Steamboat Springs, CO

It was Thursday night and all through my SF house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...except me. I was checking the weather as Friday I was scheduled to fly to Denver and then into Steamboat Springs, CO. I laughed out loud, and then I took a screen shot of what appeared before my wondering eyes. Do you see this? 1 degree. That's right, folks. I have never seen my weather app display single digits. I'm not sure I've ever seen a current temperature reading of 1 degree. There's a first time for everything, I suppose. I awoke the next morning and procured my last cup of Philz Coffee with my roommate, Bradford, before being whisked away to the airport by my friend, Martin. Thank you, both of you, for being present on my last SF morning for a while. :)

My flight to Denver was fairly uneventful. Then I took a small puddle jumper to Steamboat Springs where I was met with crisp air and clear skies. From the tiny airport, I took a shuttle to my abode where my new roommate, Liz, met me at the door. There was a beautiful sunset.

I also quickly met my other newest roommate, Scout. This picture of Scout is on Saturday morning as we were preparing to take my new jacket, which she is sitting on, for a spin by going hiking in the snow!

It was originally supposed to be snow shoeing, but there's not enough snow to necessitate that kind of equipment. I can safely say now that the hike was uneventful, but I was moderately concerned going into it. The temperature was in the teens when we woke up with a high around 20, and Liz acted like it was balmy! She also noted how every time her sister-in-law comes to visit, she gets altitude sickness--so many things to consider!!!! I was worried about being dehydrated, getting altitude sickness, and generally being considered a wimp. (Liz is cool, so I'm trying to make a good impression.) Liz did manage to mention that we would be going with a few of her friends, including a woman who will be giving birth next week. (In my mind's eye: If I can't keep up with a pregnant woman who is going to give birth in less than a week, well, I'm likely pathetic.)

All in all, the hike was fine! It was Liz, her two friends (including one very pregnant lady), me, and 6 dogs. It was so fun! And I didn't feel faint, too thirsty, too cold, too warm, nauseated, or otherwise odd! I was so proud. Oh, and it was beautiful.

Then last night we ventured out to a new sports bar in town to watch the Bronco's game. I'm not really a pro football fan; hell, I'm not even really any kind of football fan...or I didn't think I was. Then I realized that I know Tim Tebow from his stint at Florida (rather insignificant, no?), and I actually understand the game of football pretty well. I like to relate it to ultimate--and I ended up explaining some similarities and differences (football v ultimate) to one of Liz's friends who came. It turned out to be a blast!

Today, Sunday, I ventured out on my own--on Liz's road bike. Ya, I was also terrified about this. It turns out that when the temperature doesn't get above freezing, the water on the road just doesn't stop being ice. Everyone driving has all weather or snow tires usually coupled with all-wheel drive. I was on a fancy road bike with skinny tires in my jeans, toms, and a hoody. Did I look like I was from SF? Totally. Did I still feel bad-ass? You bet. Luckily, the 1.5 mile hill that I now live on is mostly hit by the sun, so icy patches were few and far between. I flew down the 1.5 mile hill! I had to make a bike store stop immediately because Liz and I couldn't manage to pump up her tires all the way with the pump we had. The people at the bike shop were super friendly and offered me bike services whenever I may need them. I then road to the clinic where I will be working and quickly realized I needed better gloves. The ones I was wearing were fingerless. Thus, my fingertips were numb. So, on the way back from the clinic, which is about 1.5 miles from where the turnoff is for Liz's/my house, I planned to search for new gloves.

However, on the way to gloves, I found the library. It was redone about 2 years ago and is absolutely gorgeous. I wanted to stay and read, but I needed gloves. And I had too much energy to sit still. I hung around long enough to take this picture out of the floor to ceiling windows. Of note, there's a dude about to get into that river there and fish. You don't see the river? Well, that's because the sides of the river are iced over. Take home message: The people in Steamboat are Hard-Core. And I want to be just like them.

After the library I searched fruitlessly for gloves. One store had sold out, one didn't have my size, and my other option was closed. Did I mention that Steamboat is a small town? 12,088 people. Several cold weather gear stores. But still, no gloves today. :( However, I managed to find an adorable coffee shop where I ate lunch and managed to churn out some school work. That felt great! Then I made my last stop for some groceries. I went to the local co-op type all-natural store. It rocked. I bought pizza stuff and made a pretty fabulous pizza for dinner tonight :) I also made a friend! The girl at the register noted that I probably was new in town (read: I'm the only girl with a haircut like mine) and asked if I wanted to join her and her friends for snow shoeing, cross country skiing, or visiting the hot springs sometime! I think I had a massive grin that gave her my answer. I love making friends.

This last photo has some ski jumps you can see in the distance. I thought that was cool.

As I happily packed up my groceries, I realized the climb I had ahead of me: 1.5 miles uphill. Whatever, I thought, I'm tough. I put in my headphones and hit the road. About half way up the hill I could taste iron in my mouth. Uh oh, I thought, I know what that means: I'm sucking wind. This is what adjusting to the new altitude (6,732 ft) feels like. I was panting hard, but you better believe I made it to our driveway without stopping! I felt Hard-Core. I could be a Steamboat resident! Then for the following 3 hours I proceded to cough sort of uncontrollably with speech and laughter. Oh well. I'm here to tell about it, right?