Camping part 2: campfire and hiking

First the campfire. Luke and I didn't wanna pay 5 bucks for firewood so we did what any normal people would do: we started the fire with a dead branch and attached pine needles and then stacked on half-burned wood collected from people who had left! I say "we" but actually Luke did all the work; something about MAN MAKES FIRE!

Then once the roaring fire had got under control and died down, we roasted marshmallows on clever little roasting sticks made of an old hanger! Yummy! No s'mores though... we should have thought of that earlier... However we did have some yummy brownies :)

We went hiking at 2 different places. Saturday at Mueller State Park and Sunday at Cheyenne Mountain State Park. Mueller was fun for the old ranches and other buildings around the hike. We also saw some deer but only because we didn't notice a 'fire access only' sign, went the wrong way and spotted them right as we decided to turn back!

Cheyenne Mountain was fun because there was a lot of oak mixed in with the pines, plus we had a beautiful hike that was winding, and up and down AND we saw lots of deer including 3 fawns. Fabulous!

A great camping trip!

Camping part 1: camp and wildlife

So I'm going to write a couple of installments about our [successful!] camping trip for 2 reasons:
1) It takes ages to upload my photos and get them in here how I want them.
2) I have a little boy here who doesn't want to sleep and is thus having some 'solo play' time for a while!

Luke and I camped out at Spillway Campground at the top end of Elevenmile Canyon, about 40 mins west of Woodland Park, CO. Here is our beautiful campsite, nice and flat unlike last time! I guess I should have taken a photo of the ants though... Think we were on top of a nest!! Luckily very few came inside (we were careful!) and I had only one freak me out by crawling on my face in the night... I accompanied this with a lot of swatting and wriggling and trying to locate tissue to kill the beastie...




This was Babboon Rock, immediately behind our campground. We were advised by the camp host to climb up there, so we did!





Here was the stunning view from the top :)



At our campsite were a variety of creatures... I have already mentioned the ants. Then there were squirrels, and ground squirrels like this one:


Chipmunks; very hard to photograph since they are so shy and quick but I had made it my goal (within about half an hour of setting up camp!) to do so and later on managed to sneak up on one and secretly photograph it munching on some berries :)

Rabbits:

Other more notable wildlife (but not on our campground)... Deer:

A British Columbian wolf (identified for us by Colorado wolf and wildlife center). He must have been a little lost! And he definitely doesn't look like he's had a meal for a while:

Who would have thought?! A wolf! I mean, we were expecting we might see a black bear around (not one showed up) but a wolf? Very rare in Colorado :)

And we saw a golden eagle flying.

Not Me Monday

Last week I took William to Target with me to return some tape that we had found cheaper. We definitely DID NOT go to waste some time! We strolled around the store and got to the book section and I thought, "Great! I can get a book for my camping trip!" I duly chose one and popped it into the cart. A half hour later and we were finished in the store. This girl would then NEVER walk out the store forgetting to pay. Oh no, not me! I got to the car and went to put my backpack away and spotted the book. Oooops. It DID NOT cross my mind to keep the book since the alarms had not been set off. Nooooo. Being an honest girl though I went back in the store with my cart and paid for said book!

Camping

Here is my little story about a camping trip last summer:

We only had a weekend. That's 2 days; 1 night. We arrived around 10am on the Saturday to the Black Hawk area of Colorado, up in the mountains. We drove. And drove. And drove. And stopped at every National Forest campsite that we knew of or could find. Hmmm. No spaces. Not one. We even got laughed at several times by several rude people for even trying to look for one. So we spent a nice day out anyway, visiting a couple of ghost towns. Then as a last ditch effort, we stopped in at Idaho Springs Visitor Center and inquired there. Same deal - just a rude lady laughing at us.

Then came a more pleasant chap! He informed us that his place backed onto the forest and we could park there and use his land to hike back into the forest where we would find flat areas to camp. Yeah!

I must now describe the hike:
1. Round the side of his house.
2. Down steps
3. Round the side of a huge dog cage
4. Down more steps
5. Down a ladder
6. Over a rickety old bridge with no vertical sides and the planks on one side looking like they might give way into the water.
7. Up through the forest to find a camping spot.

Bear in mind that we had anticipated parking near our campsite and unloading and not hiking the stuff so this took us several trips!!

We found the flattest spot we could and set up camp. Nearby, discovered bear scat.

After dinner, we settled into our tent. We knew it was a little slopey but after lying there for a few mins, we realized that it was quite an angle and probably by the morning we would be in a pile in one corner. Plus then there was the bear scat. And the cold. Hahahaha! So we kept mentioning the idea of packing up and leaving but we were both to proud to decide upon that.

Then 10 mins before dark, I said, "Let's go!" I don't think you will have seen anyone pack up camp as quickly as we did! And we managed to juggle our way back to the car, through all the obstacles, with everything in one go. We drove home, and slept on our nice cozy, warm, FLAT bed, with no bears :)

We promised ourselves this year we would book at a campsite in advance so that we can at least camp on flat land! So we head off to Spillway Campground near Lake George, CO, tomorrow for a 2 night stay. Wish us luck!!

Crazies

There's a kids song that goes something like this:

Shake, shake, shake your sillies out
Shake, shake, shake your sillies out
Shake, shake, shake your sillies out
And wiggle your waggles away.

You've got to clap, clap, clap your crazies out
Clap, clap, clap your crazies out
Clap, clap, clap your crazies out
And wiggle your waggles away...

..and so on (complete with actions)!

It came to mind just now coz life is a little bit crazy! Luke and I have been packing up the apartment ready to move next week, but in between now and then, we are going camping for a weekend (YAY!!!) - actually I have a great camping story from last summer... maybe I'll share it with you another day if you're lucky ;P

So then the weekend after that, we are away again, this time to different places. Luke is going to a wedding and unfortunately we can't afford for me to go too. So to make my weekend more enjoyable (first one away from hubby, plus he gets to do fun stuff and see tons of old friends and I am QUITE good at wallowing!), I thought I'd go visit his Uncle and Aunt in Wyoming. They live about 2 hours drive from us and it is also the final weekend of Frontier Days up there. Yep, you got it, that means lots of yeee haw-ing, country music, stinkiness and cowboy hats... hmm... gotta get myself one of those :)

And then...

...my parents arrive from England - woohoo!! I think we have a few evenings to unpack before their arrival!

I am so excited about this next month.
Despite the craziness.

P.S. I also forgot to add in the small fact that Luke's Granny has been in town this week, so we've been fitting in some quality "Granny time" too :) So fun!

Not Me Monday

I left my apartment, arms piled high with trash for the dumpster, and eyed what I thought to be a directory in a bag outside my door. Well, I didn't want to re-juggle my pile to pick up an extra bag for the trash so I walked on past it. On my return, I definitely DID NOT move said directory in its bag from outside our apartment door to further down the breezeway outside the garages. Nope, not me! And I most certainly have not seen it still sitting there every day for the past week. No.

SUVs

I LOVE SUVs!! Who doesn't?? In England the majority of cars are pretty tiny, like this one:

This was my car and I up in the Welsh mountains near my old college, a few years back.

Now I own a Nissan Altima, (a sedan - the size of car that you see most in Britain)- but for work now, I get to drive one of two SUVs, an Acura or an Acadia:

LOVE IT!!

Rattlesnakes

I'm English. English people don't really come across much "wild"life... I mean we have wild animals and birds and wee beasties but we really don't have anything so wild that it might hurt you! I think the most wild things I have seen in England are muntjac deer (look like a cross between a deer and a pig) and foxes. So inevitably, I am more than a little nervous about all things rattlesnake, bear, mountain lion and coyote.

Luke and I went hiking on Saturday morning in Deer Creek Canyon Park, out in the foothills. We generally avoid most foothill parks like Roxborough in the summer due to rattlesnakes. 5 mins or so into our hike, some bikers coming the other direction warned us of a very angry rattlesnake in the bushes to the side of the trail... Uh oh! We grouped up with some others nearby to approach the snake area together. Luke had told me once I hear a rattlesnake for the first time I'll never forget what it sounds like! And yes it was pretty angry, and yes it was possibly only a few feet from us. We couldn't see it but we could hear it loud and clear! And no, I will not forget what a rattlesnake sounds like!

Nope, not me!

A friend of mine writes occasionally on her blog some of the things she "doesn't" do. This is actually an idea from another blog that she reads that has a "not me, Monday" - being honest about the little things that we don't like to admit to, so in honor of some of the daft things I "don't" do:

1. I am very diligent to make a menu each weekend for the following week and list all the ingredients that we need to buy. I never miss an ingredient off the list, ever. Nope. Not me. I am not one to send my husband off to the grocery store right after I come in from work, when I realize I do not have the vital ingredient for that night's dinner. Nooooo, not me! And I most certainly did not make bean and pasta stew last night but leave out the beans... not me.

2. I bought 16lbs of beef since it was such a good deal and you have to grab these things when they come around, but it wasn't me who left it in the bottom of the fridge leaking blood for 2 days... Honestly.

July 4th

What a great holiday weekend! Here are some shots Luke's Dad took at the Rockies game on the Saturday:



Do any of you photographers out there find that no-one ever takes good shots of YOU?! Well, this is what I feel like so when a decent shot is taken I post it on every page I can!! Vain? Maybe, but hey wouldn't you?!! Much of the trouble is I tell people I hate being photographed since I blush so much... This isn't strictly true. If I feel relaxed and am not blushing, I am more than happy to pose... ;p

Then there were baptisms at our "church in the park" event on Sunday - awesome!! Two teenagers and three kids from our church showed their faith in Christ. Love it! And we had a BBQ ... mmm... Susan loves food :)

Cultural confusion!

I'm a little mixed up with my English and American! I say words from both languages (and yes, they are very different languages!), spell things both ways and generally confuse myself about what is British and what is American nowadays! I used to be good at spelling... but now I find myself constantly googling words that end in 'ise' or is that 'ize'... hmmm. You Americans will find this very strange since, as Luke has pointed out before, to an American 'ise' and 'ize' sound different. But let me fill you in on something... they sound the same to a Brit!!! So I find myself bemused (or is that bemuzed) by spellings.

I like to think that I have embraced American words though. I am most happy to call a mobile phone a cell phone, or the car boot the trunk etc... (My parents could point out TONS of word differences but to be honest I use them so often now, I don't even notice anymore, and even, dare I say it, FORGET some of the English ones and have to think hard to retrieve them for my family and friends back home!)

Now, from the other perspective, I also get some strange looks here... Those who know me well know I like to talk :) and sometimes I run away with what I'm saying and all sorts of English slang words (or just words unknown to my friends here) slip out!! I apologize (or is that apologise?!)

It is 4th of July tomorrow. Independence Day...





From the British!

Last year I found myself holding my mini American flag, very proud to be here! This year I have a stars and stripes t-shirt to wear. Next year? Who knows! Maybe I will aquire a hat! And in a couple of years I will be eligible to become a US Citizen and I won't have to wear something American, I will BE American! To those back home though, don't worry I will always be an English girl by heart!

It's the small things...

So today is a VERY exciting day...

What are you thinking? Vacation? Promotion? Going to see my favorite band play?

Nope, you are all wrong. We are getting our very first couch delivered!!! This is a huge milestone for us... For the past 18 months we have been sitting on THE most uncomfortable futon sofa, apologising profusely to guests that they have to sit on it too and being mortified when they choose a dining chair over the luxury of the futon ;p So I've been keeping my eyes open on craigslist for a nice but cheap replacement. This is easier said than done. Have you seen the sofas on there???? I think this photo about sums it up! And people are trying to sell these things for over $100... I need say no more!

Hideous sofa

So, I found one on Craigslist that seemed nice, we called the guy and then went over to see it. He opened the garage door and...

Oooooh, there's another sofa in there that is much nicer than the one we went to view and comes with an armchair too :) So we parted with $75, the rest to pay when Luke collects it today. When I get home, I will be the proud owner of a nice green and most importantly COMFY sofa! No more backache, no more sitting in our recliner the other side of the room from my husband, no more apologies to our guests... Hoorah!

Celebrating life without kids!!

I keep reading other people's blogs and wondering why they only started blogging when they had a kid... Did they not have an interesting life before that?! So I decided to start another blog (having written one when I was aboard OM Ships)... with two purposes in mind:

1. It could be fun, if I can find some discipline ;)
2. To make me think about my life now, a long time before kids, and actually treasure some of the everyday moments.
3. Ooops, did I say only 2 purposes?! To find humor in my days, which can seem pretty routine and not really how I was expecting life to have turned out by the age of 27.
4. (I love lists!) Because I know my family and friends back home love hearing about my life here in America.

So, I'm going to attempt to develop this blog over time, as a creative outlet for "ME": the me I am, the me I want to be, and the me I love to think I am but probably will never be!! Also I hope my readers will get a glimpse of what God is doing in my life and how awesome He is! Happy reading!