Life is a highway...and mountains...and beer.
Oh crap where do I begin? Let's talk about the vacation y'all didn't even know I was going on because that's how long it's been since my lazy blogging ass has blogged. Of course, if you are on my FB or Twitter then you'd know about it because I posted a bit too much about it and probably lost some followers over it. Shrug.
My husband got this new job back in December that requires him to travel. A lot. So much so that in those several months since he started traveling he's already racked up several free airline tickets. BOOM! Now we're speaking my language, new job. One day, a couple of months ago, I casually asked "so how many 'miles' have you racked up yet with Southwest?" thinking he'd say some small amount, but when he told me, my response was something like "OH MY F'ING GOD WHY HAVEN'T YOU TOLD ME THAT WHY HAVEN'T WE GONE ANYWHERE YET LET'S GO SOMEWHERE NOOOOOOOOOOOOW."
So we coordinated with my mother (who is awesome) to watch the kids and we booked our long weekend (Thurs-Sun) trip to...Denver. Why Denver, you ask? I have no idea. I have just always wanted to go, it sounded cool, and why not, this is just one of many (hopefully) little getaways we'll be able to take from now on every so often.
THEN the trip got even better when his job offered to pay for his ticket, 4 days of hotels and the rental car for the whole week if he'd spend 3 days before our trip doing work stuff out there...ummm Yes! So what we signed up for was him working Monday - Wednesday all over the state of Colorado, a different city each day, and me DOING WHATEVER I WANTED ALL DAY LONG WHILE HE WAS AT WORK. Um? Are you kidding me? Three whole days in a hotel with a book and a TV and new cities to explore all day long...yeah. I'll take it.
Naturally the universe started messing with me the day before our trip when little E got so sick we had to make an emergency visit to the doctor on Saturday because of horrendous nose bleeding and turns out he had Strep. Here, let me just summarize this:
Saturday: Doctor basically says OMG cancel trip your kid is in dire straits and one more nose bleed he's going straight to the ER and he will have to be put to sleep and scoped and it will be the worst thing that has ever happened to you or him ever, DO YOU HEAR ME?! Ok it wasn't that dramatic but when it's your kid that's what you hear, it was serious, it was bad.
Later that day: we cancel the flights.
Later later that evening: Doctor calls, surprised he's stopped bleeding, there is no more danger of hospital, he's recovered the blood he's lost...you should totally go on your trip.
Really, universe? Really?
Saturday night: re-book flights, surprisingly they weren't *too* much more, and we're just worried about mine anyway because his was covered by work.
Sunday: WE LEAVE! Hooray. Kid was fine. It was a big to-do about nothing. Well, not nothing, but it looked reeeeeeally bad for a small time and then it was fine. (Side note: on our first flight there was a stowaway AND some lady passed out AND I actually got to hear a flight attendant say "Are there any medical personnel on board today? We have an emergency."...which I thought only happened on movies. Anyway, she was fine and later I noticed she was reading Fifty Shades of Grey and that's probably why she fainted or had a stroke from the horrendous writing.)
So last week I spent Sunday-Sunday in the beautiful state of Colorado and we drove well over a thousand miles in a little rented Honda and it was some amazingly beautiful scenery. Here are a few highlights in text and pics in no particular order:
1. At first glance I was like JOHN DENVER IS FULL OF CRAP THIS PLACE IS FLAT! Because if you've ever been to Denver the airport area is FLAT and you can't see mountains in the dark. Also, right as I was contemplating the vast flatness, this ginormous white owl scurries across the road and I start contemplating are owls really this big and white and aren't they supposed to fly and that might be the coolest thing I've ever seen because I'm pretty sure that was Hedwig. Incidentally, that was the only interesting wildlife sighting save a giant parrot piggyback on some dude riding a bike and also a dog the size of a horse being heisted up on the back of a pickup truck and tied down like luggage. (Edited to add: As I was reminded in comments below, there was also a fox. A big one. It ran right past us on the street while we were standing outside a donut shop in Breckenridge.)
2. There are actually lots of beautiful mountains there, and I saw them. A lot. For the next seven days. (This pic was taken near Breckenridge)
2. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen (on the way up to Pike's Peak...it's a lake right in the middle of going up a mountain...madness):
3. Photobombers live among us. Everywhere. Don't let your guard down. (Garden of the Gods)
4. Free beer tastes better than beer you pay for. (Coors Brewery) and pools are prettier, albeit colder, when they're surrounded by mountains. (Breckenridge).
5. It's really, really cold (17 degrees to be exact and that does not include the insane wind chill factor) and really, really windy and really, really amazing being 14,000 feet up in the air. (The summit of Pike's Peak)
6. This is what I look like when I've spent 3 days in a little car driving more than a thousand miles (No idea where this was taken. Somewhere in Colorado on a highway going to somewhere else in Colorado...Grand Junction area, maybe? Colorado Springs? Who knows at this point.):
7. For 5 days I looked at various variants of this and yes as a matter of fact I DID put the John Denver station on Pandora (when we had coverage) because I'm a dork :
8. My next vacation will not involve that much road-trippery, BUT, I am glad we did it because that state is sooo pretty and I got to see so much more of it than I ever thought I would. Oh! And, before I die, I have to go see a concert here at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. All I got to see this time was the aftermath of a high school graduation we snuck into. Because we are badasses.
My husband got this new job back in December that requires him to travel. A lot. So much so that in those several months since he started traveling he's already racked up several free airline tickets. BOOM! Now we're speaking my language, new job. One day, a couple of months ago, I casually asked "so how many 'miles' have you racked up yet with Southwest?" thinking he'd say some small amount, but when he told me, my response was something like "OH MY F'ING GOD WHY HAVEN'T YOU TOLD ME THAT WHY HAVEN'T WE GONE ANYWHERE YET LET'S GO SOMEWHERE NOOOOOOOOOOOOW."
So we coordinated with my mother (who is awesome) to watch the kids and we booked our long weekend (Thurs-Sun) trip to...Denver. Why Denver, you ask? I have no idea. I have just always wanted to go, it sounded cool, and why not, this is just one of many (hopefully) little getaways we'll be able to take from now on every so often.
THEN the trip got even better when his job offered to pay for his ticket, 4 days of hotels and the rental car for the whole week if he'd spend 3 days before our trip doing work stuff out there...ummm Yes! So what we signed up for was him working Monday - Wednesday all over the state of Colorado, a different city each day, and me DOING WHATEVER I WANTED ALL DAY LONG WHILE HE WAS AT WORK. Um? Are you kidding me? Three whole days in a hotel with a book and a TV and new cities to explore all day long...yeah. I'll take it.
Naturally the universe started messing with me the day before our trip when little E got so sick we had to make an emergency visit to the doctor on Saturday because of horrendous nose bleeding and turns out he had Strep. Here, let me just summarize this:
Saturday: Doctor basically says OMG cancel trip your kid is in dire straits and one more nose bleed he's going straight to the ER and he will have to be put to sleep and scoped and it will be the worst thing that has ever happened to you or him ever, DO YOU HEAR ME?! Ok it wasn't that dramatic but when it's your kid that's what you hear, it was serious, it was bad.
Later that day: we cancel the flights.
Later later that evening: Doctor calls, surprised he's stopped bleeding, there is no more danger of hospital, he's recovered the blood he's lost...you should totally go on your trip.
Really, universe? Really?
Saturday night: re-book flights, surprisingly they weren't *too* much more, and we're just worried about mine anyway because his was covered by work.
Sunday: WE LEAVE! Hooray. Kid was fine. It was a big to-do about nothing. Well, not nothing, but it looked reeeeeeally bad for a small time and then it was fine. (Side note: on our first flight there was a stowaway AND some lady passed out AND I actually got to hear a flight attendant say "Are there any medical personnel on board today? We have an emergency."...which I thought only happened on movies. Anyway, she was fine and later I noticed she was reading Fifty Shades of Grey and that's probably why she fainted or had a stroke from the horrendous writing.)
So last week I spent Sunday-Sunday in the beautiful state of Colorado and we drove well over a thousand miles in a little rented Honda and it was some amazingly beautiful scenery. Here are a few highlights in text and pics in no particular order:
1. At first glance I was like JOHN DENVER IS FULL OF CRAP THIS PLACE IS FLAT! Because if you've ever been to Denver the airport area is FLAT and you can't see mountains in the dark. Also, right as I was contemplating the vast flatness, this ginormous white owl scurries across the road and I start contemplating are owls really this big and white and aren't they supposed to fly and that might be the coolest thing I've ever seen because I'm pretty sure that was Hedwig. Incidentally, that was the only interesting wildlife sighting save a giant parrot piggyback on some dude riding a bike and also a dog the size of a horse being heisted up on the back of a pickup truck and tied down like luggage. (Edited to add: As I was reminded in comments below, there was also a fox. A big one. It ran right past us on the street while we were standing outside a donut shop in Breckenridge.)
2. There are actually lots of beautiful mountains there, and I saw them. A lot. For the next seven days. (This pic was taken near Breckenridge)
2. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen (on the way up to Pike's Peak...it's a lake right in the middle of going up a mountain...madness):
3. Photobombers live among us. Everywhere. Don't let your guard down. (Garden of the Gods)
4. Free beer tastes better than beer you pay for. (Coors Brewery) and pools are prettier, albeit colder, when they're surrounded by mountains. (Breckenridge).
5. It's really, really cold (17 degrees to be exact and that does not include the insane wind chill factor) and really, really windy and really, really amazing being 14,000 feet up in the air. (The summit of Pike's Peak)
6. This is what I look like when I've spent 3 days in a little car driving more than a thousand miles (No idea where this was taken. Somewhere in Colorado on a highway going to somewhere else in Colorado...Grand Junction area, maybe? Colorado Springs? Who knows at this point.):
7. For 5 days I looked at various variants of this and yes as a matter of fact I DID put the John Denver station on Pandora (when we had coverage) because I'm a dork :
8. My next vacation will not involve that much road-trippery, BUT, I am glad we did it because that state is sooo pretty and I got to see so much more of it than I ever thought I would. Oh! And, before I die, I have to go see a concert here at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. All I got to see this time was the aftermath of a high school graduation we snuck into. Because we are badasses.