Winter in Aspen

Well I decided that this winter season would be my last for now in Aspen. It has been amazing the experiences and the friendships I have made will forever stay in my heart. But it is time to move on to a new destination. I have decided to move to the Cape for the summer so I can see what its like to live on the east coast for the summer. I am very excited to start this new chapter but before I begin I still have a few grand adventures left in Aspen. We are planning a hut trip and working on a ski trip to Steamboat.
I have hiked the Highlands Bowl this season and that was pretty amazing once we made it to the top. There were several times where I was sure I was going to fall backwards down the mountain. My aunt, uncle and cousins came to stay for a long weekend which was fun showing them around town and doing some of the more touristy things in Aspen like tubing and ice skating.
I am also excited to announce that Emily and I will be running the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February. We have been training for months and while my whole body hurts from the constant running I am looking forward to the race.  I considered my options for the run carefully and decided since I am not really princess material I was going to be Tinkerbell. Plus I like her because she has spunk. 

Mount Democrat 14er Hike

Emily and I wanted to hike a 14er mountain in Colorado before the summer was over so we started researching different mountains. After going through my book of top hikes in Colorado we found the Mt. Democrat, Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Bross hike which is a hike up then over the ridge line of three Colorado 14ers.

Breckenridge Brew Co: Beer Flight

We left of a Wednesday a drove to Breckenridge to check out the Breckenridge Brew Co. and had lunch. We ordered a beer flight in order to try all the beer and we discovered Emily and I have completely opposite tastes when it comes to beer which turned out to be a positive. After lunch we strolled through the quaint little town and had coffee and cookies while window shopping.
Once we finished exploring the town we headed toward Alma and toward the Mountain. On the way up the dirt road we saw Moose!!! "Didn't we just say we hadn't seen a moose yet?"

Moose!!!

We made it to the campsites which were at the base of the mountain. I had made the poor assumption that we would still be in the woods so we could scout and gather fire wood, but we were above all the woods so we had to scavenge the other fire pits for unused wood. We lucked out and found enough to make a fire for the night. We camped at Kite Lake, luckily we packed lots of layers but apparently we didn't bring enough because I was waiting my feet freeze off. Between that and the wind which I felt was going to blow away with us in it. Upon waking up Emily's first question was, "Is there frost on your pillow?" that's how cold it was.
The next morning we crawled out of our tent with the wind still whipping around, packed up and started the hike. I will tell you now there are no switchbacks going up this mountain it is basically straight up, on the way up we got passed by a couple twice as old as us so that made us feel awesome (NOT). Once we made it up to the top of Mount Democrat we found a sign that had the date and elevation on it, our first question was, "Does someone actually hike this everyday?" At the top of the mountain we rested and debated continuing around the ridge to the other two 14ers, we ultimately decided to head back to the car because we had a three hour drive ahead of us.

Kite Lake: We thought it was just the windiness.

 

Alma's Only Bar!!!! Literally!

Moab, Utah and Skydiving

Arches National Park

Organ Rock

Balance Rock

Balancing Rock/Skydive Position

Camp Site - Hal Canyon

Delicate Arch

My friends and I recently took a trip to Moab, Utah where we surprised Rodrigo for his birthday. The girls and I drove separate from Rodrigo and his girlfriend, we left a bit earlier so they wouldn't accidentally pass us on the way down. We met at the Moab Brewery where we did surprise him by hiding behind our menus until he was directly in front of our table. We don't have any hope of being spies because we were laughing the whole time. We tried all of Moab Brewery's beers and had lunch then proceeded on to Arches National Park. We saw lots of rocks and arches... I know exciting right, but the amazing thing was thinking of how long it took the wind to mold these rocks into the sight we were seeing. We desperately wanted to see balance rock fall and I said they add concrete to the balanced portion so it will stay up there. Colleen decided to practice her yoga with a new position which we named balancing rock, due to the fact that Rodrigo was on her back (picture will follow ;) One notable sight at the park was Delicate Arch which is the arch on the Utah license plate, we hiked up a short ways to the viewing point because there was a storm coming in. Once to the view point Emily made the comment we were all thinking, "That's it." We were expecting something a little more aw-inspiring from the arch. We made it back to the are just as the storm was coming in with huge gusts of sandy wind then rain. Since we were camping and we couldn't set up camp while it was camping we decided to head back into town and grab an ice cream. The ice cream trip ended up being a walk around town till we decided on a bar which then became a diner where we got milkshakes. Once the rain let up we headed to our camp site at Hal Canyon on the Colorado River. When we got there it decided to start raining again, such as our luck. I started the fire so it would get hot for dinner then worked on my tent while everyone else was setting up theirs. I love my tent so much because it is so easy and fast to put up the only issues I had were getting the stakes to stay in due to the sandy area but that wasn't the tents fault. For dinner we made what everyone else called hobo dinners of BBQ, chicken, and veggies wrapped in aluminum foil and thrown on the fire grate. We forgot the tongs and flipper so Rodrigo had to use two sticks. The girls added broadcaster commentary to they process which made the job of cooking fun. "He is going in for the flip, and he makes it." "Best flip we have seen today, Barbara." Once dinner was over we had Green Tea Cupcakes and S'mores.
The next morning we woke up make pancakes over the fire in which we had to make a flipper with a paper plate wrapped in aluminum foil. Then we packed up and headed to the airport where we were going to jump out of a perfectly good Cessna plane. We made the jump with Skydive Moab company. There was a video of the man that apparently created tandem skydiving some 30 years ago who had the single most impressive beard I have ever seen, he must have been growing in for 30 years. It was a small Cessna so only two of us could go at a time, which was cool because we got to watch Rodrigo and Colleen land before Emily and I went up. This was everyone's first time but my second, and I'll tell you right now it didn't get easier knowing what was coming, if anything I was more apprehensive. But I had a great tandem partner who helped me relax by keeping it light. He apparently saw a care bear while we were climbing to altitude, I sadly missed it and I will keep a close eye out next time. The jump was exhilarating and scary all at the same time, I loved it. After we jumped I was starving so we went to this awesome little restaurant called Milt's Stop & Eat, we had burgers, onion rings, and shakes at a picnic table on astro turf. The drive home was long due to the fact that I was tired and all my adrenaline had worn off from the jump.

   

HIke to Crested Butte and Back

At the end of July, Emily and I hiked the 11 miles to Crested Butte from Maroon Bells. The flowers were in bloom and there were lots of awesome people we met along the way. Crested Butte was this tiny town with a lot of bars. We had dinner at a small Italian place named Marchitelli's with a hilarious bartender. Everything was perfect until the hike back we made it over the pass and on the way down it began to pour down rain which slowed our progress dramatically. By the end of the hike we were soaked through and looked like drown rats.

Summer Break Part 2

After our amazing road trip, Emily and I took a flight to Mexico City and spent some time exploring the city and the Pyramids around there. We walked around Coyoacan and ate at a street vendor and bakery.

Pendulum at the Cathedral to show 

Pyramid del Sol

Pyramid del Luna

 Once I left Mexico I flew to Peru where I met up with my mom and hiked Salkantay trail to Machu Picchue. The Salkantay Mtn was about 6,271 meters or 20,574 feet. We then took a bus to Lake Titicaca.