The One with Lots of Jumping Pictures: Week 8

Week 8!? We can't already be at week 8. That means there's only 3 weeks left! I'm already having Colorado withdrawals and I haven't even left yet. (Does that even make sense?) Anyways.

Monday

Monday was busy, but the good kind of busy where you feel like you're getting things done. I wrote a press release about the opening of the Summer Tubing Hill at Snow Mountain Ranch (which opens tomorrow!) and posted it on the blog.

Martha, my Snow Mountain Ranch boss, had a few jobs for me. One was writing/editing a FAQ sheet for Central Reservations Office and the others were to talk to group sales and family reunion representatives to write blogs about Youth Retreats and Holiday Family Reunions.

 Monday night, as always, was fantastic. The Sandmonsters recruited yet another player (our other players had conflicts on Monday nights) and we played SO WELL.We played one team (can't remember their name) and then the Golddiggers (now called Scrabbits) and won both. The games only played to 15 which was weird but made sure you were on your A game. There's this hilarious guy named Sindesa that saw our crazy Hawaiian shirts and fit right in so he decided to be our team manager. We lost our third game to my friend Jenna's team, but they were really good so it was alright.

These guys are my faves.

Afterward we played ERS and BS in the Rustic Cafe. So much fun.

Tuesday

I worked on more of Martha' projects on Tuesday (read them here and here) and also interviewed the Admin staff for my Faces & Places of the Y story. I have several friends that work there so talking to people and getting pics was super fun and easy. Read the story here.

Tuesday I was going to check out the volleyball scene but it rained that night so I played cards with friends in the Rustic again (I got my international friends hooked on these games I'm telling you).

Wednesday

I wrote a story about an upcoming mini golf tournament at Snow Mountain Ranch in honor of the program director's son who passed away 2 years ago. It was so touching being able to interview her about why they decided to host the tournament and what they're donating the money to. Read it here. I also had a hilarious (to me maybe) run-in with an older lady in my office.

After work I ate an early dinner with friends and then we went to the Rock at 5PM for live music. We ended up hanging out there for like 4 hours haha and then went into downtown Estes to hang out some more. I ended up two stepping with one of our guy friends and played shuffleboard with these middle aged teachers in town for a conference. It was a weird night, but it was fun haha.

Thursday

Unfortunately I woke up Thursday with this killer migraine. I've only had two other migraines, one in high school my junior year and the other this past year in college. It was awful. I thought I could still make it into work so I got up and showered but was so dizzy so I immediately went back to bed and texted Andrew. He told me not worry about coming in, which was good because I ended up throwing up several times. I hate being sick.


It was so sweet how many friends asked how I was and came to check on me, though.

I spent most of the day sleeping and then a little time watching netflix once my migraine faded that evening (guilty pleasure. what else do you do when you're in bed all day)

Friday

Friday I felt so much better! I worked on flyers for the upcoming Arts and Crafts Fair, updated a yoga flyer, and Andrew briefed me on Hootsuite and scheduling tweets for the next few months. (SO EXCITED! Love the social media aspect)

Some of my day camp friends came to visit me that afternoon and it was fun showing them where I worked. We went to dinner together and then drove to the top of trail ridge to watch the sunset. It was so BEAUTIFUL.

Dancing on top of the world.

 When we got back at 10PM we checked out the 80s party the RA office threw and then I talked to a friend I hadn't talked to in awhile. Such a great night.

Saturday

I just love these signs.

Saturday my friends were going to Elitch Gardens in Denver but my friend was coming in later that evening so I wanted to be there when she came. I decided to go on a hike in the morning by myself - I'm so glad I did. I chose Sprague Lake, a 6.5 mile round trip hike into the park from the YMCA. It was long, but after the initial uphill part it was flat and a nice stroll to the lake. It took me about an hour and a half to get there, I hung out for an hour, took a lot of family pictures, and then made it back in less than an hour. (8:30 AM - 11:45AM)

It was the perfect day for a hike.

So hipster, I know

When I got back I ate lunch with a few friends, showered, started my laundry, then went into work. Since I was sick one day, I wanted to make up my missing hours and get closer to 40 hours. I went to go check on my laundry and then the receptionist left and locked the door so I was locked out! I called the operator and had to wait for someone to come unlock the door so I could get my stuff. It was hilarious/not hilarious.

I signed up to use one of my staff comp nights to stay in a lodge room at the YMCA so I went to check into my room, picked up my laundry, and waited for my roommate and her boyfriend. They got there around 5:30, we dropped their stuff off in the room (it had a queen and a bunkbed so we each had our own bed haha), then went for dinner in town at this fantastic barbeque place called Smokin Daves. SO GOOD.

Sunday

We woke around 9 and got ready for the day! They were hoping to do the zipline or the high ropes course, so after I returned the room key we went to sign up for activities. Sadly the ropes course was full, but we signed up for 12:30 ziplining and went to breakfast in town at a cute place called Molly B's and sat by the river in town. Afterward we went back to the YMCA for our ziplining session and we all got to go twice (and the rocks & ropes gal was super sweet and didn't make me pay since I was staff)

After ziplining we went into town again for Starbucks and to ride the Aerial Tramway in town. I've always seen the gondolas driving into town and was so excited to finally ride it up to Prospect Mountain! Once we finally got to the top we saw a proposal (and I was literally thinking on my solo hike how cute it would be to propose on a mountain. Although if that happened to me, I'd rather we have climbed the mountain together. Preferably a huge one. Maybe a 14'er.)

Anyways, it was a little cloudy but still beautiful up top. 

 

 We took lots of fun pics up top and had a blast watching the chipmunks and hanging out. The top closed at 6 so we had to wait for one of the last gondolas down since we hung out so long. They dropped me off downtown to meet up with my friends to grab dinner and we said our goodbyes. It was so great seeing Jess and I can't wait to live with her again this fall!

My friends in town were at a place called Bob & Tony's. I got an 8 slice pizza, gave 2 slices away, and ate the rest (I didn't have lunch ok! No shame.)

So that was week 8. Wow.  I made a list with some friends about what else we want to do while here.

Here's our (my) list in no particular order:

• Sand dunes or Longs Peak (next weekend) 
• Colorado Springs (Garden of the Gods)
• More hikes (Haiyaha Falls, Andrew's Glacier, maybe Mills Lake for me)
• Warped Tour & Denver (on Aug. 2 and 3)
• Breckenridge (long shot) 

There's so much more but I don't even know how much of that I'll get done. It's so sad thinking how little time I have left here. I want to enjoy my last few weeks and make the most of them though! 

So long for now, I'll be back to update you in a week!