Life on the Runn...

After taking Mom and Auntie Lynn to the airport, I headed back to Boulder only to be met with cloudy skies and raindrops.  This was rather inopportune since Brian and I had plans to climb the Second Flatiron that evening.  The rain was slowing down and the sky was turning blue again as Brian arrived home from work, so we decided to go for it, and we headed into town to pick up our pal, Sean, who had come down from Denver, where he was staying for work that week.  As we drove to the trailhead, the rain began falling again, this time with blue skies, and I was pretty certain we would be making other evening plans.  Luckily, I was wrong.  We hiked to the base of the climb and found that the rock was dry, so we put on our shoes, chalked up our hands and headed toward the top.   Much like last time, it was a lot of fun climbing the Second.  Unlike last time, it took a bit of real effort to take the jump across the rock; I spent the better par...

After quickly washing up from our Long's Peak excursion, Brian and I headed to DIA to retrieve our guests, Mom and Auntie Lynn.  They stated with us a total of five days, and thought I would have loved to keep them here much longer, we made the most of each day they were in town. On Sunday, after a leisurely start to the day (thank the 15 mile hike the day before for that one), we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The sky was bright most of the drive, but as we arrived in Estes Park, the rain began to fall.  By the time we were in the park, it had stopped and the sky was a combination of bright blue and fat rain clouds, the latter of which chased us for the better part of our hiking day.  Regardless, we were able to visit both Lake Bierstadt and Nymph Lake before heading back to Boulder that evening.  We even made friends with a few eager chipmunks when we stopped by Lake Bierstadt to have a snack.   RMNP  Mom, Auntie and ...

Since Brian has been talking to me about Colorado, he has been talking  about Long's Peak. When we decided to begin the relocation to Colorado  process back in April, Long's was still a topic of conversation, and  when we set out for our first 14er after I arrived here this summer, it was laying the groundwork for Long's. This past weekend, just before Mom and Auntie arrived, we took on  Long's Peak. An alarm was set for 1:30 am, and after a quick  breakfast-ish snack, we were in the car and on our way to the  trailhead. Unlike with other hikes, where I utilized every moment of  the car ride for extra sleep, I was wide awake the entire drive. Once  we arrived, we bundled up (it's cold in the mountains without any sun)  and made our way to the trailhead. I was a bit nervous to hike Long's considering  how much fun I had on  the Kelso Ridge route to Torrey's and considering we would be hike in  the dark for a few hours, but ...

I want to wish the very happiest of birthdays to my favorite guy, my adventure buddy, my hubbers! It only seems appropriate that we will be spending you birthday, and a milestone one at that, in one of your favorite places, Rocky Mountain National Park. My birthday wish for you, aside from it being a send train kind of day, is that this year is your most successful yet, both personally and professionally. BR as a little guy  Long's Peak Summit - living life to its fullest  climbing in the park   May the next 30 years be filled with all sorts of amazing adventures and all the best things.  

In the fall of 2001, as Brian and I were settling into life on the University of Wisconsin campus and into our new relationship, I met another amazing person, Brian's college roommate, Matt.  The long and short of it is that I grew up with Brian and Matt, among others.  During those college years when we learned so much about ourselves and about life, Matt was there learning with us, making memories with us and getting into just a bit of trouble with us, so when Brian and I got married, Matt was one of the people we knew had to be there, and indeed he was.  This past weekend, it was an honor to be with him on the day he married his lovely wife, Shaneda. Aside from getting to watch Matt and Shaneda get married, this weekend was also a chance to visit with some of our other great friends, Rob, Bobby and Leah, Erin and Grant, and Mike and Lisa.  Leah and I, who now have been each other's dates for a few weddings since Brian and Bobby seem always to be in them, got ...

Two weekends ago, while we were waiting for our house guests to return, we decided to check another 14er off the list.  Well, actually, we decided to take care of two on the to-do list, Gray's and Torrey's. We had a long day ahead of us on summit day, and, per usual, there was a chance of afternoon rain, so we were up before the sun, well, well before the sun (read: when all sane people are sleeping).   We grabbed our stuff and headed to Georgetown, CO, just about an hour from our home in Boulder, to get on with our adventure. Until we got to the road that leads to the parking area I had forgotten about the fact that Brian was once concerned we wouldn't be able to do this hike; he wasn't sure our car would have the the capability to get up the three mile long road that leads to the trailhead.  As soon as we turned onto the road, which a coworker had informed Brian was not so bad, I remembered our past conversation and held on for dear life.  I was ...