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Friday, July 4, 2008

Some pictures from vacation

I have some book reviews, but we'll worry about those later. For right now, pictures of the vacation to Colorado. And happy 4th of July to my American readers!

Here is my husband and I in Boulder, Colorado. We're drinking tea while waiting to take a tour of the Celestial Seasonings tea factory.

Aside from seeing and smelling the enormous boxes and bags that held the raw materials for the tea, we helped ourselves to an extreme tent sale and spent about $7.00 on a big box of tea.


The Rockies aren't really that big after all. Ha ha. We drove through the Rocky Mountain National Park, and discovered the meaning of the words "Altitude Sickness".



Great Sand Dune National Park. I kept feeling like I was in an alien landscape as we climbed up the sand dunes. Climbing up is nothing easy, as the footholds keep shifting on you. Climbing back down is marginally easier, because you kind of go into a controlled fall.




And yet, despite the barrenness of the dunes, there is life. It was hard to believe, but there are specialized plants, bugs, and even a type of rat that live on the dunes.


We stopped in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, to enjoy the hot springs. For a ridiculous sum of money, we got to watch the sun set from a variety of natural mineral springs. My swim suit still smells of sulfur.



So that is our vacation in a nutshell. I did not make too much time for reading on vacation, but I did read a little bit of Farworld, and since coming home, I've gone through The Absolute Sandman Volume 1. I picked it up from the library the day before we left on vacation (it includes the first four volumes and weighs about 10 pounds). My younger brother came over that same night so he could drive us to the airport, and he spotted that book. From 10:30pm until we got up at 4:45am, he read that book. When we came out to the living room where he was camping out, my brother was laying on the floor, with the last page of the book open in front of him, his feet still on the couch. "Finished it," he said when we woke him up, "About 20 minutes ago."

I'm still trying to decide what I want to do for the 4th of July. Trek up to my parent's house to see fireworks or stay at home? What are your plans?

13 comments:

Eva said...

You were in CO? I live in the Springs! Fortunately, I've never gotten altitude sickness (and I just moved here a couple years ago), but my sister gets it every time she comes to visit. :(

Sounds like a fun vacation! And cute couple pictures. :D

Ana S. said...

The Sandman does that to people :P

Welcome back, Kim! It sounds like you had a great time. And those are some lovely pictures.

Susan said...

Welcome back, Kim! you look so happy and rested in your photos. I love the mountains, and I love the water (spring?) in the last shot.....my holidays aren't until December, I'm not sure how I'm going to last that long! Hope you had a happy July 4th.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that altitude sickness can get ya' :) When we were there, I learned why NOT to jog 100 yards at 10,000 ft. It was like "Suddenly... can't... breathe!!"

Kim L said...

eva-aw thanks. We did visit the Springs for a few days to white water raft and visit Pike's Peak. Honestly, it wasn't too bad except when I tried to do anything active. I felt bad for those who were extremely sick.

nymeth-I did have a great time. And I agree about the Sandman. My husband is reading it now, and he never wants to put it down!

susan-it is so hard to wait for a vacation! I was so ready to leave for this one for a long time. It was much needed.

lauryn-yup. Been there, done that. I kept telling myself "I'm not horribly out of shape, its the altitude." And then I felt marginally better.

Andi said...

Beautiful trip - so much diversity in what you saw. I bet you're tired but also ready to go. Thanks for sharing.

Kim L said...

andi-you pretty much summed it up right there.

Andi said...

Great pics, and what a fun vacation! I giggle every time I hear something about Celestial Seasonings. Have you seen the movie Catch and Release? If not, Kevin Smith's character works for CS, and it's too funny.

Melody said...

Welcome back, Kim!
Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation! :) Thanks for sharing the pics too!

Anonymous said...

Lovely photos, you both look great against the natural hot springs, I would love to do that. I love the perspective shot as well with The Rockies. Glad you had a great time.

Kim L said...

andi-I'll have to check that one out!

melody-thanks, I had a great time.

rhinoa-thank you, I enjoyed trying to take some different shots. Of course, this is 5 pictures out of about 500 I took (okay maybe not 500, but a lot still).

Anonymous said...

Looks like you had a wonderful vacation. How fun!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

You and your husband make such an adorable couple!! Glad you had a great trip and are back with us.