Eight

I spent the last couple of weeks hanging out in Colorado Springs, riding my bike and hanging out with friends and family. We were staying in the house of Steve, who was kind enough to let us hang out with Cloud & Murphy while he was working. Combined with Stone, who belongs to Steve's landlord, they are a hilarious, cuddly and energetic force.

Until later in July, I'm back in Victoria working. (Thanks Jessie and Natalie for letting me crash your pads!). My first day at work was a bit tough with exactly 300 emails waiting but I am looking forward to getting some good sushi and enjoying the humidity for a few weeks.

Once I am back in Colorado, I have big plans to see as much of the state as I can and also prepare as much as I can for Burning Man. Here are my top ten goals for August. Let me know if you have any other suggestions!

1. Hike Pikes Peak in two days / one night, camping part way up, with Gabe.
2. Do one other backpacking trip, time & place TBD.

3. Put together an awesome Burning Man bike. Like, really awesome.
4. Make some kind of shade structure for Burning Man that will keep our tent cool and livable during the day.

5. Put together a Free Mugs stand and acquire 100+ cheap mugs for people who don't have cups.
6. Ride my bike at least 100 km in one day.

7. Ride a horse.
8. Take at least 100 pictures.

9. Visit Boulder and Steamboat with my parents and Gabe and do some rad hiking and hot springs'ing.
10. Visit the Broadmoor hotel in the day time and wander around.

Seven

Go for a bike ride to Garden of the Gods, they said.

It will be beautiful, they said.

Notably absent from any discussion was the elevation gain involved.

Visited Boulder for the first time a few days ago! Would love to spend more time in the city proper but our hike was certainly not a waste.

Six

Well, here we are. Several days after my last blog post, I still haven't managed to take any pictures really worth a post. Instead of giving you a wall of text again, you get the pictures that aren't really worth posting... you're welcome.

First, a short update. I have been in Denver for two nights staying with Matt Shaw (no relation to the other Shaws) and seeing downtown. Gabe is flying in today and we're going to spend a night or two more here, before moving back to Colorado Springs semi-permanently. We're house sitting for one of Gabe's friends until June 29 and then we'll get a motel for a few nights or go back to couch crashing until July 3 when I'm back to Canada for 3 weeks. Downtown Denver is pretty cool with a great library and some outdoor malls and music and stuff.

I am highly appreciative of a city with numbered streets and avenues, as well as named streets that go in alphabetical order, at least close to the centre. Plus, the L train is great and the buses to the airport are pretty comprehensive.

The space needle in Seattle!

That little writing in the window says "welcome to the middle of nowhere". It truly was. Gas was also super expensive... probably for good reason.

Gabe wouldn't let me take a picture of him because he thought his friends in California would think he was uncool for making a big deal out of it.

This was really exciting to see after 20+ hours of driving in 2 days.

I almost chickened out of going on this coaster, which is V2 at Six Flags Great America in Chicago. The ride looked the scariest from the ground but was actually quite fun, and not disorienting or terrifying to ride (Superman wins that award for me).

"Wow! Look at all those lanes of traffic! I have to take a picture." Sorry Gabe.

This was at Taste of Randolph Street, a small fest in Chicago for tasting restaurants on one well-known strip of high end restaurants. The food we tasted was really delicious and there were two stages for bands, most of which were good. The amount of people packed into the street was mildly alarming at times.

Public transit face on the Metra in Chicago.

Tucker! The cat of Mel and Caleb, Gabe's sister and brother-in-law.

Five

So I was going to wait to write this until I had some more pictures, but it's been a few days and I've been lax so this one is a bit visually boring.

For the last four days I have been visiting with Gabe's five siblings and parents in Chicago. While life has been hectic, it's been really nice to know all the rest of his familia.

1. Water parks are awesome. Specifically, Noah's Ark in Wisconsin Dells. I was worried that I have been aging and perhaps my stomach would be less strong than the last time I was in a water park, or maybe my nerves would give out on me and I wouldn't conquer every last ride available. As it turns out, I has fun doing all the biggest and scariest slides and even had the cojones to ride two that Gabe wouldn't do. Ten stories straight down? Vertical loop-the-loop? No hay problema. Six Flags, here I come tomorrow.

2. Gabe's family is big and loud, which is different from my family, but there is a lot of love to go around. His siblings are all smart, driven, interesting people and his parents are both super caring and have lots of wisdom. The family dog may be a bit porky but he's very friendly regardless. Special thanks to Charity for letting us crash her bedroom while she sleeps on an air mattress.

3.  Chicago is a bit, brash city with a lot of people. So far we have been hanging out with the family and not exploring the city, but we're going to do some of that later in the week and report back. It's nice to be in civilization and be able to put our bags down for a week. I have seen Wrigley Field (from the outside), the L train and Millenium Park including the Bean. I also ate a Chicago Dog and it was delicious.

Four

From Blane's place, we headed to Colorado Springs and stayed a night in Ricky and Emmy's spare bedroom (thanks, Ricky and Emmy). Early the next morning, we rose to do a couple tiny errands and pack the car, meaning we were ready around noon.

We headed to pick up Steve, Jordan and Jessica (humans) as well as Murphy and Cloud (golden retrievers) and drove out to Goose Creek to start a 5 day backpacking trip. The idea was to hike 20 miles, taking it slow and doing a couple side trips. Steve was kind enough to let us use his house as a staging area.

Day 1 started rather late because of the aforementioned errands and needing to repack all of our gear and food from road tripping mode. We probably hiked a tough 3 miles and settled in for a night by a small stream.

Day 2 we got a late start and hung around camp in the morning, so we didn't hit the trail until noon. After 4 hours of hiking uphill in the hot sun, there were a couple of differing opinions on how far to go. I was frustrated at being slow (from going from sea level to 10,000 feet of elevation- literally) and tired. We came to a creek crossing on a bendy log that looked too sketchy for me (even after the other 4 people in the party had crossed... and for the dogs, multiple times). We turned back to camp at a spot we had crossed in the last few hundred feet which was a beautiful shady clearing right by a shallow gravelly stream and with views to mountains in all directions.

Day 3 we took as a rest day. Everyone took a nap except Gabe. We did some canyon exploring and went downstream on the creek a bit for a wade (I tried to prove my Canadian heritage by swimming in snow melt... but chickened out. Fortunately, Jessica from Edmonton saved the reputation of the Canadians).

Day 4 we decided to hike back the way we came because of rumors of snow in the higher elevation had we finished the loop, and a decided lack of enthusiasm for more uphill climbing. We hiked most of the rest of the way out, about 8 miles, to our nicest campsite yet. I conquered a different stream crossing and we camped across the stream from the trail. We were done around 2:00 and hung around in the shade for the afternoon.

Day 5 we got up early, hiked out the last couple of miles, and were chowing down on Chipotle in town by 1:00 pm. We're spending the next few days in Colorado Springs staying at Gabe's sister's place while she's already in Chicago before we join them (thanks, Mel and Caleb). I've never been to anywhere east of the Midwest so I'm looking forward to some quality time with Gabe's family and seeing the culture in Chicago for ten days!

Three

After leaving Seattle, we took a swift journey through central Washington, Idaho, and Utah to eastern Colorado to see our friend Blane. Blane lives in Rulison, which is between Rifle and Parachute (both bustling metropolises). 

Blane is a friend from our camp at Burning Man and has lived on his property since 1970-something, running various honey farming and packaging operations (he has recently branched to bee pollen as well, which is a health food advertised for its ability to reduce seasonal allergies and also contain a full spectrum of amino acids and protein). His honey is, quite simply, the best. His unique grasp on the English language and use of words (he refers to himself as an anachronism) is always enlightening.

Blane took us out to Arches National Park in Utah to go camping and check out some canyons. I wasn't eager to hop back in the car after traveling 1000 miles in two days, but the scenery and company made me glad I did. There is nothing cooler than getting dirty with a local on some backroads and soaking up knowledge about the plants and geology of the area.

The best vista Blane was able to show us was Dead Horse Point, which is allegedly only second to the Grand Canyon (which I have not seen). The top of the canyon is a full 2000 ft about the river and the view goes on to at least two different mountain ranges in various directions. Highly recommended if you are ever within 100 miles of Moab.

We're already missing Blane, but looking forward to connecting this year at Burning Man again.

Two

Gabe and I sailed out of Victoria right on schedule after work on Friday. After months of discussing who was going where, at what time and working when, we wandered woefully- no, not woefully, joyfully into Port Angeles.

 
I was worried about finding a camping space because of the Memorial Day weekend. Sure enough, the most promising candidate was full. Before we set up shop on the fringe of an overflow parking lot, Gabe made friends with a family of campers and asked if we could add our tent to their site. They agreed with a bit of hesitance but after a few minutes of conversation they suprisingly decided we were normal enough. Then Gabe talked to them for like two hours. There are two kinds of people in this world, and without Gabe's kind, I would suffer in bad camping sites. I also saw wolves for the first time, and they were super close.

We rolled into Seattle Saturday morning. Gabe dropped me off in a Starbucks downtown, and man was this a giant Starbucks. I went to the Pikes Place market, and went book shopping, and saw the ferris wheel and wandered around the Art Museum, but somehow I never left the Starbucks (I can only assume because of the number of visible logos at any moment). The bonus is that there's always free wifi in downtown Seattle. Gabe met some friends for martial arts during the day and we connected for dinner and stayed in Mike's living room. Thanks, Mike.

Today (Sunday) we hit the zoo on the recommendation of one of my coworkers, and what a wonderful zoo it was. The animals were active because it was cool and drizzly, and their enclosures all looked really natural and spacious. We spent several hours and saw a couple different kinds of bears, penguins, lots of primates, komodo dragons, a snow leopard, and all kinds of birds of prey and not-prey. By the way, I lied about the wolves earlier. They were in the zoo.

Tonight we're staying on the couch of Daniel and Kate (thanks, Daniel and Kate) with the intent of an early morning and getting halfway to Blane's in Rifle, CO. I can't wait to see my friend and his honey operation again and have him show us some cool hiking spots (he's mentioned Arches National Park and some places in eastern Colorado).