#3 - Go White Water Rafting in CO

Today Kristen and I got to show the Arkansas River who's boss!

Thanks to our friends at Groupon, we got a sweet deal on a rafting trip, and we headed to Cotopaxi, CO - in between Salida and Canon City.  We checked in at Rock n Row  and signed all the waivers we needed to, heard the safety talk, and got pumped up for the morning on the water.

We headed on the bus up to our launch site, met our guide Nick as he explained a few things, and we hopped into our rafts and headed into Bighorn Sheep Canyon.  Our entire group had 5 rafts, and we got to share our raft with a couple who drove up from Denver.

It was a phenomenal trip down the river - a few class II rapids, and a handful of class IIIs, and one class III+ super fun rapid.  It was the perfect combination of exciting water and not over our head craziness, which allowed us to have an amazing day on the river.  Kristen and I had a wonderful time, and I already can't wait for the next whitewater adventure!

Thanks Nick and Rock n Row - if anyone is looking for a place to go rafting in CO, check them out - a small company without the glitz and glamor of the big companies, and an amazing staff - all the guides were great!  I'll for sure check them out again if I'm looking for a rafting/climbing/horseback riding adventure.

#27 - Denver Outlaws Lacrosse Game

I live in a sports haven.

Not only does CO host the big 4 - NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB...

But there are also 3 other professional sports teams - MLS, and 2 lacrosse leagues.

And now, I have officially been to games for all of our teams.

The last one on the list was the Denver Outlaws - our outdoor lacrosse team.  Kristen and I went, sat in the front row, and watched a blowout win.  Go Outlaws!

#16 - Climb the Manitou Incline

When I first moved to Colorado, I nicknamed the stairway at Red Rocks Amphitheater the "Staircase of Death."  My first weekend here, I checked out the amazing landmark, but I wasn't at all used to the altitude, so I had to stop a lot on the way up.  Well, little did I know, the stairs at Red Rocks were nothing.  Weak.  Easy.  An hour south of Denver lies the real Staircase of Death - the Manitou Incline.

The Manitou Incline is basically a downtrodden staircase that climbs 2000 feet in a mile.  Because of its location to the Olympic Training Center, it is known for having some olympians racing up the incline.  If you're doing it properly, you're supposed to time yourself from the trailhead to the top.  They say that world class athletes can do it in under 20 minutes.  It is my sad duty to report that my trek confirmed that I am, in fact, NOT a world class athlete...

I was planning on doing the Incline in the fall, but I found out that it would be closed for 4 months starting in August for renovations.  So... now or never.  When looking at weekends that I would have the time to do it, the best case scenario ended up being Friday... before a wedding... that I was doing a reading at.  So in the wee hours of the morning, I trekked down to Manitou Springs, conquered the Incline, then headed back to Denver for the wedding festivities.  A crazy day, but a memorable one nonetheless.  And another item off the list.

My time was 56:40... I'm coming for you Apolo Ohno! (17:45)

First Glimpse!

It begins...

All done!