What Goes Up Must Come Down

So on Saturday I went back to Devil's Backbone with the intent of trying to get through the entire 7 mile trek across all three trails... and low and behold I actually did it. I was so proud of myself. The first trail, Backbone Trail, was the one I took last week. It is a "easy-medium" level trail. The next two trails (Miner's Trail and Hunter's Trail) are both "medium-difficult" level. I made it though, and OH WHAT A VIEW! I thought last weekend's views were good, but they were not as awesome as what I saw this time around. I wish I would have brought my camera again. I'll have to consider that again next weekend.

Now I will admit it wasn't a piece of cake. I don't think my body has fully adjusted to the altitude, because there was some huffing and puffing... and plenty of sweating. BUt what was funny was that I learned "what goes up must come down" as I got through Miner's Trail. That trail is pretty much up, up, up... which was challenging, but I thought going back down was harder. It's not easy to navigate a rocky/dirt downhill slope, I really had to take certain areas slow.

Not much else going on. I spoke to Courtney today, it was nice to catch up with her. I talked with Greg some more this weekend. It's nice to be able to talk with him... we used to talk every day and I missed our conversations... but I know I need to keep everything in perspective. Anyway, I found out that he has some 'interesting' neighbors... I wish I could say the same, but my neighbors are found under webster's dictionary's definition of anti-social. Even if they are weird, I wouldn't know, I never see them. I think 90% of the people living in this complex are hibernating! seriously! Oh well, no big deal.

So tomorrow is the start of a new week.... hope it is a good one for everyone!

To Hell and Back

Well I had a brief (or rather not so brief) experience at the Colorado DMV this past Wednesday which from hence forth I shall refer to as HELL. That place is so ridiculous that it was far worse than I ever thought it could be. They are understaffed, undermotivated, and ants could cross the room faster than those guys were working. It was just crazy!!! Anyway I survived and finally obtained my 'temporary' Colorado driver's license after about 3 hours. Whew!

Today on my afternoon walk I saw some great blue herons and a rabbit... Tomorrow (weather permitting) I am going back to Devil's Backbone and am going to try and tackle the entire trail (all 7 miles of it). Ahhhhhh- I love Colorado.

P.S. Congrats to Dan and Lynne who finished their basement! (I hope you have some pics you can send me!)

Just Another Manic Monday

Whew I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. Too bad we can't have a three day weekend every week. Mondays. woohoo! (NOT!). So today was pretty boring overall. Went into work... spent the day piecing together tomorrow's AR lecture. Man, next Spring work will be so much easier because I will only have to tweak my lectures instead of create them from scratch.

Not much else going on. I am not sure if I am loving the TKD program I am currently involved in. CSU has TKD classes 3X a week, they start next Tuesday, so I am thinking about registering for that.

Found a nice church yesterday (not nearly as nice as HOPE PRES)but the best of all the ones I have been to so far. I think I will go back (Mountain View Presbyterian). I went to Sunday School and everything. I really havent been to adult sunday school in a looooooooooooooooooooooong time. Sure I went to BASIC at 2nd Pres, and the Gathering at Bellevue... but those were more like mini church services (at least to me they were).

So anything interesting going on out there with my loyal readers?

My Beautiful Backyard

So I decided to throw in the picture I took of my bald eagle friend... unfortunately it is at a distance because when I went out on my walk I didn't have my camera, so when I got home I snapped a shot of him perched across the water from my deck.


Yesterday morning there was a thick mist hovering over the water... it looked almost like a cloud passing by and I just had to snap a shot. There were a ton of birds huddled on the icy water's surface with the cloud-like fog encopassing them

Today I went on a hike at a place called "Devil's Backbone". There are three trails that connect to one another, the total trail distance is 7.5 miles. I just did the first trail today which has a round trip distance of 3.5 miles. I have attached some photos I took during my hike. The first is part of the rock structure known as, "the devil's backbone", the second picture is the famous "keyhole" erosion that carved a hole in the rock. The keyhole is actually really amazing close up. The third picture is the view from within the keyhole. Long's Peak can be seen from here (in the picture you can view it as the snowcapped peak in the distance which has coulds sitting above it. Finally, on my way back I took a picture of the rattlesnake warning sign. This posting sits at the beginning of the trail and when I saw it I almost turned around and went home when I saw that sign (everyone who knows me well, knows that I am afraid of snakes) Glad I decided to be brave and move onward, the hike was really fun. I am going to keep going back since it is only a 15 min drive from my place... want to hike the whole park one day. (gotta build up some stamina though).

Majestic Neighbor

So there is this natural area behind my apartment called the North Plains environmental center. I might have mentioned it in a previous post. I have walked arouund the trails back there a few times now and last week I got excited because I thought I saw a bald eagle (or as I used to refer to them - a bald-headed eagle). Anyway I wasn't sure and I forgot about it. Today I went out again and sure enough perched atop a bare tree was a large bird with a white head/neck and tail and a dark brown body. I think it is sooooo cool that I actually saw a bald eagle outside the zoo (being that they are so endangered). I looked online to see if there are indeed bald eagles in this area. According to what I read there are some in Colorado, and they tend to hang out near resevoirs (bingo - Hout's resevoir right behind me). I tried to take a pic of the bird from my apt when I got home, but the zoom isnt strong enough to really capture it's essence. Oh well, maybe one day I'll snag a good shot of him/her.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

It is simply gorgeous out in Colorado, and I could think of no better way to demonstrate that fact than to share with y'all the scene I woke up to Tuesday morning. A rainbow! I like to think of it as a good omen to the new chapter in my life.
Rob- I am definitely NOT in Kansas anymore!

The scene in the pic is actually the north plains environmental center, which I happily found out has some walking/biking trails right outside my backyard... so if I want to go for a walk (or someday when I buy one, a bike ride) I won't have to travel very far! I actually took a walk out there Monday afternoon. It was so beautiful out, sunny and 50 degrees. So much for COLD Colorado weather =P

I have joined a new TKD club out here... just a class that meets Mondays for sparring, and Tues/Thurs for technique/form. I am excited because my instructor is familiar with forms from several different groups and will be able to teach me a wide variety of technique.

Work has been slow going... not everyone is back in the office yet. I am a little lost sheep, but I learn something every day. I met with one of the faculty members who I will be teaching with, and she is awesome. She is an SLP with a passion for cochlear implants, and I am REALLY excited to hopefully get an opportunity to get involved with some of the work that she does and have some contact with more implant recipients.

----LATE EDITION----
I noticed this on April's page, so I took the test. Hey April, looks like we scientists are pretty clairvoyant, interesting...