V-Love’s Lonely Planet

Saturday was another amazing day in Fort Collins, Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.  I find it so cool to say I live right near Rocky Mountain National Park!  Didn’t the Griswold’s have a family vacation there?  Anyway, Saturday morning I joined the hiking club at 6:40am to hike Twin Sisters.  It’s a well known hike here in the Rockies as you get great views of the entire park, including Longs Peak, the coveted 14er.  A 7.4 mile round trip hike (surprisingly, this can take up to 6 hours depending on difficulty), hiking to 11,428 feet above sea level.  Nothing but switchbacks on this hike, and you are blessed with increasingly better views with such a rapid elevation gain.  Once you reach roughly 11,000 feet, you are above tree-line.  I don’t even think I was above tree-line when hiking the Inca Trail, and that was over 14,000 feet.  Being above tree-line was an awesome experience; you are surrounded by thousands of trees and then all of a sudden, nothing but rocks and boulders.  Talk about being exposed to the entire sky.  I wonder how all of those rocks and boulders get so high?  Once we reached both summits, we enjoyed sitting atop the boulders, eating lunch, taking photos, and talking to other hikers.  It gets very cold and windy up there; one wrong step and your off the cliff.

I’m not sure if the hiking is getting easier and I’m getting used to the elevation, but I found this hike to be much easier than Estes Cone, although Twin Sisters is supposed to be more strenuous.  My confidence level in hiking is going up because all of a sudden I am determined to hike a 14er.  And as much as I would love to complete a 14er before the snow starts (September), I just don’t think I will have time.  The hiking club will be hiking Longs Peak in mid-August.  Waking up at 3am to make it to summit by early morning so you can get down before the storms roll in sounds dreadful and thrilling at the same time.  I would just hate to lose my stamina over a winter of no hiking; that may put me back at square one.  So we shall see folks.  Vicki might be hiking one of the popular Colorado 14ers very soon.  I should really be more prepared for such a crazy thing.

100 things about me

1.       I love chocolate and can always eat dessert after a meal no matter how full I am.  I don’t understand how some people cannot love chocolate, and those that are allergic, I’m sorry.

2.       I also love sour candy.  I love candy in general but I love sour things.  And tart things.  And vinegar and lots of lemon.  But I don’t like gummy candies.

3.       I enjoy wine, a lot.  Especially with friends.  But often drink a glass at home alone when I am cooking. 

4.       I love to dance.  I took ballet, tap, and jazz for 15 years.  I’ve started taking ballet again in Fort Collins.

5.       I love to cook.  I try to use recipes from cookbooks but only end up using my Mother’s.  I cook roughly 5 nights a week.  It’s soothing and makes you feel good.

6.       I have a motherly instinct.  I just know how to do things.  I just feel like I magically learned how to cook bc my mother always cooked.  I can wash clothes.  I can clean.  I can install and fix things (but if there is a guy around or my Dad I let them do it).  I think I would be good at raising kids and taking care of people.

7.       I like getting my hands dirty. 

8.       I like anything outdoors.  Camping, hiking, rafting, fishing, skiing, and soon-biking and kayaking.

9.       I prefer not to wear make-up.  I wear very little.

10.   It takes me very little time to get ready in the morning.  I’m speedy and don’t always care what I look like. [read on]