Colorado: Day 1 (Boulder)

Let me preface this recap by saying that I am really scared of flying and I get very homesick- mainly because of the cats. For the two days before this trip, I was basically running around like crazy trying to get everything ready while simultaneously not letting the cats leave my side. Then the night before the trip I started drinking and coloring to get my mind off of the impending doom that in just a few hours, I was going to have to fly in an airplane. Also, I did not sleep well. Two nights before the trip I got 4 hours of sleep, and the night before the trip I got 3 hours... because we had to get up at 1am!!! Paul's dad arrived at 2am to take us to Baltimore Airport!!!

After a long, sad goodbye to Chrissy and Jelly, we made the 1.5 hour drive to Baltimore. The whole way there, I wrestled with anxiety and an upset tummy. When we arrived at the airport at 3:37 (our plane left at 6:10 but I was afraid of security lines!), I had a new kind of anxiety. I just get very worried about the whole process of getting boarding passes, checking bags, going through TSA, and boarding the plane.

I have never flown Southwest before and I must say so far I am very pleased. Everyone was extremely nice and I loved the organized boarding process. However, I still don't understand how 65 people were able to board before me. I got up exactly 24 hours before the flight (6:10am) and checked in right when the clock ticked 6:10. Anyone know what is up with that?

Southwest let's you check two bags for FREE!! Can you guess what is in Paul's long, skinny bag???

This is me on the plane a half hour after taking 1mg of Ativan. As you can see, I am still very concerned about dying. I will say that I like how chipper the pilots sounds over the intercom when they welcome us aboard. "We're looking forward to a nice flight over to Denver," the pilot told us cheerfully.

How can he be so cheerful? Doesn't he know WE ARE GOING TO CRASH AND DIE?

I spent the whole 4 hours plane ride going in and out of Ativan dreams. Ativan dreams are when I see movies in my mind and they are all bright colors and starbursts like in kaleidoscopes. It's probably a lot like being on 'shrooms...

Me, happy to be on solid ground waiting for the car rental shuttle! By the way, everyone at Alamo Rental Car was super polite!

At this point I knew I just need food and a coffee, so we swung by a Starbucks on our way to Boulder. My students get me gift cards for Christmas, Teacher Appreciation Week, things like that, so we reap the rewards on vacation!

Then we stopped at a dispensary so Paul could get some treats! I don't partake. I have a different mind altering drug I enjoy, and it's called wine.

Then we went to Chautauqua Park to hike.

This is why:

I wanted to be IN THAT.

Not in front of it. IN IT.

We hiked together for about a half hour but Paul wasn't feeling well at all. He still gets tummy aches a couple days after chemo and that's what was going on this afternoon. It didn't help that it was a humid 96 degrees, either.

After Paul could no longer stand it, he took a seat in the shade at the intersection of a couple busy trails, and I pressed on to attempt to climb up Flatiron #1. Buuuuut... there was a point where it was just loose rocks you had to scramble up. I am not a CLIMBER. I don't have GEAR. This wasn't going to happen for me. So I kept going to see about the trail for Flatiron #2 and #3 but that trail seemed to just abruptly stop. There were two young guys hiking together and were looking for the same thing I was, but between the three of us, we couldn't figure out where the trail went. So I decided I better hike down to Paul since I had already been gone longer than I said I would be.

This was as high as I got. That's Boulder!

Sorry for all the pictures, but it would have been a crime not to share them with you. And speaking of crimes...

Many of you know I love reading about true crime, the judicial system, investigations, criminal profilings... things like that. Well I have recently gotten back into the JonBenet Ramsey case. Well the old Ramsey home was only about two miles from our hotel, so we had to swing by...

It's overgrown, but if you are familiar with the house, you can see that is clearly it!

It had already seemed like a long day and we were tired, but it was only 2pm! (We arrived in Denver at 8am) We checked into our motel- Foot of the Mountain Inn and chilled for a bit. Paul napped and I fiddled on my computer and organized my suitcases. I can't sit still!

Then we headed down to the Pearl Street Mall where we had a yummy dinner and did a little shopping. Shopping is tricky there because it's a lot of expensive stores. But we did find some fun places!

It seemed like there were a lot of hippies in Boulder. That's the best way I can explain it.

On our way back to our motel, Paul wanted to drive through the University of Colorado Boulder Campus. It was beautiful!

This is a really weird picture of me but I wanted you to see our room. I cuddled in bed like this as it was STORMING! Thunder and lightening. I loved it.

 After the rain...

Good Night, Boulder!!!!

Have you ever been to Boulder?
Do you have to take medicine to fly?
Do you think it's weird I wanted to drive by the Ramsey House???