The Ranch Party

Yesterday Christian and I went to a ranch party that Carolyn was so kind to invite us to.  Lots of fun was had by all, and it was great to meet a lot of Carolyn's friends who were all so welcoming! At 1:00 we left Denver and headed out just past Boulder to Allenspark, CO.  An hour or so later we arrived at the ranch (a 4 million dollar ranch apparently):

 

The weather was perfect!  I would say there were about 40-50 of us at the ranch.

 As soon as we got there we set up our tent so we could go join the party.  Everyone had little backpacking tents.  Not us. We originally did buy a small 2 person tent, but somehow I convinced Christian we needed a 6 person tent.  It was the talk of the town.  Known as 'the hotel' for the rest of the night (someone did put up a tent right next to us that was also quite huge).  Took us awhile but with some help we got it up and running:

 Lots of poles (I'm sure they have a fancy name but I do not know what it is):

 Garrett is saying "Put that stupid camera down and help, Colleen!"

 The finishing touches (rain cover):

 Lookin good!

A normal person's tent:

 

Our tent:

 

The best part about our tent: the hinged door!

Everyone pitched in $15 and someone brought all of the food & beer.  We spent the afternoon/evening playing various games and hanging out.

 

Don't be fooled- that healthy watermelon is soaked in vodka.

The kegs sat in the stream to keep cold:

 The ice cream maker:

I didn't get photos of them all but there was a lot of dogs present.  This is Riley:

 I called these pups over for a photo but this is what I got instead:

Ipretended to be a professional photographer:

 

 

The campfire- I couldn't get a good picture, and at this point I decided it would be safest to put my good camera away in a safe place.

 

Here is a picture of Christians feet before we went to bed.  Mmmm:

 When I went to bed I was in sweats, heavy socks, a winter hat and had my hood up.  When I awoke at 7am the sun was beating down on our tent and it was HOT!  I unzipped my sleeping bag as fast as I could and got rid of all the layers.  Someone outside my tent was talking of breakfast and every time they said the B word (burrito) I threw up in my mouth a little.  Morning:

 By 8 am I was good to go and we packed up our things and hit the road. We had no energy to get out all the cooking gear and make breakfast so we stopped at a delicious place in Boulder called 'The Buff' (as seen on Man vs Food). 

I was too hungry to stop and photograph the food (sorry dad!) but it hit the spot!  Then we all headed back to Denver to sleep the day away.  It was a great time, thanks again to Carolyn for inviting us!!