Beautiful. I have never seen skies so blue in my entire life. The Rocky Mountains are given that name for a reason. They have such a beautiful design formed from thousands of years of work. Just staring at all the different rock formations and colors was breathtaking. I fell in love with the place instantly…. well that was after the second day when you could actually see the mountains. Actually, I think I did fall in love with it instantly once I realized how amazing dry cold is compared to humid cold in the Midwest. It felt amazing outside even though it was only 32 degrees.
I went to spring break with my boyfriend of almost two and half years, this trip was supposed to be taken with Morgan but he was a good second best. As many of you know B and I don’t see each other very often so spending a whole week together was the true test of annoying B can be. He passed flying colors. We had such a great time together.
This trip was very special. I stayed the week with someone I have recently meet and has become a big part of life. She is the godmother of my recently deceased cousin, Morgan. I met F on the beach the day before Morgan’s funeral and that is when she approached me and told me that she wanted me to come and visit her. It was honestly one of the nicest gestures anyone has ever offered me. To come, stay at their place, use their car and F barely knew who I was and yet offered so much. B and I had so much fun staying at F and G’s (her husband) place. We were able to wake up in the morning, have breakfast with everyone and then be on our way. F makes a fabulous eggs Benedict by the way.
On the first day we went to a nice local restaurant for breakfast and watched the sunrise. Unfortunately the sky was cloudy with the storm clouds that was about to come our way and release 6 inches of snow. The picture below is of the sunset on the last day we were in Longmont. We started and ended the trip in almost the exact same way.
The second day that we were there the clouds opened up just in time to go to the bars for St. Patrick’s Day. We went to Boulder which is a college town for University of Colorado at Boulder. We went to Mountain Sun Pub start off the night. They had good food and some really good beer. After a pitcher of beer we then we headed off to a bar close by. This happened to be a biergarten and after studying abroad in Germany I had to go; the bar was called Bohemian Biergarten. The best part was you even got a beer stein or a das boot for a glass!
Now most importantly, hiking. The first day that we went hiking we went to a spot in Boulder. This was more like rock climbing than hiking. It was a very fun trail and highly travels so we got to meet several of the locals. We could not believe how nice everyone was that we passed. It wasn’t just on the trails it was everywhere we went that we felt welcomed.
Billy and I hiked a total of 22 miles in the 4 days that we were able to go hiking. It was the strangest thing, we were never sore. I have been sore after hiking at Turkey Run before and after climbing 1,600+ feet in elevation over 2.5 miles neither one of us were sore. I can’t help but think this had something do with Morgan. There is no way that I could go from only doing yoga a couple times a week to hiking 22 miles in four days and not be the least bit sore. Maybe I’m stronger than I think but either way, thanks for being there with me.
The best trail that we went on was called the Flat Top Mountain Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park. Because of the recent storm the trail had a fair amount of snow on it but because we went on a Monday it was still packed down from the weekend. The trail is actually a total of 5 miles one way. We could only only go up 2.5 miles because of the snow. Once you get above the tree line the wind increase tenfold in speed. Not to mention it is blowing around snow and neither one of us had snow shoes. B actually jokingly said, “Hey can you grab the snows shoes out of the bag.” Once I stepped off the trail and had to pull myself out of knee deep snow… we decided to turn around. 🙂
So why did I like this trail? About 2 miles up there was a lookout point. You were almost above the tree line but the view was amazing. Another half mile up and you were above the tree line and it was even more amazing. You could look down and see the previous trail that we did looking over the lakes… that were completely covered in snow. When we came across the first lake we didn’t even realize where we were. Every time we go hiking I learn something new.
We did actually go to Denver one day. When I first told people about my trip I would always say where my plane landed, Denver. Now that I’m home I tell people I went to the Rockies. In Denver we were to The Museum of Science and Nature. I was very impressed with their set up and the wide variety of exhibits. I found the quote below at the museum in the Egyptian room. I have always had an interest in Egyptian culture. Finding quotes that made sense to them and still are relevant now are what I love the most.
To speak the name of the dead is to make him live again and restores the breath of life to him who has vanished. —Inscription on the tomb of Tutankhamun
Before going to the Rocky Mountains my Aunt sent me a gift. It was necklace with some of my cousin ashes. It took me almost two days to get over how just incredibly thoughtful the gift was, I was just blown away. My aunt wants me to be able to carry my cousin with me where ever I go. Once my cousin and I were both out of school we were supposed to travel the world together. We both have a passion for traveling. My aunt didn’t want me to be alone on my travels so she gave me a necklace so I could continue to sing Morgan’s song. Losing Morgan has been hard. There are weeks that I can’t account for, hours of laying in bed because I just can’t get up. But the one amazing thing that has come out of it is all the people I have met. You knew some pretty amazing people Morgan and you touched so many lives in 22 years. The number of people that have come together in your honor is amazing and thank you again for inducing me to F. Forever missing you beautiful.
