Back to your Regularly Scheduled Program...

And I'm back! What a long, fun weekend in Denver but it is nice to be home. Even if it is for the night. Thanks to AA miles I was able to fly first class out to Denver. The hubs got upgraded and we had ourselves a nice flight that included a few airline red wines. The guys had to leave on their trip straight away so Jancie and I sat around catching up before heading out for a walk then taking in a late dinner at a local pub that offered free beer while you wait!

For Friday we decided to do a 1/2 day white water raft in Idaho Springs on Clear Creek. I've never been rafting so my friend thought the advanced option would be perfect.

almost ready to raft! class IV here I come!

Although it was around 85 degrees and not a cloud in the sky the river was running a cool 36 degrees. Therefore wetsuits were mandatory. However the place didn't offer booties, had none to buy in my size, and I only had flip flops which would be no use if I went in. So a guide had a macgyver option that included a little duct tape.

These awesome babies stayed put after being dumped while trying to go down the corkscrew waterfall. The fall is also known as the 50/50. The raft ahead of us was 100% and our raft of 6 had 4 of us go swimming. It is all a blur; I do remember that I got caught under the raft but was able to surface before I truly freaked. Then I turned myself around to float feet first instead of head first as I had come up. Shortly after that the guide saw me and pulled me in the raft. Miraculously I did not hit a rock which is impressive for me! Regardless of the little swimming excursion rafting was a lot of fun and am looking forward to going again. Later that day we laid by the pool and treated ourselves to a much needed mani/pedi. We had a late dinner then decided to try D Bar Desserts. We took an oreo cupcake to go so we could have some sweets with our wine at the Wine Loft.

Saturday we got a late start so after a yummy brunch we decided to take it easy and hit up a local farmers market where I picked up some more desserts. A fabulous cherry almond cupcake and blueberry lemon bar! Our farmer market finds were much better than fancy schmancy cupcake from the night before. So delicious! In the early afternoon Jancie decided she wanted to take me on an "intermediate" Shadow Canyon Trail/South Boulder peak.

Intermediate my ass Jancie! I seriously thought I was going to die. I saw my heart jumping out of my chest and I sweated through my clothes in about 20 minutes. Although I'm very proud I didn't give up (even though I nearly did) or complain too much ;)

About 20 minutes into the hike and feeling good

It took about 2 hours for me to get to the summit at 9,000 ft. I felt sick for the last 45 minutes but after we reached this view and found a flat rock to sit, snack, and take it all in I felt much better. I also realized that while it seemed to take forever it didn't feel like 2 hours had passed. Weird!

self portrait time

We ended up staying in Saturday night after our adventurous and tiring hike. Jancie made me dinner and we watched a girlie movie. Sunday we wrapped our weekend up with much deserved massages and shopping! The perfect way to end girls weekend before the guys returned.

So no, I did not run but I did get some quality cross-training done this weekend. There were big plans to do something today when we got back but I made excuses all day then opted for Indian food and Harry Potter. Tuesday will be my Monday and I have big plans to return to my schedule work, running, and blog commenting!