Last Travel Update

Well I can now say that I am grounded in one place for a month. We just got home last night from our two week road trip to Colorado, and I will be in Bako until the 20th of September when I move back to LA. That's not entirely true... I have a couple trips already planned, so I guess I won't be completely grounded until school starts. I am thankful, however, to say that this will be my last travel entry of the summer. It wouldn't suffice to leave you hanging on the remaining half of the CO trip, so I will fill you in on the second week of the Burdette family roadtrip...

My last entry was made in Crested Butte, CO in a coffee shop where my mom and I hung out for a few hours while the boys experienced 4wd in a jeep... apparently an entirely different experience. Also apparently much scarier, and thus mom and I stayed in town. I hadn't mentioned much about the weather in my entries, so I will tell you now that about 2/3 of our vacation was amidst thunderstorms and rain. Yes. It's all about improvisation (is that even a word?)... Tent camping in the rain has its ups and downs for sure. Unfortunately, our brand new tent was not as water-proof as Coleman advertised it to be. We know this because several items were soaked after a day long downpour. Also, the top of our tent is flat (why they designed it this way we are not sure), and so after a very long downpour, we walked into our tent to discover the top of it had become a container for 4 gallons of water and it was now sagging into the middle of the tent. We have a picture, and it actually does it justice. I'll show it to you once I download all my pics on to Flickr. Well there is more to talk about than just the rain, but it was worth mentioning.

After Crested Butte, it was on to Boulder, the hometown of my beloved cousins Sean and Julie Oldroyd (who I hadn't seen in almost a year and let me tell you, I was having major withdrawals from my cousin who is like a sister to me). What a great time it was to see their home, their workplace, the town, etc. Their "basement home" (but let's be honest here, the word 'basement' doesn't acurately describe their amazing little home that is just perfect for them) is in the middle of several acres of countryside with the most beautiful view when the front door is opened. I think they must pinch themselves because they have been blessed with such a special place to live. Sean and Julie took us around Boulder and we ate at some very fun and delicious restaurants (to be expected with those two). Perhaps the highlight of the Boulder experience was the dinner at the restaurant that both Sean and Julie work at (well temporarily at least). Julie helped us order and as soon as we told the waiter what we wanted, mom, dad, and Patrick went to the kitchen and VIDEOTAPED (yes that's correct, a video camer was taken into the kitchen) Sean making our food. I don't think I've ever seen my mom so excited to see such an event take place! She was torn between wanting to watch Sean make the food and going back to the table to eat the most delicious rolls I have ever had in my life. Alas our food was ready and it was for sure an exquisite meal. The sauce was full of flavor and we completely stuffed ourselves. Dessert was Creme Brulee. Amazing. So a chef was married into our family and I think the Burdettes were just kind of in awe of Sean's talent. He became a big favorite of the fam ;). The next day we went to the University of Colorado for a tour (Pat's looking for colleges and I'm starting to think grad school isn't such a bad idea) with Sean and Julie. Sean's parents both work at CU so we got to visit with them for a bit (and receive free hats!) which was great. We visited Julie's Starbucks (took more pictures) and then were off to Estes Park with the Oldroyds.

The Rocky Mountains. We arrived to the base of Rocky Mountain National Park and went to the visitor's center where it was completely affirmed that the Burdettes had become some of the most indecisive people around. I say that with love. We could not figure out what the heck we wanted to do and Julie was doubled over with laughter because of our silly indecisiveness. A decision was made and we headed up to a campground where we would set up camp for 3 nights (it went from 2 to 1 to 3 nights). The ranger asked us if we wanted "normal" camping or "walk-in" camping. Um hello? What is this thing called "normal?" He proceeded to warn us of bears, isolation, and the hike it would be from the car to the campsite if we chose the walk in. Shoot. We're a rugged family. Who needs normal camping? So we chose the walk in, and the ranger exclaimed, "Wow, you must be hardy people in there." More laughter in the car and another warning about bears from the ranger and we then set off to our campsite which was a great spot amidst some boulders (we like those as Patricks diligently told the ranger) and 60 feet or yards I can't remember from our car. We were thankful we didn't choose normal camping because that was literally on the road. But we're hardy people you see...

We went for a hike to Alberta Falls (we were told to hike to Bear Lake but discovered that to be only 256 ft so we settled for the 2.2 round trip hike) and explored the nicely groomed trail for a bit. Patrick and I both rolled our ankles but Pat's was much worse. What is with us and our injuries? Anyhow, after the hike we went back to the campsite for a delicious meal of spaghetti and s'mores and the Oldroyds were back to Boulder for a day. Well they just wiped us out apparently, because after a night involving a mouse in the tent and my father the hunter, we slept the ENTIRE day away in the tent. Ok, I was in there for a solid 6 hours straight and my family took two very long naps that amounted to the whole day with the exception of eating (of course, could you just hand us our oat bags now please?). I have failed to mention something. At this point in the trip I've become quite sick. My body has been doing I don't know what and my system is all out of wack. I made a list of my symptoms to read to Dr. Ed on the phone and it was quite extensive. My good friend Augmentin came to the rescue, but much of my body is just psycho right now. I won't tell you all the symptoms because they're wierd. But it made me not want to do anything and was really annoying on the trip. Still dealing with it, and hoping home will be the cure. Back to our trip...

The Oldroyds rejoined us the following evening at midnight and set up their perfect two man tent right next to ours. We woke up to deer in the campsite and good company right next door. Pictures, pancakes, and sleepy faces made for our morning and then decisions needed to be made once again. I'll spare you the details, but after much contemplation, we decided to get into the car again and drive along Trail Ridge Road to a cool mountaintop at nearly 13,000 ft. elevation. The 1/4 mile hike up just about did me in but it was worth the effort to see a beautiful scenic view. After cups of Chai and coffee in the cafe located near the trailhead, we made our descent and sadly said goodbye to the Oldroyds (I think we wore them out too) who had to work. By this time, Patrick and I were aching for some physical activity and we desired it to be in the form of climbing, so we found an indoor climbing gym and each went on three climbs. Let me tell you that my brother, on his first time climbing, barely broke a sweat doing a 5.10 with two different overhangs. Who is this kid? I, on the other hand, had not worked out/lifted for at least 8 weeks and hadn't climbed in three months and I got worked. Little bro showed me up big time, but it was so much fun to see him scramble up the wall. The staff couldn't believe how good he was. I'm pretty sure he's going to need to come climbing with me next year cuz the kid's amazing. It was so wonderful to be in my harness again, even if I am completely out of shape at the moment.

Well, after our stay in Estes Park/Rocky Mountains we headed home and here we are. The gear and food still needs to be unpacked, my room is stuffed with all of my entire belongings surrounding my bed, and it's time to live again. I'm still worn out, need lots of sleep, and am antsy to get back to school. You know that too much vacation thing? I think after 8 weeks of traveling it's starting to set in and I just need to BE right now. My body, mind, and soul need rest, and Bako's just the place to get it. Home sweet Home