Weekend in Estes!

 This weekend, I travelled up to Estes Park with my roommate, Katie, and two of our other friends, April and Tiffany. I had been up there one other time for a hike, but it was a short one and we turned and came back. This time we planned to spend the entire weekend!

Friday after work, Katie and I drove up to Estes and met up with Tiffany and April, who had left earlier that day and already gotten a hike in. We were staying at the KOA cabins and weren't sure what to expect. The cabins were the perfect size with just beds and a couple of outlets. We also had our own firepit, but opted to go to the community firepit to roast our hotdogs and smores. When the KOA employee got the fire started in under 60 seconds, we knew that was a wise decision. Plus, they had real roasters to use rather than the wire hangers I had thrown in the car originally. Bonus!

Saturday morning, we woke up early to get a good start on our hikes. We planned to hike the flattop mountain trail, and things started off pretty good. We soon realized we were in for more of an adventure than we had planned. The mountains had gotten a lot of good snow this past winter, so much so that a lot of it was still there.

The second half of the trail was majority covered in snow. There were a few points where we had to say a quick prayer and hold on to a strong tree branch to keep from falling down the mountain. Just kidding, dad. Nothing was quite that bad. But there were some scary moments. After a couple miles of hiking, and getting to a peak where we actually saw skiers, we decided to head back down and try a different trail.

We then started the trail by the Glacier Gorge. I'll preface by saying I haven't gone on that many hikes in my life, but this was absolutely stunning. These pictures can't even show how beautiful it really was. About halfway up the trail, we stopped at Alberta Falls. The wind blowing the water onto us a bit felt great and I could have sat there all day staring at it.

As we got near the top, our legs really started to wear on us. At this point we had hiked about 8 miles for the day. However, the last .8 miles had a high elevation so it was quite the struggle to reach the top, but when we reached the Loch, it was worth every bit of it.

That night we had dinner in Estes Park and went to the bars there. We also found a very disturbing shop that we seriously considered burning down:

The weekend was an amazing one and I'm glad we all got to go. It's pretty awesome to think that we can make a quick one-hour trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park when most people plan that as their summer vacation. If you've never been - I strongly encourage you put it on your to-do list!!

Let the chaos begin.....

Well, I'm well into Relay For Life event season and to call it a busy season would be an understatement. For those of you who don't know what Relay For Life is, here's a quick synopsis:

Relay is an overnight event (yes, I said overnight) for the American Cancer Society that celebrates cancer survivors, remembers loved ones we've lost, and fights back against cancer. I got involved almost nine years ago when my mother passed away, and it's been in my blood ever since. The idea of Relay is to recruit teams, approximately 8-15 people of friends and family, raise money through fundraisers or good ole-fashioned letter writing, and then come out the actual Relay event to celebrate all of your hard work! And by hard work, I really mean it. Relay was started in 1985 and has since become the world's (yes WORLD) largest fundraiser raising over $4 billion to date. The incredible thing about this event is that it is completely volunteer-driven. The volunteers do have the support of ACS staff (which is my current position) but each event is unique to their community because it is put on by those volunteers, not by staff.

The reason Relay is overnight is because 'cancer doesn't sleep, so for one night, neither will we'. One of my favorite stories is the comparison to the nightfall and the cancer journey. As the team members are walking in the 3 or 4am hours, their bodies are getting tired and they don't want to go on, just as a cancer patient feels in the middle of their treatments. Then, the sun rises and everyone knows the end of the event is nearing, just as the cancer patient's treatment is ending and they are coming through on the other end.

At the event, each team camps out around the track and tries to have one representative from their team on the track at all times. The first lap of the night is just for cancer survivors. It's a very inspiring time when everyone else spreads out around the track, cheering on their family and friends who are survivors, and giving hope to others.

After the sun sets, there's a luminaria ceremony. During this, all of the lights get turned out and their are luminarias that are lining the track (which people have purchased throughout the night) to honor loved ones and in memory of those lost. This is probably everyone's favorite part of the night and can be very emotional.

Through my years of Relay, I've definitely met some amazing people who have such awesome stories of inspiration. Especially now, being on the staff side of ACS, I feel so incredibly lucky to meet such great volunteers who are as committed to the fight against cancer as I know I am. Knowing that so many people want to bring an end to this disease and seeing so many people putting aside their difference for one night, is something you can't explain. If you've never been to a Relay For Life before, you definitely need to do it. I'm not saying you need to get a team together you're first time out. Just search for the event in your community and spend an hour or two out there (don't forget to take some cash for the awesome fundraisers they'll be doing!) and you'll be hooked. Guaranteed.