Boulder

So I have been hanging out in Boulder for the past week with Ross, Lucy, and Lucy's family.  It's really hard not to have anything that I absolutely HAVE to be doing...so I'm trying my best to relax and enjoy having some time off. 

I have also been trying to fit in to this incredibly fit and active outdoor lifestyle that these Boulder people live...which is actually proving to be a lot harder then I thought!

Lucy and her family live near an area in Boulder that is called "The Hill."  It is right near the CU campus and where the college kids hang out.  The Hill is a street with lots of restaurants and shops.  They are also close to Chautauqua...which may also be the name of their neighborhood?  The flat irons (above) are a popular Boulder landmark, and are visible from the neighborhood.

When I arrived on Saturday night (May 21), Ross and Lucy picked me up from the Denver airport and we drove out here to Boulder.  We stopped on Pearl Street, which is "downtown" Boulder with lots of neat shops, restaurants, street performers, hippies, and homeless people (really cool).  We ate dinner at this little  cash-only, local style restaurant/bar called Golden Sun.  I had a black bean burger that was delish.

I'm staying with Lucy's family while in Boulder.  Her parents are Arnie and Vicki, and she has a younger brother named Ben.  Her older brother Oliver lives in Boston.

 Here's the family cat Abby

 and Sophie the Wheaten, modeling her thunder shirt for mom, doesn't she look like Oscar?!

And here's Ross's dog Thor

 On Sunday Lucy's parents Arnie and Vicki made us pancakes and eggs for breakfast. 

 

Lucy and me on the Vespa (we had to run to the store to get syrup)

Then Ross and I toured Boulder on the Vespa.  We went to this place called Panorama Point on Flagstaff.  

This is why it's called Panorama Point I guess.. you can overlook Boulder.  This is in the "front range" of the Rockies, Boulder sits right up against the mountain.

There's a big creek that runs right through Boulder, and later we rode bikes along the Creek Path.  

As if this wasn't enough they decided it would be a good idea to take me on my first mountain bike ride.  Ross chose Betasso, assuring me that this was the easiest trail in Boulder.  So Lucy, Ross, Justin (Ross's brother), Alec and Jamie (Ross's cousins), Ben (Lucy's brother), and I all piled in the truck with our bikes and headed up the mountain.I didn't realize that mountain biking was SO HARD.  I thought I was going to die, it was indeed not very easy, blame it on the altitude or what-not..I thought I was in better shape then that.

Then Lucy's mom Vicki cooked us lamb burgers for dinner, they were very good!  Instead of buns we used little pita type bread and ate them with tomatoes, feta, and tzatziki sauce.

On Monday Lucy, Ross, Thor and I got up early and went on an easy 2 mile hike at Chautauqua which is walking distance from Lucy's house.  There's a cute little "dining hall" there where we ate breakfast.  I had the Boulder omelet, with spinach tomatoes, mushrooms, scallions and goat cheese.  

Me, Lucy and Thor on our hike

Lucy decided that we should go use a 1 week free pass at Corepower Yoga down on The Hill, we took an intermediate class...it ended up being hot yoga..not recommended for your first yoga class!  It wasn't extremely hard but the amount of sweat dripping off our bodies was a little distracting, and made it a little difficult to balance considering everything was super slippery.

Lucy's parents bought the house next door for an office/for Lucy to live in,  They have been remodeling the inside, so we have been doing some painting to help the process along.  So Tuesday we didn't do much, just painted some and then went to a restaurant called The Med for dinner. 

Wednesday I helped paint for a couple of hours and then decided to do some exploring on my own.  I headed down to the creek path and did some walking/running.  I headed up towards the Canyon, and the path changed from the Creek path to the Canyon path.  I saw some people rock climbing.

 You can see the tiny people on the top here...

and in the middle here.

Then later I was somehow convinced to go on mountain bike ride number 2.  We were going to what Lucy refers to as the Lollipop, but is really called Doudy Draw.  It is apparently even easier then Betasso, and only has a small uphill portion, a flat loop, and then a downhill portion.  

Wrong, the uphill took us at least 45 minutes.  When I was about ready to quit and head back down the mountain, Ross informed me that we were almost halfway up. I was however in better spirits after because we ended with downhill, which made me sort of forget the long uphill.  I may actually consider doing this trail again!

Wednesday night Arnie fixed us grilled steak, veggies, and great "gourmet" mashed potatoes.  He added goat cheese and dill, and then baked them to brown the edges.

Thursday and Friday we did a lot of painting (we have a deadline to meet!).  Thursday we had a little cookout with Arnie and a bunch of Ben's friends from school (it was the last day of high school for the year). Friday we ate lunch at a restaurant called Wahoos and dinner at Beaujos.  Then Oliver, Lucy's older brother came home from Boston so we stayed up and visited with him for a while. 

Saturday was the start of the Boulder Creek Fest, so after a hearty bagel breakfast and a hike at Chautauqua with Arnie, Vicki, Lucy, Ross, and Oliver, we headed downtown to check it out.  It was cool, tons of music and food and activities.  TONS of people.  Here's a cool band playing some tunes...

 

and a little flash mob on the corner!

 After the Creek Fest we went to Japangos for a sushi dinner and then went to see the Hangover 2.

This morning (Sunday), we had breakfast and then most everyone went to Betasso to go biking again.  I decided to sit this one out and spend some time uploading photos.  Then I went on a hike with Vicki, Thor and Sophie at Chautauqua.  We had lunch at a restaurant called The Sink on the hill.  Then Lucy and I rode the Vespa down to Creek Fest to pick up my packet for the Bolder Boulder (did I mention I am attempting to run a 10k tomorrow with 70 some thousand other in-shape Boulder people?).  

Tonight we are having a little party with what Arnie likes to call the "Honey Milkers."  Arnie and Vicki both do marketing work with various companies, one being the makers of a new athletic/protein drink called Honeymilk.  They are in town sponsoring the Bolder Boulder, so they invited them over for a dinner gathering.  

So there's a little taste of what I've been up to in week 1...I need to go get ready to socialize with the honey milkers...miss everyone!