Camping Trip, Part 2

I meant to right more about the trip yesterday but I never got around to it.

The first night at the campsite we made smores. They were wonderful.

After a very cold night of half-sleeping (and waking up with a wet sleeping bag and frost outside), we made pancakes. I had basically told everyone I love eating pancakes on camping trips so I was making some. They were sooooo good! K ended up making a lot of them while I made coffee (in my new french press coffee maker I bought). Then I did the dishes. . . and burned my finger. That was the only time (miraculously) that I got upset the whole weekend. Anyway, so we had really awesome pancakes. And coffee.

Then we started on our hike. We ended up going in the opposite direction that we went the day before, up the dirt road that went up the mountain. We stopped plenty of times for pictures, of course. The higher we went up, the more we saw amazing views of the snow-covered mountains in the distance. It was just absolutely amazing. I am just always in awe when I'm in the mountains. I can't even describe it.

Ok so now on to the weirdest part of the trip. After stopping for a bite to eat we went a little further and ended up running into a truck that looked wrecked upset against the side of the mountain. The drivers-side window was partially down and there were clothes scattered about. Then, we found a wallet with drivers license, credit cards, etc in a pair of pants. That's when we started getting freaked a bit. The license plates were off the truck and some electrical wires were ripped out and on the ground. After that we booked it down the mountain. We tried calling 911 but didn't really have any reception. We kept going over all these horrible scenarios in our heads about what happened. It was just so weird to us that this guys wallet was there, the plates were gone. . .
So we made it down (oh and in between that I apparently was getting a little dehydrated so had to walk a little slower than I had been) and 3 people went to go find a cop or national park ranger to let them know what we found. They found a county sheriff that came up. J went up with him to show him where it was. So we're just sitting around the camp, still a little freaked, Q is all worried about J. . then we see another county sheriff SUV drive by. That made a little more freaked out. We're convinced we're going to find out there's a dead body up there or something. Then we see J walking down the road. He was told that the police knew the truck was up there it was just impossible to get up there because of the snow (there was still snow on parts of the road) and the guy that drove up there is some crazy drunk that had been in and out of jail. No one had reported him missing or anything but they also don't know if he's alive. Or where he is. It still all sounds a little weird. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he died up there somewhere.
And then another twist, the sheriff's SUV got stuck up there and J was in the passenger seat with a perfect view of the steep cliff to the right. That's why the other SUV came.
We did find out that the truck was 4.6 miles from our site. So we hiked about 9 miles that day. And J hiked more than that!

After that craziness, we just relaxed more more and ate some dinner. I made smores with Godiva chocolate (leave it to me to have a luxurious campfire food).

We got going fairly early the next morning. Most of us were awake by 7 am. We packed up and headed towards Rocky Mountain National Park. It costs $20 per car to get in but it is so worth it. Just a little ways in, we saw a herd of elk so of course we stopped to get pictures. Originally we thought it would take about 1 1/2 hours to get through the park. That turned into about 3 because of the stops. There are just so many amazing places to stop and get pictures. At one point in the distance we saw a moose. We got to the highest point in the park (about 12,000 ft or so) and walked up to an even higher point. It was super windy and from there we saw a storm move in over the mountain tops. It was so, so cool. After that we tried not to stop as much. It was getting late. It wasn't too big of a deal for most of us but NF had to go to work at 6 am so he was the one who needed to get back. He slept most of the way back.
Even the drive from the park to Denver is amazing. It's just so beautiful. We did get to stop at my old house to get the blankets and comforter I left there. I felt a little bad about it because it was getting late but I really wanted my blankets! :-)

It was really hard going to the house and leave Denver. I was in tears. When I left almost a year ago, everything was so uncertain. I was already uneasy about my relationship with D and felt like I was making a huge mistake.
But then even though it was hard for me to leave Denver, I got to feeling better. . .maybe this really is where I'm supposed to be. At least right now. I am to the point now that I think I would disappointed if I ended up leaving. I really like the group of people I've been getting to know. And I do want to continue getting to know my NF. Next Saturday we're either going to go to the zoo or the Laura Ingalls Wilder cabin near Independence. He wanted to make sure I wasn't working that day (which is another issue . . . I wasn't scheduled at all this weekend, I'm getting shorted on my hours) so we could do something.
Then this Saturday we're going to go see a movie and before that we're going to a potluck at his church. Which I admit, I am kind of nervous about. I will feel like I'm on display. And given how the last time I was on display at someone's church it makes me nervous. I'm going to try not to worry about it and just see what happens.

Oh and I heard about a job opportunity at the Kansas United Methodist Conference office. Q works there and told me about it. So I sent in my resume and she's going to talk to her boss about me. I think it would be really cool. I heard about it right after I started freaking out about work on Tuesday. So I'm going to be praying about that. . .we'll see.

NF is pretty much hooked on Colorado....he's too much of a Kansas boy to move there probably, but he's already talking about someday getting a cabin there ;-)