Snow Shoeing at Rocky NP 3/27/11

We are hosted by Dan and his husky Nala in Boulder. Dan co-owns a successful spice store that is recognized for its green efforts. Ten years ago Dan served with the Peace Corps in Russia, so it was great to talk about his experiences. Dan was headed out of town for the weekend, but trusted Greg and I to stay at his house with Nala. He was also hosting another surfer, Gary, who is moving up here to go to Rolfing school. One great thing about couch surfing is all the people you met and things you learn. Did you know huskies hair and skin are self cleaning, which makes them hypoallergenic? In her seven years, Nala has never had a bath.

On Sunday, we met a group from meetup.com and headed to Rocky National Park for the some back country skiing. I went via snowshoes since i only skied once and was not great at it. I wish I skied though, would have been fun coming down the mt.

The group was ahead of me, as I am still adjusting to this darn high attitude. we started at 9,700 ft. And snow shoeing up a steep hill ain't so much fun. On my way up, a skier behind me joined me. We had a nice chat about places we lived and religion. I did not even catch the skier's name but he was missing a hand. Man, am I a wuss with me and my snowshoes!

Going down was a little slippery but much quicker. I hurried to the warming hut as my fingers were freezing with gloves and mittens on! One guy in our group, Ira, is into Canyoning and is off to Nepal this Friday. I swear people in CO are so active. On the way back to Boulder we stopped at Oskar Blues Brew Pub in Lyons for an awesome selection of mighty strong beer and food. A quirky bar with interesting decor. I had a 10.5% AVB Imperial Stout!

Later that night we went to another huge, quirky bar called Dark Horse to join the Boulder couchsurfing weekly meet up. Wish I had my camera. Lots of college kids in this town but pretty mature and we had great conversations. All in all a good day and night! Pix here.