Bear Lake and Alberta Falls

The trip diary is almost over :(

One of the best hikes we did was around Bear Lake and then to Alberta Falls. We decided to start with the Bear Lake trail because it was shorter and not hard. When I was in CO before, the trail was closed due to snow. So it was really awesome actually being able to walk around the lake.



The trail is pretty flat and there's always something to see. The lake is pretty high up so you're close to peaks. There were still piles of snow along the sides of the trail, melt made it kind of swampy at some points. We also came across a tin stream that went from the woods to the lake. This was where we got proof that there are actually trout in Colorado. (We'd had our doubts after little luck fishing)



After that hike, we were going to take the shuttle down the mountain a bit and go to a new trailhead for the hike to Alberta Falls. But, we discovered that we could take a trail to the new trail. So we did that trail down the mountain then hiked up another mountain to Alberta Falls.

This is actually a pretty short trail. We got really hot because of the afternoon temp and the slight incline, but it wasn't bad. I did almost hit a man and his children who didn't understand that if you're going to walk at a snails pace you should move over and let people pass you.

Anyway, through the woods we went and then up to the falls: which were amazing! We went off the trail a bit and moved further up to the top of the falls.





The last day of our trip was pretty uneventful. We went into Estes Park to do some souvenir shopping. Then, we went to RMNP for some final hiking. But, it had been cloudy all morning and mother nature didn't want us to hike. We went to the gold river to look for a few more rocks but it started raining so we went back to the car and then back to the cabin. This was especially disappointing because we were going to take one nice picture of us in front of a mountain, but never got the chance.

The day was pretty cloudy and rainy so we didn't do much besides sit in the cabin and read. It did clear up in the later afternoon so we did some fishing and hammocking. But we spent the later evening cleaning up the cabin.

And that was pretty much the end. It was a completely amazing trip. It will be nice when I can afford to go every summer. If that ever happens.

I will post once more on my homeward travels, because it was just crazy. But that's all the fun exciting stuff. Yay Colorado!

White Water Rafting

I have no proof that John and I went white water rafting while we were in Colorado. That's mostly because I left my water-proof camera in the car. I wouldn't really have had any chances to take any pictures anyway, but still. I probably could have gotten one with it. Oh well, we still went. You'll have to take my word on it.

And now I'm ready to go again. Really, the time goes by so fast because it's freaking awesome. So the trip was over long before I was ready to be off the water. Now, we did do a really easy trip and our guide did a lot of the work, so next time it might not be so leisurely. But I am certain that it will be awesome.

On this trip we rafted the Poudre River. We did one part and then got out to avoid some Class IV rapids, drove a ways down, and got back in again. There were two good rapids that could have easily bounced me out of the boat. Luckily our guide gave me good warning so I just leaned in and avoided joining the fishes.

John was a the front of the boat so he got hit quite a lot by the water. I hid in the very back but still got soaked. I just didn't have to paddle as much. hehe. The water felt great though, because it was like 85/90 degrees that afternoon. It probably wouldn't have felt as nice falling in, as it was pretty cold, but splashes were great. I highly recommend people raft.

Bad Karama

Dear Powers That Be,

I realize that yesterday I wasn't very nice for a few hours. I was all uncaring about my grandmother. And glad my step-dad had a family crisis to deal with. I wasn't really myself in all this negativity. You should know this.

I realize that you wanted me to stop having all these negative thoughts towards the people who were once my family. I get it.

That's no reason to send my mom to the hospital! I've learned my lesson. You can make her better now.

Thanks,
Melissa

Grandma's Stroke

So, apparently my Grandmother had a stroke. I have zero information other than that. She could be dead and I wouldn't know. That small amount of info came via my mom who got it from my little brothers. So she probably doesn't know much else either.

I should probably care more than I do right now. I mean, she was an ok grandmother once. Always remembered my birthday, which is a plus in my family. And she turned me on to strawberries on vanilla ice cream. Which is nice, considering I don't really like vanilla ice cream.

But, ever since Mom and Dad split up, she's pretended I don't exist. Which I'll never understand. Sure, we aren't blood related (this is actually my step dad's mom) but still, she's been around since I was 7. I would think it'd be hard to be a grandmother for so many years and then just stop. The family is pretty nuts-o though, so she probably can't figure out how she could/should acknowledge me as her granddaughter if her son doesn't treat me like his daughter anymore.

So yeah, I'm a little sad. I get sad if I hear a stranger had a stroke. It sucks. And I tend to have a heart so I sympathize. But that's just it, I sympathize as if she were a stranger instead of my grandmother. And that sucks.

And as for my Dad, I would like to feel bad for him. His mother is sick. But I don't.

This will probably end up a poem... whoever said I should write a book about my family relationships didn't know what they were asking for.

All I need is Tea and Mead

Saturday John and I drove down the mountain to Boulder to spend the day with my friend Stacy. We wandered around Pearl Street for awhile, just looking around at the stores and stuff. We were really just killing time until Stacy and her boyfriend showed up. But I showed John all kinds of fun things from the summer I lived there-my old office, the bookstore, where we watched Catch and Release being filmed, where there was a man in a wold costume dancing on the corner. It was really great remembering. But I also remembered that I never want to live there again because it can be really crowded. I need to be up in the mountains.

Stacy and Richard arrived and we waited around for a table at Lucille's. I don't know how many people told me I had to eat there, but it was at least 5. I never did, because the wait is usually 30 mins to an hour. But now I have! And it was as amazing as everyone says. So if you're in Boulder, go to Lucille's. Just get there an hour before you're going to be ready to eat.

After lunch, we wandered around Boulder some more. Saw the creek and just talked. Then we went to the Celestial Seasonings factory. Yet another place that I never went to when I was there. And Stacy, who lived there for years, hadn't been yet. The factory wasn't running since it was the weekend, but we still got free tea and a tour. It was pretty great. CS is the greatest tea ever!

Next was a short trip over to Redstone Meadery. Stacy's boyfriend knew of this super hidden place and it turned out to be amazing. We got to taste almost all of the mead they make there, most of which were great. And then we bought some of our own. It's really hard to find good mead, I've found, so this discovery made me very very happy.

That left us at a drive back up the mountain, and a lazy evening by the river.

Horray Birthday!

It's my birthday!!

So don't go talking about America...

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.

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.

Colorado Time!

We are finally off to Colorado! Hooray for a week in the mountains!

It is my agenda to make John love it as much as I do. We need a summer home... or we will some day.

Don't miss me too much!

Summer Reading

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella: This was one that I just picked up because I knew it would be silly and I wouldn't have to think about it. I was right, It was cute, but could have been a lot better. Good for the beach when your brain is being fried by the sun anyway.

Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult: This book made me ask "Is it possible to write an abusive wife who I don't hate"? Really, just leave the freakin relationship! This is very frustrating to me. And I know it's not always that easy. But I really should be feeling some sympathy for the character, and I didn't. That said, it's still a good book. Just not the usual Jodi, where I am torn because I feel something for all the characters.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: All I have to say is everyone should read this book. It was very moving.

Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel: I've read this twice before, but I just felt the need for something familiar and wonderful. It was just as good, if not better, the 3rd time around. (PS, the movie is also great, if you can stand the subtitles...which I tend to love).