Hi Gram,
The past few days have been a good chance to relax and recharge my batteries. I went for a ride on Sunday, made more beautiful with the mountains off in the distance, then hung out with John and Amberly.

Monday, I decided to go for a walk to Target. It was a little further than I expected, with very little shade on the way there. I was glad to reach the cool building and grab an icy water bottle for my walk back. I checked out my map and found a path with potential for shade, so I set along my way. Grateful that I was right, I found a tree-lined street that led to a park, then a path. Besides being a little cooler, I saw some cool art along the path!

I got back to the house and cleaned up a little, then our friend Pete came over to look at John and Amberly’s kitchen plans. The four of us sat around their current kitchen table chatting about their plans for the new kitchen, build timelines, and life in general. Pete headed home and John made some chili for dinner, then we made some popcorn and watched Ramit’s podcast with Mindy and Carl. That led into a good discussion with Amberly and John about our lives, spending, saving, and how childhood influenced where we are now.

After a discussion earlier in the week about driving less and riding the bike more, I got up early on Tuesday and tested out a route to the Longmont Recreation Center. Amberly wants to ride the bike up there, pulling her trailer with their ten month old son along, so I wanted to make sure there was a complete path that avoided busy streets, traffic, narrow lanes, and any other obstacles. I had ridden part of the path before, but I wanted to ride the entire thing from door to door before giving her my recommendation.

Emboldened by my success, I continued on, hoping to find a path to Whole Foods, a grocery store that they like. I was able to reach the store, but not without being a little scared by the busy streets and traffic. I snapped a photo of the store to prove that I had been there, then headed back to the house for some lunch. After eating, I relaxed and finished my library book then immediately checked out another. I really love having my kindle and being able to check out ebooks from the comfort of a couch. I’m working my way through the Discworld series, a set of books that I read many years ago set in a fantasy world on a disc with water flowing over the edges. The disc is balanced on the backs of four elephants, who all stand on the back of a giant turtle, slowly swimming through space. The stories are fun to read, exactly what I need on this trip.

Wednesday was another relaxing day of reading my book and riding my bike, followed by meeting up with Allen and Adit, some skydiver friends who have moved out here over the years. Meeting up with friends is the singular best part of traveling. The statues and landscape and architecture and art and museums are all very nice, but without friends to relive memories with, what’s the point of seeing all that beauty in the first place? Our friend Jake was passing through town, so the four of us met at a local brewery and relived all kinds of wild stories, some of which for the statute of limitations may not have yet run out, so I won’t be recounting them here. Suffice it to say that we had a great evening of laughs, love, and happiness.

I slept in a little on Thursday, had a relaxing day, then Amberly and I headed to our friend Becky’s for a cookout. Becky is celebrating her retirement, and we were happy to help her celebrate this wonderful life milestone! It was raining a little when we arrived, but everyone made the best of it and huddled under her front porch. Luckily, it all cleared up pretty quickly, so we relocated the tables and chairs to the back yard and continued the party around her fire pit. It was great seeing some friends that I hadn’t seen in a while, met some new friends, and had some good conversations. Since we were in the neighborhood, we took the opportunity to stop and hang out with Nicki for a while. She filled us in on the details of her recent engagement, moving plans, and how smitten she is with her new fiance. We’ll miss having her in Colorado, but they have an exciting life planned in sunny Southern California! Knowing I had to get up early the next morning to head to camp, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the house.