What I Did This Weekend

My ex and sister-in-law drove up from Austin to hang out for the weekend before driving back with A for her visit with her "Texas" family for the month.

Friday

A's last day of Girl Scout camp had her busy for the day, so Lisa and me and the ex (?!) drove up to Estes Park for the day.

The longest part of the drive is just getting through Boulder. There is a ton of traffic and a ton of stop lights. By the time we got up to the town, it was already after 11. We hit up the few shoe stores and then decided it was time for lunch/beers at the brewery. The beer was good, the food wasn't that great.

For the next hour we walked around downtown, trying on hats, being silly and having fun. Quite the shocker to actually have a decent day with the ex.

We left around 3 so that we could pick up A after camp. We went to Woody's for dinner, which is a delicious salad bar & pizza buffet. Great carb loading for our race, I'm sure.

Saturday

You can read all about the Castle Rock half marathon here. We had a brief stop on the drive back to walk around (sweaty and disgusting) at the outlet mall. I picked up a SUPER cheap and perfect size purse for an obscenely low price at the Coach outlet and L finally replaced her yellow tank top.

My ex took A for the afternoon to visit friends so Lisa and I went to Old Chicago's for lunch. I had the same salad I usually get, and this time I tried a fairly tasty beer - the Yeti:

Being kid-free, we went to see World War Z. I have now seen it twice and I really enjoyed it. Really good for a zombie movie! We headed back to the house for a bit until the last event of the evening... Awkward dinner with Lisa's ex-inlaws. The food was great, and we had fun trying to cram everyone on the back of my Mini Cooper for the drive home:

A, My niece, Lisa

Everyone was exhausted, and we were all in bed by about 10.

Sunday

The day A leaves :(

The Texas family slept late and didn't get on the road until about 9, which was ok with me because I had an hour or so with A before she had to leave.

As I was pondering what on earth I was going to do all day, I got a surprise text from Hope asking if I wanted to do a shortish trail run with her up in the mountains. UM YES.

Shortly after A left I headed out to meet Hope and we drove up to Evergreen (which is not that far of a drive, maybe only 30 minutes from my house).

We parked at a place called Elk Meadow and studied the map to decide how far we wanted to go. Hope had 5-8 miles on schedule, and I figured I could get through at least 6. We headed out and WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY it was. It was a bit hotter than expected, so I was a tad overdressed.

The first 1.5 miles or so were some pretty steep technical trails, but we got some gorgeous views and we were rewarded with some shaded runnable trails. My legs felt pretty good after my hilly half, and although we walked a decent amount, it was a great trail system. We turned around at Bergen Park and then ran a different trail back to the car. 6.7 amazingly fun miles done. So happy I know this trail is here, I will totally run it again.

Not needing to get home, Hope and I decided to get some lunch. The first place we picked (she had eaten there before) turned out to be having Sunday brunch and we were SEVERELY under dressed. The hostess offered to seat us on the deck, where it promptly started to downpour... so we left. We found a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant and I had some fabulous grilled chicken in a tomatillo sauce.

By the time I got home it was already mid-afternoon, and I dove right into the main project I wanted to tackle while A is gone. CLEAN SWEEPING. I did a fairly deep clean of my room, getting rid of a TON of stuff and then I started on A's room. Her room is the only thing I didn't finish. I guess I should pace myself, she is gone for another 4 weeks...