It's been so long since my last post and so much has happened that I think I'm just going to have to time travel and split it up into a few posts. We're gonna go back about two weeks now and go back to the weekend my cousin Nicole flew into Denver for two days. She came in on a Friday night and thankfully, Betty was kind enough to pick her up from the airport since Rachel and I had to work. I was running around my restaurant trying to coordinate seating, serve wine and explain the difference between cherry salad and carrot salad to my tables when I looked up and saw Betty and Nicole standing by the door. My family is here! Being a very family oriented person, I've been extremely homesick for my family and seeing such a familiar face standing in the entry way of my restaurant was like a cozy little blanket. I ran over and exchanged hugs and asked how the trip went. I kept having to bounce away from the conversation to fill a water or clear a table. I introduced Nicole and Betty to my coworkers as they whizzed by holding water pitchers and dirty plates. I told them to go next door and say hi to Rachel and that I'd probably see them tomorrow since it was already nine thirty and we were still slammed. The next day we all woke up early (early for me) with expectations to drive to Mt. Something (?) and hike up. While we were driving we realized that if we continued up the road, we would reach Mt. Evans. Remember Mt. Evans?? If not, please revisit one of my first posts and learn about it. Well, of course I got super excited and pretty-pleased everyone in the car and got them to agree to skip the hike and drive up to the Evans summit. Well it seemed to take forever. We were in Bettys car which is pretty high tech and the GPS told us our elevation the whole time going up which was really cool. We got out a few times to take pictures and marvel at the pristine beauty of the world very few people lived in. Finally we made it past the tree line and got out again to stand infront of Summit Lake. The wind was freezing and we were absolutely not dressed properly. I got out and walked about the lake as long as I could stand the cold and then jumped back into the car where everyone else was already comfortably at a livable temperature. We continued up. Mt. Evans is a huge tourist spot so we were far from alone. There were so many cars and people and even a lot of frighteningly fit bikers that probably started biking around six that morning all the way to the top! We parked the car in the highest parking lot in the country
and got out and started snapping pictures. The summit was still a five minute hike up from the parking lot. I was so excited I practically jogged up. Betty and Nicole were feeling a little affected by the altitude and decided to stay by the parking lot. Rach and I stood on the top, took a picture and stood for a few minutes in complete wonder. The air was thin, but it was perfect. It was so beautiful. We were completely surrounded by mountains in every direction. We didn't stay for long because poor Nicole who had been at sea level the day earlier started feeling a little woozy. We all started feeling a little funny I think. We drove down and me, Nicole and Rach all passed out when we got home. After our naps, Rachel went to work and Nicole and I had a nice dinner at my restaurant. Then I took her downtown and showed her Denver. It was a really great weekend and I love that Nic and I got to have some one on one time. Well thats post number one. I'm in NYC right now and I'm sure you'll hear all about it in six months
(just kidding, it will be soon). -lj
