New York

Me and Samantha spent 3 days in NYC last week. We crammed as much as we could into the time we were there and the highlight of the trip was spending quality time with my 19 year old daughter. Here are some other the highlights.

...had a cabbie that rolled down his window to yell at people...saw Paul McCartney sing on top of the Ed Sullivan theater...Ellis Island...Apollo Theater...bought a hot dog from a street vendor...saw homeless building forts in doorways at night...Museum of Natural History...Times Square...Stautue of Liberty...Ground Zero...Century 21...followed the crowd through intersections against the light...Wicked...top of the Empire State Building...subways...patio cafe's...Chinatown...Dakota...Central Park...Mama Mia...Brooklyn Bridge..bought a purse from a street vendor...Metropolitan Museum of Art...Grants Tomb...Columbia University...Carnegie Hall...United Nations...Wall Street...

New York is incredible. We enjoyed it all and would like to go back. When you travel you can't help but compare where you are to where you are from. You compare the people, the prices, the weather, the culture, the entertainment, etc.

We both received an additional bonus from this trip by realizing that Colorado is an INCREDIBLE place to live. It's good to be home. (but we can't wait to go again!)

Trudging to the Top

I climbed another of Colorado's 14ers yesterday. My 15th. Only 39 left! Actually "climbed" sounds too athletic. Hiked and walked don't quite fit either. Cantered or pranced? Too ambitious. Ambled, strolled, or meandered? Too casual. Lumbered or marched? Too confident. Wandered and roamed are too aimless. Plodded or slogged? Close. Trudged? Trudged...that's it.

Yesterday I trudged up another mountain. Missouri Mountain this time. Since Missouri doesn't have it's own mountains I don't mind naming one of ours in their honor.

I drove to the trail head Friday night and slept in the van for an early start. I was up by 4:30 and on the trail by 5:15 and was gasping for air with my hands on my knees at 5:20. But aside from my physical conditioning, it was a beautiful day and watching the sun hit the peaks was truly spectacular. If I just took it easy, I might be on top by 9:00. That was if I stayed on the trail. I didn't stay on the trail.

A scree field is a field of loose rock that you have to pick your way through very carefully and it's easy to lose the trail.
Really. Anybody can lose the trail. Really. The smart thing to do when you lose the trail is to back track until you pick it up again. The dumb thing is to keep going forward confident that the trail will have learned its lesson and come back to you. I saw the mountain peak ahead of me and chose to do the dumb thing.

And I climbed the wrong peak. (but I made really good time!)

I sat down on Wrong Peak and took a picture of Missouri Mountain...across the valley and an hour away.
So now I had a dilemma. To get to Missouri I would have to descend 500 feet, traverse a ridge for about half a mile and climb back up a thousand feet to the top. I seriously considered returning home and just crossing Missouri off my list anyway. No one would know and I could tell myself that I was close enough. I started down and didn't completely decide until I reached the point where I could continue down or turn back up.

An hour later I was on top of the right mountain.