Estes Park, CO

Many things have happened over the past few weeks. The most exciting for me is that I was offered a job at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater as an AODA Educator & Behavioral Intervention Case Manager. I won't go into the specifics of the job save to say that I will be helping students make healthy choices regarding drugs and alcohol and helping to manage mental health and safety issues. I will also likely be serving as a conduct administrator and will have the potential to gain some grant writing skills. Even though it's a 50 minute commute from our new little home, I don't mind at all. Everyone I met and interviewed with seemed great and I think the job is a spectacular fit with my interest in the field of student affairs.

Accepting the job was an exciting moment and also a big relief. We weren't planning on taking a vacation at all this summer, but once we knew I'd be employed and we had the time together we decided to take off on a road trip. This is our third annual summer road trip. Our first was to Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. Our second was to Idaho, Washington and Oregon. This trip will be to Arizona via Colorado. We set out with no real plan except to visit my alma mater Northern Arizona University and to see some old friends.

We're currently winding down our second day in Estes Park, CO where we've done some absolutely awesome hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. We made no reservations but managed to snag a 1920's era studio cottage on the Big Thompson River. It's cute and clean and reminds us of a place where people might have honeymooned in simpler times. We have a back deck that we share with our neighbors overlooking in the river.

Yesterday we explored town a bit via the car and lunched at the Estes Park Brewery. The town is very touristy but still relatively tasteful with great peak views. Nonetheless, we decided to stay away from the masses as much as possible, so we didn't peruse any taffy, chocolate or t-shirt shops. That didn't last long when we visited the Stanley Hotel (built in 1909) which was said to be part of the inspiration for the movie The Shining. There were a million families with teenagers there running around with ghost fever. We finished our day with a short hike up a trail in RMNP to Nymph and Dream Lakes.

We rose early today to hike to Chasm Lake which lies below Long's Peak (a "fourteener" to use my beloved's speak). It was the most strenuous and spectacular physical feat I have ever accomplished. The trail starts at approximately 9,400 feet and ends at a lake in a huge cirque at 11,760 feet. A vertical gain of 2,360 at such an altitude and 8.4 miles total is nothing to sneeze at. It was freaking hard! Especially catching my breath at altitude and scrambling straight up rocks at the end to reach Chasm Lake. However, there were amazing views, alpine flora up-close-and-personal (columbine, indian paint brush and lupine), waterfalls, beautiful green melt pools and lots of marmots. It took us about six hours, which was a little slow toward the end because I twisted my ankle on the trail trying to dodge a teenager who was on her way up fast, fast, fast. One of the most impressive and sweet things we saw was a family with two young kids (3 and 4) doing the trail all the way up. The parents were patient, the kids were having fun and they were dedicated. I hope that we can provide such an awesome hiking experience for future little ones, showing them that exercise can be beautiful and fun.

We came back to our cabin and passed out for a while before heading out for some italian food. Doing the vegan thing on the road has been pretty impossible. We've stuck to our vegetarian guns and managed vegan when we're providing our own snackies, but not in restaurants. I'm alright with that, especially after such a work out. I felt no shame about seriously noshing on caesar salad and fettuccine alfredo. No surprise here, but the winning food of the trip has been my homemade almond, cherry and dark chocolate granola bars and homemade garlic hummus on pitas in the car. We are utterly spoiled by good food at home and restaurant food never seems to live up to our expectations. We've remedied this by lowering our expectations to something like, "hey, it's food". Today's physical activity proved that hunger is the best sauce! We were so famished by the time we got to eat dinner that everything tasted great.