Michal and I are currently in Colorado. On Wednesday we spent a few hours in Boulder before heading to Estes Park. Did you know Boulder’s slogan is 25 square miles surrounded by reality? Sounds familiar to Ithaca’s slogan of 10 square miles surrounded by reality. In Boulder we enjoyed a walk through Pearl Street Mall, lunch at Mountain Sun Brewery, and lots of tea at Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. Did you know one sole man is responsible for tasting all the teas to ensure the highest quality and freshest ingredients? He tastes over 100 cups of tea every day! It takes four years to train your pallet to be able to recognize each ingredient in every cup of tea. For our drive to Estes Park, we picked up Chocolove chocolate that is made right in Boulder.

Yesterday Michal and I woke up extremely early and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. We hiked for about 10 miles and went to Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, Emerald Lake, and Lake Haiyaha. The elevation at our starting point of Bear Lake was 9,475 feet! We hiked through sun, we hiked through snow, we climbed rocks, and we did an excellent job exhausting ourselves in the mountain air.