Winter X Games 15 - Caleb and Colton Moore Tandem Snowmobile Backflip

Most cRAZy thing I saw at Winter X!!! Yet I think it was ridiculous that they got DQ for it! Moore Brothers still got the Gold this year in my book...2 man backflip was INSANE!

Ice Climbing in Ouray-Video

The video of the history of Ice Climbing in Ouray!

One Week Down

I have official been a Coloradoan for over a week now, and I cannot tell what a trip even this first week has been. I have met so many new people, who come from such different backgrounds then the ones that I am used to. Most when first meeting me laughed at my “accent” and the infatuation I have with the Mountains….a majority of my friends here have seen the gorgeous Rockies out their windows for their entire life and cannot imagine living someplace flat without Mountains, such as Wisconsin. But our differences have made my experience out here that much more a learning experience. I am learning about the different foods that people commonly eat here such as: Rainbow Trout, sushi, “The Western Sandwich” (which is composed of scrambled eggs or egg omelet cooked with ham, onions, green peppers, salt and pepper, and usually served on toasted bagels). And my new friends are learning what Cheese Curds are!! Haha most think they sound disgusting and don’t believe me when I say they are super yummy.

But one of the greatest things that I admire about the people out here is their love of the outdoors. I do not think a single person I have met here does not have a love for being outside. Most grew up hiking, cycling, skiing/snowboarding, climbing, camping---and when I say camping I mean true camping where all you have is the pack on your back and sleeping out in the open under the stars, none of them would ever even consider camping in a motorhome or pull-behind camper. So it has been extremely exciting and fun for me to get introduced to all of these new things.

Last Thursday I had my first snowboarding class at Powderhorn Resort which was AMAZING! I now know what it feels like to snowboard in fresh powder, and ungroomed trails—and let me tell you the feeling in indescribable!! My class consist of over 100 students, but we were all broke down into groups about 7-12 students depending on our skill levels and given an instructor. My instructor’s name is Matt and he is super fun and teaching us all new skills. Pretty sure we will all be getting an easy “A” in the class. J

Then this weekend I experienced something totally new. I went Ice Climbing with the Outdoor Program here at school. It is an amazing club/office here on campus that takes trips every single weekend, doing everything from rock climbing to skydiving to everything in-between. We headed to Ouray, which is about 2 hours from the valley, in a big ol’ 15 passenger van. Now Ouray is a reasonably small Mountain town in the San Juan Mountains, which in my eyes are some of the most beautiful Mountains that I have ever seen. They have tons of beautiful canyons among the mountains and in some of the canyons the “ice farmers” create ice for the sport of ice climbing. The story of the Ouray Ice Climbing is pretty amazing if you ask me. To give you more of a background on the area I’m going to attach a Youtube link that will take you to a video about the area of Ouray.



The San Juan Mountains



Again, The San Juans

When we arrived at Ouray, we unloaded the van and got all of our gear into our backpacks. Before being able to enter into the actual park we first had to put on helmets and crampons-which are spikey things that you attach to the bottom of your special ice climbing boots that give you traction.  Upon putting on the required gear we headed off on our 45 minute hike into the Mountains to get down into the canyons to begin climbing.

My friend Brook on the sketchy log bridge that we had to cross on our hike

When we got down to the ice canyon, we were all watching fellow ice climbers shimming up and down the ice, making it look easy-as-pie. I remember standing there waiting for out lines to drop saying, “You have got to be kidding me! I am never going to be able to do that.” But I am happy to report that I did and made it all the way to the top on my FIRST attempt! What an adrenaline rush looking down at how far up I was!! It was amazing, and after I repelled down I wanted to do it again and again. Which all of us did for most of the afternoon.





The canyon where we climbed





Taking my first climb!





Me repelling down!





I'm almost to the top!



For lunch my friend Tom taught me how to make mac’n cheese in the wilderness, on this tiny little camping stove with these adorable little pots and pans---all of which fit into his backpack of course. And let me tell you it was some of the yummiest mac’n cheese I’ve ever had. I don’t know if that is because it was so cold down in the canyon and the warm food really hit the spot or if it was my amazing cooking….maybe a bit of both. Heheh



The Pocket Stove that we made mac'n cheese on
-it's like 3 inches big!





By time the sun started showing signs of retreating below the mountains it was time for us to pull our lines and begin our hike out of the canyon and back to the van. The hike out at the end of the day was beautiful. And just as we began to hike out, Colorado showed us how unpredictable and changing it’s weather truly is, because a huge dark cloud and a snowstorm began brewing over one of the Mountains right in front of us.



A look at the canyon during the hike out



 



The Moutains again





The storm cloud that suddenly appeared







One last look down the Ice Canyon



 After loading backup the van it was off to the Ouray Hot Springs! The Hot Springs in Ouray are known for a few things: 1.) The natural feel of their pools, unlike most hot springs that look just like a swimming pool that smells like sulfur, the Ouray Springs have a more natural pond look to them. 2.) They are clothing optional- so we encountered out far share of “free spirits” while we soaked our sore climbing muscles. The soak felt wonderful and was super relaxing after a long cold day of climbing; causing most of us to fall asleep on the ride back to the valley and Grand Junction.

My Sunday was spent catching up on homework, doing some laundry, and of course cheering on my PACKERS!! We’re going to the SUPER BOWL BABY!!!! Yaaayyyy. J

Well that is about the extent of my week thus far, next weekend I am off to Aspen, CO to watch the Winter X Games and hopefully see/meet some of my favorite athletes. So watch for me on television!! Haha



Until next time….sending love and good vibes from Colorado. <3

 

Mission Complete!!

Thursday morning we successfully got Dad’s truck back up and running after a visit to the mechanic in Brush, WI. Upon sitting at the garage waiting for the water pump to get fixed Dad chatted it up with a local man about the agricultural industry in the area. He was quick to tell us about the big feedlots that collect all those big black beefers we’d been seeing scattered along the countryside. The man told us that one such feedlot was just a few miles down the road. So after getting the truck back, we of course had to check it out. And I think big was an understatement…the lot was HUGE! All you could see was beefers forever, thousands of them getting finished off for slaughter. It was crazy. I’d never seen anything like it before.

After checking out the feedlot we were back on the road bound for Grand Junction. It was only a few miles down the road when I got my first glimpse of them….the ROCKIES! They were unreal, looked like something out of a storybook nestled all up in the clouds. But it wasn’t until we hit Denver that we could see the bottom of the massive “hills”, I’m so unused to saying the word “mountain”.



The Rockies in the Distance



After traveling through Denver we went a bit off course to visit the adorable town of Golden, CO and the home of the largest brewery in the world, The Coors Brewery. The town was right at the foothills of the Rockies, the perfect place for Adolph Coors to find the freshest water to make his beer with. Mom, Dad and I took the tour of Coors. I have been on other brewery tours, but this is the first one that I really remember. It was extremely interesting to watch how Coors in made from growing the hops, to mashing it, to packaging the cans…and of course tasting the final product. We got to try two new recipes that are not yet available back home: Native Colorado-which is the latest addition to the Coors family; and Batch 19- a recipe that was created before prohibition, but got stashed away when liquor and beer was outlawed, the recipe was just rediscovered only a few months ago. Both a little on the heavier-side for beer but yummy just the same.

Daddy & I taste testing :)



The story of Batch 19....it's a little heavier, but yummy-yummy!

Following our stop at the brewery we were off for the long trek through the Mountains. We drove over 170 miles straight through the Rockies. The mountains that I saw pass through the windows of the truck were unbelievable. And hitting them at sunset made it all the more magical. I thank God that we had nice weather on Thursday making the trip through the mountains not so treacherous, I could not imagine driving that curvy road in bad weather conditions. And after 3 hours of mountains we reached it…the valley that held GRAND JUNCTION!! The town that would be my home for at least the next 5 months.

We got settled into our hotel and then went exploring the town, we found the Mesa State College Campus and walked around a bit to check things out and find out where my orientation would be held the following day. Afterwards we returned to our hotel for the night. Friday we were up bright and early for my college orientation, I had a student session while Dad and Mom were in a parent session. We had lunch here on campus and bought my books, got my Mav-ID card, and found my dorm. Then we were off to find Powderhorn Ski Resort, the ski-hill where I would be having class 2 days a week!! It is about an hour drive UP the mountain to get to the hill, it is nestled far back in the valley of the surrounding mountains. My parents have never really seen a ski-hill up close so they were pretty excited to watch people skiing and snowboarding. While I was just itching to be one of those people riding down the hill!!! Haha After leaving Powderhorn we heading back for the Mesa Valley and Grand Junction. On our way we stopped in Pallisade (the town adjacent to Grand Jct) to do a little wine testing. Wineries are all over here. The lady who was doing our wine testing explained that some of the best fruit is grown locally right here in the valley, including grapes, peaches, pears, strawberries, etc. Upon making our selections we returned to Grand Junction to begin moving me into my dorm.

My dorm room, which is now my new home, is HUGE compared to my old room in River Falls and the views out my window irreplaceable!! Grand Junction and the Mesa Valley are surrounded on all four sides by mountains. Including the Grand Mesa-the largest flattop mountain in the world; and the Colorado State Monument…so gorgeous! Saturday Dad, Mom, and I visited the State Monument. I was the lucky one who got the privilege to drive along the windy drop off cliffs—scary is an understatement. But the view was totally worth the sketchy drive up the side of the mountain.

One of the tunnels we went through at the Monument

Looking down on of the Canyons



Another view of the Canyons

On of the coolest rock structures: Balancing Rock

After our visit to the Monument, we found the next best thing Grand Jct has to offer…an awesome shopping MALL!!! Haha of course Mom and I were right at home. J After we got our shopping fix, we were off to me my new roomie Anel. She is a doll, I see a great semester in our future!! After a quick intro with Anel and dinner, it was PACKER FOOTBALL TIME!!! So mom, dad & I headed back to the hotel to catch the game and to watch the Packers kick some Falcon booty. Whoop, whoop! Then this morning it was time to say the much dreaded tearful goodbye and send Mom and Dad back to Wisconsin.

Mission Move Gabby to Colorado

Well it is day two of Mission move to Colorado and I’m happy to report Mother Nature has not put us in the ditch yet (knock on wood), though Tuesday night it did seem like she was trying her hardest. Coming down I-80 in-between Mason City, Iowa and Des Moine we hit some terribly slick roads. At one point I think we counted over 30 cars in the ditch! As conditions began to worsen and we began hitting patches of black-ice, causing us to begin to fishtail, we decided to call’er a night and found a hotel in Des Moine. Putting on only about 390 miles in the day. But being the good spirits we are, we made the best of the situation at hand and found ourselves at the nearby Mexican Restaurant, El Rodeo, enjoying a few frozen beverages. Before we walked back to our hotel room and turned in for the night.





My yummy frozen beverage



One of the many cars in the ditch



We got up and hit the road right after breakfast this morning and were a happy to find the roads in a little bit better conditions, we still have the hubs on the truck locked in, but for now 4-wheel drive is no longer needed. It is still windy and lightly snowing outside. But I’m hoping once we hit Omaha, NE the weather and more importantly the roads will begin looking better, making this road trip a little less nerve racking on all of us.

Well we got to Omaha and my hopes (or wishes) came true…the sun came out making it a “nice, warm” 3 degrees, and the roads cleared up! So we’re cruising along at a nice 85 mph today (granted the speed limit out here is 75 mph). This is the first time that I’ve ever been to Nebraska and let me tell you it’s not as exciting as it may sound…haha The Eastern part of Nebraska is extremely hilly their fields even have plateaus built in them to help prevent erosion.

The "Welcome to Omah" Sign

A train in Omah

The crazy fields in Eastern NE

But the further west we traveled the more the landscape of NE seemed to flatten out into huge bare fields. Something that is very boring to stare at when your on a roadtrip. The only thing that seemed to move in those flat fields were the big ol’ black beefers they had out on pasture!

Beefers out on paster in NE

We continued to see vehicles in the ditch, obviously still there from the storm that we encountered last night. Today, I lost count at 27 for the number of cars we saw in the ditch. We even saw a huge four semi truck wreck in the ditch!!

Part of a semi in the ditch

Another semi in the ditch

Another car in the ditch

And as we began to near the Colorado border we not only changed time zones, into Mountain Time, but it became more obvious that we’d began to reach the “West”. Rolling hills began to pop-up along either side of the interstate.

Next thing I knew WE CROSSED THE COLORADO BOARDER!!! As soon as I spotted that “Welcome to Colorado” sign I got super excited. For the next few month this was going to be where I called home.

Upon further driving down I-76 through Colorado I learned a few things about the West—

1.) a white bellied deer, is really a antelope

2.) out here it is not uncommon for people to hit a moose with the car

3.) there is a vast amount of empty land between “towns”

4.) “towns” here= a 2 pump gas station and a tiny café

**I’m sure this list will expand as the days and months wear on but for now this is what I learned my first few hours here in CO**

We suffered from some minor car issues tonight somewhere between Silver, CO and Fort Morgan. But luckily we stopped in a nice little town of Brush and found a mechanic here in town that will get our truck in first thing in the morning. So hopefully we can get to Denver, and through the Rockies and eventually to GRAND JUNCTION tomorrow. J

Stay tuned for the rest of the adventures of Mission Move Gabby to Colorado…

My 1st Colorado Sunset <3

Last Day in Wisconsin

I cannot believe it's moving day already! Crazy how fast time flies and how much I have yet to do. Packing up my car this afternoon gave a weird sense of "I'm really doing this...I'm leaving home and going some place totally foreign to me." I guess it took up until that moment of packing my life into my tiny little Grand Am to truly realize how big of a step this is for me. Yet, I am very excited to see how this move turns out. As Rose Truman once said, "Enjoy life. This is not a dress rehearsal, there are no second chances. There is only the here and now."
This is my "here and now" and I am embrasing it with open arms and an open mind. I feel this move will not only be a great change of scene, but also an amazing adventure of finding myself. With the move tomorrow, I am pushing myself outside my comfort zone being I have never been to Colorado before, nor do I know a single soul living there. I feel this semester will push me more then ever to truly find courage within myself to go for what I want and...errr I hate to say it but, grow-up a bit. Ontop of all that I am hoping to solve a huge question of  "Can I truly move away from my home in Wisconsin and my family?" Stay tuned for (hopefully) answers to these questions and many more along this journey.
Until then...we'll be seeing you Wisconsin!!

Out with the OLD, in with the NEW!

Hello Everyone!

I hope the holidays found you all well. I can't believe how fast the holidays always fly. Yet, they always seem to bring me back to what is truly important--Family, Friends, and health. 

Christmas proved to be yet again a wonderful time for my family. I love having my four nephews to share it with. I remember before they were born that I would hear people talk about the joy they got just from watching a child on Christmas morning, and now that I have my nephews...I have become one of those people saying that! haha It is just so fun to watch a child get so excited for Santa and the simplest of toys. But the thing that I will appriecate the most this Christmas is the quality time I got to enjoy with my family, both immidate and extended. I have learned the hard way that time is not always on our side, and the moments spent with my family is something that has come to have a irreplaceable value for me. But beyond all the gifts, cookies, Christmas trees, lights, etc. is the true meaning of Christmas this year and every year will always remain--a tiny babe born in a stable, the son of God.

As we all know, New Years is the time for resolutions, promises and hopes for a better year to come. For me this is year's resolution is about being honest with myself and find the things and people that make me happy, and to become more open and exepting to people or ideas that might be a bit different from my own.  I'm being this undertaking by making a move to Grand Junction, CO!! Yayy.  :) As for everyone else who made a resolution this year, I wish you the best of luck in accomplishing it. Out with the OLD and in wiht the NEW--Here's to making 2011 a year to always remember!!! 





My nephews on Christmas morning















My big brother thought that Coal suited me well this year...hahah