We arrived in Colorado for a much needed vacation Saturday and were whisked away from Denver to McCoy, Colorado (Population 131). After a night of family, salsa, and ice cream sandwiches, we crashed and slept for an entire 8 hours!

Russ arranged for us to zipline across a canyon a few miles away. First we had to be sure we looked cool. Harnasses that accentuate the negative and helmets that accentuate the size of your head (a detriment for those with Dyer genes) help tons with confidence.

There 6 lines total, 5 zig-zagged across the canyon and final one (1/4 mile long) took us back up the canyon to where we started. Josh wasn’t sure what to do at first (he’s covering up his tears).

So, Russ helped show us how it was done.

Then, cousin Lauren made sure we all knew what a friggin’ awesome dare-devil she is….no hands.

Joy tried to act scared, but we knew better…she looked super cute in that harnass.

I gave a hundred-year old tree named Ol’ Abe a high five.

Lauren copied me….but she looked way cooler.

Josh gives us some perspective in this picture (you’ll have to zoom in).

Russ showed us again that he’s the man.

Jobeth shot some awesome pics from the road nearby.

This is the view on the way back up from the canyon. Crazy.

Here it is in motion….thanks to Josh.

Watch me lose complete control in the end as I hit the brakes.

We had a ball and most of us looked cool while doing so…..

So, Jobeth and Russ have a neighbor….two neighbors actually. Mike and Edith Lederhause are gems for the Kested family. They watch the house while the Kesteds are out of town, they help with chores, and they dig ditches together. Edith’s family were some of the original Colorado homesteaders. Mike was a state trooper forever and probably retired a little too early. He still goes to work on his ranch every day.

They treat us like family and want us around as much as they can get us. Mike even offered to take us up in his Cessna around the Colorado countryside last year. This year we took him up on it. Here’s a couple of views of Vail.

I got to sit in the front and pretend I was flying.

Then, I was told I was actually going to fly. Mike took his hands off of the controls. (I didn’t turn around again…I think my knuckles were white.

Josh got some amazing shots from the back of the plane.

Ooh…here’s the cabin. Can you see it?

More scenery…

Here we found some elk on the top of the mountains known as the "flat tops."

Jutting up between some of the flat top wilderness is a place called Devil’s Causeway. It’s about 4 feet across at its narrowest point with over a 100-foot drop off. We are sooooo hiking this next year.

Mike decided to end our trip with a flight into a canyon.

We obviously landed safely. We finished off the day with some healthy buffalo burgers in Stillwater. The trip was a blast…one we’ll never forget.

Behind the Kested Cabin is King Mountain…yes, they actually have a mountain in their backyard. So, we decided to climb it.

We found a marked trail behind the cabin and mostly followed it. The men were very manly on this trip

I found some deer bones and took about thirty pictures of them. The crazy part is that this meant that we were probably not alone (and we later found out that this area is the best for mountain lion hunting….hmmm). Here’s one of the carcasses.

I eventually turned around to see the view. We could see the cabin from there (on the far right of the picture). We even got a picture together.

We actually didn’t make it entirely to the top because we drank all of our water about half way up. So either we didn’t bring enough or we drank it too fast. Despite that fact, we got some great pictures from near the peak of King Mountain.

On Wednesday, we did the Kested family tradition of going to Glenwood Springs, Colorado home of the Glenwood springs. They have an olympic sized swimming pool filled with hot spring water and surrounded with slides and spas and sunbathers. Careful though….it’s $16 per person per day. Instead of that, we went to eat at Juicy Lucy’s for lunch. Yum. We highly recommend the place.

That night we had a surprise waiting for us…..

Russ and Jobeth got us a surprise horseback riding experience at Yarmony Ranch. First we met Josie, the most adorable barn/hunting/best-friend dog ever. She quickly took a liking to Josh.

We got to know our horses. I had Skeeter Bill. Russ had Sweetie (fitting isn’t it?).

Josh got to ride Magic, a favorite of the local governor so we were told. (Notice Josie didn’t stop liking Josh.)

Jobeth road Joe. After she got on, she was told that Jo didn’t like other horses following too close….not a great statement to inspire confidence, but we went with it. Keep scrolling down; there is no doubt, Jobeth had a blast.

We got a group photo in the arena before venturing out…

On the trail, Jobeth couldn’t contain her giddiness. Josh had way too much fun.

Josh and I used our horses as flirtation devices.

Our tour guide Dawn was awesome.

Notice Jobeth’s smiles…she was super cute.

Russ had a cool calm and collected Lone Ranger thing going on….

Josh looked quite sexy with his horse.

I had fun, too.

I think my horse liked me, too.

Scott, Dawn’s husband, helped us end the evening with couple of Coors. What a treat!

Jobeth said it best…

Our last day with Russ and Jobeth we went to Stillwater which is the area just below Devil’s Causeway. Our hike around the lake got rained out but we got some great pictures on our drive. (If your need to procrastinate from anything, click on the pictures below.)

We even got a few pictures of ourselves.

After another scenic drive from McCoy (through WinterPark) down to Denver, we had dinner with the fam.

Our highlight was to see the cutie-pie of the family.

VIDEO (temporary difficulties posting videos…will post later this week)

Just in case you were wondering, this is what happens after playing with Josh for too long (or taking too many pictures while your head is in a tree).

Just kidding, we did get a picture of the three of us before "The Cute One" got swept away to the cabin with Russ and Jobeth.

We however got to hang out with the funniest 80-year-old ever! She’s cute, she’s firey, she’s Jean! On our last day in Colorado, we decided to really have some fun…we went to none other than the Coors Brewery.

We went on the tour listening to a recorded tour guide.

We finished out the tour with a taste test of all of the Coors products. I liked the Killians Red. Josh liked Blue Moon. Jean’s favorite is Pineapple Zima! Later that day, Jean took us to the airport.

It was a perfect end to such a great and full trip.

No big parties this year, but lots of cards hidden all over (cereal boxes, car, computer monitors, etc.) I tried to prepare Josh with hints about his birthday present like "an experience you’ve always wanted" and "something to last a lifetime." Josh loved the cards and kept saying "thank you…you really know me."

Later, we celebrated Josh’s birthday with a yummy dinner on two sets of our fine china (something Josh wants to use, not just hide in a china cabinet). Dinner consisted of salad, scallops and shrimp in hot ginger butter, roasted asparagus and mushrooms, rosemary new potatoes, and garlic bread.   

After dinner, I had Josh open his present. As he opened it, he started sweating and freaked out about what it was. Once he saw that it was an envelope with a gift certificate and as beads of sweat poured off of his forehead, he told me that he was certain that I was going to tell him we were pregnant (what is with everyone…now Josh?).

Ten minutes of calming conversation and a negative pregnancy test later, Josh enjoyed planning how to use his gift certificate for golf lessons at the Jim McClean Golf Center. I got another "you know me."

And finally, how to celebrate the best part of birthdays. If you didn’t already know it, Josh only likes cold cookies and ice cream and he doesn’t like cake, cupcakes, or desserts involving hot fruit (cobblers, pies, etc.). So what better than an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins made of chocolate chip cookie dough?

You guessed it…I got another "you know me!"

Happy Birthday Josh!!!

So here’s how it all got started…Ruthie kicked me out for the weekend due to a few friends coming into town for their once-a-year soirée.  That left me looking for a place to rest my head for a few nights.  Fortunately, I had run into an old buddy from high school, Jeremy "Los Pies" Constantino at Zippy’s birthday party a few weeks prior.

Not being one to cash in on an invitation, even a half-hearted one at that, Tom–Zippy’s proud daddy–and I headed east and then south to catch up with Jeremy in the swamplands of Louisiana.  After six hours of quarter-life apologetics and a bag of turkey jerky, we arrived in Lafayette.  Jeremy, being a petroleum engineer gave us our choice of private rooms in a home twice the size of the one I grew up in.  And that was his old home–just built six months ago…Go Chevron!

I woke up the next morning to Tom and Jeremy chanting something in Latin or Gregorian Chant and something about working out.  You can see how I helped–> 

Tom was not too happy with my assistance, so he went Conan the Barbarian on me… As I just tried to fit in with the locals:

After making up, we headed out for a bit of early-morning Lafayette tradition, Daiquiris, DRIVE IN STYLE…

Then it was off to the marsh for a 2 1/2 hour tour:

Now, let’s play a little game called "Spot the Gator Head."

Later that night, we returned to the place we started the day…the drive-in daiquiri bar.  Tom and I found a cut out of the Captain at the front where Tom greeted in-coming patrons with a hearty, "Arrrgh! welcome to me bar!" or something like that.  See if you notice something about the heads of the two captains below:

At the end of this glorious day we headed back to Jeremy’s pad and raided his roommate’s prized collection of Bollywood DVD’s.  Let’s see, three guys on vacation, 50+ ounces of daiquiris in our system and a Bollywood DVD’s.  This doesn’t end up pretty:

Then, it was Jeremy’s turn:

All in all, our host, Jeremy, was outstanding.  Thanks, man!