Grand Teton Part Six: Boulder and a Birthday

The next morning, we all woke up and started packing the car for the long drive home. At this point, we weren't exactly sure how it was going to shake out. Since it was my car that we had brought, I definitely knew that I was going home with my car. Logel was looking at cheap flights from Denver to Chattanooga, hopeful that he could send me home with Mike and still have some time in Colorado for himself. Mike was also looking at flights from Florida (Gainesville and Jacksonville) back to Colorado, since he had a flight from Denver to Albany booked on the 8th of July. There was also talk of my mom flying out to Wyoming or Colorado to drive me home because flying me back sans car was not an option. We drove down to Boulder to stay with some family friends, who coincidentally lived in the same neighborhood as Rachel, the Flatirons in their backyard. We arrived at night and the Inghams were kind enough to feed us. We then decided to meet Logel's friend Cole in Denver that night.

I was exhausted and full of painkillers for all of Colorado but I still had a pretty good time. We met Cole at a local microbrewery and sat outside on the patio, since I'm not yet 21. After that, we drove to a speakeasy that Cole had gotten us on the list for. It was so cool. In order to get in, you had to get on a list hours in advance. Then, they text you when there is room available and you have ten minutes to get there before they give away your spot, eliminating lines and hassle. It looked like a bookstore from the outside but this was just a front. As we walked in, the bouncer was passing notes through books. He noticed my sling and asked me about my injury, exchanging adventure mishap stories with me. They let us in the back and the book shelf swung open to reveal a restaurant and bar, styled like a 1920's saloon. The guys ordered fancy cocktails while I sipped away at my water, too young and too medicated. After that, they split a pizza at a nearby late-night pizza place and we headed back to Boulder.

The next day was Mike's 23rd birthday and I was much more enthusiastic about celebrating than he was. Logel and I took him out to brunch and then the three of us wandered around a few different outfitters in the area. Unfortunately, it was raining so our plans to hike in the Flatirons didn't come to fruition. We returned to the Inghams and relaxed. That late afternoon/early evening, Cole texted Logel and invited us all to come to a barbecue restaurant where he worked and his sister was the manager. Commence gluttony. We sat out on the porch upstairs, just us, Cole's girlfriend, his sister's boyfriend, and a rotating group of waiters and waitresses from the restaurant. The amount of food we ordered was obscene. Every type of meat imaginable with dessert on top of that. The dessert was incredible, a huge cookie sundae. When we got the bill, it had been reduced from over $100 to less than $40 and I was happy to chip in my portion and left a generous tip as well. Then, we went to Cole's place with him and his girlfriend and took over the neighborhood's hot tub for about an hour. The steaming water felt great against my shoulder. I think we all needed a hefty dose of relaxation after the stress of our trip. We then made it back the Inghams, gearing up for the rest of the car ride. 

Events occurred: June 29-30, 2013

Grand Teton Adventure Part Two: Whitewater Rafting in CO

I only vaguely remember the drive to Boulder since I was curled up in a little ball in the backseat, dead asleep. We drove to a former OAR member's house (Rachel) near the Flatirons. The mountains were gorgeous, so Mike, Logel, and I decided to go on a short hike. We ended up at a playground and sat around on the swings for a while. I was still tired, so I just kept spinning myself around in circles on the swing. We headed back to Rachel's and followed her and her friends to the Poudre River, where we were camping for the night and whitewater rafting in the morning. Unfortunately, the group was so large that I had trouble keeping all the names straight, though I know that our raft guide was named Ryan and Rachel's girlfriend was named Molly. They had brought food, so we chipped in for that and the raft rentals and spent the night by the fire. 

The next morning, we woke up and hopped on the first run down the river. We thought the Poudre was only a class 3 so you can only imagine our surprise when we discovered that it had class 4 and 5 rapids. Our guide, despite getting thrown from the boat a few times, was excellent. He had never guided this particular river before and considering the difficulty of the rapids, he did a great job getting us through the thick of it. I only had one close call; I flipped backwards but my leg and feet were wedged so far and so tightly under the middle bar that I didn't end up in the river. I also kept falling into the middle of the boat for some reason, but that wasn't a huge deal. 
 

Additionally, we also saved a kayaker, who had been apart of our camping group. He reclaimed his boat but, alas, his expensive paddle was gone for good. The river was beautiful, carving through steep canyons. Unfortunately, however, it was snow-fed and therefore very cold. Mike and I were both freezing, especially when we were in the shade. Nonetheless, we had a blast and we all survived the run. It took us several hours though so by the time we got back to the camp, we no longer felt like climbing. We had noticed some routes while we were on the river but it was getting late and we needed to head for Wyoming. We watched the second run and then packed up again for a seven hour trek.

Events occurred: June 21-22, 2013

Grand Teton Adventure Part One: The Drive

After a rough summer semester of work, 9 credit hours' worth of online classes, and constantly babysitting my older nephew while my younger nephew was born, I was finally ready for an OAR-esque adventure. So, I decided to embark on a cross country road trip to the Grand Tetons in Wyoming with Mike and Logel for a mountaineering adventure. Mike was already out West for Geology Field Camp in New Mexico and Logel was in North Carolina, where he lived until about a month ago. Logel and I decided to meet in Chattanooga and drive to Colorado, where Mike would hitchhike to meet us. I drove up 7 hours by myself, stopping in Macon, GA for dinner and Starbucks with my cousin Courtney and her husband, Jeff. I spent a few hours with them before trekking on to Chattanooga. I met Logel at his brother's house, meeting even more Logels, including his nieces and nephew. We checked out his new mountaineering tent and set it up in the backyard. I also flipped through some of Logel's mountaineering books.



The next day, we headed to Guitar Center so Logel could sell some of his music equipment before the trip for fast cash and we also met up with JB, a random guy Logel found on Craig's List RideShare. He had been at Bonnaroo and lost all of his money somehow, so he was paying us $40 for a ride to Colorado. I was hesitant about picking up a complete stranger but he was really nice and he just slept in the back the entire ride. I drove the first shift, through Kentucky traffic that Logel's phone routed us around and St. Louis, where I accidentally missed an exit. We stopped off at a gas station in Missouri to meet up with Anna, who I had originally met at Logel's house over winter break. We also stopped near Fort Leonard-Wood, where Liana is stationed in the Army, to meet up with her for dinner. We went to this amazing authentic German restaurant. The food was delicious and the owner was extremely friendly. Soon after that, we took off for Kansas. Luckily for me, Logel drove through the misery that was Kansas. Not only was it boring, flat, and straight but it was also that absolute worst time of day. I slept for a few hours in the passenger seat and when I woke up, I talked Logel through some of the drive.


Around sunrise, we pulled over for gas in Kansas and I took another turn driving. I was somewhat delirious but the coffee helped. I drove us straight to Denver, where we dropped off JB at REI and spent some time at the flagship. By this point, I was beyond delirious. I passed out on one of the display cots at REI and made Logel drive the rest of the day. We went to Garden of the Gods while waiting for Mike, who we had been tracking via GPS on my phone. We finally got an address from him in Colorado Springs and met him at a Carl's Jr. He looked miserable. Apparently he had been hitchhiking from Texas and he had spent the night near the border of Texas and either New Mexico or Oklahoma. He slept in a ditch and was picked up by a trucker the next morning, who took him all the way to Colorado Springs. The three of us piled in the car and headed to Boulder, CO for the next leg of the trip.

Events occurred: June 19-21, 2013