A gorgeous (and warm) weekend!

What a great weekend!! We actually had temps in the 70s yesterday and today!! After the snow we got last week, this feels like heaven!!! Feeling like a kid who had just been let out for summer vacation, I didn't want to waste a minute of this warmth and sunshine. Here in Colorado Springs, you never know if this 70 degree weekend will be followed by snow and hail! So, my outdoor adventures this weekend revolved around doing the incline and riding my Harley around.


You might be asking yourself What's an incline? It's basically a natural stair-master! Railroad ties are layed horizontally along the 1-mile length of roadbed that used to service a cable car that took people up the eastern face of the Rocky Mountains. The average grade of the incline is just over 40% with the steepest section being 68%! There is 2011 feet of elevation gain with it ending at around 8600 feet. The first pic is taken from the bottom of the incline and the second one is taken from the top looking back down along the length of it.


I've done the incline many times over the four years I've lived in Colorado Springs, but the first one of the season is always intimidating! I jog three miles several mornings a week, but that doesn't really prepare you for an hour's worth of stair climing!

The land that the incline runs across is owned by three seperate entities and is private property. The prospect of opening the incline to the public has been hotly debated for many years. There are "No Trespassing" signs posted, but it is a widely known fact that most of Colorado Springs incorporates the incline into their fitness routines. As you can see in the group picture of me with Lisa, Kelly and Robyn, I wasn't the only law-breaker this weekend! Actually if you look at the picture from the top looking back down, you'll see a bunch of other people out trespassing too!


With my workout taken care of, I spent the remainder of yesterday afternoon riding my Harley around with Suzanne & David. I got new handle bars on my bike and it is soooooo much more comfortable. It looks a bit like a chopper now with the "mini ape-hangers", but it fits me much better (I can sit upright now). And no, I don't have full arm sleeve tatoos, it's just the shirt I'm wearing!


Today, Suzanne & David and I rode up to Cripple Creek. It was a chilly ride up- the town of Cripple Creek is at an elevation of 9494 feet! The winding, scenic roads out and back made it worth the chill today though! The town was an old gold mining camp back in the late 1800s, but today it's a gambling tourist attraction. I really don't understand how a bunch of people can sit around a smoky, dimly lit room pumping money into electronic gadgets while drinking booze at 10:00 a.m. and think it's fun, but I'm sure a lot of people don't think that some of the things I do for fun make sense either! So, not one to judge, I opened my mind and my wallet and fed a whole two dollars into a slot machine and tried gambling. Yep, I still thought it was stupid after my effort, but to each his own!!! We stayed in town long enough to have a bite to eat and for David to take this picture of Suzanne & I in the town.

This great weekend ended with a BBQ at David & Suzanne's place that included a vacation-planning meeting. Me and a bunch of the folks I ride with are riding up to Custer, South Dekota at the end of June for a holiday. We've rented a couple of cabins and will go sightseeing at Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower, Sturgis and the Black Hills. I'm really excited about the trip and can't wait to make the ride on my Harley!

That's it for now. I'll be heading out to southern California in a couple of weeks for work, so maybe I'll find some mischief to get into while I'm there. Stay tuned!

Down in Texas!

Finally, something fun to post about! Last week I got out of Colorado before the snow started falling again and went down to Austin, TX for a conference. I arrived in time for a couple of days of 80 degree temps before the cold front moved in and dropped the temp about 20 degrees for my last few days in Texas.

I took a day of personal time to take a look around Austin since I had never been there before. The city itself has some great eateries and sculptures along the river. Austin is also known for it's Blues music scene. I didn't get to go out at night and listen to any Blues, but I did happen across this memorial to Stevie Ray Vaughn that was kinda cool.

Austin also has all these awesome guitars scattered around downtown and along the river. They are painted up all different and are pretty unique. I was trying to take my friends back to a great little Italian gelato place I had found and kept saying "it's by the guitar sculpture" before I realized the guitars were everywhere! No fear, we still found the gelato shop (you know I can always find good food!).


On my little sightseeing excursion, I went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I had to call my mom while I was walking around the gardens because I knew she would've loved to see it. The bluebonnets and tons of other wildflowers were in bloom. I must've walked around for 3-4 hours before I finally drove down to San Antonio where I was to give a presentation at Fort Sam Houston.

The presentation for the Army RDs went well and I really enjoyed being back on a military base (I know, I'm such a geek!). During the conference in Hawaii last year, I was randomly introduced to a woman named Ann. Someone heard that I was in the Navy and said "hey, do you know Ann, she's in the military too, in the Army I think." It's so funny how civilians think that everyone who's in, or ever been in, the military must know each other! Anyway, from this random meeting I was invited to come down and speak to a class of students going through an Army M.S./ Dietetic internship program. I now have a new friend and a great collaboration between our organizations. Ann was a gracious host and I had a great time meeeting her team of staff and students.
It was a good conference and I got to spend time with shakers and movers of the Sport Nutrition world. As you can see from this picture of Susie, Peggy, me, Ann and Nanna, we also fit in some eatin!

Hopefully the weather will straighten up and fly right pretty soon so I'll have something to post more often. So watch the weather and tune in when the weather looks nice!