Remember Vinetra?

Remember the stupid vine from one of my first ever blog posts? It's back with a vengeance. Guess that really needs to go on my to-do list for the weekend!

I'm sorry beautiful bicycle

Dear Bike,

I'm so sorry I hadn't ridden you in forever. I got in the habit of driving for my errands, and I was traveling for work. Plus I hadn't been going to the gym, since I was just running and I'd been doing that outside.

But I still love you! I took you back to the bike shop for your "ride it around for a month or so and bring it back and we'll adjust things" tune-up.  And I bought us a present so we can do grocery shopping easier!

I promise I'll use you more now!






P.S.  I took those pictures with my new phone.  Pretty awesome for a phone camera, eh?

Camping and Hiking Weekend (and Race!)

Life's been a bit unpredictable lately...  Stefano came home for a visit the second weekend of July, but then his project kept getting pushed back little by little.  I was pretty upset about it since I had to still go out of town the week after his visit, and I thought he'd have to leave right when I was coming back.  But lo and behold, things worked out, and he got delayed through the weekend, and then delayed again through this week and weekend.  It's been so hot in Chicago, though, that it's not looking likely that he'll have to go back for much this summer, and they might just start up again in September.  We'll see.

But in any case, I was already planning on going up to the mountains to camp with Christine, Sean, and Jamie, since Sean was running a 50-mile trail run on Sunday (Leadville Silver Rush).  Yep.  50 miles.  Don't worry; I have zero desire to ever run for that long.  He was running for almost ten hours... And that was a great time!   He ended up finishing 10th in his division.

So instead of heading up to the mountains Saturday with just Christine, Stefano was home and I finished a day early, and the three of us headed up to meet up with Sean and Jamie on Friday night.  There was a complication finding a campground (a lot of them in the area are non-reservable, and they were full already when Sean and Jamie went up), the two of them camped by the roadside and Christine, Stefano, and I found an easier (and closer site) for the night near Dillon Reservoir.


View Hiking and Camping July 15-17 in a larger map




It all worked out well though.  The three of us got up and headed up to a trailhead near Leadville, did an awesome 6-mile hike, and by the time we were done, Sean had found us a campsite for the night (one had opened up since there was a mountain bike race Saturday morning, so some people were just camping Friday night).  We didn't make it all the way to the end of our hike (we were hiking to Native Lake) because it was getting a bit rainy, and the trail was very wet and marshy.  Even with it being the middle of July, there was plenty of snow left on the trail melting, and it was a bit of a mess.  I'll never complain about getting too much rain or snow though!


All in all, a great weekend.  Hopefully Molly camps a little better next time -- she was a bit whiny since we kept her tied up and she couldn't jump all over everyone else.  Sigh.  And she insisted on sleeping on top of my legs a bunch of the night in our tent.  Pictures after the break.

Hiking at Golden Gate Canyon State Park

I just realized today that I never posted this.  Woops.  Hike was the weekend before last, and Stefano's actually still home since his project is delayed.


Went on an awesome 6.5 mile hike today with Molly and Stefano (yes, he still exists! He's home for a visit!).


View Hiking July 9, 2011 in a larger map


Lots of pictures after the jump...

Lamar

Howdy from Lamar, a town snatched straight out of the old west...  they're so committed to authenticity here that there's no electricity! Oh wait, no, that's because apparently there's a huge outage affecting all of southeastern Colorado. Fantastic.
Thankfully I was mostly done showering when it went out, and we found a truck stop restaurant serving cold sandwiches and a salad bar so I didn't have to have granola bars and gatorade for dinner.  Unfortunately, we only have a quarter tank of gas, which isn't enough to get us anywhere with power, and I'm not sure if any of the gas stations have figured out a way to pump gas -- not that any of us have cash to buy gas anyway.
What a mess. Hopefully it's back by morning.

Very Squeaky Puppy

So Stefano's home for a visit after being gone for a month.  Molly was a little excited to see him...

Molly vs the Bath

I gave Molly a bath tonight, which of course made her miserable until the time for drying off came. She loves to run around, shaking all over the house (shedding fur of course). And I have to put a towel down for her so she can do this:

Happy Fourth of July

It just wouldn't be the Fourth of July in Colorado without going for a hike.  Christine, Molly, and I headed out first thing in the morning to Golden Gate Canyon State Park, in the mountains above Golden.  I got to drive Pepper up an awesome windy mountain road, and we picked out a nice hard (but short) hike to kick out butts.  Felt good, since we'd both been slacking on the running ever since the half marathon...


View Fourth of July Hike in a larger map

Molly was just looking at the camera, then as soon as I pressed the shutter, she snapped her head to the side.

And she did it again...  But Christine looks awesome!

Molly is a happy hiker.

"What are you waiting for guys?  Enough with the pictures!  Let's go!!"

So the hike was great.  Glad we got out there early; it ended up being a very hot day-- 101 in Denver.  And, it really wouldn't be a Fourth without grilling, so we had a nice spread of burgers, chips, and guac after sunbathing.