Dave, Tally & Mini Brooks Hit Up Denver

I suck at this blogging thing. It's like I get brain freeze then writer's block then bam, I just stop writing. Boo on me. Keeping up with this blog has been a form of therapy for me. I write when I'm sad, I write when I'm happy and I write when I need my voice to be heard. Sometimes, I just need ME to hear me. See, I can write whacky things like that because this is my own stream of consciousness.

This summer has been hard. Probably the hardest time I've ever gone through for a variety of reasons. A huge part of emotional survival for me has been the dear friends that have spent their time and money to come visit me. Dave and Tally are two friends that have consistently made an effort to visit me all my years in New York and now here in Denver. See, Tally is pregnant and due in December but she wanted to have one more trip before the baby comes. She chose to come to Denver. That's really an honor when it comes down to it. I feel special because I'm the one the two of them would travel to see as their last 'hoorah', if you will. I feel dang lucky for that.

Considering my dumb writing brain freeze has gotten the best of me lately, it shouldn't shock you that Dave and Tally were here over two months ago. I'm happy to write about their visit now, though! Dave is awesome when it comes to thoughtfully mapping out a weekend when it's something he's really in to. He had a few mini road trips he wanted to take to check out different mountains and areas that I was really excited to see, too. They rented a car which made life so easy for me since he drove everywhere and played master navigator. Go Dave!

When they got in, I took them for Mexican at La Loma which is just so good:

Does anyone want to bring me a tortilla from there real quick?

The next day, we hopped in the car and were off on our Loveland Pass and Estes Park adventure. Holy crap, the state of Colorado is spectacular. I'm gonna let the photos speak for themselves:

Lemme just tell you, this city gal is imfreakingpressed with this nature business.

We stayed there for a while really taking everything in. It's one of the most beautiful sights I'd seen yet in Colorado and I wanted to soak it up fully. 

Afterward, we drove through Granby Lake on the way up to Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park:

When we got to Estes Park, we decided a beer was in order. Annnd, we found the greatest bar, ever:

People. That bar is made of leather. And you are nearly sitting on the floor, the chairs are so low. And they were playing old Van Halen. It was glorious.

After our beers, we did the only thing that makes sense. We ate ice cream:

Tally had had it with me and my photo taking at that point.

It really was a fantastic day all around. I didn't think anything could top it.

The next morning, it was time for our second adventure. We were headed to the top of Pikes Peak and I had zero idea what the hell that really meant. In laymans terms, it means a narrow, steep, crap your pants drive to the top of a 14,000 foot mountain. Sounds awesome, doesn't it?!?!?! I'll tell you this much, there aren't words for how scary remarkable it really was:

There is no guard rail. NO GUARD RAIL! A photo cannot capture what I saw over the edge leaning out my window:

I had to duck down and cover my eyes the rest of the way up:

Do not laugh at me.

Once we got to the top, it was undeniably the most breathtaking thing I've ever seen:

King of the world:

This place was spectacular. If this tells you anything, I jumped out of a plane at 13,500 feet when I went skydiving... Needless to say, I was moved by the glory of what we saw.

Unfortunately, what goes up must come down:

We went to Three Lions after for a beer or ten. Slowly but surely, I realized I actually did make it up and down the mountain alive. That is cause for celebration, folks. 

What an amazing day. What an amazing weekend. What amazing friends to share it with. Out of the many trips Dave and Tally have taken to see me, this was absolutely my favorite. Everything about it was different and so much better than any other time together. I've known Dave for 14 years and, as we get older, our time together simply gets richer. I'm grateful for the love and support they offered me while here, the talks we shared and the time we spent getting closer than we ever have. I can't wait for that Mini Brooks to make their arrival in a couple of months. I also can't wait to show him or her these photos one day so they know they were right there alongside us the whole time.