to town to go on another off-road trail towards Telluride. The views on the Million Dollar Highway are beautiful, but as I've said several times - the whole area is the "million dollar highway" to us, with its beautiful views. We drove on a trail called the Last Dollar Road, it is a long winding route that goes on top of a mesa and allows great views of the Sneffles mountain range, and put us near Telluride, where we wanted to go anyway. This was some great off-roading! beautiful views, and we even had to get out once to look at water crossing the road to make sure it was safe to cross, it was - otherwise we'd have had to find a place to turn around and go back. Coming down was fairly steep, but beautiful, and we were able to smell the pine trees around us.....ahhh

We explored Telluride (elevation: 9,500 feet). We actually parked in Mountain Village and took free gondolas (enclosed ski lifts) to Telluride. We were able to get out at the top of the mountain and see the Coors mountains and look down some ski slopes (elevation: 10,500 feet) -- this is probably the only way K will be at the top of a ski slope. We looked down black diamonds (expert level slopes), and they do look steep. I'd be over on the easy trails. We saw the site of Butch Cassidy's first bank robbery, and hung out at a great local restaurant - Brown Dog, great pasta and a fun atmosphere. We rode the gondolas back and drove back to Ouray - you can tell I'm a Texas driver (not used to mountains). I got passed by so many cars on the drive back...

Last night we went to a local event called "Taste of Ouray" in the community center. We were able to sample some of the local cuisine. We were still full from earlier, so we had drinks (Colorado beer and wine) and dessert - truffles are delicious, and they unveiled an oreo dessert (both from a chocolate place called mouse's), and listened to several groups perform live music.

Today we're going east and plan to see Royal Gorge.

C&K

Travel Day

Today we drove to Ouray. Along the way we crossed the Continental Divide and saw a lot of different scenery - snow-capped mountains, snow near us on the road, then more desert looking foothills and shrubs, mesas, and back into mountains. My favorite part of the drive was in Glenwood Canyon, where there were rock walls near us on either side, and we were able to see the Colorado River rushing along next to us - the road follows the river for most of the drive, so we saw a lot of rapids and rapidly moving water. It is truly amazing to see all of the canyons and crevices and realize they were made by water rushing by for millions of years. It is Kevin's first time to see true mountains and very inspiring for both of us to see. His favorite part of the drive was seeing the meadows as we drove into Ouray. I drove the last part so he could get a break from driving and truly enjoy the scenery.

We walked around the town a bit this evening, and made reservations to horseback ride tomorrow.

We posted pictures and added a link to our Colorado photo album, on the right side of this page.

White Water Rafting

Today we drove out to Idaho Springs (west of Denver) to go white water rafting. It was exhilarating! We saw some beautiful scenery on the way out there and we know we'll see much more of the snow-capped mountains this week.

In the higher elevation, it was chillier than in Denver, so we took advantage of the equipment they provided - wetsuits, windbreakers, and rented booties to wear to keep our feet warm (not dry, but warm). We would've frozen in what we'd brought - swimsuits, sandals, and cotton clothes. We both had the thought that we'd gotten in over our head as they were explaining technique and what we'd be expected to do, but we went ahead and had a great time. The other people in our raft were also from Texas (and our guide's name was Austin - coincidence, yes), and the guy in front with Kevin was a character - his comments kept us laughing -- talking about his 3 knees (right, left, and wee-knee), and how cold he was, and that the wetsuit needed drainholes in certain unmentionable areas. The water was FREEZING -- 38 degrees, and it was snow the day before! We all got soaked, but Kevin especially since he was in the front. None of us fell out of the raft, and we didn't get stuck on rocks - we saw one group that did, and it didn't look fun at all. We are absolute beginners, and I think that's all I'll ever be.

We're taking it easy the rest of today. Rafting left us both pretty tired and we were out late last night in LoDo (lower Downtown) with Sharon and some people she knows. There is a movie theatre right by the hotel, so we walked over to watch a movie, The Strangers (Kevin's pick), I watched it all but wanted to cover my eyes sometimes, it was so scary!

Tonight we'll take advantage of the hot tub at the hotel.

funny story -- last night Kevin wanted to listen to "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver since we're in Colorado. I didn't put it on the mp3 player in our GPS, so we thought we'd look for it on a radio station, and we found it! Then it came on again, and again....we checked the station again this morning and we think that's all that station plays! Rocky Mountain High 24/7.

Denver arrival

We are in Denver, already having fun - we walked to a restaurant and brewpub right by our hotel -- the local beer is great! now we're heading downtown to meet a coworker of Kevin's that he's only worked with over phone and email and a friend of Carol's who just moved to Colorado!!

First Entry

This is the first post in our new blog. We plan to use this blog to share our trips and adventures with family and friends.

I've had a blog before but not through this service, so its going to be a learning experience. I want to learn how to link pictures and use other features I probably don't know about yet.

We are a week away from our trip to Colorado! Posts about that trip should be in this blog, so stay tuned.