A Little Vacation from Vacation

It is hard to believe that summer is almost over.  Megan, Gizmo, and I will soon be heading back to the 'Lou for our second year.  

Before heading back though, I was able to go on one last little adventure to Gunnison, Colorado. I drove up with one part of my family to visit another part of my family.

The first night we stayed at one of my uncle's cabin, which is just south of town.

It has a killer view.

I made the mistake of leaving my camera behind one day and came back to find....well....this.....:

Myself and a few of my cousins went on an awesome fourteen-mile hike one day to a place called Copper Lake.

In front of Gothic Mountain.

When we were about a half-mile from the top we got caught in a rain/hail storm. We took shelter in the nearby trees and had lunch.

Up at the lake.

My cousin, Ryan, is strong enough to push over trees.  Here he is by his conquest.

Trying to use the timer on my camera proved to be a humorous undertaking.

We eventually got it.

On our last day in town we went to a local art fair and then tossed the frisbee around.

We drove home over Cottonwood Pass.  It is one of my favorite drives in the entire state and I recommend it to everyone.

From the top of Cottonwood.

Wedding

We went to a lovely wedding.

Some of Luke's family was there too.

College wouldn't have been as fun without Kyle Taylor. He's the best.

Luke and the groom.

Gizmo couldn't attend because of a previously scheduled event, perhaps next time. We are all wishing the couple the best!

Potlluck

My summer job is having a potluck. I chose to make cupcakes. My goal was 30ish cupcakes, however the mix ended up making 60ish cupcakes. I like to mix up the toppings and the sizes. I'm hopeful that people will like them.

Besides the potluck things are going well for all of us. Luke is enjoying his time off, Gizmo is enjoying Mickey, my parents dog, and I'm enjoying work.

This wouldn't be a proper post without a Gizmo pic.

The Dog Days of Summer

Neither Megan nor I can remember a time when Gizmo was so tired.  She spends pretty much half of her day playing with Mickey.  The two then spend the other half of the day napping in close proximity to one another.  They are becoming the best of friends!

The only one who picks better spots to nap than Megan is Gizmo.

Mickey, for some unknown reason, always sits like a person in this chair.

My friend John brews coffee in this really strange but delicious way.  He is trying to teach me how.

Gizmo and I went over to John's one day last week so he could teach us how to brew beer.

Turns out it is quite a process.

John at one point told me what each of these steps was called and what were doing, but the correct vocabulary escapes me at this point in time.  I am stirring something right here....."mash" maybe?

Here we are pulling "wort" out of the shell after boiling and stirring it for an hour.

If I could drink wort everyday I would.  The stuff is delicious.  It is basically pre-fermented beer that is really sugary and sweet.  When you put yeast into the mix, it begins to consume the sugars in the wort thereby turning it into beer.  (Note: the real explanation is significantly more elaborate than this)

After we drained all of the wort out we were left with a keg full of grain and corn.

Gizmo was being uncooperative while we were trying to take a picture of her, John, and Genevieve.

She eventually graced us with her photogenic face.

Megan's parents have a black cat named Truman.  I woke him up to take a picture.  It was quite a struggle to get that one eye open.

Today, Megan and I went up to Fort Collins to visit some of our friends.  No trip to Fort Collins is complete without a trip to the Rio....

....and at least one brewery.

After hanging out in Old Town we went back to our friends' house to grill up some dinner.  I opened their fridge hoping to find a beer, but alas there was none.  I did however find three mostly drank bottles of wine.  We made do.

This is Megan's old college friend, Cinnamon.

Just like old times!

Life Back In Colorado Is.....Ruff.

The last day of school for me was on June 1st.  Gizmo and I quickly packed up all our stuff and got ready to head back to the great state of Colorado to join Megan, who was already here.  Megan is spending her summer working as an intern.  I have a super full schedule of hanging out with friends, hiking, learning new things, and relaxing :-).

Gizmo was so helpful in the packing process.

We are living at Megan's parents' house for the summer.  They just got a corgi-mix named Mickey.  He and Gizmo have become the best of friends, which is great considering Gizmo gets along with about 15% of the dogs she meets.

Megan had surgery on her right foot to remove a bunion the week she got back.  You can see that she is rocking a sweet surgical boot.

The first Friday I was home my friend John took me to this awesome frisbee golf course in Conifer.   It has twenty holes spread out over a couple miles.  This is the first hole.  You throw right through all these trees to the basket which is at the top of the hill.

The views from around the course were awesome, of course.

Action shot of John teeing off.

We'll be sure to keep you updated on all of our summer adventures!