Hiking my first 14er

My friend Heidi and her husband moved to Colorado recently and wanted to go on a hike with us this past weekend.

As we were figuring out plans, I had this little convo with Ryan Friday night...

Kendra - what hiking trail do you want to do Saturday?  I need to let Heidi & Marshall know our plans.
Ryan - bierstadt.
Kendra - the mountain?
Ryan - yep, the mountain *big smile*
Kendra - hike to the top of a mountain?!  My first 14er?! 
Ryan - yep.

Side note: don't you love how calm he is?  And cra(z)y I am.  

So, here we go on my first 14,000+  ft. Colorado mountain...whoa... 

Mt. Bierstadt is a popular mountain to climb, mostly because you start a little higher than the other 14,000 ft. mountains so it takes a shorter amount of time to summit, but also because it's so close to Denver.  When the boys tried to check in, there was no paper left!  The mountain was pretty crowded on Saturday.

Our pup, Zia, can climb a mountain, but she refuses to cross a stream.

Can you see the tiny little specs at the very top?  We thought that was the top, and had the same thought multiple times through the hike.. it was never really the top, there were so many turns.  And everyone we passed said "just 15 minutes or so".  Lies.  I guess that was our fault for asking so much!

I had to stop a lot to catch my breath.  My muscles felt fine (well, sort of), but the closer we got to the top, the harder it was to breathe!  So, I had to "stop and take a photo".  It was my excuse to take a little break, but also to really capture some of the vegetation -- aren't these little succulents darling?  I wanted to scoop them up and put them in my pocket.  But I didn't. 

Zia went exploring...
Heidi started dancing.
Whatever it takes to get up this thing.

After a quick bathroom break (yep, Heidi and I went there) and an adorable photo-op, it was time to scramble our way up to the top of those boulders!  It got real.

Summit photos tomorrow... oh, the anticipation.

Ready. Set.

Browse more Sports infographics.

       

I'm going to watch my first ever roller derby bout this weekend.  So my friend Beth thought I might need a little extra help (like this handy diagram!) to understand what the heck is going on.
   

• If only striped derby socks were appropriate workwear. I'm such a sucker for stripes.  And it's really cold in my office.
• Though I'd love to have a huge star on my helmet, never would I want to be the Jammer.  Holy pressure. 
• Rollerskates are for real, ya'll.  I experienced a few months ago that skating is not as easy as it looks. And these girls are racing and blocking and jamming?!  

    
Yeah, I can't wait to see this go down.

Weekend: bike ride, grilling, festival, sunset

This weekend we grilled at our apartment pool, went to Fort Collins for the Colorado Brewers Festival, enjoyed an early morning bike ride, met a few new faces at a friend's backyard BBQ, and marveled over the beautiful sunset shining through a forest fire nearby. 

Now, to start the week. 
...with multiple cups of coffee, I'm afraid.

The (simple) Truth About Hummus

It's SO EASY TO MAKE!

-yes, I'm yelling at you.

Ingredients:
1 can of garbanzo beans (chick peas) drained and rinsed
1 squeezed lemon
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/8 c. tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/2 tbls. olive oil

1/4 c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 clove of garlic

Directions:
Throw all ingredients in a food processor and mix together until smooth.  I used a little Cuisnart chopper, so anything of the like will work.

For other varitions:
Olive Humus (seen above, so good!)
Basil Hummus
Avocado Hummus

The tahini paste is a little expensive, about $8-9 a jar, but it lasts for quite awhile and makes such a big difference in taste.  You'll definitely save money in the long run by making your own hummus at home over buying it in the store. 

A Girls' Trip to Buena Vista, CO

We had such a great time exploring Colorado this past weekend for our 4th annual girls' trip. Valerie and Julie flew in on Thursday evening and easy enough, the rest of us already live here!  Each year we alternate between exploring a new city and going to "home towns", so this year we chose Colorful Colorado. 

Our first stop on Friday morning was the Colorado hot springs at Mount Princeton.  The resort had 2 large regulated pools, 1 a little warmer than the other that we enjoyed for a few hours.  And my favorite part, actually sitting in the Colorado River where the hot springs met the very cold water to create the perfect temperature.   The resort was beautiful, but soon after we had to hit the road and find our cabin near Buena Vista.  

... with this amazing view.  **jaws dropped**

Saturday was our "adventure day" with river rafting and zip lining.  Both of which I can't wait to do again!

We rafted the Arkansas River and even though it was low, the rapids were quite an exhilarating ride.  Our guide taught us the terms he would soon be yelling out as we go through the rapids and had enough confidence in our group to take different routes than the bigger group took. We made it through without flipping our raft, falling into the river, or loosing an ore, all of which we saw happen with the other groups.  Go team!

After lunch we hopped on a bus to arrive at our zip lining spot, over a canyon, very high in the air.  Whew.  After gearing up with harnesses and helmets, learning how to steer and stop with our hand, we set out for the first line to practice.  The first one I did with my eyes closed, because I was terrified, but the second - the seventh line was so much fun with a beautiful view of the canyon and river below that I soon wasn't scared at all.  Quite proud of all the girl's this day, it was a push out of our comfort zones and everyone had such a fun time.

Our last day we made a big breakfast and took a hike on the Colorado Trail around Twin Lakes.  Then, sadly, had to hit the road back to Denver to say our goodbyes. 

Already looking forward to the next trip!

Anniversary Celebrations

I went a little crazy with Instagram this weekend, so instead of camera shots of our wedding anniversary celebrations in Fort Collins, here is a tiny picture mash-up of all the things that we ate/drank/explored/enjoyed instead!

Left to right: Ryan and I grabbing a bite at Coopersmiths (a recommendations from the guys at New Belgium), a card break from eating at the Taste of Fort Collins, enjoying a drink at Beau Jo's, bloody mary at Snooze, the line for brunch which was totally worth the wait, samplers at Equinox brewing, morning sun from our lovely room at the Armstrong, lattes at Mugs, and an appropriate mug o' plants.