Granby in September

I had the pleasure of another outstanding weekend in Granby. It had been too long since I'd spent much time with Pam and Rich (they'd been able to stop by in June to see my apartment and spend some time in Denver, but that was a long time ago). I was fortunate enough to be invited up for a wonderful holiday weekend to celebrate Labor Day with them in their beautiful Granby town. We packed in lots of biking, cooking and relaxing. A refreshing and new-experience packed weekend!!

The three of us before heading up Willow Creek Pass. It was a 44 mile ride in total, 22 miles up and 22 miles back. They rented me a road bike that rode like a dream. It was my first time and now I don't think I can ride a bike again without thinking of that glorious experience. Like Heaven!

Me and my new favorite bike! I was so thankful they suggested renting this bike because with my older mountain bike that trip would have been painful and practically impossible!

Once we made it to the top of the pass (well .5 miles from the top...sorry Pam!) we hid our bikes and hiked back into the forest. We found our catch-and-release Christmas tree we gifted back to the forest over my weekend in Granby for Thanksgiving. How cool is that? It still had its bow on it and everything!

It's the same tree as in this picture!!

So proud of our tree!! And ourselves for such a long bike ride! :)

I think Pam and Rich make one of the most photogenic couples around! So adorable!

Pam thought it would be a nice traditional thing to take a picture by this wagon on our way back down. It's a quintessential part of the western life!

I felt stronger already, after that bike ride. If you look close, my left leg has some bike oil on it, yup hard core! :)

Great story: I bought a bike on craigslist last year for like $100. I didn't have many problems with it until the springtime when I realized that my bike seat kept lowering down after I raised the seat and rode on it. I went into the bike shop and found out that it would cost me about $25 to replace just the seat post. I thought that was ridiculous plus I didn't have the time to look around for better deals. So I started brainstorming ways I could fix it myself. I started with duct tape because that stuff is so sticky. Unfortunately it kept slipping up to the top of the post and not doing me any good. Then I thought of rubber bands, something that could squish up but with enough of them it would keep my post up. I bought a bag and started wrapping them around. I'd think I put enough on the post only to realize as I rode my bike around that my seat would creep back down. I'd have to add more rubber bands later on. I finally thought it was OK but felt a bit hesitant about showing up at Pam's with my homemade solution to my pretty old bike. My first day in Granby we hit the little hill behind her house on my mountain bike and I was pleasantly surprised with how well it rode on the trails. I told Pam about my post because I thought it was pretty ingenious and ridiculous. She suggested we take my bike into the town's shop just to see if they had any posts that would fit my bike. As we went on our huge bike ride on my rented road bike, the repairman replaced my post with a brand new post. In exchange, he asked if he could keep my homemade "Seat Post Shock" that he'd sell for $99.99. I thought, why not? Now I'll be famous!! I had to have Pam take a picture of it for posterity and to look back on all the hard work I put into something that could have been quickly replaced properly. Thank you for all you've done for me, Pam and Rich!! Where would I be without my CO adopted family? Seriously, I am so so lucky!

Queens of the world. This is at the top of a mountain behind Rich's place, up 10 mile canyon, that isn't actually 10 miles long. It was so beautiful there; it was also my first time in Granby without snow on the ground. I got to enjoy the wild flowers, bugs and gorgeously green scenery!

I was peeling corn outside for dinner (corn I brought from my farm to share with Pam and Rich) when Rich noticed this beautiful little rainbow peeping over the hill in the distance. Pam took this picture of me in my rainbow-tie-died tank top with the corn and sunset. Granby is a stunning place to stay!

Pam's "newphews", Pam and I went on a bike ride after making a whole bunch of pepper and pork stew. The boys' mom brought up roasted peppers that we peeled and de-seeded and then Pam made into this dish that the divied up and froze. It was not only a weekend full of biking but also of cooking. We made 6 quarts of homemade spaghetti sauce with everything from the kitchen sink thrown into the sauce. It was delicious! We also made quinoa-stuffed peppers and tons of cucumber-tomato salads. Pam brought up 7 or so pallets full of freshly grown tomatoes from her garden in Boulder. I told her she could have opened up a stall she had so many. I totally understood though when she said they are priceless, like red gold to her. They were so tasty, as was all the food I ate that weekend, I would never have sold them either!!