Colorado - Rocky Mountain National Park

Last month Dave had a 6 day break from work so we packed our bags and headed to Colorful Colorado.

Dave wanted to explore Rocky Mountain National Park as he hadn't spent a lot of time there. Long's Peak is there as well and Dave wanted to hike that.

The first night in RMNP we camped at Timber Creek. There was a scenic drive you could take to get there so we opted for that. It was not only scenic but very bumpy as the road was not paved. We stopped for a hike along the way as well as some scenic look outs.

If you notice, our campground does not have trees in it. Apparently there is some type of beetle that is infesting the trees and they are having to cut down many of the trees in the area.

This area is also known for wildlife and we were on the lookout. I spotted a big brown bear and started screaming for Dave to pull over and when he did, I got out to see, because it's always smart to run towards a bear. However, after getting a little closer I told Dave it was a big elk and then he asked me if I even knew my animals as it was a moose. ha ha!

The second day we got up early and did another scenic drive and headed to the east side of the park to Long's Peak campground. There are only 26 spots and they are on a first come first serve basis, so we headed over earlier in the morning and thankfully snagged a spot.

The scenic drive over was one of my favorites. It was peaceful and was packed full of amazing views. There was also a spot on this drive to go to the Continental Divide but we opted not to because of time.

We camped 3 nights at Long's Peak. The first day in that area Dave and I hiked together for a few short hikes. We hiked to several lakes and it was a relatively easy hike.

The following day, Dave was a trooper and woke up around 3am to climb Long's Peak. You have to get a super early start to get to the top and down before the thunderstorms roll in. Long's Peak is one of the harder 14'ers to climb so Dave went by himself for this one. Honestly, I'm just not a fast hiker like Dave so us hiking together wouldn't have been fun.

While he was hiking I built a big fire, read, drank coffee and found a shower as it had been 4-5 days since I had showered. ew!

It should also be noted that I bought a percolator and it makes some really good coffee!

I planned to climb up the trail to meet Dave on his way back down but a storm rolled in so I waited in the car. =) Dave climbed Long's Peak in about 12 hours. Apparently a big storm did roll in on the way down and he got hailed and rained on. I'm so glad I didn't climb as I would have probably loathed and cried when the hail and rain came, but I am proud of Dave for climbing.

After RMNP we went to Boulder and Denver. Denver had the Botanical Gardens, which were amazing! We also drove up to the top of Mt. Evans, which was gorgeous! I highly recommend the drive up there just be warned, there will be traffic. Also, if you are extremely afraid of heights I'd do some research before you go.

Do you spy Dave in this next picture?

Look at the traffic!

On the way back into Denver we went to the Red Rock theatre and did a trail in that area.

Also to be noted is that Dave went to IKEA with me. =) We spent about 45 minutes there and I purchased a coffee cart that I had been eyeing for a long time.

And we can't forget our iconic stop at Mt. Sunflower, the highest point in Kansas, on our way home. It had cows, flat lands, a little book where you could sign your name and lots of wind! ha ha! My hair is hilarious.

Tips 

- Buy a National Park Pass! They are $80 a year but quickly pay off. We used ours for park entries and it also covered the entrance fee up to Mt. Evans.

- Arrive at camping spots early as they fill up fast.

- Bring clothes for warm and cool weather. Also always bring rain gear in the mountains.

- Dry shampoo will save your hair if you are a girl and are camping. You're welcome!

- If you plan to do things in Denver check Groupon for deals. I wish I would have. Also, that isn't sponsored I'm just sharing some ways to save you some money.

- Want to travel to Colorado but do it savvy? Check out my full Colorado budget report for tips and tricks on how to make Colorado affordable.

Lastly, I made a video! A big thanks to Amanda for inspiring me to finally make a video of our trip. I hope to do more of these and sure wish I would have done them in Asia.

And if you have never been to Colorado I highly encourage you to go. It is such a beautiful place!

Colorado Budget

Thank you Groupon for sponsoring this post. It's fun because I had planned to share a majority of this content anyways and then Groupon contacted me about writing for them. My only regret is that they contacted me the last day of my trip to Colorado rather than the beginning because I forgot to check for Groupon deals while we were in Denver. And the Groupon link they sent me was indeed for Denver. Fail! As always all opinions are my own.

Today I want to share about our budget for Colorado. I have been on a big kick to revamp our entire budgeting system these past few months. It was really hard in Myanmar to budget well, especially when funds were depleting and we had no steady income. It was fine because we planned for that, but doing a monthly budget overseas was really really hard.

These past few months I have been doing a Dave Ramsey class on-line. I've done one before but my Dad purchased us a class for our wedding and I'm finally getting around to watching the lessons. I think my favorite thing about the class is learning more about budgeting. I know budgeting doesn't always sound like fun, but I do well with structure and knowing exactly how much I can spend on what. I don't plan on going in depth in this post about our budgeting but if you want to know more of my process (I combine some of Dave Ramsey's ideas and implement things that work for us) let me know and I will share more about that in a different post or via e-mail as well.

Back to our Colorado budget.

Dave and I left on a Monday evening and we got back Sunday afternoon. We had a total of 6 travel days. Here is a graphic of what we spent.

Lodging - $247.16

We spent 6 nights either camping or in a hotel. It averages out to $41.19 per night on lodging. The first night we slept in the back of our SUV. I roll my eyes as I type that. It isn't too bad to sleep in your car but yet it is. Our seats do lay down in the back of our SUV so we we can actually lay down but I just don't like sleeping in a car very much. Moving on. Tuesday - Thursday we camped. The camping sights were $26 / night. Friday and Saturday we stayed at a nice hotel in Denver because after camping I need a nice clean hotel. I had a $50 Expedia voucher plus $40ish dollars in rewards so that took about $90 off of our lodging bill. All in all I think $41.19 per night is pretty good for traveling in the US. 

Food - $132.10

I made food before we left for this trip and I didn't include that in the price of food here because that money came out of our grocery budget rather than traveling budget. I made soups and froze them and we took sandwich stuff and snacks. We ate out several nights and then bought some snack stuff as well. Food averaged out to $22.01 a day. 

Gas - $107.77

Gas averages out to a whopping cheap amount of $17.96 a day! Once we arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park we didn't do much driving. Most of that gas came from driving to Colorado and back. 

Miscellaneous - $43.50

This item came in because Dave and I had a big miscommunication on when we were leaving. I thought we were leaving Monday evening and Dave thought we were leaving Tuesday morning. I had everything ready and packed when he come home from work on Monday evening so he threw his stuff together and we left. And because we were rushed we left things at home. I forgot a coffee maker, and I don't care if this sounds snobbish, but I wasn't going to camp without coffee. I purchased a percolator and I just have to say, it is awesome!

We also had to pay for showers when camping. I told you before that I went 5 days without showering and by the 5th day I NEEDED TO SHOWER! It cost $2 for 6 minutes and I shower longer than 6 minutes. And by that time I didn't care how many quarters it cost to get me clean. #firstworldproblems

Freebies

Something that also helped cut down our cost was free things we had. Dave purchased a National Park pass back in January when we traveled the west coast. It cost $80 up front but saved us a bunch of money in the long run. Just to get into RMNP it costs $30. The pass was also good for the entrance fee to Mt. Evans and that saved us $15. 

I purchased  Botanical Garden Pass in Wichita and I was told it worked at other gardens too and it did in Denver. The passes were $12.50 / person so it saved us $25. 

Again we had that money from Expedia and that was a total of about $100. 

So total we didn't have to pay $145! That's a pretty good savings. 

Coupons 

And here is where I wished I would have used Groupons. Something I really wanted to do was to go kayaking or stand up paddleboarding. Dave hiked a 14,000 foot mountain and that takes from 3am - 3pm. I just kind of chilled out but I wished I would have used this Groupon for paddleboarding or this one for kayaking. They are half off the normal cost so definitely would have been worth it. 

Groupon also has a lot off offers for family events or theme parks so it would work well if you are traveling out there with your family.  

How do you budget for travel? 

What are you best money saving tips for traveling? 

Have you ever used Groupon when you travel to other places? 

Do you think our traveling amounts or low or high? I'm curious. 

Hiking Pike's Peak

One of the main things we wanted to do in Colorado Springs was hike Pike’s Peak. Pike’s Peak is a 14’er and I’m happy to say this was my 3^rd time climbing a 14’er. I hadn’t hiked a big mountain in years (highschool years) and it was fun to be back at it again.

The Facts

Mountain Climbed: Pike's Peak

Elevation: 14,114ft.

Water Drank: 72+oz. each

Start Time: 5:10am

End Time: 2:30pm

Total Hiking Time: 9hrs. 20min.

Calories Burned: Enough to eat a massive meal for dinner =)

Anytime you hike a 14’er you need to start early! You want to be up and off that mountain before the daily storms roll in. (I’ve been caught in one before and I don’t even know how to explain what kind of scarry that was). For Pike’s Peak we got up at 4am and arrived to the Barre Trail Parking lot by 5am. By the time we paid for parking and started hiking, 5:10am, the lot was FULL! If you are planning on hiking this trail earlier is better.

Barre Trail is a 12.6 mile trail and is very well marked. When we started out there were a lot of switchbacks. It wasn’t ‘steep’ but it was a steady / “ouch my legs are on fire” incline. After about 4 miles of this it ‘levels’ off for a few miles. That leveling off was super nice as it gave our legs a much needed break. Don’t get me wrong, it was still incline hiking but it just wasn’t a burning / killing my leg incline.

At about 6+ miles into the hike we came across cabins. The cabins are available for those who want to hike ½ the trail one day and finish the next day. The cabins had restrooms as well as leftover snacks (for free). I have never enjoyed a day old garlic bagel so much in my life. I tried to ‘hike and eat’ but that just wasn’t happening. I couldn’t breathe, climb and chew at the same time. There isn’t enough oxygen in those mountains to do that. They did have water and Gatorade available for purchase but it was super expensive.

After the cabins, it’s hard the rest of the way; lots of switchbacks with inclines. I hit a ‘wall’ at this point and told our team we needed a game plan. We decided that we would hike for 7 minutes and then take a break. We did that until we got past the tree line. Then the break was every 5 minutes with a 1 minute timed break.

After you pass the tree line you arrive to the Golden Stairway which is a bunch of bologna. There ain’t nothing golden about those ‘stairs’ except knowing that after those darn stairs was the top of the mountain as well as the gift shop that sold donuts. The Golden Stairs are 16 switchbacks that are the best leg workout / aka BUNS OF STEEL workout ever. 

Our Aunt JB drove to the top of Pike's Peak and picked us up. If you don't have someone to pick you up you can either hike down (ha ha good luck) or there is a train you can ride down. That does need to be scheduled in advance though. 

I’d also like to say that we drank water the entire climb. If you climb any 14’er be sure to drink h2o frequently! The altitude makes you dehydrate quicker and you don’t’ want altitude sickness when you are alone 10,000 feet high in nature.

Dave found a 'layer of clothing' that someone forgot ;)

Dave enjoyed laying on the rocks for a quick rest... =)

 If you are hiking and need some more tips here ya go!

1. Water & Electrolytes

Seriously, take lots of water. You will need water for all the hiking as well for the altitude change. Dave and I combined took 3L + 64oz of water and we drank it all. I honestly feel like we should have taken more. I’d also recommend taking some Gatorade or hydration tablets, which I wish we would have done.

2. Snacks

Be sure to bring enough food as you will need the energy throughout the day. We took pb&j’s for lunch, trail mix, fruit and a little bit of chips. Next time I will take some snacks that are more salty as I feel like that was needed to replenish electrolytes.

3. Toilet Paper.

Do I need to explain? There is 1 bathroom stop and that is 6 miles in.

4. Layers

You start cool, get super hot and then get cold. This is all normal with the elevation changes. I wore some Nike compression shorts and then put leggings over that. I then wore a tank with a quick dry winter shirt over that. I brought a warm head band as well. Wearing layers allowed me to quickly take off a layer or add on a layer.

5. Pike's Peak vs. A Marathon

I had someone ask me this question and I thought I'd quickly address it. They are two very distinctive things but have some similarities. For starters you have to prepare for both of them. Just like with marathon training you need to be fit and ready to hike for 9 hours. The one thing that stood out to me the most was 'the wall'. It's that point when you just think you absolutely can't go on. The wall hit me on Pike's Peak right after lunch around mile 6.5. Soon after that is when we came up with the game plan to hike for 7 min then rest. 

Who else has climbed Pike's Peak? 

If you have any more questions for me about hiking this mountain please let me know! 

Colorado Springs Farmer's Market

I <3 the Farmers Market

While in Colorado my family asked me if there was anything I wanted to do and of all the wonderful things you can do in Colorado a farmer's market immediately popped into my head. I had just been to an amazing farmers market up in Whidbey and I wanted to see what Colorado had to offer. A quick search on google showed us that the Old Colorado city had a farmer's market close to us. 

They had so much good stuff you guys and I left with my arms literally full! The food is fresh from farms and I love the fact that I get to meet the people who grew my food. I also really enjoying knowing I'm supporting someone in the area. 

Here is what I got at the market:

• Basket of tomatoes - $3.00
• Basket of carrots, and I'm talking HUGE carrots - $2.00
• 2 red peppers - $2.00
• Basket of black beans - $4.00 - Guys! I eat black beans like I'm still living in Brazil and a big basket for $4 bucks is AMAZING! 
• Red Lettuce - $3.00
• Collard Greens - $3.00
• Fresh baked loaf of jalapeño bread - $6.00
• Basket of snap peas - $3.00
• Samples - FREE ;)

I didn't take pictures at the market but I have been taking pictures of the food I have made from the market.

Easy Garlic Snap Peas  |  Skinny Orange Chicken  | Basmati Rice

Stuffed Red Peppers - rice, beans, chicken, green chilis, and cheese --> bake for 30 minutes @ 350F

Salad - carrot, celery, tomato, cheese, chicken, green chilis

Basically, if you have a farmer's market near, you must go! Woodward has one and there are a total of 4 trucks / farmers. I haven't been yet this year because we have been gone so much but I will be going soon. Even though the market here is small they still have some really great stuff! 

Do you go to the farmer's market near you? 

If so, what's your favorite thing to get? 

Life Lately #18 - Whidbey, Siblings, Colorado & The World Cup

Hi! I wanted to do a mini recap of what's been going on lately. I feel like I've been MIA with blogging for a while and to be honest, it's felt really good! Sometimes those breaks are just needed.

Life Lately #18

Guys! I had the best time with my siblings and nephews. We talked, we laughed, we cooked together, we watched the World Cup, and of course we played with the nephews for countless hours. I love seeing those two little boys enjoy life. They both are just so fun.

                          

After saying bye to my siblings and nephews I went to Colorado Springs to vacation with Dave's family. We hiked, went white water rafting, toured the Olympic Training Center, hiked Pike's Peak (my legs hurt, really really hurt) and spent some fun time together.

The World Cup is on! I'm rooting for Brasil and happy they have been doing well so far! If they are out I'll root for the US next but come on, America has their sports mixup by calling football soccer. Seriously! I also found my Brasil jewelry just in time!

While in Washington and Colorado I did a devotional on fear. It was short but really good. If you have fears/anxiety I highly recommend this devotional. It gave a lot of verses which me and some friends in Woodward are planning on memorizing this summer.

 My hair! I finally let my good friend, who also happens to be my hair dresser, cut and color it. Ever since living in Asia my hair hasn't been a huge priority but I knew it needed something soon. Also, my friend sits a few pews behind me in church and weekly I'd get a text saying "I can see your split ends from here!" or "I'm glad you wore your hair up today so I don't have to see your dead ends." ha ha! It sounds rude but if you knew the level of sarcasm that comes from Shenel you'd understand why it's funny. Anyways, I got bangs, added red, blonde and let her trim about 3 inches off (which is huge for me!).

Tomorrow Dave and I are headed to OKC to meet with some missionaries from Thailand. We are praying and seeking about what we should do with missions. If you think about it would you please pray for us? I'll give a more in depth update later on this but in the mean time prayers are much appreciated.

How has your life been lately?

Are you watching The World Cup? If so, who are your rooting for? 

Anyone else out there dread cutting off inches of hair?

________________________________________

Linking up today with: