Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Washington Park Visit and Kayaking!







Well as summer turns to fall, Matt and I have been taking full advantage of this beautiful weather!  Recently Matt and I went to a very popular park here, known as Washington Park.  At this park we intended to go kayaking in our inflatable kayak (I know kinda funny), but due to the wind and the water not looking very fresh, we opted to rollerblade around the park instead.  It was such a beautiful loop around the park with tons of flowers, big luscious trees, and tons of people playing volleyball, rollerblading, bike riding, and paddle boating.  I love all the outdoor activities here.  I think Matt and I have already done more outdoor activities in the past three months than all four years in California.  

Since we were not able to kayak at Washington Park, on another weekend we decided to go up to a high mountain lake, where it is clear fresh water instead of gross mossy water.  The lake we went to was called Brainerd Resevoir and it was breathtaking.  The lake was surrounded by gigantic mountains that were covered in snow...there was even some snow on the side of the lake!!  Well we finally got our chance to kayak, but it was 40 degree water with an outside temp of 50 degrees.  Call us crazy, but it was rather nice out.  I guess we have acclimated to the weather! : )  Well we have now checked more activities off of our "to do" list...but we still have plenty to go since there is so much to do here in our new home CO. ....  PICS COMING SOON!!

Road Trip...aka...buying a new car!






With the potential of both Matt and I having jobs in different directions and on different schedules we thought it might be wise to invest in another vehicle since we had been sharing one.  With the news of the Wells Fargo Branch that Matt was being transferred to, we realized that one car would not be sufficient.  In knowing this we set out on a mission to find another vehicle that was of course...a good deal!  After searching craigslist and autotrader and checking into a few that were a possibly, we soon realized that it can be scary getting a used especially if you can not see it first before you make the trek to another state to purchase a car.  Anyways, with the craigslist and autotrader route checked off this list, we moved on to looking into new cars.  We found a few that we really liked (the Lexus RX haha JK... I wish)  no more like the new Honda CRV's  (both economical in price and gas mileage), but we really did not want to have to take on payments either.  In the meantime of looking for cars, we had visited with Matt's grandparents and they graciously said that they had been thinking of selling their Honda Civic, so long story short we were blessed to be able to purchase their Honda, a car that has had the same owner, had been well maintained and has had no accidents.  After hearing the good news of being able to purchase their car, we booked flights from Denver to Sacramento to visit Matt's family and of course to pick up the car.  We arrived into Sacramento on a Saturday morning and hung out with Matt's family (including Matt's grandparents, his aunt and uncle, and his other aunt and cousin who just had a new baby).  I of course was in heaven with having a new baby around, since I love babies so much.  Anyways we got to hang out with the family on Saturday and most of Sunday and then Matt and I set out on our adventure (18 hours according to GPS) from Sacramento to Denver at 9:30pm on Sunday!  Our first stop was going to be in Elko, Nevada, which was about a 7 hour drive.  Well Elko is some town....pretty desolate with pretty much a travelodge, gas station and McDonald's!  Woohoo.  haha  Matt and I arrived in Elko at like 6:00am, where we slept for like 5 hours and then got back on the road by noon.  From there we were on the homestretch aka no more stops for sleep anyways.  From Nevada we drove to Utah and then to Wyoming and then finally into Colorado.  From about Cheyenne, Wyoming it was rough but we made it home at 3:30 am on Tuesday morning, just in time for Matt to get a few winks before his first day of Banker training.  To say the least, we will not be taking a road trip like that for awhile.  We were so ready to get out of the car and be done driving, but at the same time it was a lot fun...!!  Also, it is extremely nice to have two cars and simply saves us both a lot of time throughout the day.  Well thanks Grandpa and Grandma for allowing us to take the Honda, it has been such a blessing!