This past week my friend Kimmy (from Ventura by way of Houston) came to the Springs with her boyfriend as he had an annual work conference to attend.  They chose to (more like Kimmy forced her boyfriend) extend their stay so we could come down for a visit.  Yesterday morning we departed bright and early to meet them at their hotel.  From there we all conquered our first 14er (mountain over 14,000-feet in elevation) and had an incident with an Audi, then we strolled around Garden of the Gods where I nearly got in trouble for throwing a “rock” at Kimmy and she and Chad were subjected to park “ranger” paparazzi.  Then it was off to their new hotel, dinner and we returned home.

We had a blast and now it’s our turn to visit them down in Texas.

Pictures (more on Facebook until I get a chance to apply modifications).

What a difference a day makes!  Yesterday the weather was sunny and in the 50s, which is warm for early spring in Colorado.  This morning we woke up to about 3″ of snow on the ground and heavy snow falling from the sky.  By noon we had white-out blizzard conditions.  Around 2 or 3 the snow had abated enough to shovel the driveway and sidewalk.  Then, we went snowshoeing in 12″ of snow…plus it’s still snowing.  There are conflicting reports on how much snow we will continue to get tonight.  The blizzard warning is over, now we are just under a snow advisory.  But should still get anywhere from 1-8 more inches of snow tonight, then possibly another 1″ tomorrow morning.  It always figures that the snow falls around trash day.  And that saying the post office has about “Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow…” does not apply to Colorado…at least not my neighborhood.

At least Hayley has had the full spectrum of Colorado’s schizophrenic weather during her trip.  All that’s left for tonight are elk burgers on the grill (yes, we bbq regardless of the weather), down a few more rounds of hot cocoa and we still need to get in that game of farkle!

Today was our last chance to get out and explore before the snow.  Yes, it is supposed to snow…more on that later.  We left relatively early this morning to drive down to the Springs.  When we got there the weather was great.  The sky was a brilliant blue, there was snow on the ground in spots.  Pike’s Peak was mostly hidden behind incoming storm clouds, but as the day progressed and the clouds moved east, the snow-capped peak was exposed.  Beautiful!

Hayley and I thoroughly enjoyed Garden of the Gods…our reason for making the 90-minute trek south.  Lots of pictures have been posted on my facebook page, but not yet on here.  The res is too high right now, so once I adjust the pics I’ll post them on the blog.  After the Garden we headed to a shopping mall in Aurora so I could get a jacket at the Tilly’s there.  The store in Westminster told me they carried the jackets.  The store in Westminster lied.

Back to Lafayette.  We could see the storm clouds move in as we drove and rain pounding the plains.  Hayley is very excited for tomorrow’s snow.  Not that I’m not, I am too.  Yesterday the forecast was calling for 5-8″ of snow.  That’s a lot, especially for our area.  Today, the forecast was changed to 8-16″!  The National Weather Service has even issued a Winter Storm Warning from 6am tomorrow through 6am on Friday.

Hayley and I probably won’t travel further than my yard tomorrow.  Plans for Day 4 – teach the girl how to play Farkle!

When the weather is beautiful in Colorado it truly is a shame to stay inside all day, especially when this state was designed by God to be explored!

This morning I drove Hayley up to Chautauqua where we proceeded to hike 3 of the different trails that surround the Flatirons…including the Royal Arch, which took us to the top of one of the mountains and 6800-feet in elevation.  All three hikes took about 90 minutes…because we are that good!  Even with Hayley adjusting to our thin atmosphere.  😀  We made it down in 30 minutes.  These hikes were not suitable for Bella, but we managed just fine.

After the hikes, I took Hayley to Boulder Falls.  She loooooved it;  then up to Nederland for Elk burgers.  Yum!  She got to see some snow too as flurries fell in earnest up the canyon.  Although, according to the National Weather Service we might get 6″+ of snow on Thursday!  Maybe snowshoe around Kneebone??

Tomorrow we will tackle Garden of the Gods…got to get that one in before the snow makes the drive to the Springs unbearable!

Today my friend Hayley arrived for a week-long visit from California.  We both took the week off from work for a “we’re not in college anymore but still deserve a spring break vacation”.

Day 1 –

I picked Hayley up at the airport this morning around 1030.  She was hungry.  We stopped by the house to drop off her suitcases then headed into Boulder for some Colorado Pizza…BeauJos anyone?  She loved it!

After lunch we drove around “old town” Boulder and then headed-up Sunshine Canyon.  Never been up that canyon before, but we took it until we could take it no more…and ended up in Gold Hill.  What a cool little town that is!  And oh the buildings, the history!  That town was founded in 1859 and started the Gold Rush in Colorado!  Not to mention it also has oldest continuously operating public school in Colorado (in operation since 1873)!  The buildings were amazing; left over relics from the 1800s!  It gave me so many ideas for the story of Logan and Noelle!  Our favorite was a dilapidated mining section outside the town limits.  The coolest house on one side of the road, and on the other a crumbling barn and mining cars.  We might have to make another trip up the canyon for more pictures and to walk around the cometary (1866!).

After coming back down the canyon, we drove by a few more historic houses in Boulder before returning home to our feed on our Twilight obsession.

Tomorrow, maybe hiking in and around Chautauqua, Flagstaff Road and perhaps even Boulder Canyon.  Elk burgers for lunch in Nederland!

This past week my parents came out for a visit/vacation in Colorado and house-sat for us while over the weekend Noah and I went camping with a group of friends to Ridgeway, in southwest Colorado (in total there were 10 adults, 2 babies, and 3 dogs on 4 campsites).  I love a good camping trip, especially when that means no cell phone reception, which is exactly what we had!

Day 1 (Friday)
We left in the morning via caravan for the 6-hour drive (including lunch and gas stops) across the Rockies.  We arrived with enough time to set-up and cook before dark and only had a few sprinkles of rain that night.  Not much of a gathering, we were all pretty tired from the drive.

Day 2 (Saturday)
Noah and I woke to find air had leaked from our Aero Bed during the night and it now had the stiffness of a water bed.  Not good.  The day was spent laid back, as all good vacations should be.  We all gathered together for our meals, spent some down time playing games or reading books.  Noah, Ryan and I went down to the lake to try and catch some trout, but a rainstorm ended that outing shortly after it began (20 min maybe?).  We headed back to the campsites and hung out in our tents for a good hour or two waiting for the rain to pass.  I got in some good reading, Noah took a nap.  Dinner was good that night (hobo stew!) but dessert was cut out of the menu as more rain sent everyone to our tent (we had the largest one) to play games and stay dry.

Day 3 (Sunday)
After breakfast most of the group headed down to Mesa Verde, but we and another couple decided we did not want to spend 6 hours of our day sitting in a car (3 hours each way), so we went fishing.  Melina sat and read while Stan, Noah and I spent a few hours casting our lines.  I had one fish eat the tail off my rubber bait, but it refused to bite the hook.  When the ranger came along to check for fishing licenses he said that if we could catch a grasshopper we would almost be guaranteed to catch a fish.  So, Noah and I set out to catching bugs (Stan and Melina had headed back to the campsite by now).  Trout have a penchant for crickets.  They did not like the grasshopper and I could not catch a cicada.  It was not long after dropping a cricket in the water that we would have bites.  Unfortunately we were trying to catch smart fish that knew how to steal the bait without actually biting the hook…even though it was a small three-pronged hook.  Grr!  I really wanted to head back to the site with at least one fish!

Noah and I finally gave up and headed back to the campsite after 4-hours of having bait stolen from our hooks.  Stan and Noah headed into town to get some new batteries for our flashlight and get an extension cord  to reinflate our bed, which now had the consistency of a hammock (the one hardware store in Ridgeway happened to be closed on Sundays, but Noah was able to borrow some cords from the camp host).  We needed the cords since the campsites were walk-in and the one cord Noah brought was not nearly long enough to reach from the car/inverter to the tent.  Meanwhile, Melina and I relaxed and read our books, and eventually started dinner.  The other group did not get back from Mesa Verde until nearly 9pm, after we had already had our dinner and were starting dessert!

That night while eating we watched a lightning storm over the San Juan mountains and later that night the same storm blew in over us.  I have never camped in a tent during such a storm.  There was thunder, lightning and lots of rain.  I was very glad Noah and I took the time last summer to add waterproofing to our tent on both the inside and out as we stayed dry.  There were either three storms or three different periods of heavy rain. I’m also glad that the campsites had raised tent platforms and the ground absorbed the water.  😀

Day 4 (Monday)
We headed out around 11am, this time in two groups.  One wanted to head straight back home and the group we were in detoured through Ouray to take in the scenery before returning.  We finally got home around 7pm yesterday and last night relished sleeping on a bed that did not deflate!

You can see photos of the trip here.