A Day on the Poudre

The summer after I graduated from Madison, I packed up my life and moved to Fort Collins, Colorado.  It was the first time I was truly independent, and making a big move away from my family and everything that was familiar to me.  Having grown up with a deep love of skiing and the outdoors, I knew without a question that Colorado was the right place for me, however I didn't know a single person there!  I remember settling into my new apartment, and watching my parents drive off back for home, and feeling this huge sense of excitement at the adventure ahead of me.  I went immediately to the DMV the next day to get my new Colorado license plate and license - I was on the brink of so much!

I started working for my professor a few months before the school year started, so I could have the summer to settle in before the stress of graduate school started in.  One day the secretary for the atmospheric science department came down to chat with me, and told me that she wanted to introduce me to another student who had just moved out from the east coast, and would be in my class that fall.  And that is when I met my good friend Stacey!  It was such a relief to make a new friend, and to both completely be fish out of water in our new surroundings.  We took to exploring each day, and ducking out of work early to drive up Rist Canyon, and the Poudre Canyon, with the sun roof open and the windows down, listening to the Eagles, and James Taylor.  We would stop and take pictures of horses, and sit and spread blankets and read along the Poudre River, and just totally relish that fact that we were in Colorado and it was amazingly beautiful, and we were so lucky.

Later, after I met Nathan, we would take our two puppies, Dallas and Lilly, for hikes along the Poudre River, and to swim all the time.  I remember one day when the river was frozen and they were both skittering out along it, ice breaking, and then falling in, and LOVING it.  Nate and I spent many days up in the canyon, and camping up by Cameron Pass with the dogs - in rain and shine and snow!  Those were very carefree, fun days.

I lived for 3 years in Fort Collins while I completed my graduate degree, and then worked for the university for another year.  I have such strong feelings of nostalgia for that time of my life, when I was young, and free, and had my whole life ahead of me.  It is the town where I met and fell in love with Nathan, and where I think I really set the course for all that has happened since.  I huge part of my heart will always be in Fort Collins, which is why it is so special each time we go back.

This time I think was especially fun and poignant for me, because Nathan and I took our THREE kids back to the place where we fell in love, and I was able to spend time on the river again with my friend Stacey and her husband, who are due with their first daughter.  It was really crazy to see how far we've come these past 9 years, and where our lives have taken us.  I have driven up that canyon so many times, in so many different types of weather, on so many different adventures.  However I think this time was the only time I had ever been listening to the Laurie Berkner band and passing out snacks and sippy cups....I'll just put that out there haha.

So we spent the day drinking beer from local microbreweries Odells and New Belgium, and dipping our feet in the FREEZING river, and soaking up the sun, and enjoying time with good friends.  It was one of my very favorite days on the whole trip.

And now I need to take a trip down memory lane with some old favorite photos from our FoCo days :)

Sigh....and now back to real life again!  Kidding, I wouldn't trade 2011 for anything, but it is fun to look back, and to share those special memories with my kids.  Hopefully they grow up with the same appreciate for the great outdoors that their parents have!