Two Weeks in Colorado

A few days ago, Patrick and I returned to Pasadena from two weeks of fun in Colorado. We stayed with our great friends, Pat and Lindsay, who we always celebrate Thanksgiving with. In the weeks before Thanksgiving, we had a blast. We went to The Cheeky Monk, a great Belgian beer pub, for happy hour one afternoon. We also walked around downtown Denver and walked through the historic hotel, The Brown Palace. Pat and Lindsay showed us around their neighborhood and we got to hang out in the evenings after the guys got home from work.

This year, our Thanksgiving celebration was better than ever. On the day of, we went for a run in the morning, got coffee at a local cafe and watched some of the Macy's day parade on TV. It was such a warm, beautiful day in Denver that the guys decided to smoke the turkey in the backyard for an hour before putting it in the oven to cook. They sat outside, around the smoker, drinking beers in the sun. After transferring the turkey to the oven, we had snacks outside on the patio and then played a couple games of washers.

That evening, we sat around their dining table to give thanks and stuff ourselves on the wonderful meal Pat and Lindsay had made. It was our first Thanksgiving at a dining table since we started this tradition (we have always eaten Thanksgiving dinner at a coffee table before because neither of us has had room for an actual dining table in our apartments). Just one sign of moving up in the world! We had a lot to be thankful for this year, not the least of which was the fact that we have been able to continue this tradition for 8 years now. Wherever we have been, we have always made it a priority to be together on Thanksgiving. This year, however, it wasn't a sad farewell when it was time to leave since we will be returning for good in just a couple weeks. Here are a few photos of our time in Denver:

Pat and Linds enjoying happy hour at the Cheeky Monk

All the mugs/glasses were specific to the beer. This one was really weird but the beer was delicious!

Visiting The Brown Palace

Smoked turkey mission complete

Our traditional picture with the 4 of us and the turkey. One of the best photos and best turkeys yet.

Colorado

Well, we've been pretty quiet on the blog front and that's because things have been pretty crazy for us lately. Patrick has been working with his company to get them to send him to the Colorado office for a while now and it is OFFICIAL. Patrick will start his first day of work at the Boulder office on December 14th. We are so thrilled!

During all of these negotiations, we had a trip already planned to go to CO for Patrick's cousin's wedding and then stay with our friends in Denver through Thanksgiving. The original plan was to drive our car out to CO and then drive home after Thanksgiving, pack up all our stuff and either tow the car behind the moving truck or each drive a vehicle. However, we hit so much snow on our drive into Denver that we decided it would be best to leave our car here and fly back to Pasadena. That way we could drive together in the moving truck and not worry about towing the car in snow.

On our drive to CO, we stopped in Las Vegas for about 3 hours and walked the strip. We didn't gamble, eat or see any shows. Patrick is very proud of the fact that we didn't give that city a dime. To be honest, there is plenty to see as you walk the strip and since we were only going to be there a few hours we didn't want to be holed up in a casino. It was a very interesting experience and I'm not sure we will ever feel the need to return... Maybe if we are passing by again someday.

We drove to Colorado Springs for the wedding and got to see lots of Patrick's family. It was really nice to see everyone since we won't be able to go home for Christmas this year. Then we drove up to Denver to stay with our friends that we celebrate Thanksgiving with every year. We decided it would be a good time, over the first few days in town, to look for a place to live. We looked all day yesterday and think we may have found something (more details on that when it becomes official) that's about 20 minutes away from Patrick's work and 20 minutes away from Denver. We hope it goes through, so send good wishes our way.

Patrick is working from the Boulder office while we are here so he doesn't have to take a lot of vacation time. We are having a great time and feel right at home since we lived in CO for undergrad. Actually, on the drive into town, the closer we got the more we felt that we were coming home. We've never moved anywhere that we already had friends and knew the area. We feel so lucky and blessed to be able to move here. As we drive around town, I can't stop thinking how right it feels to be back in CO.

The Las Vegas Strip

New York New York

The Excalibur. I couldn't believe this thing. Maybe just a tad over the top?

Patrick's joining the Sigfreid and Roy show... I don't know that he fits in very well.

Outside the Bellagio with free water in hand. Not a dime spent!

Welcome to Colorado!!!