first hike of the season

I definitely wish I was more athletic. Like, that I had cardiovascular endurance and stuff. Now that the Rowlands have moved to Colorado, this is definitely easier to do since the air doesn’t make my lungs seize. However, I am still fighting the habits of 27 years of non-breathing (and thus a significant lack of cardiovascular endurance and stuff). 

Luckily, Phil and I finally went hiking again. Can you believe it? Rocky Mountain National Park is still awesome. Not only that, it was 100 degrees in Loveland and 80 degrees in the mountains. 

              

The most neat-o thing that happened on the hike was seeing the elk in the first picture. Phil got only 10 feet away from her. She was huge, but by elk standards, she was actually small. Her footfalls were so heavy, I can only imagine how much she weighed.

We Rocked

Not too long after we moved to Colorado we met a great couple named Mike and Virginia at church. They recently moved from Alabama and are avid rock climbers. Does it get much cooler or more hard core than that, I think not. Sarah and I are by no means hard core in the least. But when the weather warmed up we got our chance. Mike and Virginia took us and a group from church rock climbing. Mike said that it was an easy climb, but too me it was still shear rocks going straight up for about at least three or four hundred feet. in actuality Mike said it was about fifty, my sense of distance might have been off while I was trying with an absurd amount of energy to look like I wasn’t scared. I learned a few things that day, first was that I could actually get to the top of a cliff (the view was amazing), second was that we have pretty amazing friends, and third was that my asthmatic wife is a far superior rock climber than I am. She was amazing, she looked like she was running up the rock. My wife is a Hoss

Phil

Sorry about the pictures, we used a cellphone

Phil at the top of the world

Sarah mid run