Meg's Colorado Life

What a packed weekend! I love when I can start a new week knowing that I fully appreciated my time over the weekend.

Friday night I went with some friends to Cowboys. This is pretty much a weekly Friday thing for me as I LOVE country western dancing. Although I am still very new to the dances, they are so much fun. Some people I work with say the atmosphere is cheesy… that’s fine with me, they don’t have to go… but for those of us who like boots, hats, and country music – Cowboys is our place.

Saturday, I slept in (I love when I get to do that), made myself a spinach and feta omelet and headed up the mountain to Julie’s in-laws place for the first time. Baba (Bosnian for father), Amin’s dad, owns 70+ acres on the top of a mountain in Manitou Springs. It’s in a really neat gated community. Once you drive through the gates at the base of the mountain, it will be about 20 minutes to Baba’s place as his is the property is at the very top of this mountain sitting at around 9,200 feet. I’ve never driven a windier, steeper, crazier road in all my life but the views were amazing!

Once I arrived the entire family was there getting the meal ready for Baba’s 70th birthday. We had BBQ Chicken, grilled corn, Brisket brought from Texas by Julie’s brother and sister-in-law, and we had Pita (not sure if that is the correct spelling or not). Pita is a wonderfully delicious mixture of yummy things wrapped in phyllo dough and covered in butter to bake. I wasn’t part of the pita making process (thanks to little Esod and Zenita for making this fabulous food! And hopefully I spelled your names right…), but some of the things I remember going in were cottage cheese, eggs, butter, sour cream, salt & pepper, shredded mozzarella cheese, and more butter. All I know is after tasting it, I had to get seconds (and then later a third). My stomach would hate me Saturday night and seek it’s revenge, but the instant gratification from it was worth every minute of discomfort. If I had a chance to eat that much again – I would…

Oh the food… it was so good.

That afternoon the guys worked on an outdoor enclosure for Baba’s dogs Posha and Sedona (again, not sure on the spelling) both young pups and beautiful dogs. Posha is a German shepherd and Sedona a husky. Now, I called it an enclosure, but pretty much every one there had dubbed it the “Tajmahal.” It’s a HUGE enclosure with walls, a roof and eventually a heater. There is a dog house inside of it as well as lots of room for playing and relaxing. Rough life these dogs… I tell you.
Sometime in the middle of the day we hiked up past the property line to a lookout where you could see Pike’s Peak, Garden of the Gods and the city of Colorado Springs. I vowed that someday I would live in a place like this where I could walk out my door and have a place to come and relax and enjoy creation. I fell asleep briefly on one of the rocks – the sun felt so nice, there was a slight breeze, and you couldn’t hear anything - no cars, no people… just nature. It was great!
After dinner we went 4-wheeling out to another rock outcrop to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful evening and we went down to the outcrop and climbed up the rock formations. Everyone had a great time and we got lots of good pictures. We stayed out on the rocks for about an hour then headed back to the barn just as it was getting dark.

For the rest of the evening we sat by the fire telling jokes, picking on each other and recalling good memories. It was really a blessing for me to be welcomed so quickly into such a fun, loving, and crazy family. (Crazy in a good way of course)

Thanks to the Sipilovic family for making me feel so welcome and for a great Saturday!
I drove back down the mountain that night. It was quite the thrill as the hairpin turns that seemed a little crazy in the daylight were hard to navigate in the dark. There are NO lights on this mountain road. Even though I had my high beams on, each turn I just prayed I was staying on the road as it was still hard to see. The views of the city at night though were well worth the nerve-wracking drive! It was BEAUTIFUL!

I made it down just fine and I feel I could drive just about anywhere after that.
Sunday, I slept in again recovering from the food coma I was put into the day before. Again, I had a great breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and coffee. Once I felt awake and ready to start the day, I realized what a beautiful day it was turning out to be. In the 60’s with sunshine and big fluffy clouds – I willed myself to do something about the massive amount of calories I’d consumed in the last 24 hours. So, I headed off to do the Incline. I have done it several times before, but lately I’ve been slacking on working out all together. Needless to say, I felt the pain I deserved for my lack of efforts over the past month or so. I did however make it to the top beating my previous best time by 3 minutes. Not bad for being out of shape and feeling like a heifer!
Running back down Barr Trail felt so good too – I got a second wind and felt so alive! Once I reached the turn out for the waterfall, I did some running back UP the trail about a quarter mile then came back down. Surprisingly enough I’m not really sore today either, so I will be attempting my Palmer Park run this afternoon.

Sunday ended with the Redskins/Colts game. Although the Skins lost, I think it was a well played game. With the catches made by the Colts, they deserved the win, there is no doubt about that. Better luck next week DC!

So, I think I’m starting off my week right. I’m looking forward to next weekend as it’s getting to be time to carve pumpkins, and I LOVE carving pumpkins.
Happy Monday everyone!

Here are some pictures of the Incline for you folks back in Maryland... Go here to find out it's history.