Colorado Adventures, p.II

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” -Albert Schweitzer


So here I am with this blog and I have absolutely no idea what to do with it. But on my hike the other day I was thinking "why not just write about my adventures!". I'm sure this is common sense to anyone reading this, but for someone like me this is not so obvious. Since being here and going through a crazy journey, I have recently found myself back to the question of "what the hell am I doing with my life?". This question usually arises when I find myself working 7 days a week and never having a day off to do the things I love to do. Simple things like cooking dinner, walking to the coffee shop, walking in general, reading a good book. It's important to have time to do little joys that keep us sane and when we get caught up working non-stop the stress seriously kills us. Stress is a powerful thing. It causes break ups, break outs, and break downs. And lemme tell ya, I did two of those three things the other week and I am so happy to have a weekend. A WHOLE weekend! How exciting! I also had Martin Luther King Day off as well, and I was finally able to get in a few hikes and it was the most relaxing thing I could have done. My new obsession: hiking. I try to get in some hikes every day I have off and I love trying different trails. I also find myself really enjoying hiking alone. It just lets me think, have some solitude, and do my thing. I don't have to worry about if I'm going too fast or too slow or if I have boogers hanging out or if they just heard that barking spider.....So I figured I would share my most recent hikes. 


Monday I went to Deer Creek Canyon Park. It was a gorgeous day and this trail was awesome. I bought some YakTraks at REI, which are these awesome little coil-type shoe covers you put on the bottom of your shoes and it allows you to run/walk on snow-packed trails or ice. Best buy of 2012 thus far! This hike was much needed after a week from hell and working 13 days straight. I did an 11 mile route and loved every single step of it. 

Deer Tracks!

Some of the snow packed trail

Yesterday I went for another adventure to Mount Falcon Park. I did another 11 mile loop and the weather was AWESOME. I was able to wear a t-shirt most of the time and I was sweating like a maniac (which I love). I love when trails have a story, and this was one of those trails. I was able to stop at the ruins of a house that a man named John Brisben Walker built in the early 1900s. He lived there with his wife and child and sadly his wife passed away at a young age and soon thereafter his house was struck by lightening and burnt down. Walker had dreamt of building a summer home for the President of the United States on a ridge near his home in 1911. All that was built was the foundation, and after the tragic turn of events in Walker's life, the home was never completed. 

able to see Red Rocks Ampitheater

The foundation of Walker's Summer White House.

Amazing views

Walker's home that burnt down. 

Proof that I was there! 

Gorgeous day

YakTraks are totally worth every penny

the unknown black squirrel with long ears, which I call the "Squabbit"

Views that make this move the best decision of my life.

There have been two times in my life in which I found myself tearing up because my eyes were seeing something so beautiful. The first time was in 2007 when I spent the summer in Italy. Everything about that country amazed me. The art, the architecture, the culture, the rolling hills and landscapes. The second time has been here in Colorado. I will go for these hikes and I will stop and take a moment to just take in everything around me and it is the most breathtaking experience I've had in a long time. It's the natural, raw beauty of nature that you just can't imitate and it is beyond words. It's when I go on these hikes and see these views that I realize this insane journey has been worth every.single.moment/penny/tear/freakout. When you find a place that takes your breath away, move there. You will never regret it.