Colorado in The Fall

I am so excited to be starting our adventure series! As we mentioned in our “about us” page, part of what we want to accomplish is to force ourselves to get outside more. To go hiking, drive to the city, go to that cider fest! It is way too easy to fall into the habit of work to home to work again. It is such a shame that 90 percent of my evenings are spent in front of the tv or computer. Now don’t get me wrong, code name: “husband” and I have spent many meaningful nights snuggled together with a bottle of wine watching Lord of the Rings while I remind him of a character’s name at least once every 30 minutes. What I am saying is that is just not enough. I have a hard time wanting to be ambitious. I will plan all of these great ideas and when it comes down to it, I know that I’ll enjoy myself once I’m there, but I can’t convince myself to walk out the door. I am starting very ambitious with you all for the adventure series. I wish they could all be this glorious but unfortunately we are short of funds and time, and the real world needs us back. We decided to take a September trip to Crested Butte, Colorado. We are lucky enough that we have friends we stayed with once we got there. I always recommend this as a great way to travel. Not only do you get to spend time with great friends you don’t see often, but you also cut down on travel expenses by A LOT. I do understand that not everyone has this opportunity so I recommend investing in camping gear. To rent a campsite is usually less than half as expensive as staying in even a sleazy motel (of which I have stayed my fair share). Cowboys butts amiright? In all honestly this was a really cold morning, the first of many. We really weren’t very attractive, with chapped faces and red cheeks, but we were smiling. All of us were so excited to be starting out, full of energy and spunk. We all knew we’d be together for a good time, and a long time. After the sun came out and warmed the roads more we lost a few layers, and unfortunately lost some things out of the saddle bag. Apparently we were going to be rookies starting out. It is no easy feat to clasp a bag shut while driving down the highway.  How many drivers does it take to find the right directions? At the end of the first day the only casualty was a few pars of glasses out an open saddle bag. We camped this night in South Dakota. Although we came prepared with sleeping bags cinched on and tents upon tents, this was the only night, to or from Colorado, that we camped. The entire rest of the trip we stayed in sleazy motels. I could wax poetic about one such motel with the pink tiled bathroom with the pink walls and the pink sink. Honestly the only thing in the bathroom that wasn’t pink was the green mold. In all reality we were being wimps, but by the end of each day we were so chilled and tired we copped out of camping for something a little easier. One of my favorite moments on any trip is when things start to go wrong. I always like to say, “the real adventure starts now!” No trip I have ever been on went the way that we planned, but some of our most enjoyable times was when things start to go south and everyone bands together to make the most of anything to come. It ends up being something like, ridiculous temporary fixes just good enough to get us to the next town, where we all give a sigh of relief and have a cold beer or two just for our troubles. Also because in all reality we have hours to kill until the bike can be fixed. Mid morning on our second day we had to buy a new windshield and a new tire was needed because the old one started to bulge and wear. To address the photo, what better place to change into a cooler outfit than in a parking lot you sat in for three hours… I honestly could do an entire post of Hailey’s hands doing weird things. In Wyoming we hit our hottest day while riding. One of our members got a bee sting to the face, and another got a face full of shattered glass that had come bouncing up off the road. High spirits all around and sweat running down our backs, it was one of the nicest days we had even with all of our issues. I can’t wait to travel through Wyoming again soon, code name: “husband” was so hopeful we would camp there over night. He said he had never really seen anything like the Wyoming sky at night. He told me I would never believe how big and endless it seemed. Boys, boys, boys. There are so many great things about group trips, and there are so many awful things about group trips. I mean first off you have this great group of people together doing something awesome and making each other laugh. Yet at the same time you can’t get away from each other, you’ll have to agree on what to do or where to go next, and with a group of eight it isn’t always the easiest. We were stuck together, fighting through our ups and downs that we faced everyday, but the group held together, and of course loved and hated each other by the end of it all. First sighting. I was so excited by the time we had made it to Colorado and close enough to our destination to start seeing mountains. If I am going to be completely honest here, I had never seen mountains before! I was thrilled, and it was so amazing to be able to experience it with such a rad group of people in the open air on a bike. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. It took us four days of riding to make it out to Crested Butte Colorado. It is one of the most interesting places I have been to date, which isn’t saying a ton I guess, I haven’t been very many places! It was a small, friendly, unique little town that was amazing to explore. We learned about a Pagan harvest festival, a weekend in which the town shuts down to gather and have fun and celebrate the year past. We heard about the unique costumes and practices that occur during the festival and could only imagine what a spectacle it is. We were so tempted to stay long enough to attend the festival, maybe next time! The day before heading home “husband” and I took the bike up this winding slippery mountain road. We ran into mountain cows, which I was determined to pet. I will not post the undignified video where I get scared back onto the bike by a mama mountain cow. Once we got to our destination up the mountain we were rewarded by a view of the high mountains and valleys where winding rivers had cut their way through. It had rained the night before so the way down the mountain was treacherous and slow. It had us giggling and shrieking a few times when the clay would slide beneath us. If I’m honest the giggling and shrieking might have just been me, whereas “husband” let out charming chuckles at my enthusiasm. Speaking of code name: “husband”, here is a rare sighting of the elusive beast! Coming down the mountain. Say “Goodbye!” The long way home, and the cold lake. The trip home was and interesting mix. We took a different route home, which meant we had four glorious days of driving ahead of us to see new sights. We were sad to be going home and were nice and worn out from our time already, yet we wanted to make the most of our return trip. We did have some laughable times on the way back. There was some off roading that didn’t go very well… and this lake which blew my mind! Being from Minnesota we see a TON of lakes. I didn’t expect to see any water that would surprise me but this lake, even before learning anything about it, was so stunning I was already captivated. When we pulled over for a closer look we saw signs that stated this lake was too cold all year round to safely swim in. I still can’t believe or imagine how cold that means the lake was. We border lake Superior, I thought I knew about cold lakes! Mountains on the way home. Evening closes in fast with tall mountains to hide the sun early. It was a glorious trip right before my birthday. I couldn’t have asked for anything better, and it turns out he does still like me at 23. Thank you for sharing in our adventure. One I can’t wait to go on another. I also would LOVE to hear about any amazing places you have traveled to! Let us know any recommendations of beautiful places to visit. I can’t wait to get on the road again. Although it will be more in the form of a bed in our truck with a topper and piles of blankets.