When you tell people you are going to the mountains for vacation, they generally tend to assume you are planning to do a lot of hiking.  My one issue with hiking is that I have a pretty bad fear of heights.  To clarify, I have a pretty bad fear of falling, and the higher I go, the more that fall is going to hurt.  That said, I wanted to get an "easy" hike in just to be able to tell people, why, yes, I did hike in Colorado.

Leslie and I decided to hike up to the Royal Arch.  The trail started near where the orchestra rehearses, which is at Chautauqua in Boulder.  I had been to Chautauqua in New York before, but didn’t realize the connection until that day.

The sign said to read the important information below so we did.

Anyway, the hike started pretty easy and then got harder.  It was pretty rocky and went pretty uphill.  Here in St Louis I’m used to running uphill, particularly at the ends of races (I’m looking at you Benton Park 5k and Go Half Marathon) but not QUITE as steep.

I made Leslie take a picture of me "Hiking".  You can see the path ahead.  It looks harmless, doesn’t it.

Then it was a bit rockier. Ultimately we were just climbing up "steps" of the rocks.  It wasn’t easy.

The sign pointed that way, so I decided to point.  This picture was more effective in my mind, like most things I do.

 

That’s the sort of rocks we had to climb up.  FUN, right?  (not fun).

View from the top!  We made it!  Now we just have to hike down, right?

Oh, yeah.  That’s the Royal Arch.

The way down was easier, though not EASY.  My feet were hurting…and I was tired…and we were hungry and wanted Taco Bell.

So, yeah, that was my view most of the way.  Leslie’s backside (I hear her backside is her best side though!).  We got to the bottom and decided we needed to get Taco Bell.  I didn’t take any pictures there, but it was delicious.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, the true highlight of the trip was Leslie attempting to drive Peter’s car, which is has a stick shift.  She didn’t stall out but I think she may have run over some pedestrians because she was afraid to stop.  It was hilarious.  And by hilarious I mean frightening.  I offered to drive but I think she enjoyed the challenge of it. 

Later that day we went to a couple of different Boulder restaurants for Happy Hour and then dinner.

Kir Royales at the Kitchen Upstairs.  Very French of us.

Leslie and Peter at the Bitter Bar.

Me being a starfish while waiting for our table at Pizzeria Locale.  Dave and Chris met us there after golf.

Me being fairly normal.  Light pants are not super flattering.

 

Apparently Leslie took a lot of pictures there, because there were about a dozen more on my phone.

Do you like to hike?

Do you like to take pictures of yourself when you are bored?