I woke up early on Sunday, long before my alarm went off, and went and sat on the porch of the hostel, overlooking the main street of Estes Park. It was cold, I was in my pajamas, and I could see my breath, and these things combined with the informality of the hostel (incidentally: this was my first hostel, and I LOVE it. I think that hosteling agrees with me) made me feel like I was a ten-year-old Girl Scout camping in the Poconos in November again.

I put on some shoes and my cowboy hat and went for a walk. At some point, I turned around and there they were - the Rocky Mountains. I shivered, and it wasn't from the cold. Sometimes, when I'm in geologically interesting places, I get these... these impressions of how the landscape was formed, as though something in me is connecting with the ancientness of the earth beneath the pavement. As I stood on that street in Estes Park in my flip flops and my cowboy hat, I imagined the violence that occurred millions of years ago; the tectonic plates slamming together and the earth's crust rupturing and the Rocky Mountains, in all of their huge, magnificent splendor, jutting towards the sky.

Despite the fact that my favorite natural landscape is the beach, I think mountains are a close, close second.

On the walk back up the street, I saw something really fantastic: a hearse (yes, just like the one I always wanted) parked in front of a house.



I went back to the hostel and got ready. Errol was already up and showered, and we packed the bags in Beatrice (but not before fixing a "Rocky Mountain National Park" sticker to her bumper) and drove down from the mountains.

We'd originally wanted to take mountain passes to go through Colorado, but the weather is bad and snowy and we didn't want to get stuck in a blizzard. So we made our way towards Boulder and Denver - all the while keeping the Rockies in our sights.









We came out the other side of Denver and drove into more isolated country. The Rockies never left us.





After awhile, we came to a point where the mountains seemed to surround us almost on every side. I realized that to progress, we'd have to go through at least some of them.

And we did. We wound up into the thin air of the snowy mountains, passing snowslide signs and avalanche signs and mounds of snow and... it was beautiful.









We arrive in Durango around six, and met up with my friend Jeff (who canvassed with me for the DNC when I was just a freshman in college, and has since moved from DC to NM/CO) and his girlfriend and his girlfriend's really cute three-year-old daughter.









We stayed for many hours, eating and drinking tea and yes, I played and played with with the daughter because I love love love kids, and they never get sick of my silly faces or goofy jokes. And just as we left to head to the motel, I caught the sunset.



And I then proceeded to pass out in bed.

Today is going to be great. We're going to see the Four Corners AND Mesa Verde AND the Grand Canyon (we're staying by the Grand Canyon). *squee!*

Love you all! Bye!

*hits the road*
*but not too hard, the road has been very nice to us*