Day 10- I Feel It All

"I feel it all.  I feel it all.  I feel it all.  I feel it all
The wings are wide, the wings are wide
Wild card inside, wild card inside


Oh I'll be the one who'll break my heart
I'll be the one to hold the gun


No one likes to take a test
Sometimes you know more is less
Put your weight against the door
Kick drum on the basement floor
Stranded in a fog of words
Loved him like a winter bird
On my head the water pours
Gulf stream through the open door
Fly away
Fly away to what you want to make


Oh I'll be the one to break my heart
I'll be the one who'll break my heart
I'll be the one who'll break my heart
I'll end it though you started it

The truth lies
The truth lied
And lies divide
Lies divide."

-Feist


Today, I took off from Leadville, Colorado and headed to Colorado Springs.  I googled "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman Museum and Colorado Springs."  Sadly, nothing came up.  Boo!  That was my absolute favorite show growing up (Saturday nights at 8pm... eating popcorn and sitting on my Grandpa Cook's lap).  I dressed up as her for Halloween 3 years in a row!  That's dedication (or plain craziness).  My parents brought me to Toys R Us so that I could buy a fake rifle and pistol in order to reenact the experience with more accuracy.  I dream of marrying a Sully!  I won the "Pioneer Trivia Contest" in my 8th grade Social Studies class solely based on my knowledge from that show.  I haven't re-watched it now that I'm a grown-up.  I'm curious to see if I still view Dr. Quinn as  a feminist or not.  Ok, enough with the rant about childhood obsessions.


This is the view from my motel in Leadville (not to make y'all jealous or anything...).

I think that's Mount Massive in the distance.  Leadville has the honor of being the highest incorporated town in the United States.  Luckily, I've taken these past 10 days to slowly build up to being 10,000 feet in the air.  No altitude sickness yet!  

So today I decided to drive up Pike's Peak near Colorado Springs.  Holy cow!  I was having a mini anxiety attack driving up the giant mountain!  There are no guardrails and basically the edge of the mountain/cliff is 6 inches from your tire.  Above is a picture of me at the summit.  Over 14,000 feet in the air (that's like 2.7 miles).  When I was walking around, I felt like I was drunk!  I stayed at the top for about 30 minutes until I felt less woozy.  

I was basically sitting in the clouds, a happy little snowbird.  I also got to see a bunch of Aspen trees!  They are my favorite (and apparently they are my plant totem too).  

A picture of my Aspen tattoo.  I got this for my 27th Birthday, in the midst of moving out of my apartment and into the Sweet Demon Collective in Hadley in February.  It serves to remind me that I am capable of letting the winds of change blow through me and around me without me breaking.  I aspire to be as strong and resilient and rooted and beautiful as the Aspen tree.  

Another picture from the summit. 

It was about 45-50 degrees up here.  Chilly!  I made a snowball!  

Okay!  Crazy story!  This picture was taken at the "Brake Check Station" halfway down the mountain. Everyone has to stop and have their brakes checked before they can continue.  My brakes clocked in at 450 degrees!  The maximum passing standard is 300 degrees!  Whoops!  I had to pull over to the side of the road and wait 30 minutes for them to cool off.  And then I got a lecture from the park rangers about only using 1st gear when going down (which I was doing anyway, duh!).  At least I wasn't the only one who had to pull over... or else I would feel like a bigger idiot.  Anywho, I obviously made it down the mountain safely or else I wouldn't be writing this post.

So I'm spending the night in Colorado Springs and then am heading up to Boulder, CO for a couple of days.  I have a big surprise in store for tomorrow.  Stay tuned!