camping...again

This past weekend my friends, Lora and Shari, came to visit me. They came with no agenda at all. I had to work on Thursday morning, but had Friday and Saturday off. We went downtown, hung out by the pool, laughed a lot, shared good stories, and got to go camping. The whole group (including Keri, Beth, Joe, Dan, Johnny, & Rachel) got to spend the night at a campsite in the mountains. We had a blast. The next day we woke up and Drew, Shari, Lo, and I went on a separate hike from the rest of the group (after all this was a vacation for the gals). We hiked about 2 miles out until we came to this massive valley, overlooking the snow-capped mountains, a small lake with a cabin, and thousands and thousands of unoccupied acres of land. We shared our AIDS infested Vitamin water (wink to Shari) and a couple HIPPA stories and we were on our way. We got back and showered and unpacked, shared a glass of wine, and were off to grab a bite to eat. We went to the Baker St. Pub and listened to a live band while sharing many many laughs. Thanks girlies for the good times!

on my porch before heading downtown for a bite to eat.
the clouds were unreal on our way camping...really
on our hike

the river wild

The Ring

It always bothers me when people try to flash their "bling", but I have had a couple people ask to see some pics of the ring. So...here you go!

Camping

Finally, Drew got to take off Friday and Saturday so that we could head out to the mountains!! We made our way out to Estes Park, CO and had camp set up by 2pm on Friday. We walked quite a ways to get to a creek where Drew enjoyed fly fishing and I got to snap a couple of pics. It got quite chilly, so we made a fire at night and Drew cooked up some awesome chicken breasts!! He also put on a pot of coffee to warm us up. What a doll. Things have been going really well out here though. I am working at Breakfast on Broadway, a little cafe, with one of Drew's roomies, Dan. I love the people that I am working with. They are all very relaxed and laid back, which is a completely different environment than the one at Rose's. I have made a couple contacts for Silpada and have booked 2 shows so far (a couple pending). So...I am making money and working hard, getting to see some cool places, creating relationships and having fun! Here are some pics from this weekend's excursion to the mountains.

ahhh...the happily engaged couple.

We stopped and ate in the little town of Nederland. Of course, we had to stop to snap a photo.
On the way back Drew and I would randomly pull over on the side of the road to take some pics. I had the most beautiful view, but Drew clearly thought he did.
We also stopped on the side of the highway on the way back so Drew could cast a few. I threw on my suit and caught some rays!!

On the river.
My proud man after killing the little innocent squirrel who ate our chicken (that we ended up eating anyway-eww...)
And then he, Drew, was so mesmorized by the circle of life. 2 hours after his death, Mr. Squirrel was dinner for Mr. Crow. mwa-ha-haOn our late night walk, we got a peek of the peak. Beautiful. What was better was the 3am view of the stars in the mountains!! The only word...whoaaaaa.

Denver, CO

Drew and I arrived safely in Denver after a 17 hour car ride. I may have driven about 5 hours total. oops. The rest of the time I navigated my way through the open lush fields that I was running through in my dreams! I would wake up randomly after about a 3 hour "nap" to make sure Drew was still awake and hadn't dumped my snoring self on the side of the road. I would clap loudly 3 times and say, "Hey Hey Hey!!! You doin' good!?" as if all along I had fulfilled my role as wing man. We had great jam sessions though along the way as well as good wedding planning chats. Before we left we checked out some wedding reception halls and I think we're going to go with the Van Andel Museum. We both thought it was a really unique venue for a reception. It was a bit stressful trying to get that booked because we only had about 5 days, but the rest has been really fun. I truly enjoy being engaged and am so looking forward to spending my good, bad, and ugly days with my man!

I was snapping pics of Denver like crazy when we drove in this morning just as the sun revealed it's firery red to us, but will post these soon. So, stay tuned in! Have a great Sunday!