Sewage and Snow

This morning, I took Hurley for a walk and since we were headed to the east, I didn't see the mountains until we were headed back home and I turned a corner to see THIS:


Yes, folks, that is snow. And no, you don't have to check your calendars, it is still officially summer.

A snow-topped mountain viewed through the changing leaves (hard to see).
More on the snow in a few minutes, a lot has happened over the past few days to talk about!

Joel and I drove up to Denver Thursday evening to pick up the Butlers from the airport for their visit! On Friday, Joel and I both had to work, so we left them with my aunt and uncle's Garmin, Joel's car, and a list of local attractions. On the way home from work, I called Joel to see if he'd heard how their day was, and was informed that they had had their own memory-making experience. The Butlers visited the Garden of the Gods Friday morning, and then decided to drive up Pikes Peak. Unfortunately, Joel's car wasn't as excited about the trip and died just above treeline. One and a half hours of prayer and a couple of park rangers later, the car started up on its own and they were able to make their way back down to civilization. We thought our adventures were over, but Saturday morning I walked into the basement laundry room to fill Hurley's food bowl, only to step back with a soggy sock: sewage. Human wastewater had backed into our basement from the pipes and filled the laundry room floor as well as seeped into the carpet downstairs. I'll spare you a photograph with this story! The plumber came to fix this while we continued our sightseeing tour by visiting Royal Gorge, but our landlord didn't feel like it was necessary to clean any of it up until today, and we sure as heck weren't touching it! So, we've been living on an upstairs-only basis since Saturday. The landlord is here now and thankfully the smell of Clorox is wafting up the stairs instead of the odor we've been greeted with so far.

The Royal Gorge was beautiful once again, and we were blessed with perfect weather. Some photos from our trip:


Rafters on the Arkansas River in the gorge.

Views of the Royal Gorge Bridge and Tram from the bottom of the gorge.

On Saturday night, we tried out a restaurant at The Broadmoor that I'd seen in a Colorado Springs book and that we'd heard about from some friends. The place is called The Golden Bee, and it is a little (literally...it seats fewer than 70 people) English-type pub on the grounds of the 5-star Broadmoor hotel. After 8:30, it becomes a piano-playing, sing-a-long, 64 oz ale sort of place complete with songbooks! We had a lot of fun and it was certainly worth the hour wait.


Sunday morning, we went to the early service and then headed home to change for a hike at the Crags.


The aspens have started to turn!

Fiascos aside, we had a great visit! I drove the Butlers up to Denver Sunday night so we could head to DIA early Monday morning. It rained the whole way to the airport, but it was just a taste of what the weather would be the rest of the day! I met a friend from vet school (who now lives in Denver) for breakfast after I dropped the Butlers off, and when we walked back out of Mimi's Cafe we looked at each other in disbelief...SNOW!!! At this point, there was a "wintry mix" falling in Lone Tree, CO where we were (south Denver). Here were two Southern girls living in Colorado watching snow in September!

I headed back to my aunt and uncle's to finish some laundry (since I didn't have great access to our laundry room!), and then headed south to Colorado Springs. Little did I know that I'd be passing through a winter wonderland on my way. This link shows some pictures of Castle Rock, Monument, and northern Colorado Springs and gives you a hint of what I saw along I-25 heading south. I wish I'd had my camera on me, but driving in my first snow as a Colorado resident probably wouldn't have been the best time to snap a photo. http://www.gazette.com/sections/article/gallery/?pic=1&id=62433 I wish I'd seen the two fellas in this photo along the way, but the snow was beautiful! Make sure you scroll through the other pictures to get the full effect.

The weather in Colorado Springs was about the same as it had been in Lone Tree...a wintry mix, but as you can see in the photo above from my walk this morning, we certainly had some snow stick in the west side of town! I'm just not sure how I'm going to survive this winter. I'm getting ready to start compiling Joel's emergency box for work. His boss said he has to keep rations in his truck when snow season starts because a guy a few years ago got stuck on the side of the road for 15 hours followed by a 15 hour stint at a gas station. Yikes!