Weekend Hike

Shawn and I have been "planning" on going on a hike for a few weeks now, but things keep coming up that make us change our mind. So this past weekend, we decided that we were, for sure, going to go on a hike. We didn't really do anything Friday night so that we could be well rested, and I even convinced Shawn to let me sleep until about 6:00 on Saturday morning. Shawn used one of his books to pick a route that looked pretty interesting, hiking up a trail on Mt. Pilchuk.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny! It was just about perfect hiking weather. We left the apartment around 7:15, but then were delayed for about 20 minutes when Shawn and the guy parked behind us both decided to pull out of their parking spaces at approximately the same time. Both bumpers were dented/scratched, and info was exchanged, but I don't think we're going to do anything about it.

We drove about an hour away to get to Mt. Pilchuk. We drove up the first forest service road a few miles before we noticed a few cars parked on the side of the road. When we turned the corner, we saw why....snow! The road was completely snowed in, as far as we could see. We decided to just park the car and start our hike a few miles further down the mountain than originally planned. Shawn was feeling pretty confident that the snow wouldn't cover the entire road, but it turns out that we really should've used snowshoes. We did hike up the road a few miles, but we were walking through quite a bit of snow (probably a couple feet) almost the entire time. It was still beautiful, but it was definitely a workout! And poor Shawn was wearing shorts, so his socks and hiking boots got soaked.

We eventually came to a place where part of the forest service road had washed out at some point over the winter. (Note to self...we need to contact the forest service to see if they know about this yet.) This is where we stopped to have lunch, and this is also where we decided to turn around. See, Shawn was also pretty confident that the road would be pretty much in the tall trees the entire time, so he thought we wouldn't need sunscreen. Turns out, we were in the sun almost the entire time. So once we had lunch, we knew that we'd be getting pretty sunburned if we kept going. As it is, Shawn decided to wear my fleece shirt on his head to avoid burning his face. It was awfully sexy. :)

Overall, we had a wonderful day on Saturday! The hike was both harder and shorter than we were expecting, but we're looking forward to getting back to this trail during the summer. We've learned our lesson...bring snowshoes in May, even at this relatively low elevation! After the hike, we stopped at a great little produce stand that had amazing prices, and then we stopped off for an early dinner (where it was happy hour, so dinner cost us a whopping $9).

Thursday Thirteen #7

(This image provided by Samulli.)

It's Thursday again already! For this week's Thursday 13, I decided to make a list of some of my favorite things that Shawn and I have done together over the last four years.

1. Play Pool: On our first date, after eating dinner, Shawn and I played pool together for a couple of hours. We had a really fun time that night, and we still like to go play pool on special occasions as a reminder of that night.

2. Climbing 14ers: There are 54 mountains in Colorado that are more than 14,000 feet high. The first summer we were dating, Shawn and I left my apartment at 2:15am so that we could reach the summit of Gray's Peak by sunrise. In 2007, Shawn took me up Mt. Bierstadt.

3. Rock Climbing: I was really excited when I met Shawn to learn that he likes rock climbing. It was something I'd always wanted to do. Our first climb was at the Flat Irons in Boulder. My favorite place that we climb is the cliffs on North Table Mesa in Golden. I like the fact that these climbs are shorter, so that I can challenge myself on a harder route, but I don't have far to get to the top.

4. Climb Dunns River Falls: This is a waterfall in Jamaica. The riverbed makes natural steps, so you can literally climb up the waterfall...and that's in the river, not next to it. We did this on Christmas Day in 2007, on our honeymoon.

5. Snorkeling: Before we went to Jamaica for our honeymoon, I would've admitted that I'm kinda afraid of the ocean. My problem is that I get a bit freaked out when I'm in the water and can't see what might be swimming with me. So I was thrilled to find how clear the water was in Jamaica, and I was able to overcome my fear to the point that we went snorkeling! The boat took us to a reef off shore, and it was beautiful!

6. Game at Yankee Stadium: I'm the baseball fan, of course, but I think Shawn had a good time at Yankee Stadium last year, too. As much as I hate the Yankees, I can appreciate the history in New York, and the game was actually really fun.

7. Game at Fenway Park: I couldn't put one and not the other. :) We did both parks in one vacation. We couldn't say this to our friend Jarid (who is a huge Yankee fan), but we both agreed that Fenway was a nicer stadium, and that game was also really fun.

8. Sea Kayaking: This is one perk to living on the west coast. We were able to go sea kayaking in the San Juan Islands a couple years ago, and it was a great experience! We're actually planning on going again next weekend, and I'm excited to do it again.

9. Whale Watching: We did this last fall, when I came out to Seattle to visit Shawn before we'd officially moved. It was so awesome to see the Orca whales breaching out of the water. It was pretty surreal.

10. Tidepooling: I'm not sure that's really a word :), but we did this near San Francisco the day after Christmas this past year. We went to this particular beach at low tide, and it was really interesting to see all the little creatures who have made their homes in the pools that get left when the tide goes out.

11. July 4th Hike: The first year Shawn and I were dating, we decided to go for a hike on the 4th of July. Of all the places Shawn has taken me hiking, this particular trail is hands down my favorite. So we went back to hike the same trail the next 4th of July. And the next one. And the one after that. We've gone 4 years in a row now to hike the same trail, and we have tentative plans to be in Colorado for July 4th this year, too, just so we can go back to the same trail.

12. Snowshoeing: This is one of my favorite activities to do with Shawn. If I get too hot, I can usually just unzip my coat. And if I fall, I just tumble into the powder and don't get hurt. It's great. :) I also love that the snowshoes let us get to places during the winter that most hikers can't get to.

13. Napping in Central Park: The actual activity wasn't necessarily my favorite thing, but I like the memory. :) The first time we were in New York City together, we walked quite a ways from our hotel to Central Park. It was a warm, sunny fall day, so we found a rock and sat down. Eventually, we ended up sprawled out on the rock, and we accidentally both fell asleep for about an hour. We were like lizards. :)

Snow Adventures

Shawn and I headed to the Cascade Mountains today. We got a slow start, though. As we were waiting for the gas tank to fill up, we realized that we weren't exactly sure how to get from our place to the Highway that we needed to take into the mountains. I thought we should go north, so we started out that way. After a couple exits, Shawn checked his Blackberry and realized we should go south, so we turned around. We passed our original exit, and after a few more exits, I realized that we'd forgotten our snowshoes at home. So we turned around again to get them.

So we wasted an hour, but we eventually got on our way. We went over Stevens Pass without any difficulty (only a little snow and not much traffic). We hadn't been to this area before, so we did originally miss our turn off and and had to turn around once. But then we found the trailhead pretty easily. The problem, though, was that the plow had only cleared one lane. It made a loop, so cars wouldn't get stuck, but there was nowhere to park. That didn't stop Shawn, though. It took him about half an hour of driving back and forth, but he eventually was able to use his car to create a parallel parking space. In the picture below, his left tires are basically on the line that the plow had created. We were very proud of his "plowing" abilities. :)

After parking, we got on our snow gear, put on our snowshoes, and hit the trail! This was Shawn's first time using the snowshoes I bought him for Christmas...he seems pleased with their performance. We didn't make it a very long hike, partly due to our rather late start, but we had a lot of fun enjoying the snow and this beautiful area of Washington.
After snowshoeing, we made a quick trip to Leavenworth. This town is a Bavarian Village...everything looks like it came straight out of Germany (even the Starbucks didn't have its normal corporate logo!). It was very pretty (especially with the Christmas lights still up), and I'd love to spend more time looking through all the little shops. But frankly...it was really cold! So after taking a quick walk through the town (and purchasing some fresh salami and a 1/2 pound of really good fudge), we decided to head home. But here's a pic of the downtown area!

Shawn's hike

A few posts down, I already told a little bit about Shawn's big hike last Saturday. He climbed Conundrum Peak, which is near Aspen. He tooks tons of pictures, which, frankly, make me wish that I would've gone! Actually, Shawn thinks that it's within my abilities (in other words, not too difficult for me), but he thinks parts of the climb would've scared me. There was snow in places, and there was frost on a lot of the rocks before the sun hit them. Frost+rocks=slippery surface! And yes, the thought of slipping off a rock and tumbling down a mountain does scare me. :) Here are some pictures from his day of hiking:

In moving news, Shawn called the relocation company today to let them know that I hadn't heard from the moving company yet. The relocation company then called me to let me know that the person who was supposed to call me and schedule the estimate has been out this week. That person will call me on Monday. I said okay and hung up. What I really wanted to ask is why they "assigned" us to a person who is out all week, when the relocation company knows that Shawn's start date in Washington is Monday? And if it's not okay for me to wait until Monday for them to call...what would they have been able to do about it at 5:00 on Friday? But anyways. As long as our current landlord doesn't kick us out of the Colorado condo on Tuesday, we'll be fine. It'll all work out. I just keep telling myself that. :)

Recent update

Since Shawn took a week of vacation and stayed here in Colorado last week, we actually were relatively busy (or at least Shawn was). He managed to get outdoors and do something fun almost every day last week! I guess I just wasn't in the mood to post much, though, so I'll try to do a recap today.

On Wednesday, our friend Jarid came "up the hill" and he and Shawn went biking in the open space park near our apartment. They were gone a few hours and then came back here for lunch. The original plan was for them to go back out biking at a different park in the afternoon, but Jarid's bike broke somehow (something got bent...), so they ended up just staying here and playing the Wii all afternoon.

On Thursday and Friday we didn't do much. I think Shawn went out biking at some point each day. Shawn actually went to bed around 8:00 on Friday night, and then he got up just after midnight. He was out the door before 1:00am to drive to Aspen to do a big hike. I, of course, stayed home and began worrying around 2:00pm. And of course, I had nothing to worry about. :) Shawn called me around 3:30, saying he'd already left Aspen and was on his way home. The hike just took longer than I expected. And apparently the drive up to the trailhead took longer than even Shawn was expecting. He said it was a rough drive, even for him in his Montero!

Saturday night, we had plans to have dinner with Jarid and Sarah. Originally, we thouht we would go to Oktoberfest in Denver. However, with the combination of Shawn being tired, having to park really far away from the festival, rain beginning to fall, and walking right past one of our favorite restaurants, we all decided to have pizza for dinner instead. Afterwards, we went back to Jarid and Sarah's to play a little MarioKart before heading back up the hill.

And finally Sunday...we didn't do much. We went to church, and Shawn took a nap while I watched football. Actually, he woke up towards the end of the first quarter of the Broncos game and finished watching the game with me. We then just lazed around the apartment until it was time to take him to the airport. Hopefully, this will be the last time I have to take him to the airport on a Sunday evening to fly to Seattle!!

Hiking in the Snow

As you can tell from my last post, we had crazy weather here in Colorado this past weekend. Shawn had already planned on going on a hike at some point this weekend, so the weather didn't stop him. He headed out on Sunday morning and went to Jefferson. As you can see from the pictures below, there were about 6 inches of fresh snow that he hiked through (depending on the elevation).

This picture below is Jefferson Lake. This is the same place where Shawn and I went fishing, just two weeks before this picture was taken!

Whenever he goes out hiking, Shawn loves to take lots of pictures. He's really good at taking "artistic" pictures of flowers, which I think are amazing! If you click on this picture, it should get bigger (I think), and then you can see the brilliant detail he was able to capture! There's actually a water droplet hanging from one of the flowers.

Obviously, this is Shawn at the top of the mountain. You can see how happy he is, despite the weather that probably would've had me complaining! :)

I think these last two pictures do a great job of showing the beauty of Colorado nature and weather! These mountains are gorgeous, but the landscape and the climate are forces not to be taken lightly. Sadly, we learned that Saturday night, a family of four flying from Steamboat Springs back to Houston ran into the winter-like weather. The small plane they were flying crashed into the mountains not far from where Shawn was hiking (he actually saw one of the search-and-rescue helicopters).

Hiking in the Mountains

Shawn loves the mountains. I honestly think that he would be perfectly content just living on the top of a mountain for months on end without ever seeing another human being (well...maybe he'd like to see me up there with him sometimes). Before I met Shawn, I was not what you would call "outdoorsy." Ah...so much has changed in the last 3 years! :)

Our first ever hike together was on July 4th, 2005. The trail that Shawn took me up (near Breckenridge) has become our favorite trail. It's absolutely gorgeous, and it's not quite as crowded as a lot of the mountain trails in the area. We've now hiked this trail on the 4th of July 4 years in a row.

A lot of people will hike this trail as far as the waterfall, which is beautiful. This year, though, we've had so much snow that the waterfall was still partially covered! The snow made a sort of bridge over the waterfall.

Lots of people will also make it as far as the "lower lake." It's a great spot to stop and have a snack, and it does give a great view of both the valley and Quandary Peak.

Shawn and I keep going, though, to the upper lake. One of my favorite things about this trail is the abundance and variety of wildflowers! Normally, we bring a book with us to identify all the different flowers that we see. This year, though, again because of the snow, there weren't nearly as many flowers as usual. I bet this trail will be amazing in about 2 more weeks, though! And once the site decides to cooperate, I'll upload a few more pics from our hike!

Our "Wild" Weekend

Shawn and I had a great Memorial Day weekend. On Friday night, I went to the Rockies/Mets game with a group of friends. We had a great time, especially since the Rockies won in 13 innings! I didn't get to see the 13th, since I had to leave to pick up Shawn from the airport. On our way back through town, we met up with Jarid for a little bit, which we normally don't do. But it felt like being back in college again. :)

On Saturday, we mostly just took it easy. We did go to the house of one of my colleagues for a little party. Her house is up in the mountains, at about 10,000 feet of elevation! The house was gorgeous, and Shawn was in love with the view from the porch. The road getting there was a bit rough, though! There's no way my little car could've made it...you definitely need 4-wheel drive.

On Sunday, we decided to go for a hike. We left early Sunday morning, and before we'd even gotten out of town, we stopped the car to take pictures. What caught our attention was a white deer! We thought it was albino, but after getting a good look at it, I noticed there were a few little brown splotches on its face. I guess that makes it "piebald." This isn't "our" deer, but it looked something like this.

We also saw a fox right next to the little group of deer, so we were able to get some good pictures of him, too. Then, towards the end of our hike, we saw a family of marmots. One of them let us get within about 10 feet of him before scurrying into his hole. Again, this isn't the one we saw, but this is what a marmot looks like.

We attempted to summit Mt. Sherman, but frankly, I'm just a bit too out of shape to summit a fourteener in the snow. So we made it to an elevation of almost 13,000 feet before turning around. I was VERY tired by the time we got back to the car! It's a bit disappointing, though, getting that high but not making the summit. I think that this is one mountain we'll have to try again sometime this summer.