Summertime is a long time coming when you live in the northwest corner of Colorado. It can snow one day, be 65 degrees the next, blow the salad off your plate, then rain that afternoon. I have sat in my front yard, wrapped in a sleeping bag on the 4th of July, watching the fireworks while it spit snow on us! While waiting for the weather to straighten out, trip planning is on the books.
Our favorite summer trips are the ones we take with our friends. And family, of course. But because our kids don’t live in town, anymore, we often hook up with friends. Dale and I have taken our friends fishing, hiking, backpacking, camping, boating and 4 wheeling. Going on adventures is so much more fun when shared with other like-minded adventurers. Our fun meter always seems to get cranked sky high.
I have laughed with my friends in a cabin until my sides hurt so bad that I prayed for a somber moment. I have played cards for shots of my favorite drink at an outfitter’s camp located deep in the Flat Tops Wilderness of Colorado, only to brush my teeth with the leftover rum and coke in my coffee cup the next morning. My husband and I have listened from our sleeping bags, to our camp mates in the next tent trying to herd a bat in the direction of the nearest exit while trying not to wake us up with their squeals. We all take turns fixing the best camp dinners ever ~ it’s kind of an egotistic validation type of thing. We have fished until our arms hurt from catching too many fish. We have hiked switchbacks while hollering to each other, “Hellooooooo!”, in a British accent. Somehow, I don’t think these moments in time would have occurred if it was just Dale and I by ourselves. Dignity seems to go out the window when we run in packs.
There are 6 of us who are great friends. Our kids have grown up together. Two of us are co-workers. Four of us are co-founders of a business. We all come from diverse backgrounds, but our thirst for adventure has brought us closer together.
Every trip we take together is a grand adventure in companionship. We have climbed up mountains together.
Dunbars and Merrells getting high in Colorado
Michaela, Diana and Mike on Hahn’s Peak, Colorado
We have slept under the stars together. We have crossed over 12,000′ passes. We have hiked into camp only to play cards and cheat our way to victory (Doug!) We have sat in the hot springs of Chalk Creek together until our skin wrinkled and almost fell off!
Jill, Doug and Darshan feeling the love
Jill, Dale, MIke and Diana at the summit of Cinnamon Pass
Ruthless card sharks!
I see you!
We are more than just friends, we are a small gang.
My pack is bigger than your pack
Doug! Knock it off! I’m trying to sleep!
Smoking jerky for snack break!
Peace at the top of the mountain!
It takes a certain type of chemistry to hang with people who like to have the same adventures as you do. It doesn’t work for all couples, but it works for us! All the decisions are made easily. All the small jobs that come with a hike or camping trip are distributed with ease. I don’t know how or why it happens ~ it just does.
Rizzie riding shotgun
Couples who hike together stay friends forever!
Feeling the love
Yoga at 11,500′
Devil’s Causeway Catastrophe ~ he’s just kidding…
Just before the beginning of summer, we will all meet at the local hangout, Chippers, in Meeker. We will get out our calendars and pin down a weekend when we are all free. We will mark it down then discuss where to go and what to do. As the special date gets closer, we will meet on a back porch to outline details of the trip. A few days before the trip, us gals will head to the grocery store with a list of food that would feed a kingdom. We will not starve.
When the day of our adventure arrives, the vehicles will be gassed up, our coolers packed, our backpacks ready to go and we all pile into our cars laughing and yakking all the way to our destination. Our trip together will be filled with non-stop adventure. We will return exhausted but with many memories that will be revisited between ourselves year after year.
The Lollygaggers 