Well, I didn’t sleep too well last night, but I think that was mainly due to the fact that I am really not used to sleeping in a twin bed. Ah well, I am sure that I will sleep well tonight.
I still have access to the internet, so I got to talk to Becca first thing in the morning. That was a nice way to wake up. I hope I get the chance to do that many, many more times in the future. I also talked to Brian, because before I left for Colorado, I forgot to turn in my paperwork requesting tuition assistance for the class I’m taking this fall. Since the deadline will pass before I come back to Kansas, I had to beg his help to get everything turned in. Thankfully, he didn’t mind.
After getting out of bed and showering, my cousin Tas took me on a hike around Boulder. Yesterday, we went along the creek a little ways, but we mainly just followed it until we got closer to downtown Boulder and Pearl Street. Today we went the other direction. What a beautiful place. I told Tas that he was lucky to have all of this essentially in his back yard. After hiking a ways up the creek (and getting quite a few good pictures), we hiked up a trail that led to a mountaintop overlooking the majority of Boulder. It was breathtaking. We spent some time figuring out some of the features on my camera and found out that it takes wonderful panoramic photos, so be on the lookout for those when I am able to get everything added to my photo album.
Following our hike down from the mountain, Tas and I walked to The Hill, which is kind of the CU “hangout”. There are quite a few cool little restaurants, and we ate at a place called Illegal Pete’s. For those who are familiar with Chipotle, it is very similar, with one exception: they actually mix the ingredients inside the burrito.
When we got back from walking all over Boulder, Tas and I packed up to get ready to head into Estes Park. Since he had just gotten all of his insurance stuff figured out yesterday, I told him I was fine with him making the drive up the mountain — after all, that left me with more opportunity to stare out the window and admire the landscape. We stopped at a camera store on the way up so that I could look into buying a tripod. I wound up getting something rather strange that I’ve never seen before: a small (~8” tall), flexible tripod that you can wrap around things to get your camera into all kinds of strange places to take a picture. I think it’ll come in handy this weekend when I hike up the mountain. Unfortunately, though, they didn’t have any inexpensive regular tripods. The ones like what I wanted were in the range of $100-300, far beyond what I was willing to spend.
When we got into Estes Park, Tas was kind enough to pull over on the highway at the edge of town so I could snap a few shots of Estes from the first place where you can really see anything. Then we proceeded on to my grandparent’s house. Their house is a log cabin that sits right on Lake Estes. As soon as it came into view, I knew I was going to have a good weekend. Granny was cooking dinner when we arrived — chicken and dumplings — and W.G. was in the living room reading. Before dinner, Tas and I went downtown to see if I could find a tripod at any of the stores down there. I wound up getting a very nice one from Radio Shack that was only $15. On the way back from downtown, we took the long route and drove by several places that we remember from our childhoods. Some of those things brought back a lot of good memories.
After dinner, we spent a little time feeding peanuts to the chipmunks and ground squirrels. Those little buggers are brave! A few of them would come right up to you and take the food out of your hand, and one even let you pet him while he was eating! We went inside as it was starting to get dark, and spent the next few hours just relaxing in the house until it was time to go to sleep.