A few weeks ago I had Abby and Sarafia over for dinner that we all helped make. We had some delicious spaghetti and garlic bread made even better by good company.
We had such a great time that we wanted to do it again, and this time we wanted our friend Megan to join in the fun! So we gathered at her adorable cabin home in Manitou Springs one evening and together we all made fajitas!
Megan had even hand-zested and juiced 10 limes so we could have authentic margaritas with dinner! And here is our lovely spread! Spiced steak, chicken, and veggies. We also had some delicious guacamole to start.
We finished the evening with a movie and conversation. Definitely a good time, any suggestions for what we should cook next? :)
Now on to my latest hiking adventure! I last hiked Horsetheif trail to the falls at the end, but that trail splits in the middle: One way is to the falls, the other is 2 more miles up to Pancake Rocks. A few of my coworkers and I all had the day off, and so we decided it would be a great day to hike up to see the Pancake Rocks. Sarafia's mom had warned her it was a rather strenuous hike, mostly uphill, but I figured since I had survived Section 16, it couldn't be that bad. It was hard, but fun with the company of Sarafia, Joey, and Jeremiah. It took us about 3 hours to reach the rocks, where we'd planned to eat the picnic we'd brought along. Jeremiah, by the way, is pretty much Bear Grylls without the British Military training. He pointed out wild strawberries that grew along the sides of the trail that we sampled (delicious!), as well as wild onion plants (taste like chives!).
Unfortunately, the clouds chose that moment to erupt on top of us, and suddenly we found ourselves in the midst of a monsoon...on top of a mountain. Luckily, Joey and 'Fia had seen a cave, so we all ran for it and had our picnic lunch in the cave while the rain formed tiny waterfalls all around us.
We ate our lunch and tried to wait out the rain, but after an hour, we realized we were just going to have to suck it up and hike back in the rain if we wanted to get back before it got dark. As you can imagine, rain falling on top of a mountain is COLD RAIN. I couldn't feel my hands for the better part of an hour, but finally the rain let up, and we all began to defrost. The hike was hard, but lots of fun! I hope to go back to the pancake rocks in better weather, so that I can stay a while and explore the area. The hike up to the rocks is beautiful and surreal, surrounded by bending aspens and towering evergreens. It's a high altitude climb, I'd guess we were close to 11,000 feet at the top, and the views were astounding. Thanks for a great climb, guys!
After walking down the driveway into the nature centre building, there is a map that shows all the trails that reside inside the park. The first leads through a small forested area and runs along lovely and bubbling Bear Creek. Then the trail splits and turns into Coyote Gulch loop (which I think is my favorite part!), and then into Mountain Scrub loop, then leads back to the trees and creek and takes you through a lovely trail called Birdsong which provides facts and pictures of all the birds and animals you are likely to come across on the trails, as well as their tracks. A wonderful touch!
