Livin the high life (as in high up in the sky)

Well it has been a long time and as per request of my father, here is a new blog to fill everyone in on my life in Colorado. It's been exactly two weeks since my last blog, but no earth shattering events have happened, especially during the week compared to the activity level I had while in London. Life is a lot slower here and days are a lot longer at the clinical. I sure miss the 35 hr work week they had over the pond!

I spent the week after Loveland pretty much trying to get unsore and preparing for my trip to Breckenridge with Anna and Meghan. I made dinner twice that week for the fam and spent evenings watching American Idol and studying for new things I would experience at clinical the next day. As Friday came in, I was so excited for my weekend in Breckenridge. I was actually able to sneak out of work about 5 whole minutes early in order to make it to the airport on time. I went inside to pick them up and we headed out for our journey to Breck. It was a long drive, but nice to have some time to really catch up. We got into Breck and headed to the Breckenridge Brewery for a sampler before bed :) It was nice and we all slept well in preparation for skiing the next day. The next morning we were in no rush, headed to a great breakfast at the Blue Moose Cafe (great place if you're ever there!), and then went to get our ski rentals and hit the slopes. Anna has only skiied once before, so we took things pretty slowly until lunch, and then she decided to retire for the day. Meghan and I then hit the green trails a little bit more (and a little faster) before also heading in. We all went back to the hotel, took naps and showers, and then strolled down main street Breckenridge. We ended the stroll at a great Mexican place for dinner and drinks, to ease the stiffness from skiing of course. As it was St. Patty's Day the next week, we went to the local Irish pub, I had a Guinness, but we called it an early night again since we would ski again Sunday. Skiing Sunday was great and Anna started to get comfortable, until we took her on a more challenging green and she got mad. The weather was amazing both days with abundant sunshine and good snow conditions. We had a great second day skiing and then had to head back to Evergreen for the evening. We took it easy as we were pretty worn out once we got back and hit the sack early, as I had to get up for clinical the next morning too.

Meghan and Anna took me to clinical Monday and then decided to venture out around the area...exploring Red Rocks (a natural amphitheatre with concerts in the summer), the Coors brewery, and even attempting a hike up a mountain to Buffalo Bill's grave (but I think they stopped halfway up). They seemed to enjoy the day and it was sad when they picked me up from clinical and I drove them to the airport. It was a great weekend and great to see them for sure. Breckenridge is a great town with easy slopes for those who haven't skiied much before (so I guess this is my little plug for Breck).

This past week, clinical was kinda scary on Monday as I found out I would be working full-time with the "annoying/evil" CI. The one plus is she works 4 longer days, but no work on most Tuesdays! Fortunately as the week went on, she got less uptight and more cordial, and even less quizzing in front of patients. The days have been even longer than expected because she likes to chat and finish paperwork for about 1-2 hours after we're scheduled to be there. This happenend Friday night, so as I was leaving the clinic around 7:20, I decided to stay down the mountain and catch dinner and movie. I went to a little Mexican restaurant and then saw "I Love You, Man." Both were ok, but it was nice to have some activity outside of clinical (and it was great knowing it was Friday and I had 2 days off).

Yesterday, Mrs. Lise made a big breakfast and then we went on a little excursion around our area. We drove a scenic route along a creek that took us through a canyon between 2 huge mountains. I saw rock climbers, people fly fishing, and even crazy people hang-gliding. It was a beautiful drive and we got out at a couple of spots to take some photos (so maybe I'll post those at some point). We then drove on through Golden (home of Coors brewery and a great western style town), and then the backroads to Boulder. Boulder was a very cute town, home of CU, but was filled with "interesting" people. Doesn't seem like a place I would necessarily fit in, but a great earthly and hippie atmosphere. We grabbed a crepe for late lunch and the headed back to Evergreen. Last night was low key, as I watched basketball, did some stuff for clinical, and hit the sack early. Today will most likely be the same as it's really windy and a supposed snow storm is approaching, so I will take this weekend off from skiing. Hopefully the snow does come and either Tuesday or next weekend with be great for another time out on the slopes. Hope all is well for everyone and I'll be in touch again soon!