eptivity

Here I am, Internets! After a super fabulous mini-vacation to sunny Boulder, Colorado. Where several things happened.

I ate the most adorable gummy bears ever. Check out those tiny paw pads!

We learned that:

• “La Quinta” is the new Esperanto–it means anything you could possibly ever want it to mean.
• Things cost a lot more in Colorado, where they have sales tax. But it’s like I always say: you gotta spend money to make money.
• Since they spend so much money on putting up mile markers every tenth of a mile, they have to double up and put both stop signs of a two-way stop on the same post.

We visited Ron and now Tanya’s new house, and noticed this school that celebrated Cinco de Four and then got “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt” stuck in my head.*

And then Ron tried to kill us. “A hike?” said Ron. “Try the Royal Arch. That’s where I proposed. It’s nice.”

“Royal Arch?” said the Internet. “Zero-point-eight miles. 40 minutes, tops!”
What neither Ron nor the Internet told us was that it was actually 1.1 miles each way, plus half a mile in to the trailhead. Oh, and that it went straight up the side of a mountain, from 5,710 to 6,950 feet. We live at sea level, people. I almost died.

It didn’t help that we were in a hurry to get back down the trail in time to actually make it to the wedding for which we were in town. But it was completely worth it. Gorgeous! And it snowed! And I, apparently, was delirious. “Last time I was here,” I told Stephan, “I saw a lizard.” When, really, I have not ever been anywhere near there, I have not seen a wild lizard in approximately 8 years, and even though what I meant to say was that Ron and Tanya saw a lizard when they were there, further investigation reveals that that is a lie too. Yes, I’m awesome!

We made it to the wedding with 10 minutes to spare, after frantically changing in the back of our rental Jeep. The skies were a bit ominous:

But the wedding was great. The 40ish degree weather meant the bridesmaidens all ended up wearing the groomsmen’s jackets. And that the service was nice and short. It started raining during the final prayer and immediately the umbrellas and assorted rain gear came out before the minister was finished. Not in Oregon anymore.

Bride, Groom, Snow:

* I also crashed my second bachelor party. Lucky for me, both grooms were nice Adventist boys who only wanted to eat and/or play pool before going to the arcade and/or playing poker.