Longmont, Boulder, Westminster, Denver

Have you caught Part 1 of this adventure yet?
Our route to Westminster was blocked due to wildfires. Surprise, surprise.

Chimney Rock!

Thankfully, the detour we gook gave us a chance to stop at Chimney Rock, which I am familiar with as a stop on the Oregon Trail. Long story short, after a far-too-long-and-boring car ride, we made it safely to our (swanky) hotel in Westminster. Unfortunately, our hotel royally screwed up and only gave us one bed instead of two (there are four of us.) Thank God Brenna was only 20 minutes away in Denver, because she came and saved our tired hinds from sleeping on the floor at the Westin Westminster.
I quickly became acquainted with Jake, the happy golden dog Brenna was watching for her aunt. We stayed up late talking, discussing our past month where we had hardly spent any time together. The next day was a busy one: The day of my Economics final, the wedding, and beginning my birthday!
I finished my final in two hours, and finished the class with an 87%. Becca and Brenna went on a few errands to walk Jake, visit the farmer's market, and  After my two lowest quiz grades were dropped, I had an A, which constituted a reason to party! But by then, I was out of time to party.

Me, Jen, Mom and Dad

Brenna drove Becca and I back to Westminster where we got ready for the wedding, which was absolutely beautiful. The garden was green, the sky was moderately clear with no threat of rain, Jen was beautiful, and the DJ was on top of the musical game.
After the wedding, Becca and I went back to Longmont with Brenna to start celebrating my birthday! We stayed up extremely late playing Apples to Apples (over 100 rounds!) and slept in rather late the next morning.
For my birthday, we went to Boulder, the "college town" of Colorado. It was absolutely and spectacularly beautiful. We first headed to Chataqua, where we walked around the many old houses that are available for summer rent. After we walked up and down the hilly blocks for a while, we piled back into Brenna's aunt's Jeep and headed downtown in search of Snooze, a breakfast place.
As luck would have it, we found a parking space right across from Snooze, and walked in the door forty-five minutes before they were supposed to close. 2:15 in the afternoon is not too late to have breakfast!

Chataqua is really green.

After eyeing their extensive pancake menu as well as their lovely healthy menu, Brenna and I decided to split a pancake flight and a basic egg, hash brown and toast dish. Our three pancake types were a pineapple upside down pancake, a toffee nut pancake, and a sweet potato pancake. While delicious, the pancakes were almost too sweet, so it's good that we ordered eggs and hash browns to go with them.
After my birthday brunch (yay!) we walked around Pearl Street, looking at local hand-made shops, book stores, toy stores, shoe stores, clothing stores--you name it. We eventually ended up at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, which was actually built in Tajikistan and shipped to Boulder, where it was re-built in all of it's intricate glory. Each of us ordered a pot of tea, and we traded sips of each other's tea. I really enjoyed my panda green tea, partially because it had my nickname in it's title, and also because I really enjoy green tea.

That's my obnoxious face.

Soon, my parents came to take Becca and me to dinner, while Brenna returned to Longmont to pack for her return to Arizona. I picked out an Indian restaurant named Yak and Yeti (sweet name, I know) to feast at on my birthday. Sad thing is, I wasn't very hungry. But then I realized "Hmm. Indian food. I like Indian food. Eating when I'm not hungry this one time won't kill me." And boy, am I glad I did that. We ate from the buffet filled with masala and palak paneer and all sorts of other things I can neither remember, pronounce or spell. All I remember is that they were delicious.
We headed back to the hotel, where Becca and I had an amazing view of the Flatirons and the pending thunder storm out of the window. The Westin had made up for their former mistake by switching my parents to a similar room on another floor and gave them an adjoining room with two double beds for free. My birthday ended with a beautiful thunder storm, driving in the rain to pick up Brenna, and then cupcakes and a card stuffed with gift cards (and a $20 bill for Zia) from my parents.

We left early the next morning for Pinetop, and decided late in the afternoon (when we were at the Arizona-New Mexico border) to drive straight through to Phoenix. I drove a large amount of the way, and when I wasn't driving, I was listening to This American Life with Brenna and Becca, or reading The Scientists: A Love Story by Marco Roth.

Hesperus, Durango

This is the first family vacation I've been on in two years. Last summer, I traveled a lot, but not with my parents. Last summer my parents traveled a lot, but not with me. This summer, we're doing some traveling together.
The vacation of mention is Colorado, to get some R&R, as well as to watch my childhood babysitter/next door neighbor neighbor's daughter get married. Also, to bring Brenna back home.

All four states at once. Utah and Colorado are my favorites.

The first stretch of our journey was from Phoenix to Hesperus. Hesperus is a little town outside of Durango, with a gorgeous Bed and Breakfast.
We took a pit stop at Four Corners, and I enjoyed the beauty of being in four places at once, as well as the Native American jewelry available (I finally got my pinky ring. Finally. Lapiz and silver.)
From Four Corners to Hesperus, I slept. The views were beautiful, but I was tired and slightly carsick.
When we got out of the car at Blue Lake Ranch I was amazed at the greenery and flora. I haven't seen this many flowers since...who knows when. There are gardens abundant. They grow their own vegetables here, and everything is a cheery shade of tan, yellow or green. All of the guest rooms/houses are private and distant. It really is a ranch, complete with a motherly figure to cook you delicious breakfast in the morning.
We arrived yesterday.
Today, we consumed breakfast, indulged in the spa-like shower, hiked down to the lake, and visited Durango.
Ahh, yes. Durango.
The beautiful, green, small town of Colorado. I first visited here four years ago (perhaps even five) for a Christ In Youth conference (basically summer camp) and really loved the area.

Next time, we're taking the train ride.

We spent a few hours touring the city after a large lunch. We split up into two groups (my parents, Becca and I) and did the usual touring, coffee stops, and train watching. Becca and I stopped at an amazing book store, snagged a book, and then got coffee from Durango Coffee Company, and then split chai latte from Magpie Newsstand Cafe, where "Nine out of ten mythical creatures say we have the best chai in the world!" I must be the one mythical creature that disagrees. While delicious and spicy, just as chai should be, there was far too much clove and not enough honey. Aside from that, it was delicious.
After we caught the train (my dad and I, along with all my cousins and uncles, have a serious obsession with trains) we headed slightly out of town to Ska Brewing Company, a gem I found on Yelp.
My mom was less than pleased with the amount of cars in the parking lot--she didn't want to wait forever for food, but we soon learned that their Thursday tradition is a Ska-B-Que, or barbecue food outdoors with live ska music.

Bob, Anne, their granddaughter and son.

We were in luck: The food was complementary today, too, and beer was $1 for a brew that had been shipped back from Texas (the can design featured a half-naked nymph and what I believe were marijuana leaves...too provocative for those Texans) or $5 for two cans of other brews. I, of course, was too young to enjoy the beer (I'm turning 20, not 21...) but definitely not too young to enjoy the company shared at our picnic table: two Durango locals named Anne and Bob.

Bob shared the story of Ska Brewery with us: Three college students brewed beer while at Fort Lewis College, but stopped after graduation. People came to miss their beer, so they brewed on a small scale. Eventually, the demand was so high they built a microbrewery and began running it full time. Currently, one of the three is designing and marketing a machine that cans beer as well.

Bob even got us an in with one of the owners: We got to tour the brewery. 

I'd never been in a brewery before. I've never even set foot in a bar (aside from one or two times when I

I learned one large tank = 90 barrels = 180 kegs

was little and accompanied by an adult.) But it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Listening to one of the co-owners (I think it was Dave) talk about the brewing process was enlightening and enjoyable. I love listening to people talk about things they're passionate about, and it is very evident these people are very passionate about beer.

It ended with a free sample of beer...for my dad. It was a lager of some sort. I'll have to go back and try a full can when I'm 21.

After a beautiful dinner with acoustic-country influenced ska music from Running Out of Road, and friendly locals, it was time to head back to the ranch, where I just finished my final macroeconomics quiz and started writing this blog post. 

So far, my favorite part of this trip has been kicking back and relaxing. I've been able to spend time in the beautiful outdoors, eat delicious food (albeit too much food) and enjoy down time I haven't had in a long time. I also really enjoy how strappy hiking sandals, dogs, knee-length skirts and Subaru wagons are the norm here. Durango has it's own newspaper...I may move here someday.

Still to come: Denver/Westmister/Longmont and my birthday. Stay tuned, adventurers!

Catch part 2 here!

Pinetop Part 2: The Cabin

Late Saturday afternoon, we arrived back at Ben's home from our backpacking excursion (see Part 1). We showered and changed into clean clothes. In the spirit of adventure and outdoors (and packing light) I wore my only clean pants: cargo pants from 7th grade. Gotta love that 2005 style.
Not to mention, before we even arrived home, we stopped at a sweet thrift shop and an equally nifty pawn shop and looked at goodies. I found some jewelry I really liked (didn't buy it, though. I left my wallet at his house, where we had not yet been that day) and a floral print hat which Liz bought for me (yeah, I washed it before I wore it. Don't freak out.)
Ben also showed us one of his only remaining pieces of street art. It's on a dumpster by the pawn shop, indoor archery range, and closed-down bank. It's of two wolves, and I'm pretty sure it used multiple layers of stencils. It was never finished because two cops drove by as Ben was working on it, and the danger was just a little too real for his comfort zone. I think it looks rather awesome, anyway.

After we got home, we all lounged around and watched the ed of Gladiator then The Book of Eli while everyone else showered (we had one shower to share).
Ben's mom (Betsy) and dad (Bruce) made veggie packets for dinner (4 or 5 different vegetables cut up, seasoned, oiled and wrapped into aluminum foil pouches then grilled) and his grandma made us chocolate drop cookies. It was the perfect dinner for the returning adventurers.
(Back story: It was really nice to see Ben's parents! I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen them in over five years. His mom seemed especially pleased to see us all, and she was very welcoming and accommodating.  She wins hostess points.)
After dinner, Liz and I sat and talked to grandma and Betsy while the boys continued watching The Book of Eli. Soon everyone else left for church, and Liz and I cleaned up the kitchen a little bit before we left for church (we're a messy bunch of kids, but we sure do know how to clean up after ourselves.)
Church was good. It met at Blue Ridge High School (the only one in the Pinteop-Lakeside area) and reminded me of what a small-town non-denominational church would be like, if it met up with a bit of a younger crowd. It was enjoyable.

The cabin.

After, we booked it to the grocery store and bought $36 worth of breakfast foods and headed up to the cabin through back roads.
The roads were dusty and dark. I was skeptical when Ben said that the cabin was in the forest--all of Pinetop that I had seen was rather developed. But after snaking through block after block of fancy vacation homes (as they became farther and farther apart) he made a quick right hand turn into a driveway, and I did the logical thing--I followed.
Soon we were in front of what looked like a log cabin, but I could hardly tell. It was pitch black outside. Ben opened the front door and turned a light on--it was most definitely a log cabin.
Upon entering, I noticed the quaint furniture, antique fire stove and perfectly sized kitchen. It is absolutely darling. We began unloading the car and then toured the upstairs area--two separated bedrooms and a common sleeping area with 5 twin beds. Downstairs, the living area, eating area, kitchen, extra bedroom and single restroom.
I really enjoyed reading the "Brenna was here! 2000" and other time-stamped markings written on the twin bunk beds upstairs. Betsy had warned us that spot-markers were there, and had told us not to add more unless we "do it on a plank of wood." And we respected her wishes.
Once the car was unloaded, it was time to chill. Liz and Ben and Jon worked on the fire for making s'mores while I took copious amounts of photographs. My favorite vantage point is from the second story looking down, because you can see the entire living room from there.
Soon after the fire was built, we sat down and began playing music. Ben brought his banjo (a birthday present from his parents) and his guitar (a 3/4 size steel-stringed thang). Having no experience on the banjo, I picked up the guitar.
Soon, we were playing a Sufjan Stevens song and singing at the top of our lungs. Liz and Jon seemed to be enjoying listening, and I was certainly enjoying playing guitar with Ben on banjo. Before we knew it, it was 1 am, and our friends Cassie and Sydney were arriving from Phoenix.
In a whirlwind of excitement, they unloaded their car and Ben set out to make more granola. Feeling utterly exhausted, I decided to pick up a knife and focus the energy I had left on dicing apricots to put in the granola. Once we stuck the oats in the oven for 50 minutes, Ben and I picked up the instruments once more, and we sat and played music until we were nearly ready for bed.
3 am, we all fell asleep. 6:30 am, I woke up when Ben woke up to go downstairs. I stayed awake once I realized it was light out, and finally got out of bed at 9 am when Liz decided it was time to get up as well.
To not rudely wake everyone else up, we turned on the coffee pot and left the building for a morning stroll. There were areas in the neighborhood where we could see a ridge of trees in the distance, between the pine trees already surrounding the houses.
When we returned, Cassie and Sydney were headed out for a walk as well, and Jon followed suit. Just as Liz and I decided to wake up Ben, he came strolling out as well.

Good food. Good friends. Good time.

Being the hungry woman Liz is (breakfast is her favorite meal, which is one of the reasons we get along so well) we set out to cook. Half an hour and half a Destroyer album later, we were all seated around the breakfast table with scrambled eggs/veggies, cut fruit, fresh granola, honey, coffee, orange juice and hash browns to fill our stomachs. We said a prayer of thanks for food, free time, nature and each other, and dished out the delicious meal that was about to ensue.
We sat and talked as and after we ate, discussing dream living situations. A good amount of us would eventually enjoy ending up in Portland some day, while the other half of us would love to stay in Phoenix. I'm divided.
After breakfast, we lounged around, did dishes, played music, and decided to go on a walk. The Apache Indian Reservation is walking distance from the cabin, so we decided to go check it out. Granted, it's kinda trespassing, but we weren't harming anything. In fact, I'm rather sure the walk harmed me more than anything. I got a really gnarly sunburn (all I wore over the weekend was tank tops, sans sunscreen) and every twig I stepped on stabbed me in the foot (I decided to wear my new hiking sandals.)
Nonetheless, it was a beautiful hike. And by that, I mean we found plenty of beautiful rocks and enjoyed the danger of being on Native American land, where "They can take any of your property and it would be totally legal." Or at least that's what Ben kept telling us. Other than that, the walk on their land was not particularly noteworthy.

The first horned lizard I've seen in real life!

One thing I noticed is that the trees were far more sparse on the reservation than they were in Pinetop. We found a few clearing areas with what logs fashioned into a rectangle on the ground, almost like a seating area.
We soon grew bored and climbed back through the fence to Pinetop. The forest on that side of the road was denser and greener, it seemed. We adventured a little bit more around the woods and found a horny toad lizard. That's right, folks. Two wild animals in one trip! I'd never seen one before, but he hissed at us just like my turtle hisses at me when I pick him up too quickly. We didn't corner him very quickly, but in an effort to get a good photo (and an effort on Ben and Cassie's part to catch him) he ran under a bush. Ultimately, this made him even more photogenic, as the shade from the bush  made it easier to see him.
We returned to the cabin around 2 pm and made sandwiches with some local bread, apricot preserves, bananas, honey and peanut butter. As usual, we tossed some veggies and/or yogurt on the side for a complete meal. (I really enjoy how healthy I eat when I'm with all these people!)
The aim of the day was to leave by 4 or 5 pm, as Cassie, Sydney and Ben had a night of backpacking ahead of them because they couldn't join us Friday night, and we had to leave Sunday night. Eventually, we got around to getting a few planks of wood to decorate and commemorate the weekend. Once we had successfully collaged one and signed the other, we placed them up against the wall on the second level of the cabin, packed our bags and said our goodbyes. By the time we left, it was 5pm. Liz slept most of the way while Jon and I discussed how we really enjoy Phoenix.
I could not have asked for a more perfect weekend spent outside in God's nature with a group of friends who enjoy healthy food, fresh air, backpacking and rest. I look forward to when I am finished with my summer classes and can go back with even more friends.

Pinetop Part 1: Backpacking

The most peaceful three days of my summer (thus far) have come to an end.
410 miles later, I am home with a backpack full of dirty laundry, a memory stick filled with photographs, and a heart full of contentment. I am also so full of stories that I'm splitting up my weekend into two posts: one for backpacking, one for time spent in Ben's cabin.
I may have had to work my hind off before I could leave for Pinetop early Friday morning (I anticipated not having internet for my summer online class) but that made my weekend spent with dear friends in the beautiful pines all the more meaningful.
Before a stop at REI Friday morning, I picked up Liz and Jon, two new but close friends. We made a pit stop at Recreational Equipment, Incorporated to get a sleeping bag for Liz, hiking boots for Jon, and a 4-pack of camping sporks for me. After that, we hit Shea eastbound, the 87, and eventually arrived in Pinetop! Our time spent in the car felt brief, perhaps because we used it to get to know each other better.
When we pulled up to the Peck family house, we were greeted by Ben's grandmother, who was out watering the lawn. We introduced ourselves and gave her hugs (who doesn't hug a grandma?!)
Before long, Ben heard the racket and came outside to find us. Hugs were exchanged, and before long, our camping equipment exploded all over his family's television room floor.
For three people, we sure had a lot of crap. When you add Ben's stuff to the mix, we had a lot-a lot of crap.
Once we arranged who was carrying what (I had Liz and I's tent, my mat, 4 liters of water, food and clothing) we caught up on life, ate freshly made granola, veggies and hummus, and hit the road. Our destination in mind was Mount Baldy--the second highest peak in Arizona.
Unfortunately, by the time we left the house, it was 4:30. Then we stopped and bought cans of soup to eat once we set up camp.
By the time we arrived at the Mount Baldy trail head, it was 5:30, and we realized we wouldn't be making it to the mountain that night.
We hiked until we realized the sun was going to set (about 2 miles, uphill) and went a ways off the trail to find a flat area to camp with our four tents.
Ben and Jon found a flat knoll with a few quaking aspens and large boulders. It looked good enough, so we set up camp, but not until we decided to put our packs down to climb around and venture among other rocks nearby.
Large and gray, the rock faces reminded me of Easter Island heads. Because all four of us are young and adventurous, we climbed on the rocks, trying to get a wonderful view of the forest below and above us.
It was absolutely amazing to take a moment and draw in the beauty that surrounded us. Green trees, soft moss, sticky sap, cold boulders, a blue sky, picturesque clouds. A lack of cell service. It was so beautiful and refreshing to be outside the reaches of humanity.
What was even more amazing was the owl that flew into our camp site and stared at us, curious. (S)he acted as if humans were aliens. And in a way, we were. Four kids from the city encroaching on nature's territory. After we got a few good photographs, the owl flew away and left us in astonishment.
Soon we set up tents, ate dinner and talked about life. I suggested we sleep in the next morning and not hike the 14-20 mile round trip to the summit of Mt. Baldy. I'm a terribly slow hiker when it comes to going uphill. Besides, I wanted to relax. Thankfully, everyone else was okay with my request.
After we set up camp and ate dinner, the boys went to hang the food in a tree somewhere uphill. They returned rather quickly, and joked that they had lost the food, thus turning our backpacking adventure into a new reality television show, "Starvation Island." Good thing they were joking.
Soon we decided to all lay on a rock and stare at the countless stars. Jon (God bless his city-slicker soul) hear the wind rush through the trees, and said "It's kinda comforting that we can hear cars from here."

The moon was very close to New Moon phase, which made for the perfect star-gazing experience. When we decided to go to bed (it was barely 10 pm) we took a long exposure photo, using our headlamps and lanterns to illuminate the camp site, and got an awesome photograph from it.
For being in the wild, we slept rather well. Jon thought he heard breathing outside his tent once, and I thought I heard a few twigs snapping in the middle of the night, but other than that, rest was uneventful. I was the last person to wake up (no surprise) once the sun had risen.
There was a strange amount of bugs in the morning. It was as if they only emerged in the cool dawn hours. We noticed they flew around, tended to land and then would not take off again. We called them morning bugs.

Forest / For rest / Faux-rest

After a refreshing breakfast of apples, granola and tea, we sat around and whittled away at sticks, logs, trees. Ben brought his slingshot, and we had plenty of rocks, so we found a strange-looking nest sort of thing in a tree about a hundred feet away, and proceeded to shoot rocks at it. In hindsight, it sounds like a terrible idea, but considering nothing flew out of the nest at us once I hit it, I'd say we were okay.
As for more destroyal of the environment, we carved a few things in trees. Nothing tacky, though.
Jon carved an owl. I carved a Hamsa , Liz and I carved "Starvation Island 2013." Ben carved "4 Morning Bugs," as well as the photograph you can see to the left. We kept them small, and hope to return to see them someday.

When we felt we'd been at our site long enough, we packed up our tents and food and headed up the mountainside we were on to get a glimpse of our surroundings.

A quick 10-minute uphill hike yielded a view of snow, tree tops, and more rocks. I handed my camera off to Ben so I could pose for photos for Liz, and so I could climb around on the rocks.

The view from atop the hill was absolutely exquisite. The clouds were my favorite shape--reminiscent of something from the Sistine Chapel or Toy Story. We sat down to each enjoy a granola bar in the shade, then we began our hike back down to camp.

We picked up our packs (we had already packed them) and headed out. We were aiming to be home in time for showers, dinner and church, and we were right on schedule.

The hike back to the car was much more pleasant than the hike to the site. For one thing, it was all downhill.
The meadow we hiked through was beautiful when we hiked in, but it was more beautiful when we hiked back out. There was a cool breeze, and rolling clouds. 

We stopped at the beginning of the trail and crossed the small stream we passed on the way in. To say I was cautious while hopping from rock to rock would be a joke, but my boots received no water anyway.

Before I knew it, we were back at the car. I took off my hiking boots, gave my feet air, and retreated to the back seat of Ben's XTerra with Liz, where we put our legs up, closed our eyes, and listened to Transatlanticism the entire trip back to Pinetop.

(Read Pinetop Part 2: The Cabin)