We've been in Colorado for a little over a month now and finally managed to take advantage of the great outdoors.  My brother-in-law, Paul has invited us on other adventures but we just haven't managed to break ourselves away from school work to go.  However, this past weekend I decided it was high time we got a hike in.  Paul and Kati got us terrific book with sixty-some Loop Hikes as a house-warming gift.  I opened it up and read a few until I found one that was good mileage and good location.  Location being the key factor because we were planning on doing this before the 4:00 (Mountain Time) kickoff of the ND v. Penn State game. 

Paul was up for the adventure as well as the boys- their dogs Luke and Oscar.  On Friday, Paul and I spoke about leaving time and determined that it would be about a 5 hour trip (including driving time and hiking time) and since we (aka RYAN) needed to back at the latest by 2:00 (for a 4:00 game!!!)  we would be leaving around 9:00.

It turned out to be a wonderful little hike just above Boulder and we got some great views as well as some good excercise.  Our timeline was perfect and Ryan and I were home and preparing for the game by 2:15.  However, Paul commented later that he thought something was wrong with Ryan on the hike because he barely uttered a word.  As it turns out, Ryan had some game day jitters and was nervous that we wouldn't make it back in time.  Being in a car and away from a TV was making his sweat turn cold.

Below are a few of the shots we got from our first REAL Colorado adventure as well as a picture from our opening retreat with the St. Rose of Lima faculty and staff.  Even if we haven't had a lot of opportunities to enjoy our beautiful surroundings, we can't complain about the ones we've had!