It's my birthday!!
So don't go talking about America...
Friday, July 4, 2008
Trek to John's Hill
The vacation does get better! After the disaster of day 1, John and I both woke up refreshed and ready to have fun. We went grocery shopping and settled into the house. Then we explored the National Park. Didn't do a lot that first night. Drove up the east side of the park. We stopped and took some pictures before it started raining. Then decided to drive back down instead of going to the Alpine Summit. We did walk around Sprague Lake, where my brothers loved to fish, but don't have any pictures because my freaking camera broke! Luckily John had his so I didn't go without a camera for the rest of the trip, but mine is very dead. I think it got old.
That night we also found gold in the river! We saw all these sparkles so John jumped in and started pulling out rocks. They aren't big pieces of gold, and they could be fools gold, but still we have a lot of rocks with gold flakes in them!
So the next day, we went back to the river and looked around some more. While we ate in the valley John saw a hill he wanted to climb. Only problem was it was on the other side of the river. Now, this is probably more of a stream than a river, but it was deep enough I couldn't just hike across it. So we walked up and down the river trying to find a place to cross. We failed.
The hill we were trying to get to:
So we drove a ways down and decided to just start walking along the river, towards the hill, until we found a place to cross. We eventually did and it felt so so nice to be in the cold water. Then we just had a long walk (1-2 miles?) across the plains. But we made it to the hill, climbed up all the rocks, and then had an amazing view! We decided that we were the first to conqueror the hill, so we named it John's Hill.
On the way back, we took a slightly different route, followed the river more closely rather than walk across the grass. We found bones! Seriously, we're just trekking along and then there's bones at our feet. We're pretty sure they were elk, as that's pretty much the animal (besides prairie dogs) that wander around that area, plus one of the bones still had fur on it. It was pretty crazy stuff.
That night we also found gold in the river! We saw all these sparkles so John jumped in and started pulling out rocks. They aren't big pieces of gold, and they could be fools gold, but still we have a lot of rocks with gold flakes in them!
So the next day, we went back to the river and looked around some more. While we ate in the valley John saw a hill he wanted to climb. Only problem was it was on the other side of the river. Now, this is probably more of a stream than a river, but it was deep enough I couldn't just hike across it. So we walked up and down the river trying to find a place to cross. We failed.
The hill we were trying to get to:
So we drove a ways down and decided to just start walking along the river, towards the hill, until we found a place to cross. We eventually did and it felt so so nice to be in the cold water. Then we just had a long walk (1-2 miles?) across the plains. But we made it to the hill, climbed up all the rocks, and then had an amazing view! We decided that we were the first to conqueror the hill, so we named it John's Hill.
On the way back, we took a slightly different route, followed the river more closely rather than walk across the grass. We found bones! Seriously, we're just trekking along and then there's bones at our feet. We're pretty sure they were elk, as that's pretty much the animal (besides prairie dogs) that wander around that area, plus one of the bones still had fur on it. It was pretty crazy stuff.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Day 1 sucked!
Well, we're back from Colorado.
I think this report may have to be done in installments. There's just too much to say!
We had to get up insanely early on Wednesday to catch our plane. And by early, I mean 4:00 at the latest. I was up at 3:40, mainly because I wasn't really sleeping anyway. I was so anxious. I tried to go to bed at 11, but it didn't work out so well. I actually woke up at like 2 and had to jump up and down and wave my arms all around to settle myself. I say all this so you will understand how tired I am in my story later.
We got to Denver at 10:30, 12:30 our time. And went to get our rental car. First, I dealt with a lady who actually said "God, I'm really getting them all today, aren't I?" when I asked about adding John as a driver for free, as I was told I could by them before I left. Let's just say John was not officially added, as she refused to do it despite my print off saying I could. I was too tired to fight it. I just let John drive anyway.
Our car was a piece of shit. Really. If you tried to back out of a parking spot, there was a giant plastic piece around this minuscule window, so you couldn't see. It's truly a miracle I didn't hit something. And it squealed. So, don't get a Pontiac Vibe. Note, this is an "intermediate SUV" when I was supposed to just get an "intermediate " car... something like mine. They messed up, and tried to charge me for the upgrade. Just another hassle.
Ok, so we get on the road. Our house was like 2 hours from the airport. Up in the mountains. We stopped in Boulder for some lunch. Which was insane, because I had forgotten how wild Boulder can be in the summer. I was in this terrible car, trying to remember where I was and dodge all kinds of people. John and I were both tired so we were bitching at one another.
But, we finally got fed and dodged more bikers going up the mountain, but we made it to our house. We expected great relief. A nice huge bottle of water and a nap. Instead, we discovered that there was no electricity or water in our house!
I knew this wasn't right. I didn't sign up for a rustic cabin. I needed my amenities. All Johna asked for was a flush toilet and fishing and I made sure I could deliver. But here we were, no toilets. No light. Nothing. Of course, we had no cell phone reception out in the mountains and with no power the phone in the house didn't work, so I couldn't call the owner and figure out what was up. I certainly didn't want to get back in the car and drive to town, even if it was only 15 minutes away, to get a signal. So for awhile we just sat around hoping by some miracle the power would come back on.
Somehow, we ran into a neighbor who told us lightning had strike a power line. At least we had an answer. But, we had no idea how long the power would be out. Who knows if those people were even smart enough to call the electric company. And I was very worried that they would just take forever. Who really cares if the people up in the mountains have power? They're roughing it anyway!
We drove to Estes Park and got a hotel. We ate the the Grumpy Gringo-which I was at that point. Not very good food, by the way. Since we had been so caught up in figuring out the house/cabin issue we hadn't been taking care of ourselves. And we had been up early and for far too many hours. So we both had a bit of altitude sickness. I knew if I slept and drank enough water, I'd be better so I tried that. But John was really sick, so it was pretty much just a miserable night. But we were both fine in the morning, as expected.
The power came back on at the house that evening, but by the time the lady who owns it called us, we were in bed (it was midnight our time) and we'd had the hotel all set up. So we got a day knocked off what we owed her and planned to go back the next day to start our real vacation.
I think this report may have to be done in installments. There's just too much to say!
We had to get up insanely early on Wednesday to catch our plane. And by early, I mean 4:00 at the latest. I was up at 3:40, mainly because I wasn't really sleeping anyway. I was so anxious. I tried to go to bed at 11, but it didn't work out so well. I actually woke up at like 2 and had to jump up and down and wave my arms all around to settle myself. I say all this so you will understand how tired I am in my story later.
We got to Denver at 10:30, 12:30 our time. And went to get our rental car. First, I dealt with a lady who actually said "God, I'm really getting them all today, aren't I?" when I asked about adding John as a driver for free, as I was told I could by them before I left. Let's just say John was not officially added, as she refused to do it despite my print off saying I could. I was too tired to fight it. I just let John drive anyway.
Our car was a piece of shit. Really. If you tried to back out of a parking spot, there was a giant plastic piece around this minuscule window, so you couldn't see. It's truly a miracle I didn't hit something. And it squealed. So, don't get a Pontiac Vibe. Note, this is an "intermediate SUV" when I was supposed to just get an "intermediate " car... something like mine. They messed up, and tried to charge me for the upgrade. Just another hassle.
Ok, so we get on the road. Our house was like 2 hours from the airport. Up in the mountains. We stopped in Boulder for some lunch. Which was insane, because I had forgotten how wild Boulder can be in the summer. I was in this terrible car, trying to remember where I was and dodge all kinds of people. John and I were both tired so we were bitching at one another.
But, we finally got fed and dodged more bikers going up the mountain, but we made it to our house. We expected great relief. A nice huge bottle of water and a nap. Instead, we discovered that there was no electricity or water in our house!
I knew this wasn't right. I didn't sign up for a rustic cabin. I needed my amenities. All Johna asked for was a flush toilet and fishing and I made sure I could deliver. But here we were, no toilets. No light. Nothing. Of course, we had no cell phone reception out in the mountains and with no power the phone in the house didn't work, so I couldn't call the owner and figure out what was up. I certainly didn't want to get back in the car and drive to town, even if it was only 15 minutes away, to get a signal. So for awhile we just sat around hoping by some miracle the power would come back on.
Somehow, we ran into a neighbor who told us lightning had strike a power line. At least we had an answer. But, we had no idea how long the power would be out. Who knows if those people were even smart enough to call the electric company. And I was very worried that they would just take forever. Who really cares if the people up in the mountains have power? They're roughing it anyway!
We drove to Estes Park and got a hotel. We ate the the Grumpy Gringo-which I was at that point. Not very good food, by the way. Since we had been so caught up in figuring out the house/cabin issue we hadn't been taking care of ourselves. And we had been up early and for far too many hours. So we both had a bit of altitude sickness. I knew if I slept and drank enough water, I'd be better so I tried that. But John was really sick, so it was pretty much just a miserable night. But we were both fine in the morning, as expected.
The power came back on at the house that evening, but by the time the lady who owns it called us, we were in bed (it was midnight our time) and we'd had the hotel all set up. So we got a day knocked off what we owed her and planned to go back the next day to start our real vacation.
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