Sore Legs.

One of my goals for the year was to hike five more 14ers. I've already done four this summer, and plan on doing the Lincoln-Democrat-Bross combo next weekend, so I'll definitely get there. There's something about mountain climbing that is so addictive.

We did Grays and Torreys on the Fourth of July with our friends Laura, John, and Stacy. This was the first multiple-14er hike that I had done, and it was definitely challenging in a different way than some of the others we've done. It's tough enough to mentally get yourself to the top of one 14er, let alone two. I actually thought that getting to Grays was fairly easy (all things considered), but having to climb down the saddle and then back up another pitch left me mentally pooped. Plus, we had to haul it up and then back down Torreys, because there was some questionable weather moving in.

Grays (left) and Torreys (right)

Giving his wife a heart attack

Laura & me

Summit of Grays

The group

Stacy's 5th 14er!

Summit of Torreys

Yesterday, we did Missouri Mountain with our friends Gretchen and Dave, who are 14er crazies. This was Gretchen's 30th summit and Dave's 20-something. I'm just glad I'm almost to double digits! Missouri was probably the prettiest summit we've done, although it had some killer switchbacks through the trees and a long windy walk along a ridge to get to the summit. We had the summit to ourselves for awhile, and the wind died down just as we were eating lunch. Beautiful, beautiful day.

Incredibly beautiful. We walked along that ridge to get to the summit.

Windy and a little chilly!

At the summit

On top of Missouri, with our Cardinals hats!

Summers in Colorado are seriously the best.

Peace, love & Missouri.

BFFs.

Once again, it's been forever since I blogged. Our summer is just too busy!

Last week, four of my best friends from college came out to visit from Missouri. It was so great to catch up, and we had the best time hiking in the mountains, drinking wine in our hot tub in Breckenridge, and just giggling at dinner downtown. I'm so glad they made the trip out and am so thankful for each of them.

Mike was a real trooper and was extremely patient with us and the high levels of estrogen that overloaded the apartment. (Read: bras and clothes strewn about the apartment, 5 cosmetic bags in the bathrooms, and countless exclamations of "Mike, don't come in here right now!").

After church on Sunday

Breakfast at Snooze

City Park Jazz

Hiking Silver Dollar Lake near Georgetown

Next post includes THREE 14'ers :)

Peace, love & good friends.

TiltShifts.

Ok, so my life is changed. I found this website that simulates tilt-shift photography, which is used to make an image appear miniature.

I had a ton of fun with these, they are so cute!

Mini McMurdo

Mini Ivan

Mini Stanley

Mini Bean

Mini Coors Field

Obviously some photos work better than others, but it's fun to experiment on all different types of pictures!

Now, back to work...

Castle Rock.

I've been staring at the screen for 5 minutes, trying to come up with a way to explain how beautiful, incredible, awesome, and wonderful my hike out to Castle Rock was today. Some things are just better left unsaid, so I'll let the photos do the talking.

Trailhead

An "apple" shelter along the trail, for safety during a storm.



Red flags that mark the road

Megan & I. I did, in fact, carry a snowboard on my back for 6-miles, just so that I could go down one hill.

Erebus & Castle Rock from afar.



Castle Rock & the wonderful Antarctic sunshine.

Megan & me on top of Castle Rock.

I could not get over the scenery!

Icebergs.

Open water.

On the way back down.

Snowboarding! In Antarctica! In Jeans! :)

Happy girl :)

Hands down, one of the best days ever. Hiking is absolutely one of the greatest sources of joy and humility for me; I love to take in the Lord's creation, and it reminds me of how small I am compared to his greatness.

Peace, Love, & SnowboardingInJeans.

Ob Hill.

Living in Colorado has created in me a deep love for hiking and climbing mountains. The rush of being on top of a mountain peak after miles of aching quads is so exhilarating, yet so calming.

So when I saw the hiking options around McMurdo, I was thrilled. There are certainly no 14ers around here, but there are some great hikes with incredible views. I did the Arrival Heights Loop my second day here, which was awesome. Last night I opted for the summit of Observation (Ob) Hill:



The beginning of the trail

 I couldn't find the trailhead at first, but I could see the trail, so I climbed under some big scary pipes to get there. At first I thought that I was being a really bad employee and trespassing all over the place, but then I found out that you actually do have to go under (or over) the pipes to get to the start. So then I didn't feel bad.

So, here's a chronicle of my hike.



About the halfway point



Stopping to take in the scenery



The summit.



"You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you." (Nehemiah 9:6)



I also got to experience my first "sun dog"! A sun dog is an atmospheric phenomenon that creates kind of a halo around the sun, with light on the edges of it. Our trusty friend Wikipedia has more info on it if you're interested. :) I got some awesome photos of it though.

Pretty awesome. I did a little editing to make the sun dog more dramatic, but the originals are up on facebook.

Peace, love & dawgs.

My Life is Complete

Mike and I made a deal.

I could buy this...

...if I would spend $100 to buy him video games for when I'm in Antarctica.

DEAL.

And now I own a fancy camera.

And my husband is a nerd.

Peace, love & expensive cameras.

Mt. Sherman

It looks like our first 14er season has come to a close. We ended it this weekend by climbing Mt. Sherman with our friends Nicole and Eric. We originally intended to climb Mt. Democrat, but had to shuffle plans around when we discovered the road to the mountain was closed for the day. Luckily, Mt. Sherman wasn't too far away, so we still managed to summit well before noon (and avoided any potential bad weather). It was a fabulous fall day in the mountains, and the aspens were an incredible vibrant yellow! (Thanks Nicole, for insisting that we stop to snap some cute couples shots by the trees!) :) 

Mt. Sherman is littered with old mining buildings and railroad tracks. Very cool.

Summit #5

No photoshop here! The colors were really that awesome.

Peace, Love & Aspens.