Welcome LX to Colorado

We're here in Colorado!

Of course this isn't the first time we've been here. But we're here for the whole summer, we have a real house with walls and a key instead of a hotel card and tent zippers. So it's kind of different this time.

We arrived yesterday into DIA (Denver International Airport) really early in the morning. How weird it was for it to be daylight and for us to be a little snoozy from just having woken up rather than getting ready for sleep. We made it through our travels fairly easily despite our ridiculous amount of luggage - 1 big bag of clothes for each of us, 1 bag of sleeping bags and cold weather clothes, tennis racquet bag, camera bag, toy bag, 2 laptops, and one dog. Having been here a zillion times before we knew the whole routine. Leaving the airport heading for Boulder we didn't need directions, we were home.

First stop - 604 Quince Circle. Our rented condo for the summer. Beautifully clean inside. Perfectly situated near Wonderland Lake and the surrounding open space. Empty refrigerator and drawers. We needed to go shopping and unpack.

Second stop - Boulder Farmer's Market. Last time we were in Boulder it was Memorial Day weekend and the Boulder Creek Festival was going on. There were booths selling food, crafts, outdoor fun, and social consciousness. The Farmer's Market is the same, but on a smaller scale. We started at the food court where a digeridoo band was playing REM and other favorites. Wee was obsessed with dumplings and ate two orders. Alex and I shared some of the dumplings and also had some nice eggs benedict served with sides of spinach, tomato, and rice. We shouldn't have eaten so much since there were great samples everywhere, but the dumpling monster was relentless. Once we got to shopping we picked up mixed mushrooms (shiitake, mitake, wood ear, and others I don't even recognize), spring onions, garlic tops, baby bok choy, hot house tomatoes, whole grain bread, pepper crusted goat cheese, tender baby lettuce, a small piece of beef flank steak, apple cider and apple sauce. We could have gotten more exotic stuff containing primary ingredients like flax and buffalo, but we were tired and just wanted something fresh and good. We were missing the reusable bags that everyone else had and that we would normally use, but figured life with a dog needs a few plastic bags.

Next stop was "home". We unpacked, then Wee and I started into our current obsessions - Nintendo DS for him, the book Twilight for me (Thanks Priyanka for giving me your addiction). But Alex had the right idea and started to nap. I joined him after a while, then Wee, after frustratingly not being able to achieve a particularly interesting level against the Evil Empire, surrendered to sleep as well.

We woke up just in time to head to Nederland to look at what I'm sure will be our car for the summer. Renting for the whole summer would be prohibitively expensive. We figure we'll buy a $3000-ish vehicle soon and either sell it at the end of the summer or keep it around for whenever we visit. We met Al of Al's auto and a 1998 blue Ford Explorer that seemed exactly like we'd envisioned. But we never buy the first thing we see, so we're going to go looking at others and then likely come back to that.

Since we were in Nederland, we just had to go to The Land. It was thundering and lightning for a bit and we were tired, so we didn't stay long. Just long enough to breathe in the beauty of the yellow snap dragons and red indian paint brush flowers that had erupted everywhere since our last visit.

We also did a little shopping at the Nederland Mountain Market supermarket. I don't know what I think about that store. It certainly has everything a person needs, but somehow I'm often skeptical. My favorite purchase was the local bird seed - Ned Feed - that we got for the birds on the land. We want to live our Colorado life local and natural and that fits right in.

But we had some bigger things on our shopping list. So REI was our next stop. Somehow I like the REI here better than others I've been to in other places. I think that feeling is because I know that the stuff is used immediately and for exactly its rugged intended purpose. Wee needed a "full sun hat - no baseball caps" for camp. I was imagining one of the dorky fishing caps that Alex always likes to get on vacations. But thankfully REI is cooler than Alex and had great hats with brims that can be put up or down. The hat is red, but looks a little like something an explorer would wear. Go explore Wee! He got a matching red rain Gortex jacket, showing up the ancient jackets that Alex and I both have. For water shoes Wee went for green Keens while I got some great Red Salomon trail runners. A red Life is Good water bottle rounded out our purchases for the day. But I know we'll be back often.

Final outing for the day was to Lucky's the grocery store closest to our house. Now we're talking! Fresh, organic, local, close, perfect. We picked up more necessities (all organic) and headed home to make dinner.

Dinner was roasted chicken (real and fake), the baby lettuce salad with a champagne vinaigrette, baby bok choy with garlic tops (aka scapes), and orzo. Alex and I bumped into each other constantly in the kitchen trying to find everything. We thought of our kitchen layout in The Cabin and hoped for better flow for 3 chefs. We ate at the dining room table with candles lit all around and iPhone music playing. No TV. Big change.

After dinner we walked down to the playground and did some TKD patterns and just enjoyed the lovely evening. Then back up to the house to clean up, eat some strawberries on the porch, and get ready for bed. No TV again - this is really odd. I read on the couch while Alex read to Wee in his room. They both were out in minutes. When Alex came up we went upstairs to do a little computer work and then we were all out.

Great first day!!!