Out with a BANG!

Well for those of you who thought my horseback riding story wasn't all too bad...just wait. Saturday I woke feeling more or less like I had been in a car wreck. I discovered muscles in my back that I didn't even know that I had and I really wanted to carry a "donut" with me everywhere to help me sit down. What a day! I think I was a little nervous knowing how much I was hurting and that we were about to go on a 4 mile hike and going UP most of the hike into the mountains.

But once again, I get the trooper award and get ready to go hike. The hike was actually so gorgeous and totally worth the dealing with my horseback riding soreness the whole day. One of my favorite new places on Earth is Nymph Lake. It's the smallest of the three lakes we saw that day but it's exactly like it sounds. I just imagine fairies living there and it looks like it came straight out of a storybook and blossoming lily pads cover the lake like a blanket.

Only bummer on our hike is that we brought NO food, snacks...just water. I didn't think we realized how long it would take us to hike. Mostly because we stopped every five feet to take a photo because it was so beautiful, but I'll admit a "few" rest breaks too. There were all these parents carrying their kids in backpacks on the hike...I just kept imagining my Buddha belly of a baby and having him on my back for 4 miles. Ouch. So it's 2:00 when we're done and my 8:00 breakfast after the long hike was long gone.

After that, we headed to the Alpine Visitor Center to get some grub. You can drive your car up this highway that scares the death out of you. One wrong turn, swerve, or sneeze could send your car off a cliff down thousands of feet. I've never seen Justin so nervous or white-knuckled before. Thankfully it was him driving and not me! Justin kept saying, "It's just around the corner," as he hears my surround sound stomach growling. But seriously this highway was like the Never Ending Story...it took us an hour! I run out of the car like I just finished being on the reality show Survivor and look for the closest edible thing. After eating, I realized how tired I was and the impact of the horseback riding and hike had fully set in.

Justin talked me into walking up one more mountain so that we could get to the highest elevation to take our picture at the 12,005 elevation mark (over 2 miles above sea level). At this point, I'm so exhausted and I look at this little ant hill of a mountain but it might as well have been Mt. Everest. I agree but tell him we're headed straight to the hot tub when we're done. We get up the hill only to discover the sign was "just around the corner"....does anyone see a theme developing here? On the way down, we saw so many Elk just grazing. So once again, it made it all worth the pain.

We get back to the lodge and the hot tub is calling my name. The day before it had been my physical therapist for the damage done by Dale. This time I wasn't sure if I could be helped...only Icy Hot, a heating pad, and some ibuprofen could touch this pain. So we're sitting in the hot tub enjoying the mountain view and I'm starting to finally relax. It's absolutely wonderful. We found jets that hit the really sore spots on our backs and took turns sharing. So Justin says it's my turn and I have no problem taking over. I get in the spot and the breeze is blowing and I'm finally thinking, "Hey this is what we're supposed to be doing away from our kids...RELAXING!"

Not even a minute later...BANG! Suddenly, I feel this tremendous amount of weight hit the top of my head full force. It is so heavy and hits so hard that my head whips back and the back of my head hits the hard surface of the hot tub. I'm so confused wondering what just happened. Was it a tree branch? Someone doing a cannonball in the hot tub? A moose (that's how heavy it felt)!? Nope...just the hot tub lid. Now I know you're thinking I'm a total wuss but seriously this thing had to weigh 30 lbs and came flying through the air from the wind. It was leaning on the railing. It hurt sooooo bad. I haven't cried from hurting myself physcially since I was a kid. I was totally crying like a baby and Justin is frantically trying to get this hot tub lid off my head. Now I'm wondering if maybe this is Justin's plan to take me to the mountains and never bring me home again. He felt terrible though and realized his trip planning privileges just must be revoked for the next anniversary trip. And I just kept thinking how HE was the one that was just sitting there...just my luck!

Not such a pretty pretty princess

DISCLAIMER: I'm sorry for all the grandmas, moms or motherly figures of you out there reading this. This isn't one of my finer lady moments in life but it sure is funny.

Meet Dale...my archenemy. Don't be fooled by his beauty, he saw a city girl coming from a mile away. Justin really wanted to go horseback riding which I thought sounded like fun too. I thought one hour sounded like enough fun but Justin convinced me the two hour ride would be more fun and we could go up higher and see more of the mountains. I knew I should have listened to my gut.

Let me preface this by saying that anytime in my life that I've gone horseback riding, I ALWAYS get the crazy horse. It must be my energy. When I was 8, I vividly remember riding a horse at a family reunion and the horse just taking off from the rest of the group and my Uncle Kent sprinting after the horse to take me off while I'm screaming bloody murder. I think that might have been the last time that I rode a horse until Dale...now I remember why.

All those feelings of nervousness came back as soon as I got on Dale. The ranch hand helps me up and immediately leaves me after I tell her that I'm from Texas like we ride horses to work or something. Awww, look at how naive I am in this picture before we leave for our ride.


Somehow I end up at the very end of the pack. Justin is on this beast of a horse. I'm scared to get within a 5 ft radius of him because he's so huge and he might just knock over my horse by sneezing. I'm sweating through my shirt like a guy already and we haven't even left the ranch. I brought my camera but immediately handed it to Justin because I knew there was no way I was taking my hands off the reins. The praying begins.

Call me a city girl but I had absolutely no idea how much gas horses have. Justin is in front of me riding Costello AKA Goliath and the guy in front of him is on another giant of a horse as well. I'm pulling on the reins every two seconds trying to keep my distance for two reasons:

A. Because both of their horses are tooting something terrible literally every 30 seconds. One would go and then that other would start in and let me tell you, it was awful! There's nothing like looking at the beautiful mountains hearing a whoopie cushion sound the whole time...kinda takes the edge off the beauty aspect.

B. If I got too close to Justin's horse, Costello, he started to pee and it splattered all over me!

So I'm starting to gain my confidence but Dale suddenly sees a tree that looks like a might good butt-scratcher. So as the group is going on, I'm completely being mauled by a tree. As soon as Dale figures he got enough of a good scratch, I look like I just got into a cat fight with scratches all over my arm.

I look down at my watch and realize that we've only been gone for an hour and I have an hour more to go. My knees are burning and my bottom is already aching. I start into my inspirational "Little Engine that Could" talk to myself...I think I can, I think I can. We start descending down the mountain (thank goodness!). Dale goes down the mountain like he doesn't weigh half a ton and have toothpicks for legs. I tried to get him to slow down but I've already discovered this horse has a mind of his own. As we go down, it's really rocky and Dale loses his balance. Justin said that he looked something like this...
So Dale spooks Justin's horse and Costello AKA Goliath takes off up a mountain. Justin calms him down and our guide tries to get us moving probably because she is so ready to get rid of me at this point. As we get close to the ranch, our guide tells us that sometimes when the horses see home, they like to take off. Well, at this point I have Dale so tight on the reins he can hardly breathe. Costello AKA Goliath takes off. I mean not just a trot, I'm talking like there's a Kentucky Derby on the line. So now Dale is spooked and freaking out and going up on his back legs. Once again, I just hold on for dear life and look up to see Justin look like a jockey on his horse heading straight for the highway looking like his horse had no intention of stopping for miles. I say a prayer that my husband won't get killed on our anniversary trip.

Costello finally stops within feet of the highway. Justin throws up his hat like he just had his first had his first experience in a rodeo. Better him than me! I was so ready to get off that horse and get Justin off his. The ranch hands can't believe that the horses acted the way they did because they "never do that"...yeah right.

I won't tell you what I said to Justin after I finally got off that horse. It wasn't exactly the nicest thing to say to your husband on your anniversary. After a much needed shower, Justin redeemed the day by taking me to a really nice dinner that night. It was so wonderful getting to talk and have a conversation and not having to cut up food. Or even worse, not having any food after Campbell eats it all!

Anniversary Trip Day 1

ColoOur first day on our trip was so great. We had an early flight. Even without kids we somehow seem to make our ride to the airport a mad dash like we're on Amazing Race, I swear. Once we made it on the plane, the flight itself was so fast. Guess that's what happens when you're not worried about your kids being loud. And get this...I got to read a book! I haven't read a book on an airplane in over four years!

We got into Denver and headed straight to Jack-n-Grill after Justin saw it on Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel. They are the home of the 7 lb. burrito but we weren't brave enough to get that, we just stuck with the regular breakfast burrito which seemed to be 7 lbs. I love how Justin is wearing a "Maintain don't Gain" shirt as he's eating this beast of a burrito.

Next we headed to Red Rocks to see the amphitheater. It was pretty warm in Denver when we decided to make the hike in flipflops up to see amphitheater but well worth it. I'm panting as loud as a dog and meanwhile there are all these people running up and down the stadium like it was just a fun jog. I bet concerts are so much fun there right in the middle of the mountains. The whole trip we keep blaming the altitude for everything. Then it just got to be the running joke throughout our trip any time something went wrong. And boy did it ever, stayed tuned for Day 2 and 3 coming soon.


After that, we thought we'd take the scenic route which is funny to say when everything is scenic in Colorado. Next we headed to the Big Thompson Highway. It's this meandering highway in the middle of the most beautiful canyons. I totally felt like someone might be filming us in our rental car for a commercial...perfect scene with the winding road! I was in sensory overload trying to take all of it in. I must have looked like a kid seeing Disney World for the first time. Then we came across this adorable picnic area nestled in the canyon. I can't even explain how absolutely picturesque it was but here's my attempt to try.

Finally we made to Estes Park and got to check-in to the Taharaa. I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a great B&B. The breakfasts were phenomenal and the view looked fake it was so beautiful.
After having a happy hour at the lodge we headed to town for a casual dinner. On the way we saw a big group of Elk coming to down from the mountains to feed. It was so amazing to see wildlife that huge in the middle of the road.