Eldorado Canyon State Park

Today was a very nice day.  Christian has off from work every other Thursday which is great (expect that I have off on Tuesday's). So today we decided to go for a hike.  There are so many places to hike but we decided to start 'easy' and head to Eldorado Canyon State Park.  Eldorado is about 40 minutes NW of us, just before Boulder. 

 When we first pulled in there were a few people climbing- yikes! This was one of the smaller climbs..

 

See the climber below?

 

And off we went...

A random yet very nice house in the middle of Eldorado Park.

"Seriously Col?  Enough with the pictures..."   I had to catch my breath somehow so I just pretended I needed more pictures :)

 It did drizzle on us a bit but it felt nice.

Water break...

At the end (bottom) of our hike.

Out the sunroof.

 Tired us out- Christian is dead asleep right now (7pm).

  I think our hike was at least 5 miles.  Not too bad for our first CO hike.

A great day!

Cruisin'

Last night Christian and I participated in our first "Denver Cruisers" event.  A-MAZ-ING.  The Denver Cruisers is a crazy group of people who meet every Wednesday night throughout the summer and into September.  Each week there is a new theme:

*May 18	White (this theme corresponds with the Ride For Silence)
*May 25	Balloons & Party Hats
June 1	Cops & Robbers
June 8	Mustaches & Wigs
June 15	White Trash Trailer Park
June 22	Bubble Wrap, Duct Tape & Cardboard
June 29	South of the Border
July 6	Armed Forces
July 13	Pageant (AKA Dress Night)
July 20	Beach Party
July 27	Christmas in July
Aug 3	Cowboys & Indians
*Aug 10	Farmers & Farm Animals
*Aug 17	Circus
Aug 24	Angels & Devils
Aug 31	Rave
Sept. 7	TBD
Sept 14	TBD
Sept 21	TBD
Sept 28	Ski Bums & Ski Bunnies

   The Cruisers have 3 different starting points since the following has grown so much.  So we rode our bikes about 15-20 min to our closest meeting point which was the Skylark Lounge.  When we first arrived I was thinking maybe I would be disappointed...BUT I was certainly not.  I didn't get many photos inside the bar since it was so dark. You meet at the bar around 7pm and head out to ride at about 8:45.  This weeks theme was Christmas in July.  We didn't go all out because we weren't sure what to expect.

Lauren & I ready to ride...

Preparing to ride to Civic Center Park, also known as the COD- the circle of death where all 3 groups of Cruisers converge.

The ride to the park was pretty fun, it was about 10-15 minutes. Each bar has a ride leader and they have a hooked up bike with a sound system.  I was VERY upset there was no christmas music- just one sad carol on the way.   I lost my padded bike seat twice.  We stopped at the liquor store for beer to drink when we got to the park.  (that's what the cool kids do?)  When we made it to the park I was pretty impressed with the crowd.  I immediately recognized why they called it the circle of death.  A bunch of people gathered in the middle of the circle with the music and others rode around them in a circle.    I was the only brave enough one to enter the circle.  It is definitely  deathly- hard to get out once your in.  I only took about 3 laps and made a fast exit. (I apologize for the poor photo quality)

Little did I know this was barely a 1/4  of the crowd to come. 

He has a reindeer attached to his bike.

Great people watching.  I look scared.  I was.

Overall it was a great time for a Wednesday night!  I will be in Penn State all next week for my last course but look forward to more Cruisin' when I return. 

Ladies Night Out

On Saturday a bunch of us went out to celebrate with Carolyn who is getting married in September.  We spent a relaxing afternoon sitting by the pool. No pics sorry!  Later that night we got ready and went to Larimer Square and had dinner at a mexican restaurant called Lime.  Apparently it is THE place to go for bachelorette parties- there were 4 other groups there. 

The beautiful bride-to-be.  She really fought the veil.

Lime made Carolyn a little sign.

Cheers!

Michelle, Liz, Megan, Carolyn, Meaghan, me, Dana

I was too busy dancing to take any more pictures sorry.  It was a great night, congratulations Carolyn & Will!

Friday night

Friday night after Christian and I BOTH got home from work, we headed out to Wash Park to Old South Pearl Street.   We had dinner at the Sushi Den (a recommendation from Ben Zintak).  It was YUM!
 Thanks Ben!

Kanpai !

That's a lot of sushi....

Apparently not enough...

Christian looks 3 sheets to the wind but in his defense I think he is just exhausted.

 After dinner we strolled around Old South Pearl street and then decided to have a drink at the Black Pearl.

 I had Mango Sangria and Christian had a Moscow Mule (very popular out here- I think for the fancy copper cup it is served in) which is vodka, ginger beer and lime. 

That's it for our evening out.  Christian fell dead asleep on the couch mid sentence when we got home.  He is working hard! 

Have a great weekend everyone!

PS:  This is what I come home to everyday.  Poor Chicken!  Stanley is a bully...

She WAS sitting where he is... Stanley pushed her right out of the way. Rude.

Weekend Camping

Saturday afternoon a group of 9 of us headed out past Boulder to do some camping.   We met in Boulder at Michelle and Kyle's house and headed out. We drove through this TINY old town called Gold Hill...

 

Earlier in the summer there was a fire in Boulder County... you could see all of the damage on the drive up.  A lot of houses were burnt down to the ground or had just been rebuilt.

About 20 minutes past Gold Hill, and after some scary cliff driving we made it to our beautiful campsite that Kyle scouted out for us (he's an eagle scout which makes me feel better).

 

 After we arrived around 2:30 we had a few quick storms pass through.  Its nice having cars near by for shelter.  At one point after dark we were looking towards our tents with our headlamps and Carolyn claimed her tent was gone.  We thought she was crazy buuuut she wasn't.  We had about 5 minutes of winds which was enough for her tent to take flight.  We went hunting for it in the dark with just out headlamps and found it not too far away.  Our huge tent was completely turned around.

Hiding out in the car during the storm.  Stella the dog came, too.

We cooked up some hot dogs, hamburgers and sausages on the fire and had s'mores later in the evening.

We played some games.

(Notice my lovely centerpiece)

It was another great camping trip!