A Weekend Journey to The Bubble

While it didn't dawn on me until Monday of last week, a non-service Friday (read: no students, not contractually obligated to be at work) meant that I had a long weekend, precious time where I could do almost anything my heart desired.  Thus, at a stoplight, just around the corner from work, I sent Brian a text and suggested we head west for the weekend.  By the time I left work that afternoon, he had planned our weekend trip to the Front Range.  For that alone, he's worth keeping around!


Our nearly three full days in Colorado began with at 6am flight; from touchdown to takeoff on Sunday, our time was packed with outdoor activity.  We drove straight from the airport to Clear Creek Canyon, where we hopped on a multi-pitch sport route, 'Playing Hooky' and then headed into Boulder to meet up with friends for a soloing missing up the Second Flatiron.  I don't know that any trip to Boulder is complete without that!  We grabbed dinner and caught up with friends to round out our first day in The Bubble.

The next day we headed to Estes Park to do some hiking before meeting friends for dinner.  We hiked to Gem Lake, which I hadn't been to since my very first trip to Colorado, when Brian and I were still coaching the AdRock climbing team (ahh, how I fondly remember the days of being young!).  We also made a quick stopover in town to walk along the river and to enjoy an almost-earned/much-needed chai shake from Kind Coffee.  I closed out the middle of my Boulder trip by watching a Badger win -- great place, great team, big win, big day!!

On Sunday, we closed out our trip with a morning hike to the summit of Green Mountain, another personal favorite, and then had lunch with a pal, did some shopping on Pearl Street, and squeezed in a final bit of hiking in town before heading to Denver to make our way back to Milwaukee.


The trip was quick, but it was great, a reminder that adventuring, that living each day the best one can, is the best way to trek though this life.  As always, I enjoyed every moment adventuring with my adventure buddy!





topped out 'Playin' hooky'

RMNP 

some went rock scrambling (upper left between the two tall trees)
there's a rainbow out there 
my favorite adventurer 


summit of Green Mountain 

above the clouds



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