One down, more to go

Joe and I went to Steamboat Springs, Colorado this weekend to celebrate our first anniversary. My friend, Larry, says I can't count it as an anniversary since we're not married, but I say Larry is stupid. :)

Steamboat Springs is about 3 1/2 hours away from Denver and is a quaint little mountain town. Joe and I stayed at a place called the Rabbit Ears Motel...which was a clean and no-frills type hotel. Our room had a balcony that faced the river - which was beautiful. The first night we were there, we decided to open up the sliding glass door and listen to the river run the whole night long. After the taxing events of last week, the solitude and break from the busy world felt decadent.

We chose Steamboat Springs specifically for the hiking opportunity. Specifically, there is a trail that is a 10 1/2 mile roundtrip hike that we wanted to do. Well, really HE wanted to do the 10 1/2 mile hike. I was doubtful that I could complete it, but I figured why not try?

During the hike, we would get to see two waterfalls. This was the first:

Joe and I had heard that it was going to be a tougher hike than just a simple path, but I was not prepared for the grade that it was....this is one picture which shows just how tough of a grade it was...there were times where we had to lift our legs 2-3 feet to reach up to the next food hold.

There were times when I had to take each steep incline one at a time. I'd tell myself to just get over this next incline and then I'd focus on the next. One down, but many more to go.


I'm not going to lie to you...Joe and I made a lot of "old people" sounds when we got back to the hotel. You know the type - the groaning when you get out of the car, the groaning when you stand up, and the sighing of relief when you lay down on the bed.

We had a great dinner that night where I had Peking Duck (something that I had never had before, but I felt adventurous) and then walked around downtown and had a scoop of gelato.

The next morning, we decided to walk around the river just outside of our hotel for a bit of exercise before returning home.

Like I said before, the trip was fantastic...just what the doctor ordered - to celebrate our anniversary (one down, many more to go!) and to shake some of the blues away.

When we got back into town, we were able to gather Chassis' freshly washed beds, her food, and several toys and treats to donate to a favorite rescue of mine. It's still sad - for both of us - and we definitely shed more than a few tears this weekend because we miss her still so much. But we're going through all of the stages of grief as well as can be expected.

I'm looking forward to getting back into our new normal way of life. There are many opportunities that I have passed on over the years because I knew that I had to let Chassis out after work or knew that she needed her medications at a certain times during the day. Now I can take any yoga class I want at any time I want. I can run after work or before work. My schedule is more free. And even though I would trade all of those conveniences to have her back, I think it's okay to make the best of this new found freedom.

Scale this morning says I'm down another pound or so even after eating some wonderful Mexican food last night. So, yet again, one down, many more to go.