Work & Play

The first week at work is done! Thank goodness. It started off pretty hard for me. Stephanie is still here with me... she takes me to work every morning. She always says, "Is there anything I can do for you today?" and I always say, "Can you pack us back up today - so we can go home?" She assures me that she can have the car ready to head back to NC by 4:00 :)

The first day was very unorganized and that stressed me out. Day 2... was a little better. Day 3... better. Day 4 ... I was back in the lab. Day 5... I got to get back on my bike. Day 5 was the BEST day.

I'm sure that it will get better as time goes by. I am TOTALLY dreading the day that Stephanie heads back to NC (Sept. 6). For now, we are having a wonderful time. We've already met some really nice people. We've had 2 awesome rides in Colorado. So, FOR NOW, life is good.

Where The Wild Things Are

We had our first brush last night with Colorado wildlife at the YMCA...

I was all excited about the fact that our car was parked directly in front of the bedroom window... JUST in case somebody tried to steal my bikes... I'd be able to hear them in the middle of the night. WELL... we went to sleep around 11:00PM... and then at 3:30AM... WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! Stephanie went into "OH MY GOD .... LOU WAKE UP!!!! DID YOU HEAR THAT??!!!" mode. She looks out the window and says... "It's a BEAR! It's a fat a$$ m#$%er f%#@ing BLACK BEAR". OkAY... you're right ... she didn't actually SAY that... but if she used cuss words... THAT is EXACTLY what she would have said. I could tell by the panic in her voice that she was thinking those things :) Well, it takes a lot to get my heart racing... but I'll tell you when I looked out the window and saw a 400 lb black bear stretched out directly in front my Explorer snacking on a bag of trash... I got a little pumped. We watched him enjoy his trash snack for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, we are discussing what his NEXT move would be. I voted for... Bear finishes trash and comes on up on our cabin deck looking for more goodies. Stephanie voted for ... Bear finishes snack and moves onto the closest neighboring trash snacks. Of course, I'm always right :) Bear finished his dinner... took a sniff at my hood (I said... "Oh s@#t! He's going to pounce on my f#$%$ng car!"... I'm not sure if I DID say that... but I probably did and I know I at least THOUGHT it VERY loudly in my head)... then starts to come up onto the deck! Now, that kinda scared me a bit. We started beating the window like crazy. We startled him and he ran about 10 feet from the house... stopped turned around and looked at us like "What are you really going to do?"... started coming right back toward the cabin. Now, I was actually scared. Bears are supposed to run away when you make noise. That's what every book about Bears and Safety says. We beat the window double-extra hard and he finally took off. WHEW :) Stephanie assigned herself to Bear Watch for at least an hour. She was kinda calming down until some people right outside our cabin started screaming at the bear. She cracked the window to hear the people a little bit better... and that's when we realized it was a pack of coyotes :) Yep. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. Guess I need to get myself some bear spray, a bear bell and a small pistol for mountain biking.

Bear Trash Snack

We went into Rocky Mountain National Park today :) It was beautiful. Pictures speak louder than words :)







Rocky Mountain National Park/Alpine Visitor Center

The Journey AND The Destination

WE MADE IT!

Diane Smitherman always says, "It's all about the journey... not the destination." For me ... it's the journey AND the destination.

I want to write so much... but I am SO tired. Words really can't capture how I feel about being in Colorado.

Stephanie and I made it to Colorado yesterday (left Apex NC on Monday). We had an absolutely FANTASTIC time driving out here. I never DREAMED that I would enjoy the journey... but I did... and I'm ALREADY enjoying the destination.

Day 1 - Apex to Marion. Stayed with my parents.
Day 2 - Marion to Memphis. Stayed with Stephanie's sister Renee.
Day 3 - Memphis to Branson, Missouri. Stayed at Big Cedar Lodge.
Day 4 - Branson to Salina, Kansas.
Day 5 - Salina to Longmont, Colorado.
Day 6 - Longmont to Estes Park, Colorado.

I love it here. It's absolutely beautiful. We're staying in a cabin at the YMCA in Estes Park tonight. Heading up to the Rocky Mountain National Park tomorrow.

I'll write more when I'm not so exhausted.


Big Cedar Lodge/Branson, Missouri



Not in Kansas Anymore



YMCA - Estes Park, Colorado


"Where are YOU from?" ... if we had a dollar for every time we heard that one ... we'd be rich :) Apparently Stephanie and I have Southern accents :)