Craziness in Denver

The next day we decided to do a longer hike near Boulder and then go into Boulder to meet up with David's other friend. Following a suggestion (for still and easy, shorter hike of about 6 miles and 3 hrs roundtrip) we headed to The Center for Atmospheric Research (which was directly in front of the trailhead. The day was gorgeous so we didn't take our rain jackets and headed out to the trail. It was a pretty trial through hills with wildflowers, woods of pine and beech, some valley overlooks, and along a meandering stream. About 2 hours in we started wondering where the top of the mountain was (we were supposed to come out on Bear Peak with an amazing view). We looked at our map and decided to keep going. Another hour passes and we still aren't to the top so we keep going - we really want to see this view! After 6 miles and 3.5 hours we finally reached the top with a very rewarding view. And 6 miles of hiking back to the car! After a little break and some photos (below is a photo of David and David - hahha!)  we headed back to the car. On our way back clouds started blowing in and we stated to hear thunder. We booked it down the mountain as we stared to see lightening and feel droplets of rain. After going .4 miles downhill past our last turnoff to the car and then doing back up, we reached the car just as the sprinkling rain started coming down a bit harder. Our 6 mile 3 hr. hike turned into a 12 mile, 6 hour hike - okay we might be ready for the Tetons! Sadly we were too late to visit David's other friend. In the car I proceeded to pass our under my jacket in the back seat. This turned out to be a terrible idea. As soon as we got back to the house and I took a step out of the car I threw up! Ugh! Carsick! I went right to bed with lots of water and tea to sleep it off.

We went out the next day to get an oil change. While we waited for the cars (yes two cars David and David's friends car) to be ready we hung out at The Amsterdam Cafe where I tried my first Red Latte (rooibos tea and steamed milk! Awesome!) and a free peach iced tea (modeling does pay off! lol!)

After getting the cars back we drove out of town to try to see David's friend in Boulder. On the way the car started changing gears in a very strange way. We pulled off and checked the engine and the fluids. We had no deff. fluid and an inch too much of our transmission fluid. We took Dave's car to a shop and bought deff fluid, a funnel, and an oil pan. Back at David's car we filled up the deff and drained the transmission with the help of Eric ( a very nice stranger who stopped and happened to have a 24 piece wrench set) (we didn't have the right size wrench for the bolt on the drain for the transmission fluid!). We will be off to Vedauwoo tomorrow! I'll have photos soon!