Trail Running

Hello!

Well, I have good news. Josh and I both have jobs! I got a job at The Lazy Dog, a happening Pearl St. restaurant/sports bar. I have made some friends at work and I'm ready for the rain to stop so that I can make the big bucks! Josh got a job as a cashier at Safeway (its a combo of Fresh Market and Publix). It obviously isn't what he saw himself doing, but it's work for now. He's still actively applying to other companies.

The weather has been very up and down lately. Afternoon t-storms/showers have put a damper on alot of things. Number one thing being that people don't want to eat out when its raining. The folks I work with have assured me that it is unusually slow and the rain can be the blame. I sure hope so.

We have found a new sport that we quite enjoy: trail running. It's so hard and at times I feel like I can't breath running 6,700 above sea level (at the peak), but the feeling after is pretty gratifying. So far we have ran at Chautauqua Park, Hogback Ridge/Foothils, and Mount Sanitas. I feel like I did after Kennesaw 2-a-days and I like it! Hogback Ridge offers a beautiful 180 degree views to the east and overlooks Boulder. Josh and I both agreed that it would be perfect for a sunrise run/hike. We didn't pass a single person and on the west end of the ridge, you can't see the city and it feels like your in open back country with an occasional mansion in the valley.

I mentioned Chautauqua Park in my last blog. It goes straight into the flatirons with limited views at times. It is very populated and well maintained. So far it is my least favorite because of all the other people.

Mount Sanitas has been the most callenging so far. It's well maintained but has lots of jagged rock. The views at the top are unobstructed and beautiful. At dawn and dusk, Mt. Sanitas is frequented by mountain lions and bears. Luckily we didn't see any of those. The way down is quite fun. It has sharp turns, small crevaces and at times we felt as if we were in a maze. After we got successfully got out of the maze, we were about a mile and a half north of where we started. This area opens to Mt. Sanitas Valley. It is a wide open, gravelled path and an easy run down. Mount Sanitas was the best trail run to date.

We are constantly exploring new adventures. There is so much to do and we often find ourselves swimming in a sea of indesicion. I haven't yet bought one of those "Best Hikes: Boulder" books, but maybe I should. :) I get most of my trail information from the internet and stories from locals and those that have declared themselves as locals.

Last weekend we rode up to Estes Park with our buddies Joe and Dawn. It is a very cool town and only an hour or so away. We walked around the town, got some icecream, and took the cable car up to the top. We put quarters in the binoculars and fed peanuts to the chipmunks, typical tourists. If you hold your hand out, the chipmunks will take the peanut straight from your hand, shell it, and cram it in their mouths. I swear I fed one 25 peanuts before he even started chewing.

I don't have any pictures for this post. I will try and take some this week and post.



Keep on keepin' on. I love ya'll.

Best,
Annie

This town is nuts, my kinda place

Hello!! I'm a little behind on the postings. Sorry about that...


Well, Caroline came to visit and we had a blast! We picked her up from the Denver airport on Sunday, May 24th. The next day (Memorial Day) I woke u a 7:00am, unable to fall back asleep, knowing that the Bolder Boulder 10K race was going on just one block away. It is one of the biggest 10K's in the country, bringing in close to 55,000 participants. I rounded up the troops and headed over to 29th St. to watch some of the groups at the start. There were people dressed in costumes, boys dressed a girls, and girls we thought might be boys. We even saw a hard core woman smoking a cigarette pre-race. Around lunchtime, we headed downtown to enjoy the Boulder Creek Festival. We met up with our good friend Joe and some of his buddies, drank some locally brewed beer, and watched the rubber duck race, before heading out to paint the town. We hit up St. Julien for happy hour, the Rio for dinner, the Foundry for a few games of pool and ended the night at the Walrus. We rode bikes home in the rain and called it a night.

Caroline, Annie and Josh at Boulder Creek Festival

Big C Jager Bomb

We (and by we I mean Caroline) shopped, showed Caroline around Boulder, and went for a hike in Chautauqua Park. The views at Chautauqua are amazing and it's only about 3 miles from our house.

Me and Caroline on Pearl Street Mall

Caroline, Josh and me at Canyon Creek

Caroline and me on Boulder/Canyon Creek Trail

Caroline, Me and Josh at Chautauqua Park - Flatirons in the background. They are absolutely gorgeous. Google them. :)

3 of the 5 Flatirons


I think it's safe to say that the highlight of Caroline's trip to Colorado was white water rafting on Clear Creek. We had a blast! I signed us up for the beginner trip because I didn't know how she'd fair, but we totally could have done the intermediate. The water was a brutal 38 degrees. Luckily the rafting company supplied us with wetsuits at no additional cost.

View from Hwy 93, just outside of Boulder - On the way to Mile Hi White Water Rafting

Suited up and ready to go!

Caroline, me, Josh and the strangers in our boat

This was when we almost lost Caroline...

Everyone paddlin' hard while Caroline throws up a deuce

We stopped off at Red Rocks on the way back home, but couldn't get into the amphitheatre because "Punk Fest" was going on. Caroline really wanted to buy tickets but luckily we talked her out of it.

Me and C at Red Rocks Park

On Friday the 29th, we spent all day at the Rez basking in the hot sun, playing bocce, and drinking cold beer. That evening we went to a Rockies game with Joe, where we enjoyed 4 decent seats, 4 dogs, 4 drinks and parking for $59... not too shabby. The weather was beautiful and the Rockies won, I think :) After the game we headed across the street to Fado for a beer.

Me and Big C at the Rez

Joe, Caroline, Josh and me before the Rockies game

After a week of fun in Colorado, Caroline headed back to Savannah... We had a great time!!

"Oh, kiss the mountain air we breath. Goodbye, it's time to fly..."

Michael and Amanda's Wedding in Santa Rosa Beach

Well, we are back from Michael and Amanda's wedding in Florida and I'm not going to lie, it was nice being at the beach. It is amazing how fast you forget what it's like to sweat when you are doing absolutely nothing. We left at 4:00am Mountain Time Thursday morning to catch a 6:00am flight to Atlanta, followed by a flight from Atlanta to Panama City with the hopes of being on the beach with a cold snack in hand by 2:00pm. That never happened. Apparently there are luggage check cut-off times of 45 minutes before the plane departs and we missed it by 4 minutes. So they had to re-book us for the next flight. Not a problem. The problem was getting from Atlanta to Panama City. All flights out, except the last of the night were overbooked and that one only had one seat. Since my ma is a flight attendant, I always fly stand by. This time we wanted to guarantee a seat, so we paid for our tickets. So here I am for the first time in my life with full fare tickets and were flying stand by. BUT, I did get to see my mama! She was flying out to India the same day.

Mom and Me in ATL airport

The last flight of the night: I got on, Josh didn't. Because the flight was over booked, they had asked for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for $400 in Delta vouchers, free hotel, free transportation to and from hotel, meal vouchers and a guaranteed seat the first flight out the next morning. Did I give up my seat? Heck yes I did. So, 14 hours after getting to the Denver airport, we were turning out the lights at the hotel.

Not a bad deal and it was totally our fault. But we did miss a night out with the wedding party and friends and music with a special guest by the name of Brock Butler (Perpetual Groove). We got in early on Friday morning and I think we were on Santa Rosa beach by 10:30.

It was a gorgeous day. We entered the horse shoe tournament, lost, but had a great day in the Florida sunshine. That night we headed to a meet and greet at the house Michael's parents were staying at, followed by a bonfire on the beach. And much to my surprise and excitement... Brock was there to serenade us with some of his originals and a few covers.

Brock

The day of the wedding was similar weather and we got a lot of sun. We had never been to a beach wedding before and it was awesome!

Me and Josh before the wedding

The ceremony was beautiful. Short and sweet. Unlike a loooooong Catholic wedding ;).

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Connor

The reception was a blast and Michael, Amanda, and their families did such an awesome job with everything. The champagne was instinctively flocking to me like the salmon of Capistrano.

Jason Sanders, Amanda, Me, Michael, Josh and April Sanders

Our buddy JT, who happens to be a medical doctor, threw Josh off the golf cart on the way back to the MTV House (tagged for it's hilarity and real life drama). JT assessed his scrapes and he was fine.

JT and Josh - post golf cart sling out

We stayed an extra day to relax and recover ;) Monday equalled back to Boulder for these former beach bums.

"Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure, makes me want to go back again..."

First Trip to Loveland/First Ambulance Ride

Hello! Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks. As most of you know, our first ski/snowboard day as a Colorado resident landed me in the hospital. We went to Loveland on Monday, April 20 - the same day that our good friends Lauren and Patrick welcomed a baby boy into the world. James Peyton Brunson. The drive up was beautiful! We went down about 5 runs and that's about all I remember, and I vaguely remember that.

On account of Josh: He came up behind me and I was on the ground crying. I told him I was fine and snowboarded to the bottom. When we got to the bottom, I was clearly out of it. I couldn't answer the simplest of questions (i.e.: where are we?), so Josh decided to notify Ski Patrol. They brought me to their hut and told me to remember the number 15 (I later thought that it was the color blue they were asking me to remember. haha). After asking me a series of questions that had no answers to (where do you live? Where do you work?), the medic asked me what I was to remember. All he got was a blank stare. That's when they decided that I needed to go to the hospital. Loveland is over an hour from the nearest hospital, so I had to ride in the ambulance, just in case I had neck trauma. I was in an ambulance for over an hour and have no recollection of it what-so-ever. Pretty crazy, huh? Josh followed the ambulance and called our families to let them know. At the hospital, Josh said I just looked really scared. I had a cat scan and some xrays of my neck. Everything came back ok. What a relief!

I started to come to and I asked Josh where I was. He replied "At the hospital in Denver." I said surprised "At the hospital?!?!?! In Denver?!??!" He explained to me what happened and it never clicked. I still don't remember the fall, the ambulance ride, or the cat scan. I thanked God alot on the ride home...

I was wearing a helmet. The doctor said he can only assume that things could have been a lot worse had I not been wearing one. I have worn my helmet on every bike ride since, even leisure rides. I sometimes wear it around the house, just to be cautious. (just kidding, sort of.)

Loveland Ski Area

Josh

Annie

The newest addition to the Brunson gang: Peyton (born 4/20/09), and John Patrick (2 years)

Snow Day!

Snow is comin' down today. It isn't really accumulating though. We were going to head to Loveland Ski Area tody but decided to wait until the road conditions are better. We found a really awesome happy hour at this place called Catacombs. 4-9, Mon-Fri: $1 wells and $1 drafts. We are going to make it an early Friday Night :) I videoed the snowfall outside our building:

We have been going to the North Boulder Rec Center this week and really like it. Josh found a sport that he can beat me in (haha!): Racquetball. He beat me bad too. Workout, swim, hot tub... I like.

Rewind. We took mom to the airport on Tuesday. She was such a big help and we are both so grateful. She even managed to get the Easter bunny to come! We hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park (a first for all of us) on Monday and had a blast. I love you Mama. You're the best.

We're here!

Josh and Mom watching the Masters (blue screen?) on Easter Sunday

We're here! My mom and Big Ed (Josh's dad) got us all moved in. Even though my mom is OCD about organization, we're glad she came to help. We've only been here 4 full days and there are only 2 boxes on the floor. Yesterday we walked around Pearl Street and got memberships for the city rec centers/pools/reservoir. Pretty sweet deal for everything that is included. For all the Low Country Geechee's readin' this: I know it's no Tybee Island, it's no Williamson and it's no Wilmington River, but it will do! :)


Here's the link: http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1296&Itemid=451




Happy Easter!




Bye for now!

Boulder It Is

Josh and Annie - March 26

Our Building

Boulder, CO

The Aparment:
We were hesitant at first. The outside was kinda sketchy. The inside, however, was so clean and pretty big. 2 BR 1.5 BA, 1000 sqft. Not too shabby. I'm glad we gave the little hidden gem a look :)

4 month lease - the original people skipped out so we got this for a really good deal. We can renew after 4 months if we want.

We are 20 yards from Safeway (grocery), 1.5 mile from Pearl Street (like Broughton St./City Market but waaaay bigger), across the street from a Target, and next door to a park.

We are 45 minutes from the nearest ski resort, 20 minutes from Denver, and 45 minutes from the famous music venue "Red Rocks". Mile High Music Festival is in Denver in July. Our most favorite band, Widespread Panic, is headlining two nights. Live music fans: google "Mile High Music Festival" - the line up pretty sick.

The only thing that really sucks about our new place is... no dogs. I figure it's God's way of telling us to get jobs and get settled before getting a puppy. I can wait 4 months I suppose... :)


Boulder is uber friendly, clean and safe. We asked the property manager if there was any crime in the complex. His response was "Well, I've lived here for two years and the only thing that has happened is one time a guy got his license plate stolen..." It is relatively flat and sits right at the foot of the "Flatirons", just before the Rockies.

While we were there this past week, there was a snow storm/blizzard. The whole town shut down. We couldn't drive in our front wheel drive Toyota Camry rental car, so we walked around. It doesn't feel nearly as cold as West Virginia in January when it's NOT snowing. It's not a bitter cold, it's dry and not too bad if dressed appropriately. 16 inches of snow fell in just 36 hours. It is very uncharacteristic of Boulder to get that much snow. The average for the entire month of March is about 17 inches. On average, 80 inches or so falls per year, but doesn't always accumulate like the storm last week.

Oh and we got a 2 BR place for a reason.... COME VISIT US! :)

We start driving out West on Monday, April 6. My mama is helping and staying through Easter. I love that woman more than she will ever know. Keep on rockin' in the free world, Tootie.