Railroad revival

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I think it’s going to take me all summer to recover from May 2012. I’m currently on my third consecutive weekend of travel, and I’m not done yet. This post is currently coming to you from a train leaving Washington, DC heading towards Charlottesville, Virginia. Yes, the train has Wi-Fi, and it’s totally the greatest thing ever. I know that there are airplanes with Wi-Fi and all but this is way cooler because it’s completely free.

Hello from the train!

The current trip that I am on has been long-standing and is for a legitimate reason: I finally get to meet my niece Harper Lexington! Harper lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and since many of my friends from graduate school live in Washington, DC, I decided to combine the trips.  I’m practically taking the whole week off of work, and it’s nice to have a break before we get into our busy season at my office with the end of the fiscal year in August.

Vacation time.

I got back from Missouri on Sunday night, worked on Monday, went to CrossFit and watched the Bachelorette premiere with my friend Amy that evening. Somewhere in there I unpacked, did a load of laundry and repacked. I’m not kidding when I say this is the most intense travel month of my life!

I had a 6:00 a.m. flight out of Denver connecting through Midway to Dulles. I decided to fly into Dulles instead of Charlottesville directly because I am ending my trip with my graduate school friends in DC for the weekend. Plus I have a Southwest credit card so I used a free flight for this trip, which saved me about $400.

Charlottesville is about three hours south of DC, so this trip was also a bit of an experiment to see just how much of a pain it is to get from DC to Charlottesville. As I mentioned previously my mom is moving to Virginia, so all my future holiday and family travels are pretty much going to involve flying from Denver out east.  Anyway, I booked tickets on Amtrak from DC to Charlottesville and decided I would just figure out how to get from the airport to the train station when I got to DC.

Charlottesville, VA – Birthplace of the Dave Matthews Band and my adorable niece.

Luckily, it was very easy to figure out, and I hopped on a bus to a metro station and took the subway in to the city center.  I had plenty of time when I got to the city center before I needed to get to the Amtrak station, and I decided to do a little sightseeing. I looked like a total tourist since I was lugging all my bags with me, but it was really fun to see some of the DC sights. Also I’m probably the only person that considers the Department of the Interior headquarters an essential sight in DC. I’m just a dedicated employee, even on vacation!

Hi Obamas!

It’s the MIB! No, not the Men In Black – the Main Interior Building.

Washington National Monument.

 I’ll be back in DC for the weekend to do some more sight seeing, but I had a fun couple of hours walking around.  It was a little muggy, and I don’t even want to imagine what DC is like in August. That’s something I have no need to experience ever.

Before I return to DC though, I am excited for the first leg of my trip in Charlottesville. In addition to hanging out with my niece, my brother and I are going rock climbing tomorrow. I also packed a frisbee, so you know that could get crazy.

I love any trip that involves me packing rock climbing shoes and a frisbee.

Getting to see family AND friends? Worth it. I don’t care how crazy my May schedule has become!

Turning in my house key

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The beauty of living nine hours away from my mom’s house is that I can decide to drive there on a whim. The downside of living nine hours away from my mom’s house is that I can decide to drive there on a whim. I don’t know if you’ve had the extreme pleasure of driving across the entire state of Kansas before, but it can definitely be a mindnumbing experience. My new approach to dealing with Kansas is actually to do it at night, and I found myself leaving Denver at height of rush hour this past Thursday evening. Clearly this was a poor decision, and I found myself rolling into the driveway of my mom’s house at 3:30 a.m. I also probably would have made it there sooner had I not gotten lost in my hometown when I got off of the highway. Yes, this actually happened.

So what brought me to beautiful St. Joseph, Missouri at 3:30 a.m. on Friday? Well, my mom is moving to Virginia this summer, and I had been under the impression that I would have until at least July to come home and clean out my room. This was apparently not the case, and after I learned this I did some serious rearranging of my schedule. It soon became clear that the only weekend that I had even sort of free was this weekend. And since my time was so limited in Missouri, I really didn’t want to waste a whole day driving on Friday. Hence the all-night drive and 3:30 a.m. arrival. I don’t know it made sense to me at the time.

During my nine hour drive from Denver, I had a lot of time to reflect on Missouri and my mom’s move to Virginia. At first blush, this doesn’t seem like an advantageous move for me. I mean my mom is now an airplane flight away, not just a nine hour drive away. But this move actually makes a lot of sense for my family. One of my brothers lives in Virginia, and my niece was just born. My mom is the only member of my family that lives in Missouri. So this move to Virginia is actually a consolidation of my family! Plus my mom and I are already talking big plans for mother/daughter backpacking trips in the Appalachians and kayaking in the St. Jame’s river.

The end of an era

While I’m excited for my family’s relocation to Virginia, it’s still kind of weird to be saying good-bye to Missouri. It’s not good-bye to Missouri forever, but it is good-bye to spending holidays and trips to visit my family in Missouri. I turned in my Missouri house key to my mom, and I now have no house key to anywhere other than my house in Denver. It definitely feels like the end of an era.

Missouri house.

Missouri yard.

Missouri cat.

I have a lot of college friends that live in Kansas City, and I know I’ll be visiting there in the future plenty of times. However, I don’t know when I’ll be back in St. Joseph. And even if I do visit St. Joseph, it won’t be the same. I spent the past few days just trying to get out and enjoy everything wonderful about Missouri.

Show Me State Love

I don’t think Missouri is any less beautiful than Colorado. Truly. Mountains happen to be my cup of tea, but there is something to be said for leafy trees and rolling plains.

Excited for Missouri trail running.

Running the trails at Krug Park in St. Joseph, MO. Gorgeous!

Waterfall at Krug Park.

Nothing like a Missouri sunset.

Missouri (and Colorado) girl.

Sunset walk at Mark Youngdahl in St. Joseph, MO.

The “trail” at Missouri Western State University, where my high school XC team practiced.

Monster hill loops from high school XC. I ran one, they’re still no fun.

It looks like this trip was all play and no work, but I assure you I also did some serious cleaning out of my room. I ended up throwing away four full garbage bags of stuff, giving away four boxes to Goodwill, and packing two boxes to take back to Denver and four boxes for my mom to take to Virginia. This was for sure a necessary trip. While I was sorting through my entire life from the past 15 years, I started thinking about the truly important things in life. You know, just one of those days. Was I really having a hard time throwing away pieces of paper and notes from high school or was I thinking more about the relationships they represented? It was the relationships. Possessions and places don’t have any meaning without the people who make them special. I’m losing my mom’s house in Missouri, but I’m not losing the friends who have made it a special place. I’ll always have a home in Missouri. Although let’s hope I’m not ever going to be driving across Kansas at 2:00 a.m. again.

I might not have a house in Missouri anymore, but I have people there who will always make it a home for me.

Tuesdays (and Wednesdays) with Gina

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If we’re friends in real life, you probably are well aware of how hard I am to get a hold of during the week. I’m sorry!  Twitter is seriously the best way to reach me.  Anyway, this is one of the reasons why I am unavailable. Every Tuesday and Wednesday evening, I tutor English through an organization called Intercambio. I was a Spanish major in college and I have always had a special interest in English as a Second Language (ESL) education. After finishing graduate school this past November, I naively thought my life would be nothing but rainbows, sprinkles and free time, and I signed up to be an ESL teacher.  I have since learned that my life post-grad school is quite possibly more hectic than my life as a student, but I’m still teaching English. And here’s why:

My all-star student Gina.

This is my student Gina, and she’s kind of amazing. Anytime I think my life is too busy for ESL tutoring I have to stop and think about Gina’s life. She’s a single mom, she works for an Latina advocacy organization and pours her heart into her job, AND she’s trying to learn a foreign language. I think I can manage to cut three hours of playtime out of my schedule each week to help her with her English.  Plus I might be helping Gina with her English but I think she helps me more with my life. I learn so much from her every week, and our hour and a half lessons truly fly by.

This past week, Gina informed me that the director of Intercambio asked her to talk at the organization’s fundraiser called Tequila y Arte. I was invited to come watch and support Gina, and I helped her write and practice a short speech.  The event was held at Museo de las Americas, a Latin American art museum located in the Santa Fe Art District, and there were some delicious tacos involved, but Gina’s speech was definitely a highlight.  She made me so proud.

Mmm tacos.

 

 Proud maestra!

Not only is Gina an inspiration to me as a person, she also is an absolute blast. I had so much fun watching her tear up the dance floor and sample the tequila at the event. I totally hit the jackpot by being matched up with her through Intercambio. At the event she also gave me a sticker to put on my ceiling and look at every night.

If you speak Spanish I’m sure you’re already laughing. If you don’t this more or less translates to: “Please Virgin bring me good luck and a boyfriend quickly.”  It definitely is one of those things that is better appreciated in Spanish, but I thought it was pretty funny.  Another highlight of the evening was the silent auction where I won a $25 gift certificate to Sketch Wine Bar.  I can’t wait to put that to good use!

So I guess the moral of this story is that if I ever don’t respond to a text during the week, it’s a pretty safe bet that I’m eating tacos, dancing, and sampling tequila. Or something like that.

Wise words from Gina: “I control what I feel, what I think and what I do. The rest is up to the world.”

RIP RMNPaula (2010-2012)

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When I started this blog two years ago I had no idea I was going to: a) actually keep it going for more than two months and b) actually have anyone other than my immediate family read it. Two years later, okay technically the anniversary is May 16, I’m happy to report that “return to the motherland” has turned into a bigger part of my life than I had ever imagined. I’ve learned so much about myself throughout the process, and most importantly, I have had a blast sharing my life with you all.

It’s been real guys!

With that being said, I didn’t put a whole lot of thought into the name of my blog back in 2010.  My blog was originally intended to be about trail running and hiking, and now, for better or worse, it’s basically just my life in general.  Clubbing, skateboarding, rock climbing, playing ultimate frisbee, making polka dot pants, modern art museums…you guys hear it all from me these days.  The name RMNPaula is a play on Rocky Mountain National Park combined with my name. I’m not sure if anyone really gets that except for me. I adore Rocky Mountain National Park (check out my Hikes page) and I actually happen to work for the National Park Service, but my blog isn’t really just about national parks. Plus have you ever tried to say RMNPaula out loud? It’s a doosey.

Bluebird Lake, RMNP.

I will always love you RMNP.

And so, with a heavy heart, it’s time to say good-bye to RMNPaula and hello to paulamahla!  My Twitter name, Instagram name, Words With Friends name – you know all the essentials – are all paulamahla, and it kind of just makes sense to make everything just one name.  Also paulamahla is kind of an awesome name. I’m looking into a legal last name change too.

paulamahla here.

The name might be changing but the girl is staying the same.  I’m still RMNPaula and there will still be just as many fun adventures as always!

It’s paulamahla time!

How I spent my weekend not running a marathon

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Six months ago I thought for sure I was going to run a marathon today. I have been registered for the Colorado Marathon since last November, and I started training in January. I mean I went through a workout where I actually did 3 x 5 mile repeats. My second marathon legitimately should have been this morning. I was bib number 803.

Obviously, based on the title, I did not run the Colorado Marathon today. I had a really terrible training cycle, culminating with a complete failure of a 15 mile run one weekend. I thought I was anemic, but as it turned out, I had/have a severe Vitamin D deficiency.  I have been taking prescription Vitamin D for the past month, and I’m definitely feeling much better.  I have eight more weeks of Vitamin D, and then I should be 100% again. Needless to say, I decided to sit out the marathon.

While I was sad to not be running the marathon this weekend (zero sarcasm), I did not just spend the weekend wallowing around in Denver. My church had a women’s retreat scheduled for this weekend that I was originally not going to be able to attend, due to the marathon. After the Vitamin D Fiasco of 2012 suddenly freed up my weekend schedule, I immediately signed up for the retreat. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right?

 Weekend in the mountains, yes please!

The retreat was at Snow Mountain Ranch, just outside of Fraser. I don’t have a Winter Park season pass, so I am rarely in that area of the Colorado. It was great to see a different view of the mountains, especially since as we all know I don’t believe there is such thing as a bad mountain! It was also great to take a weekend off from my life. I know this blog always makes my life sound really cool, and don’t get me wrong my life is really cool, but I sometimes struggle with ensuring that my life is full and not busy. There is a very fine line between leading a full life and a busy life. And I think God gave me this weekend to remember that.

I truly believe that there was nowhere else that I was suppose to be this past weekend. Even though I was stubborn enough to maybe require a Vitamin D deficiency as a wake-up call, I could not have imagined spending my weekend in any other way. There will be more marathons. I needed time in the mountains, time with God and time with my New Denver family this weekend more than I needed to run a race.

“I’m not sure if God gave me a Vitamin D deficiency on purpose. But I wouldn’t put it past Him.”

The past six months of my life have been full of some big changes. I finished graduate school and became a full-time working woman. I moved into a house with a new roommate. And I started going to New Denver Church (NDC). I can’t even imagine what my life would be without this community. I truly gained a family at NDC. As one of the retreat leaders said about our group, “This is like the coolest group of women!” I wholeheartedly agree.

How could you not adore these ladies?

Representing Georgia! The founding pastors of NDC are all from Atlanta, so I like to show support for the GA. That’s just the kind of person I am.

So okay I didn’t run the Colorado Marathon this weekend. But I spent the weekend with a group of people that are willing to run the marathon of life with me. Lesson learned: let God edit my schedule more often. I feel so blessed to be lacking Vitamin D!

Climb on

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I don’t believe in timing. I think there’s no such thing as timing. I think there is your life in the here and now and you determine what is going to be part of it. There is never a convenient time to sign up for a marathon or move to a new city or start a relationship.  You kind of just have to decide to do it one day. Although Mom there would have been a convenient time to buy me a pony. 1996 would have been perfect.

Who could deny this girl a pony?

Anyway, I recently decided that I wanted to start climbing. Ski season is over, so there is a small window of time open in my life.  It really came down to mountain biking or rock climbing. I downhill mountain biked at Keystone last summer with my friend Jonathan and climbed at Garden of the Gods last spring.  I gave them both a shot.

Climbing at Garden of the Gods.

 Mountain biking. Thought I was going to die.

In the end, I decided on climbing. My brother is a pretty serious climber, and there’s something just awesome about climbing. It’s like you’re dancing across the face of a mountain.  Plus I trail run at a lot of places where people mountain bike, and honestly, I’d rather be trail running.  I actually pass mountain bikers on uphills, and I see their faces. It looks terrible.

Since I believe that there’s no such thing as good timing, I decided to just get some climbing shoes and make it happen.  After I got the shoes, it was just a matter of getting myself to a climbing gym.  I have been trying to get in touch with absolutely anyone that I know that climbs, because, like skiing, it’s not exactly something that you can start doing with no knowledge of the sport.  But my schedule is so ridiculous that it has been hard to find a time that works with anyone. So naturally I just decided to go.

Thrillseekers on Broadway.

I took my shoes and headed to Thrillseekers, deciding to just figure out the rest when I got there. I had no idea what was going to happen when I got there. My plan was basically to show up, tell them I was a beginner climber and ask what I should do. The Thrillseekers folks were awesome, recommending that I start out with some bouldering. The lady walked around and showed me the easy bouldering routes and some places to practice holds.

Killing some V0s!

Climb on.

I did some warm-up routes and then worked on probably five V0 problems.  Bouldering problems are rated on a scale starting at V0, and I was basically doing the equivalent of skiing down greens. A girl has got to start somewhere!  I completed two of the V0s successfully, and made headway on all the others.  And although I only did five of these problems, I was bouldering for like an hour and a half straight, which was pretty exhausting.  I met some cool people in the gym too, and this one guy was super helpful and gave me some pointers on my footing.  I’m already a believer in the coolness of the climbing community.

Overall, I think I made the right choice by adding climbing to my life.  My family is sort of relocating to Virginia this June, and I told my brother that I can’t wait for future visits to go climbing at New River Gorge in West Virginia.

Can’t wait for future adventures with these bad boys!

There’s no such thing as perfect timing!  If you want to try something new, just make it happen.

I should stick to mountains

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I don’t know why but I have been dying to go to Beta for the past two years.  Beta is basically the quintessential night club in Denver.  I mean apparently LeBron James was there a few weeks ago?  You might be thinking to yourself right now that Beta doesn’t really seem like my kind of place. You’re right.  My weekends generally consist of me going to bed early in order to spend time playing in the mountains the next morning.  Going out and clubbing is just not my thing.  I accept and embrace this.

So how did this all happen?  My softball team needed a girl sub on Friday night, and my roommate agreed to play if I would agree to go out to Beta with her afterwards.  Beta?  Finally an excuse to go. No arm twisting needed there, I was sold.

Glow bracelets, ready for action.

My roommate and I met up with some of our friends for some beers at Freshcraft before venturing over to the myth, the legend – BETA.  Figuring out how to enter Beta was somewhat of a challenge.  I swear, there were like five different entrances. And half of our party was on some list and the other half was not which only added to the challenge.  Once we got inside we went to the dance floor on the second story to meet my roommate’s friend.  I think I was undergoing sensory overload at this point.  Don’t be fooled by the kids on Jersey Shore, clubbing is serious business.

Professionals. I would never be able to hang.

This is where the night starts to get weird. My roommate’s friend had a friend that had met some people over in the bottle service section. So we then ended up going over and hanging out in the bottle section area with this older guy and several random people. The older guy introduced himself as “The Hotness” and was wearing a white tie with a white shirt, so you knew he was legitimate. I had no idea who the random people were. It was also unclear to me if any of them knew each other. Many questions went unanswered. Unfortunately it was kind of the lamest bottle service ever. When we got there the bottles were all gone and only mixers remained. Although to be honest I probably could have really gone for some OJ at that point.

Beta wristbands. Probably will not be framed.

After leaving the bottle service area, my roommate and I decided that we had sufficiently experienced Beta.  We never even technically danced while we were there. I know, I would be the worst cast member of The Jersey Shore ever.  To recover from the Beta experience, we headed to a high class bar called The Giggling Grizzly downtown.  I think every single patron at The Giggling Grizzly was wearing a plaid shirt.  Paula was much more at home.

My kind of bar.

We stayed at The Giggling Grizzly until closing time, a very smart move on our part because then we were trying to get a taxi at the same exact time as every single other person in Denver. Luckily I was with the group, and I don’t mess around when it comes to taxis. I eventually ended up sprinting a few blocks ahead to flag a taxi down. It’s all about being aggressive.

The good news is that now I know what Beta experiences entail.  And in the future if I’m not going to bed early on a Friday night and I happen to be going out I’ll happily skip the clubs and head straight to The Giggling Grizzly and plaid shirt land thank you very much.

New sports = new ways to hurt myself

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If you told me a year ago that I would be playing softball, trying out skateboarding and playing in an ultimate frisbee league I would have said you were crazy.  Yet this past weekend, I found myself doing all three of those things, admittedly with varying degrees of success.

I was pretty exhausted from my hike to Sandbeach Lake on Friday, but I got home and immediately had to head to my softball game.  Luckily I’m the catcher and this is a recreational league with my church, so it wasn’t too demanding of a game.  I was at least a contributing member of the team, and I scored one run.  I also learned an important lesson: you don’t have to slide into first base.  Of course I learned this after I slid into first base.  I was safe though, and I think that’s all that matters.

Recovery after hiking and softball.

On Saturday morning my friend Kate rolled up to my house to find my roommate and me skateboarding around our block.  I came home a few weeks ago to some skateboards in our entry way.  I assumed they were Cayce’s.  As it turned out, the skateboards were Gracie’s.  I’m sorry that I have the world’s coolest roommate who owns skateboards.  Anyway, I wasn’t completely terrible at skateboarding.  It was so fun too!  Gracie and I are hoping to get way better at skateboarding.  Later that evening I took my first big fall in the alley, but I still got back on the board.  It was a bad fall though.  I ended up with a piece of gravel in my arm and it did hurt.  Perhaps this is why my mom kept me away from sports involving balance and coordination.

Morning session.

Evening session.

As if my weekend wasn’t already full enough with softball and skateboarding (oh yeah and hiking), I had my first double header in the spring Mile High Ultimate Frisbee League on Sunday.  I previously played in the winter league and spent most of the games running around and trying to stay out of the way.  Maybe it’s because I now own a pair of cleats or maybe I just really improved in winter league but during our Sunday games I finally felt like I had a much better idea what I was doing.  I could see the cuts and get open for passes.

Love my cleats.

I’m no longer the newbie anymore, and our team has some people who have never played ultimate before.  However this isn’t actually a bad thing.  Everyone is super motivated to improve, and we even met early to run some passing drills before our games.  Plus our record is a solid 3-1 so far. I’m already signed up for Denver Summer Ultimate League too, and I really can’t wait.  I am starting to love ultimate.  And skateboarding and softball are a close second and third.

Don’t be afraid to try new sports.  You win some, you lose some, you fall down some – but you might end up finding something you really enjoy!

A “moderate” hike

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Disclaimer: If you ever want to go hiking with me and I tell you we’re going on a “moderate” hike, be concerned.

I have every other Friday off of work, and since it has been so warm lately I thought that a hike at Rocky Mountain National Park would be a perfect way to spend my day.  I mean I’m not totally oblivious, it’s still early spring and I know there’s still snow at high elevations.  Still, I felt that if I chose a hike at a low elevation snowshoes would be unnecessary. I selected Sandbeach Lake, which is a hike out of Wild Basin, the lower part of RMNP.  I hiked Sandbeach last summer, and it was really hot and sunny.  I figured that if any trail was going to be doable at this time of year it would be Sandbeach Lake.

I recruited Cayce for the hike, and, based on my hike to Sandbeach Lake last summer, I told him it would be moderate.  Famous last words.

 Serious foreshadowing here.

Cayce and I started out the morning at Buffalo Doughboy, the best bakery in the world.  Or at least in Denver.  It’s kind of our thing to get pastries from BDB’s when we go skiing, and so now this is translating to hiking as well.  We always get a bear claw to split on the lifts, or, in this case, a bear claw to split at the lake.

The hike started out on a great note.  The weather was perfect, and the trail was clear.

RMNPaula.

 When we first started running into snow drifts after a couple miles on the trail, we were amused.  Cayce and I even thought the snow was kind of fun.

Well hello snow.

Eventually, the snow started to get treacherous.  We basically couldn’t walk more than three steps without falling through the snow.  And these falls hurt.  Cayce and I actually bruised our shins from falling through the snow so many times.  We definitely should have had snow shoes.  This hike was turning out to be the most intense “moderate” hike of my life.

This was what the hike became.  Trudging through snowdrifts for six miles.

I actually have no idea why we kept going.  Cayce and I have the same sick, twisted idea of fun I guess.  During one especially rough uphill section, I said to Cayce that if we didn’t make it to the lake in ten minutes we were going to turn around.  We weren’t even on the trail at that point, and we had no idea if we were heading in the correct direction.  Naturally we ran into a couple in snowshoes (show-offs) heading back down who told us the lake was just half a mile away.  We couldn’t turn around after learning how close we were!  I was determined at that point to make it up to the lake, so I hurried ahead and eventually made it to the lake.  I have never been happier to see a lake in my life.

The lake truly was gorgeous.  Cayce and I split a much needed bear claw.  Bear claws have never tasted better.

It wasn’t until the way back down that I realized how crazy Cayce and I really were for making it to the lake.  On the hike back down, we fell through the snow constantly.  And I had completely blocked out half of our hike.  The hike back was way longer than I had remembered it being.  Overall it was such a truly ridiculous situation that all we could do was laugh.  My abs were sore at the end of the hike from laughing so much.

Three miles later, when we were out of the worst parts of the snow, Cayce and I were pretty elated to be on the normal trail.  We found some excellent walking sticks and leisurely hiked down the trail.

So the moral of this story is be worried if I tell you that we’re going to go on a “moderate” hike.  I’ve been on some hikes in my day.  This hike was a lot to handle.

No, the real moral of the story is that I learned how lucky I am to have a hiking buddy like Cayce.  Our hike turned out to be more intense than either of us had bargained for but we made it.  You can’t beat spending a day in the mountains with a great friend, even if my shins are bruised.

Best hiking partner ever.

Evening bike ride + ice cream = perfection

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Do you ever have those nights where you know you should exercise but the prospect of going for a run sounds like the least fun thing ever?  That was my night on Tuesday.  After getting home from a full day of work and evening ESL tutoring, I was exhausted.  But I also knew that I had done nothing but sit down all day.  I needed to do something to prevent my legs from atrophying!  I’m being slightly dramatic.  Anyway, I knew that I should go for a run, however, I did not want to do so.  I was complaining to Cayce when he suggested an evening bike ride down the Cherry Creek trail.  I wouldn’t necessarily have felt comfortable doing this by myself, but with somebody else this sounded like a great idea.  I threw on some leggings, and Cayce and I headed out into the evening.

We decided on a destination of Little Man Ice Cream in the lower Highlands neighborhood.  It was past 9:00 p.m. when we left, and neither of us thought they would be open.  Still, it was fun to have a destination, and I took some cash just in case.

Little Man Ice Cream

After a quick 5 mile or so bike ride to Little Man Ice Cream, we were elated to find that the ice cream store was still open.  Future reference, apparently they are open until 10 p.m.  Good to know.  Of course we immediately locked up our bikes and headed to get some ice cream.  I had honey banana gelato and chocolate almond coconut ice cream, and this is probably my new favorite ice cream place in Denver.  It’s the perfect ice cream – not too creamy, not too sweet, just the perfect balance of all flavors.

We ate our ice cream and walked around the LoHi neighborhood towards the Denver skyline.  The temperature was ideal and the views of the city were great.  Plus we were eating ice cream.  I think if I had overheard our conversation I probably would have thrown up because we did nothing but discuss how great the ice cream was and how happy we were about life at that moment.  Cayce and I were basically the adult version of this:

I like my Denver. I like my ice cream.  I like my ice cream. I can do anything!  Okay enough of that.

Evening souvenir.

The way I see it, the bike ride totally canceled out the calories of the ice cream.  Win-win situation!  This is definitely the start of a  new tradition.