Rafting in Colorado

On our trip to Colorado we did so many things neither Naveen or I had done before, including rafting.  I had visions of crazy lunatics and whitewater adventure somewhat akin to the movie The River Wild with Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. Our rafting excursion was more fun in the sun with a side of splash rather than hold onto your butts the guy in front of me popped out of the raft. Being that this was our first time that was OK with the both of us.

Ready to go.

Pre rafting jitters.

I really have no idea what river we were even on.

Tracks for the California Zephyr.

It was an absolute perfect day for hanging out on the river. Just hot enough that splashing was refreshing.

They stopped at a jumping rock. It was about 30 feet to the water and I was chicken. I stayed at the raft and watched 30 people squeal and slap the water with incredible force.

We will definitely go rafting  again. Perhaps I can talk the Mr. into a 3-5 day Grand Canyon rafting trip.

Birthday Extravaganza Weekend

 Last Friday was Naveen's birthday and I have set a tradition to go all out creating an elaborate plan of activities that Naveen likes. It is a bunch of work but it is worth it to see that smile on his face. This year I created a treasure hunt with activities hidden all around the house for him to find. There were 12 hidden activities that spanned from Friday night all the way through Saturday. Whew! It was a busy weekend. The festivities included movies, DQ ice cream cake with sparklers for candles, mini golf, California Taco, Dave and Busters (his favorite), the driving range and more.

A treasure hunt is not complete without a treasure map!

I had the idea to hide notes in Easter eggs and I searched and searched for eggs with no luck. So in a panic on Thursday night I headed to Hobby Lobby to find something - anything to put the hints in. After searching aisle by aisle and having crazy ideas like hiding them in glass Christmas ornaments (Good idea for hiding, bad idea to have to smash a glass ornament to get a piece of paper out), Martha Stewart was channeled to me and told me to just create 12 simple origami boxes out of colorful sheets of scrapbook paper. It will be so simple and elegant. So I headed to the paper aisle and loaded up with an insane amount of paper for these "simple and elegant" boxes.  BULL SHIT!

I sat in the basement watching Project Runway with delusions of creating 12 origami boxes in no time at all. It very quickly turned into me yelling at Naveen to "STAY AWAY FROM PARTY CENTRAL" while I crazily watched YouTube videos and searched for the perfect origami box. I had the look of a rabid and insane Martha Stewart trying FRANTICALLY to complete A. SINGLE. BOX. It didn't happen. When the hysteria and glue fumes cleared I just cut the paper into crooked circles and stuffed them in the top of these spice tins. And VOILA! Treasure hunt complete.

On Sunday we went to Fort Atkinson where they had people dressed up in costumes reenacting life at the Fort.

Drill practice

The Birthday Boy

Fort Atkinson grounds

There was a store behind the fort that was selling taffy and it was also the hang out for some musicians.

Broom making demonstration.

The building in the middle is where they stored their ammunition.

ATTACK!

My favorite part of Fort Atkinson was the jail area! They had some pretty unusual forms of punishment/torture there. 

I don't know what salt fish is but I am pretty sure they should be thankful I stole it.

Sad drunk standing on the punishment stump.

Ah hell, lets party!

 The strangest punishment was a box with a hole in the top for your head to stick out of. The height of the box was just short enough so you couldn't stand, but tall enough that you couldn't kneel. So you had to crouch in there with your head locked out through the top for 30 minutes a day until your sentence was over.

The infirmary. 

The surgeon's area. Note: There is a jar of leeches on the table. Ew.

Officer's office.

That's quite a dapper uniform.

Harvest

Mount Rushmore

Leif, Jack, and I under the noses of Mount Rushmore.

The View From Above

In a few words... Hot Air Balloons are AWESOME. Try it. You will like it. Guaranteed. 'Nuf said.

 Our hot air balloon ready to go in the South Park Valley in Colorado.

 Some of our high flying company. I think our basket held 12 people.

Inside the envelope of our balloon.

The whole basket crew, minus our balloon pilot (who looked a lot like Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs).

 This is the view from about 2000 feet above the ground. There are dirt roads and cul de sacs mapped across the whole valley and only a handful of houses. There was a Japanese company that went there in  the 70's with big plans for developing the area. They made and named the roads and then realized there was no water anywhere. So this is what was left. The houses that are in the valley must rely on solar power and if they are lucky they find some water on their land, if not they have to bring water in from town. Talk about living "off the grid".

 Being surrounded by mountains on all sides was amazing and the view was beautiful. The mountains were still a bit hazy from all of the wild fires near Colorado Springs.

While there was nothing but desolation and a Bison farm and "compound" directly below us, we were COMPLETELY surrounded by mountains. It was beyond cool. Our pilot pointed out all of the Fourteeners to us.