Good Day

It's been a while since I've felt like writing!

Today was really a fun and relaxing day. This afternoon I went on a short hike with my friend C. The weather was beautiful today- it was sunny and in the high 50's. There was still snow on parts of the trail which always strikes me as kind of funny. The trail we went to was about half way between here and Estes Park, so after the hike we went up to Estes and poked around for about 45 minuts. On the drive back to Loveland we took the scenic route, which goes through Glen Haven and Drake. In Glen Haven there is a purple house with little wooden butterflies and gazing balls all around. It's pretty much is the last house on the way out of town and it always makes me happy to see it. I need to take a picture of it sometime.

I really enjoy the drive to and from Estes because you must drive through the Big Thompson Canyon. The Big Thompson river flows alongside the road almost the entire way. The posted picture is of the Big Thompson Canyon and River.

On the way down the canyon, we stopped by a store that sells mostly cherry products. They had different types of cider, jellies, jams, salsas, and a variety of other foods. I ended up with some apple butter and cherry butter, which means I'll probably be eating alot of toast this week.

Right after you pop out of the canyon, there's the dam store. We stopped there too. The store had $0.99 jerky from several different animals. C decided to buy one of each, which I though was kind of funny. Here's a list of the different kinds:

Buffalo
Pheasant
Venison
Alligator
Kangaroo
Boar
Elk
Ostrich
Antelope

I know that you can make jerky out of pretty much anything...but the variety they had was kind of amazing.

After the dam store, we ran across the higway to a little food shack where we both got a brat. I heart brats. Unfortunatly the place didn't have saur kraut, which is just silly! I don't know how you can sell a brat and not have kraut to put on it.

tangent: there is a great german resturant in town that sells several differnt types of brats. I fully intend to go buy some and grill them some time this summer, after I boil them in beer, of course. I will also have kraut to put on them!

So, after the dam store we stopped at a rock shop that I had not been to yet. They had some neat specimans, but nothing I couldn't live without.

At the very eastern edge of town I saw a place that advertised chicago style hotdogs, which made me very happy. I grew up in Illinois eating those hotdogs, and it was one of the things I missed the most when I moved to Texas. After I take a shower I'm seriously considering going to get a hotdog, assuming the place is still open around 8pm.
Sometimes when I see chicago style hotdogs advertised they aren't really chicago style hotdogs, and it's very sad. I will be a very happy camper if those hotdogs are the real thing!

After we finally got back to my place, C drove back home.

Then I called my friend P in Arizona, who I'm going to go visit Thursday. I'm really looking forward to the trip! Normally I don't really get excited about traveling until I'm driving to the airport, but there is an anticipation build up for this trip. I will definitly have to blog about the trip when I get back.

I'm thinking I'm giong to take a shower then go see if I can get a hot dog...the more I think about it the more it sounds like a good idea!

m