Spring Break Trip to Colorado

Last week was my spring break!  I was home from Friday to Wednesday.  On Wednesday afternoon, my family left for Colorado for a short vacation.  This was us four kids first time visiting Colorado, and the mountains.

From our house, our destination was about 14 hours of driving time.  We had hotel reservations in Kearney, Nebraska the first night, so we had to make it that far.  We did take one wrong turn, so the drive took longer than expected.  But, that made it more of an adventure.

We saw a lot of flat, brown at this time of year, farm land.  And, lots and lots of cows.

And then... we had our first sight of the mountains in the distance!

Before we headed into the mountains, we stopped to look around Boulder, Colorado in the foot hills.

John and Sarah couldn't wait to do some hiking.  But, since it was March, it was a bit too wet and muddy to do much hiking.

We stayed Thursday and Friday night up in the mountains at Snow Mountain YMCA Ranch in Granby, which is about 20 minutes from Winter Park, Colorado.

We didn't arrive to the Winter Park area until close to supper time.  Before we checked into our lodge at the ranch, we got some supper.

I woke up real early Friday morning - I wanted to see the sun rise.  I really didn't know what time it was, because we were all off from the time change, but I think it might have been around 6:30 when I started watching the sun rise.

The picture above is from when I first started waiting for the sun to come up.  I could tell which part of the sky the sun would coming from because it was a lot brighter than the rest.

The sun was taking a LONG time to come over the mountains.

And then... BAM!!!  It was all there, all at once, and SO BRIGHT!

I was expecting a slow, colorful sun rise.  But, nope!  That is not what happened.

After we all got ready for the day, we headed over to the ski rental place, right on the ranch, to get some skies.  We got fitted and then loaded our van and headed to Winter Park Ski Resort.

It was a sunny, warm, beautiful day for skiing.  It was about 50 degrees - it felt like summer but with snow on the ground.  With the sun beating down on us, it felt even warmer.

The first hill we went down was a bit too difficult for some of us.  We managed to get down, but then we found some easier ones.

We ate lunch at the Lunch Rock Cafe up on the mountain.  Of course, the food was way overpriced.  But, they gave you huge portions - so if you were to split a meal, the price probably wouldn't be so bad.  And, I thought everything looked delicious!  We just got a few of their pizzas to share and some fries... it were really good!

After skiing, which the lifts close at 4 o'clock, we headed back to the ranch for a little while.

Then we went back into Winter Park for supper.  We ate at Smokehouse BBQ.

Saturday, just my dad and Thomas went skiing.  John and Sarah wanted to do some activities at the ranch.  My mom and I dropped Dad and Thomas off to ski and picked up a treat for breakfast at the Rise & Shine Cafe.

John and Sarah spent a lot of time with the horses... which included feeding them apples.

Look at that horses hair!

I ended up going horseback riding with John and Sarah on Saturday.  It was just trail riding around the ranch, where one horse follows another... but, it was a very interesting ride.

First off, my horse Jane was a very noisy horse.  As in.. she was gassy.  She also made noises with her mouth - sometimes she sounded like a bear!  The guides did warn me about her.

Then, we were riding in riding the horses in the snow.  I haven't ever rode a horse through the snow before.  But, sometimes they would lose their footing.  There are just fine walking through the snow, but for someone who doesn't ride much, it can be a bit startling.

Finally, the most crazy part.

In the group there was a guide, 2 other riders, Sarah, John, me, and then another guide.  Towards the end of the ride, we were going up a ditch onto a road.  The ditch was covered in deeper snow though.  The first 3 riders made it up fine.  But, Sarah's horse didn't make it up the ditch.  It slipped.  Sarah jumped/flung off the horse the one side.  The horse, as it was trying to get up the ditch again, fell.  It fell onto it's side.  But, it couldn't get up.  One of it's hooves was stuck in the reins.  The guide fixed it, but the horse just couldn't get up.  Poor horse!

John's horse was next to get up the ditch.  The horse didn't fall, but John ended up off his horse somehow.

By then, I was a bit scared to ride my horse up the snowy ditch.  I stayed on my horse.  It was a struggle to get up the incline.  My horse had to take some small jumps and really push itself up.  We finally made.

The guides called the stable to bring Sarah a different horse.  Sarah's first horse eventually got up.  Everyone was fine.  But, wow!  It was quite the experience trail riding.

After horseback riding, John and Sarah did some more activities at the Y.  Then we went to pick my dad and Thomas up in Winter Park at head on the road.

We didn't start driving in the direction of home though.  Dad wanted to show us some areas deeper west into the mountains.

We drove through a long tunnel crossing the Continental Divide.

We drove way up high in the mountains.  I have always thought being on those curvy mountain roads, where one side is a drop off, would be really scary to drive on.  Until this part of our trip, there hadn't been any really scary roads.  The twisting mountain roads with a drop off on one side are REALLY SCARYY!

There was some pretty scenery though.

We went 11,990 feet up!  I definitely could feel the elevation getting to me.  I felt a little light headed.

After our sight seeing trip, we started to head back in the direction of home.  We left the mountain range just as the sun was going down.

We stayed Saturday night in a hotel that we found on the road.  There were hardly any places with rooms.  Finally we found a hotel with a room that we thought would work for us.  We were like 5 minutes away.  We got there and found out that the room they thought would work for us was a smoking room.  (Our family as a particular set up that works for us that we always get.  This night, we weren't getting our usual.)  So, they gave us another room.  It was way too small.  So, we checked out that smoking room.  We didn't like the smell.  The front dest lady gave us a third room.  When my dad went to open the door, the security latch was closed... someone was in the room.  Finally, the lady got us a room that worked for us.  It wasn't perfect, but we were there for such little time.

This hotel had a big indoor-like courtyard that all the room opened up to.  So, the entire time we were pushing our cart of bags and carrying our bags around... late at night.

I was dropped off back at college on Sunday on my family's way home.

My Freshman Dorm Room

Welcome to my dorm!

As you probably know, I was living in the den of the residential hall at the beginning of the year.  I had to be out of the den by the end of first semester.  Down the hall though, there was a room that used to be contracted for 3 people, but it was contracted for only 2 people this year.  There was everything in the room for 3 people - a bed, desk, wardrobe.  The hall director got the department of residence to change the contract so that this room would be contracted for 3 people, which took quite awhile.  During Thanksgiving break, I got a email saying that the room was ready for me to move into.  So, I moved into my real dorm room right after Thanksgiving break!  And, I am finally just blogging about it now.

I have 2 roommates, Megan and Sofie.  They hadn't done much to make the room all homey or decorated much, so I got to be part of that!

We didn't really pick a color theme, but it just kind of happened that all the colors go together.

I got the rug from Ikea!

There are 2 closets in the room and a wardrobe.  Megan and Sofie had the closets full, so I was left with the wardrobe.  The closets look really nice, but actually the wardrobe is real nice too.  This way I have built in drawers (instead of having to purchase a set of plastic drawers).  We have 1 dresser in the room and we each have 2 drawers in that.

I am in one of the older residential halls on campus.  I love the old wood floors and windows!

Winter Boots

So, I got some winter boots for Christmas.  They were one of those gifts that I picked out.  I didn't think of blogging them until now.  My mom and I were thinking that I probably need some boots - especially for walking around campus in the middle of winter.

At first, I was thinking I wanted to get some Bean Boots from L.L. Bean.  But, before Christmas they were on backorder until March.  Being aware that I needed some boots, I paid much more attention to the boots girls were wearing campus.  It ended up coming down to either getting a pair of Aldo or Sorel boots. 

I ordered each to see which one I liked better.  The Sorel's were really warm, but a bit more chunky.  The Aldo's fit me a bit better, in that they weren't so bulky, and were easier to walk in.  I wasn't sure that they would keep me as warm as the Sorel's though.

I ended up keeping the Aldo Zylia boots.  I love them!  They have definitely been warm enough and they are supper comfy... and cute!  Now, these winter boots aren't ones that I would go play in the snow in - they are more on the fashionable side.  And, I think they look kind of Norwegian (I love my Norwegian heritage!).

I am glad I decided to go with these!

Valentine's Day 2015

This last weekend I was able to go home, and it just happened to be Valentine's Day.  I hadn't been home yet this semester.  My mom and sister, and one of my sister's friends, did come down to visit me.  We went to the Winter Jam Concert in Des Moines, mostly just to hear Francesca Battistelli, stayed the night in a hotel, and did some shopping the next day.  It was great!

The last couple weeks I have been feeling a bit down.  I couldn't wait to go home this weekend.  

It was so refreshing to be at home this weekend.  My mom picked me up as so as I was done with classes on Friday, which was noon.  We picked up some sandwiches from the deli at The Cafe to eat on our way home.  The Cafe is my mom's and my favorite place to eat in Ames... so yummy.  That evening I made Curried Chicken and Coconut Rice for supper (yummy!), I have been needing some food with a little spice to it, and made granola to bring back with me!

Valentine's Day was spent hanging out at home, relaxing, and doing lots of baking... I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast... we exchanged valentine's... and then a friend of mine came over for supper. 

I made tomato soup and grilled sandwiches for lunch.  For my sister and her friend, I made the sandwiches heart shaped.  For me and my parents, I used sour dough bread that we got at The Cafe.  I made the life in grace tomato soup recipe.  Actually this was my first time making tomato soup.  I haven't ever had real, homemade tomato soup.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it.  But, this soup was so good - of course, with a grilled sandwich!  I used gorgonzola cheese in the soup because that is what we had.

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My mom had just picked up these pink roses before she got me.  THEY ARE SO PRETTY and made the day even more better!

I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for an afternoon treat.  Cookies and milk have been my comfort food lately.  So good!  I was going to blog the recipe, but I ran out of time take take any good pictures.

On Friday evening, I got a text message from my friend Liz, from my home town.  She was wondering if I would be around this weekend.  She was going to be going off to Wyoming for a job that she just got (she is taking a year off from school) and will be there for 6 months.  This job just came up and she decided to take it!  Liz ended up coming over for supper.  I had been making a beef stew all day to have for supper and my favorite honey whole-wheat bread.  But, the stew wasn't done by supper time.  So, we ended up having left over curried chicken and coconut rice.  It all worked out.  For a little dessert, I made rice krispie bars.  My mom, Liz, and I sat around talking, hearing about Liz's new job (I am so excited for her!) and then we ended up playing Ticket to Ride.  This is one of my family's favorite new board games.

On Sunday, my whole family came to bring me back to college.  We left so that we would be able to go to Cornerstone, the church I go to here, in time for the second service.  We went out for lunch at The Grove.  It was our first time trying this place.  It was a traditional, small town,  family-run type of restaurant.  I hope to try all the local restaurants here in Ames before I graduate.  The Grove is known for their "World Famous Pancake," so that is what I got.  To tell you the truth, I don't think it was super spatacular.  After lunch we did a quick Target run before my family dropped me off.

It was so nice to be home this weekend.  And, I am so glad that Liz thought of asking me if I would be around and if we could get together before she left.