The Georgetown Train

During my parent's visit, we decided it would be fun to hop on an old steam engine train for a ride and dinner. Mr X and I had purchased tickets several weeks in advance and we were keeping it as a surprise for my parents. It was all worth it to see the smiles on their face when we drove up to the train station.

This is the train:

Mr X and I at the train station:

We sat in one of the dining cars:

These are a few of the views that we saw from the train. They don't do it justice.

We passed by a lot of old mining sights/leftovers, see above.

See that trestle up there? That's where train stopped for us to have dinner. We just sat up there with great views while we ate steak and shrimp, while the sun sunk below the mountains. It was wonderful.

My Parent's Visit

In the beginning of August my parents came out to see us for a couple of days. We tried to pack those two days with loads of fun stuff - hopefully my parents thought it was fun, too. Here are a few pictures:

The happy couple.

We took them on the highest paved road in America, up to Mount Evans: 14,130 feet. They both were feeling the effects of altitude sickness by the time we got up to the top so they didn't hike the last little bit up to the summit, instead they opted to stay and enjoy the lookout area. Probably wise.



Look how close my dad's head is to those clouds. It's very impressive to see in person.


Mr X and I climbed the rest of the way to the very tip top. The view is, of course, incredible.

This is the view from the top looking back down where my parents were wandering about.

And yes, in case you were wondering, their altitude sickness cleared up for the most part by the time we got down to a more reasonable altitude of around 8,000 feet.

Good Old San Diego

This year I've been making rather frequent trips to San Diego for work. Going back to SD always seems both nice and strange. The nice part, of course is the weather. When it was freezing and snowing here it was always perfectly warm there. When it was a little on the hot side here it was always perfectly cool there. The strange part was - well I don't live there anymore so it's strange to go back as a visitor to a place that you once called home. Plus I was surprised how much I really missing Colorado when I went there, despite the lovely weather.

Anyway, Mr X decided to take a couple of days off from work and meet me out there in July. I extended my stay through the weekend and we were able to enjoy the weather and the beach together. It was nice. While I was busy working Mr X surfed, paddleboarded and took some photos.

The Birthday Cake

It was Mr X's birthday in July. Mr X usually requests pie rather than cake for his birthday. (The rules are that he gets to choose exactly what delicious foods he wants me to make for him on his birthday, including desserts of course.) This year he opted for neither. This year Mr X requested a flourless chocolate torte. Of course I couldn't resist tweaking it a little so I actually made him a the equivalent of a flourless chocolate torte enrobed in a dark chocolate cookie crust and covered with a dark chocolate ganache. I used the darkest Lindt chocolate I could find to do it. I basically tasted like eating dark chocolate truffles that were coated with a cookie-ganache crust. I thought it was incredibly delicious. The only problem was that after three or four bites you couldn't eat anymore or you'd start to feel sick from the decadence. Mr X seemed to like it quite a bit but he did admit that it's a bit too rich and next year he's going to go back to his usual request: A fruit pie of some sort.

In my torte's defense, I take absolutely horrible food pictures.

4th of July Family

My oldest brother and his family stopped by to see us on the 4th of July this year. They were our 2nd visitors from my side of the family. We were delighted to see them and we enjoyed their visit. It was just a short visit because they were passing through town in the middle of their rather exhausting cross-country move. DC to Seattle - what an awful move to have to make with three very young children. My hat goes off to my brother and SIL for making it look easy. Sadly, I didn't manage to get any photos of my brother and his wife but I did get some with their charming kids.

Colorado's Columbine Flowers

I had never seen the Columbine flower before moving to Colorado. At first I didn't even know what it was even though I was seeing them all around this spring. They grow wild and so Mr X and I usually saw them scattered about the woods during our hikes. I loved them instantly. Colorado's state flower is actually the Blue Columbine. It's the flower in this first photo below. Here are a few photos of the many different varieties that I have found here.

I think the 'spurred' petals are the most fascinating part of the flower.

Tidbits

Something I find rather wondrous here in Colorado (besides the scenery) is the fact that strawberries and raspberries grow like weeds here. They are everywhere. Mr X and I have gone on countless hikes this summer and we nearly always spot wild strawberries or raspberries. This morning after our jog we were heading back to our house and we saw loads of raspberries on the wooded hillside just behind our house. So there we were, stinky, sweaty and flushed but happily nibbling on fresh wild raspberries. I love it!

On a side note - we finally got all of our doctors picked out and visited here in our new state and I have to say that you know you're getting old when suddenly you realise that all of your doctors are younger than you. That sucks.

June Guests

Mr X and I posing with my SIL and nephew:


Since we moved, these were our first visitors from my side of the family. It was great to see them.