Sunday July 19th – Summer at Wartburg West
It’s mind blowing to think that we have all been at
Wartburg West for the past six weeks and that some (most) of us will be leaving
in just two very, very short weeks. The time we have spent here has been incredible
and breathtaking (because of the views and the altitude!). Many locals have
confirmed that we have been getting “the full Colorado Summer Experience” while
we have been here. We have had many adventures and have been fortunate to learn
about our career of interest throughout this whole process.
This weekend was one filled with many activities for
me and the girls I’ve grown close to out here. After working Monday-Thursday
9-5, it was nice to have Friday off and get to sleep in a bit. I spent Friday
morning at the park and an outdoor pool with two of my girlfriends. Four of us
got dressed up and went down to 16th Street Mall to get some
necessities and have a “fancy dinner” before coming back and falling asleep
quickly after our day in the sun. Saturday morning I was fortunate enough to
get to have lunch with two of my aunts who live here in Colorado and my cousin
who was visiting from Utah. After brunch, four of us girls went to The Fillmore
Auditorium to wait for the Meghan Trainor concert. The concert was wonderful
and everything we wanted it to be! We got pizza from Slice Works afterwards and
that was spectacular. Today, Sunday, we woke up early and drove to Mt. Evans in
hopes of conquering our first 14-er. Sadly, part of the road had fallen off of
the mountain (what?! Scary!) so, we couldn’t drive to the trailhead. Instead,
we decided to hike to The Chicago Lakes (the idea of going somewhere with a
Midwest name was very appealing) which was much more work than expected! After
sweating a ridiculous amount, maneuvering through all kinds of obstacles,
trying not to fall into the mud bogs, and hopping through a boulder filed, we
arrived at the ledge at the (almost) top of the mountain to eat our lunch. The
view was incredible (the picture almost
does it justice) and we were able to enjoy it for almost an hour before the
rain started to come in. On the way down we faced the rain, the tricky task of
finding our way out of the boulder field, very
very very muddy parts of the trail, slippery rocks, and (craziest part)
swollen fingers! Honestly our hands hurt so
much because our fingers were HUGE. It was insane. We hiked 12.87 miles by
the time we arrived safely back in Denver. We have been home for at least three
hours and my legs are still aching. It’s an awesome reminder of the wonderful
weekend we had—from standing in line and at the concert for 9 hours, to hiking
almost 13 miles! It was a weekend filled with memories and just one of the many
we have had while here in Colorado. We all love it here and are so happy that
we have had this opportunity, but we will be okay with locking our door for the
last time in two weeks.
As I’ve said several times to people this past week,
it’s entirely possible to be perfectly and completely happy with where you are,
but still miss being somewhere else. We miss and love our homes in Iowa (and
other states!) and will welcome the journey home with welcome arms and lots of
snacks.
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