Exploring new grounds

The title of this post refers to my new blog as much as it does to my new life. I moved to Boulder, Colorado last Sunday morning after a fourteen and a half hour drive from Urbana-Champaign. I arrived into what is a beautiful two bedroom town house. Twice the size of my old apartment (and almost twice the rent, heh...) and only half the people are living in it!
My roommate (a french literature major) and her mom (the landlord) welcomed us very warmly (at four in the morning) and the next day very kindly made us breakfast! (thanks Aubrey, dear). I say "us" because somehow I convinced my friend Andre to drive with me to Colorado in his car. Convincing him wasn't so hard, believe me, as long as i let him stay for a few days.

Sunday we didn't do much because the landlords wanted to fix up a thing or two in the house and they also installed a new fan in my room! yay for great weather and no air-conditioning! So me and Andre spend the day driving around stores getting a few things for my new crib. That afternoon we also spend sometime and the pool. Yes, there is a pool that serves the whole neighborhood. Later int he evening we went to the movies and watched something hilarious.

Enough of the boring details! Boulder is AMAZING. From pretty much anywhere in this city there is a breathtaking view to the mountains. It is a bit overwhelming because it can make you feel so tiny and insignificant. It is incredible what a mountain can do for a landscape.

Monday was un-packing day and so I'll skip it altogether. Tuesday however, was my 22nd birthday! and it was a memorable one. In the morning me and Andre went to Chautauqua Park and did the F loop which was a gorgeous trail and it only took us a couple fo hours (about 4 miles). The views were great although it was kind of cloudy and we saw a deer! That made me really excited for some reason.

That evening I learned that a deer in Colorado was nothing to write home about apparently... and I also learned that my roommate's sister, who happens to live next door was also born on June 12! (only a couple of years later though) and so we bough cake and beer and wine and decided to celebrate. Cole and Robin came over and they brought some of the beer that they brew themselves! are you as impressed as I am? it was delicious too, I definitely got to keep these guys around, thanks to Keenan for making the introduction.

Ok, ok, I know this is already a long post so lets wrap it up. This morning we lounged around for a little while and then headed out to Maxwell Falls. This was a gorgeous hike of about 4 miles or 2.5 hours. It was an easy hike the entire time and you get to walk through this incredible forest. You will follow the river for a great chunk and the falls aren't really that tall but they last for a good 200ft stretch or so. The forest looks right out of a movie, I swear, and if you decide to go a little further after the falls, you can get into Cliff Loop which will take you through a gorgeous landscape full of mountains.



All I'm going to say is that my butt is VERY sore! but I like to think that I will have a rock hard ass in a couple of weeks. Don't be jealous now.