Catch Up Part 3: Calhoon's Come to Colorado!


        Yaaaayyy! Gina and Kirkie poo came to visit us mid-July.  We picked them up from the airport Friday afternoon.  Colby, Kirk, Blake and Jesse went golfing, at a course right behind our apartment.  In the meantime, Me, Gin, Meghan and Mel went to a restaurant/bar called Cherry Cricket in the Cherry Creek District.  Cherry Cricket is known for their burgers and has been shown on "Man vs. Food" It's super popular and the wait is usually out the door.  We grabbed a table on the patio and enjoyed a few bevs.  After Cherry Cricket, we drove to The Highlands where Blake & Mel and the Moore's live.  We checked in at Ale House, super packed restaurant/bar that has an amazing view of Downtown Denver.  We scored a pretty sweet table on the rooftop and ate some mac n cheese.  I think mac n cheese is a major food group to Gina and me:) The boys didn't finish golfing until dark but met us at Ale House.  We walked across the bridge into Downtown Denver and bar hopped.  Moore's took us to this bar inside a hotel.  It was like 1920's flashback.  Then, the Moore's introduced us to a little gem called "Swanky's"  Love. This. Bar.  Good music, not overcrowded and they have an alcohol slushy machine and your slushy tastes just like ice cream! UH-MAZING!  Here's a few random pics of the night. 

Ale House

1920's flashback bar



Love my BIL

Kirk was trying all night to fit between this beam. I barely fit.
O, and that's my delicious "ice cream" alcohol slushy:)

The Calhoon's. Love them.

My EXTREMELY good-lookin' BF. Love him.
 

After we partied a little too hard at Swanky's we haled a cab home. We had a very nice cab driver. More on this to come.


Apparently, I instagrammed this pic in the cab ride home. One eye closed. Classic
I think it turned out pretty well:) Love my sista!

Saturday, we ate breakfast, had some bevs at Lowry Tavern, then headed back to DT Denver. We met up with Blake & Mel at DT Tav and ended up at the Celtic.  They always have live music and it's connected to cigar bar. We ended the night at Wynkoop Brewing Company. And then we haled a cab with the craziest cabbie EVER. EVER. Our cabbie was pedal to the metal, gassed it every.single.time. Almost hit a few pedestrians...NBD.

 

The conversation went a little like this...

 

Colby: I bet you get GREAT gas mileage.

You are what I would like to call an erratic driver.

 

Cabbie (from the UK): Erotic?

 

Colby: No, Erratic

 

A few minutes later we see a cop car with it's lights on...(probably coming to pull our cabbie over)

 

Cabbie: F'n' b*tches with their f'n' Christmas lights (excuse the cabbie's language)

 

YEAH, HE WAS CRAY CRAY!

No worries we made it home:)
 

The boys at The Celtic Tavern

 

Unfortunately, we weren't able to give G&K the Coloradian experience but we did try.  We just ran out of time with too many things to do in this outdoorsy state.  Gina did say it was too cold in Denver...wawawaWHAT??!!?? I guess that's what happens when you move from KS to CO and you fall in love with NO humidity, high 90's weather. BUT we were so happy they came to visit and hoping they'll come back for ski season.  Gina and I are going to attempt snowboarding again, right G?!  I miss my sista and BIL so much, love you guys, thanks for visiting!!!

Blogger-1; Lisa-0

Save and save often.  I was half way through with a post and I deleted it somehow.  Boo! Here we go, again....

Catch Up Part 2: 14er Gray's Peak

Colby signed us up for a 14er trip with his company, Turner Construction, back in May. The 14er was for late June and I was involuntarily signed up...keep that in mind.

What is a 14er? In mountaineering terms in the U.S., a 14er is a mountain that exceeds 14,000 feet about sea level. What do you do on a 14er? You hike it all the way to the top. Easy right?! Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. It's not so much the mileage you hike that's hard. It's the elevation that gets to you.

We met up with his co-workers around 5:30 a.m. We woke up late, which is rare for us, but we made in it there just in time. We drove up to the trail head and started hiking around 7 a.m. Back track just a little bit. We were following this Honda Civic up to the trail head and they pulled over and parked so naturally we followed suit thinking there was no more parking at the trail head. Wrong. So not only did we have a 7 mile round-trip hike to complete with 3,000 feet in elevation gain but we also had to hike an extra mile with 1,000 feet elevation gain. I had blisters before we reached the trail head. KMN. Kill Me Now.

So we started the hike. The weather was gorgeous. I had a very light pack which was so nice compared to the 40 pound pack I carried Memorial weekend. Everything was going really well, minus the blister on my right foot, until about 13,000 feet. At this point breathing became really hard. Every few feet we had to stop and take a breather. But as soon as you catch your breath you legs tighten up. I started getting nauseous. Eating and drinking water helped. For those who know me really well, I hate drinking water. I didn't think I was going to make it...

 

Colby, the cheerleader

BUT we made it! Harry we've reached the top! It was really cold at the peak, absolutely and literally breath taking views. We ate lunch, regrouped and headed down.

 

If you take a picture with a Which Wich bag on top of the 14er you receive a free sandwhich from their sub shop.

 

The whole gang.

I thought going down would be easier. Wrong, again.  I had to pee every five minutes from drinking so much water.  At these high elevations trees don't grow.  Therefore, you're basically peeing in the wide-open.  We did come upon this amazing rock to climb-up.  After a little arm twisting, Colby and I climbed it.  Not all the way because Colby thought we were going to die. 

20 points if you can find Colby

About 1,500 feet left to hike. I. WAS. DONE. Stick a fork in me-DONE.  Again, Colby, the cheerleader, was like, "Babe, we're almost there!"  Liar.  We finally made it down. Swollen sausage-looking fingers, exhausted legs and blistered feet.  I had never been so happy to sit down in my life.  I also told Colby that I was going to involuntarily sign him up for a half-marathon to compare which is easier.  In my opinion, the 1/2 marathon. 

Poor Colby still had to walk another mile to the truck.  He came back and picked us up and we all went to lunch with the company. 

So about a week later we ran into Jesse and Meghan Moore, who had recently done a 14er, as well.  Meghan runs marathons.  Meghan and I had the exact same attitude about 14ers.  So I didn't feel soo bad about my whiny, bad attitude.  We told Jesse and Colby they could go hiking together and we would go run marathons together.  Fair enough.  Is another 14er in my future? Never again. Most likely, just not anytime soon. I've got to pace myself!

Catch Up: Part 1: Memorial Weekend

After spending a million dollars lot of money at REI (aka Cabella's for camping/outdoors) we packed our back packs and headed for the great outdoors.  We went backpacking for 3 days, 2 nights with 3 other couples and Skippy. Skippy has a girlfriend but for some reason or another she didn't come-she's a smart girl if you ask me:)


We loaded the packs Friday night with food, clothing, a tent, sleeping bags, etc.  These packs you have to carry on your back the whole entire time so you want to make sure everything you bring is light.  Easier said than done. Lily and Jax joined us on the trip.  They had their own packs with their food and water. 



I think they look SO stinkin' cute with their dog packs!

Lily, apparently doesn't feel the same..."What the heck is this thing on my back?!"



We met up with the group on Saturday morning and drove about an hour to Lost Creek Wilderness Trail. The first day consisted of a 4-5 mile hike and then we set up camp.  Setting up our tent was easy but we didn't exactly set it up on the most level ground so the whole entire night I would slip to the bottom of the tent in my sleeping bag.  Not to mention there was a nice sized rock under our tent that hurt really bad if you stepped/laid on it wrong. 

They say to keep warm in your sleeping bag you're supposed to sleep in it naked. So I slept in my sports bra and undies.  Poor little Lily was so cold that night, not only did she puke in our tent but she was also went wondering around in the dark woods.  (I kicked her out of the tent momentarily so she wouldn't throw up anymore) So I was wondering around, in next-to-nothing, in the woods...glad noone saw, I think.  Once I got Lily back into the tent I figured the only way to keep her warm was to let her sleep in my sleeping bag with me.  It was cramped but we kept each other warm. Jax was cold, too but he's much too big to share a sleeping bag with so we were using what little clothing we had to cover him up at night.  And their packs rubbed them raw during the hike so I don't think they liked camping/hiking very much.

At the trail head. Lily's good side.

 

 

 

The girls: Me, Jacy, Melany and Danielle

Me & Colby with the dogs. Filling up our water tanks at the stream.

Blake  makin' us mac n cheese

The whole gang: Me, Danielle, Nate, Skippy, Melany, Jax, Blake, Tatum, Colby, Marty & Jacy

The second day we packed everything up and hiked another 4-5 miles and set up at a different camp site.  Dropped all our stuff and hiked some different trails. The third day was a 5 mile hike back to the cars and I don't think I have ever been more ready to get back to civilization.  I was tired, exhausted, grouchy and all I wanted to do is sit down and not carry 40lbs on my back anymore.  Lily and Jax felt the same way.  Colby was my cheerleader all the way back to the car.  I'm not sure how many times he said, "Babe, we're almost there."  At some point I quit believing him.  BUT we made it back to the cars. Drove into town.  Stopped at a Mexican restraurant and stuffed our faces with delicious Mexican food and chugged beers! 

When we got back to Denver we took the dogs to a place called "Chewy's Bonetique" for baths. They have these awesome dog tubs and provide all of the supplies!

Jax looks less than thrilled.

She looks so tiny in sucha big tub.

The views were gorgeous, we had a awesome weather and it was an amazing work out! Our first Memorial Weekend and backpacking trip together is now in the books!
Next up: 14er



Let's play a little catch up!

Sooo... I realize I've only blogged once and it was back in May BUT I have some good excuses... 1. We were living in an apartment with really crappy internet and completing one blog post took an eternity! 2. Colby told me I wasn't very funny in my blog posts. (sorry babe, just threw you under the bus) Well, we moved and now we have internet, good internet! And, funny or not, I will try my best to be a better blogger. So I will start back in May and catch y'all up on our lives since then.

Church is in Service

Eric Church that is...

This past weekend a group of us went to Red Rocks Amphitheatre to see Eric Church and Brantley Gilbert. The forecast was not looking good all week and it really never got better. It was cold, and rainy. Thank gosh it quit raining by the time we started tailgating. The cold never went away. We loaded all 13 of us into two trucks and headed to Red Rocks.  If you ask anyone about Red Rocks their immediate response, "You're gonna love it!" They weren't kidding. This place is gorgeous. The rocks are so gorgeous they almost look fake.

 Red Rocks = Gorgeous!

We tailgated for a few hours. The boys grilled. We all boozed.  And Kelly and I thought of different ways to take sneak in alcohol ...(p.s. it worked like a charm:))   Now, Red Rocks is no joke.  You have to walk hike up this ramp to get inside.  As Kelly would put it, "We'll have to take a couple breathers before we reach the top, haha."  I also found out they hold boot camps here on the weekends during the summer.  I'll be checking those out!

 Kelly, Melany, Myself, Lauren and Leslie

All Kansas girls (except Kelly, she's from Florida) doing our "Coloradian Thing"

 Probably the best group pic ever

Colby and I.  It was cold. I was wearing two hoodies under that jacket

 Inside the concert.  This place packs in approximately 8000 people

Brantley Gilbert and Eric Church were amazing to say the least.  Great day, great people, amazing concert...and then I lost my iPhone.  I am sad. I haven't had a phone since Saturday night...I'll get my new one Tuesday night.  I'm having phone withdrawals.  So, I had more pics to put on here but they're on my lost phone.  Thank you Leslie Francis for providing pictures:) Happy Monday people!

Hello Colorado!

We're here! We're here!  After loading anything and everything that could possibly fit into Milly the Milan, Lily and I headed west. We made an overnight pit stop in GB to see my parents and eat Delgado's chips for the last time for a while, at least.  We left around 9:00 a.m. the next day for the most boring drive ever. Packed to the max with plenty of sunflower seeds and drinks. We stopped in Colby, KS to see an old college friend and then made it into Denver around 3:00 p.m.  After unloading everything from poor Milly, her bumper was probably dragging the ground, seriously, I started unpacking.  I've moved a million times in my life which is pretty sad because I didn't move out of the house until I was 20 but I'm a pro mover/packer.  I had mostly everything put away before Colby came home from work....just not my small heaping pile of clothes.  We are living in one bedroom, one bathroom apartment with two dogs. 1 medium sized a.k.a Lily "the pill", 1 large sized a.k.a Jax. So we're sharing a closet.  There were no hangers so I just sorted things into piles.  When Colby came home I warned him not to go into his bedroom.  He didn't listen and this is what I hear from the living room, "O. MY. GOSH. CLOTHES!!!" I told him to quit freaking out. Apparently, Blake told him his life would never be the same, haha, thanks Blake. I just needed hangers from Target. Hangers are expensive, btw!  But needless to say everything of mine has found a place. We're all moved in and co-habitating and haven't killed each other, yet. Did I mention we're moving to a bigger place in July...I guess I had better start packing.

 Don't worry. I didn't make Lily sit like this for very long. We had to drop off some stuff at Gina and Kirk's before we left KC.

 She slept the whole entire way. If you look real closely you will see the Jim Bean with Duck statue my Grandma Penka gave me. It made the trip to Denver with us.

 The view from my back windshield for 8 long hours.

So, for my first official weekend in Denver, our friends Melissa and Blake Smith from KC, came to Colorado.  Melissa's family owns a cabin in Grand Lake, CO about 2 hours from Denver.  Melissa and Blake are getting ready to move to North Carolina (come on and raise up, sorry I had to:) for her medical residency at UNC so they wanted to spend some time at the cabin before moving.  We left Friday afternoon, The Smith's, Colby and I, Jax & Lily. The trip was super easy.  We stopped at the grocery store and got everything we needed for the weekend and made our way to the cabin.  A few wrong turns and we found it.  Now, pulling up to this old, red cabin we weren't expecting much but as soon as you pull the curtains you can see this UH-MAZING view of the mountains and the lake.  It was seriously breath-taking! It was a weekend full of grilling, fishing, relaxing, boozing, P&L P&A and a very small bed for two people and two dogs. We also got to see the supermoon. AND we even saw three real, live meese moose from a distance that night while drinking on the patio.  Melissa says, "Somebody just put a boat in the water."  "That's not a boat, those are moose."  Who so quietly and quickly made it into the backyard about three cabins down. My mom said moose are really mean.  I'll take her word for it.

I was not lying. This was our view from the back patio.

One of my favs:)

Jax and Lily melts my heart:) They have a love/hate relationship

The red boat house at the cabin

Me & the pups

So this is my first time blogging. Hopefully, I'll get better at it. Sorry if you were bored to tears but this is  the easiest way to let everyone know what's going on in our lives. Next up: Eric Church at Red Rocks and backpacking/camping with friends!