Farewell Boulder! Hello opportunity!

Since leaving the bubble that is Boulder I have been to, drum roll please, Estes Park, Colorado Springs, Canon City, Cheyenne WY, and Laramie WY. All in one short week.

Yes, yes, I know this is my vacation and it's supposed to be relaxing, but anyone who knows me knows I am not the kind of person to sit still and watch life pass me by.

You may be asking yourself, now how did it come to be that in 7 short days Heidi managed to visit all these different places. Well, let me tell you. It all began in Estes Park....

I arrived mid afternoon last Thursday and set about exploring the town. Eventually I found my self at The Wheel Bar where I got suckered into a shuffle board game, which is surprisingly competitive considering it is a game dominated by the retired community. It was there that I met up with a wedding party, part of which happened to be rafting guides. We got to talking about rafting and one thing led to another, and before you know it I was invited down to Colorado Springs. After a nice hike-swim-climb on Friday I made the drive south.

The actual river, the famed Arkansas, is down in Canon City, along with Royal Gorge Rafting headquarters. I spent the next three days rafting, logging over 70 miles on the river and meeting a bunch of incredible people. I am convinced that rafting, like rock climbing, is one of those communities that only allows really cool people in. It's like a secret organization, that in order to pass initiation you must demonstrate a certain level of bad-assness.

The Royal Gorge is an awesome section of river. With six Class IV rapids like Sunshine Falls and Boat Eater, the gorge is one of the most rafted sections of river in America. It also happens to be located in the deepest gorge in America, so its got that going for it.

There are a group of RGR rafting guides who call themselves the Wyoming Boys. It was with these gentlemen that I found myself bound for Cheyenne. Cheyenne Wyoming is home to the largest rodeo, or as they say "the mother of 'em all". Bulls, wranglers, half pound burgers, cowboys hats, pancakes, beer, and broncs were all part of the experience. Not to mention getting to see Darius Rucker in concert. This name might sound familiar because before entering the country music scene, Darius was better known as Hootie, as in Hootie and the Blowfish. He put on amazing show, complete with a couple of covers and old Hootie songs.

All in all, it's been an amazing week. And my adventure isn't even over yet! Gradie and I will be on the road for another two weeks give or take, so you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be more blog posts to come! Until then, YEEEE HAWWWWW and grab life by the horns! ...but please don't grab the bull's horns unless you are professional.

Spider Style!

Bouldering,top rope, sport, trad, soloing, and now buildering. Every time I think I have tried every possible type of climbing I learn of another exciting venture. Today we were suppose to climb the chimney route of the first Flat Iron, celebrating our summit by smoking a fine cigar. However, mother nature had other plans for us. She lifted her skirt and let the rain come down.
Discouraged, we ventured into Whole Foods for a quick pick me up in the form of ice cream, the solve all of man kind. With our newly found energy and determination, we set our sights on the campus Colorado University.
Now, a college campus might seem like an unlikely climbing destination, however CU is listed on Mountain Project to have at least 28 climbs.

Buildering.
The climbing of buildings, which in turn, makes you feel like Spiderman minus the spandex outfit, unless of course, you happen to be climbing in spankies.

Many of the campus buildings are covered in sheet rock, offering a wide variety of very sustained, crimpy traverses and problems. The engineer building is covered in the unmistakable white of chalk and houses one of the most pumpy traverses I have ever attempted. Even the mannly, muscly men were forced to succumb to its power.

The moral of this story is that regardless of bad weather, there is ALWAYS, and I do mean always, some where to climb!