Boulder, CO

The last leg of our honeymoon was spent in lovely Boulder Colorado with our friends James and Rebecca. If there were an award for the “awesomest outdoor couple” these two would win.

Although, something tells me they would chuckle at this nomination and really don’t consider themselves all that special. Perhaps because they live in Boulder and outdoor awesomeness is the norm? It does seem like everyone in Boulder is pretty outdoorsy. In fact, I was a little jealous of all the women I saw by themselves on the mountain bike trail, or with kayaks on their car, or inspecting the gear in the local mountaineering store (unlike me who looks at that stuff like it’s on display in an exotic tools museum). I need some of these women in my life. There have to be a few in the O.C. somewhere. Where are you? I want to find you so we can be friends.

Why I nominate James and Rebecca for awesomest outdoor couple… For their first trip together, these two biked the pacific coast from Montreal to Tijuana. Yeah… not your average romantic get-a-way, but SO incredibly cool! And it just keeps getting better. They do weekly duathlons, weekend mountain bike trips, hiked the 500 mile Colorado Trail, are experts in how to pack light, and next month will travel through Europe where they’ll bike and camp their way from Belgium to Italy.

Spending time with these two means there are fun and fully packed adventure days in store. Peter accompanied James on his Friday morning (before work) 18 mile, 3, 100 foot elevation gain, round trip bike ride up Flagstaff Road and I decided to stay in bed. After they got back James went to work and Peter and I went mountain biking at the Betasso Preserve. It was fantastic! This trip was my first time mountain biking and I had no idea I was going to love it so much. Mountain biking has all the things I love about hiking except it’s more fun and a better workout. I nearly passed out over the edge of a few pretty steep hillsides.

James came home early from work and we had a changing of the guard. I passed out on the couch and James took Peter to the new Boulder Mountain Bike Park where they played around for a few hours. By the time they got home, I had recovered, Rebecca arrived, and we all went on a hike up the Flat Irons. The rest of our weekend was spent rock climbing, pulling ourselves across a river on a suspended rope (first time for me!), avoiding thunderstorms, riding our bikes in thunderstorms, running in thunderstorms, drinking local beer, eating delicious food, and stuffing ourselves with gelato. At the end our days my body was so tired that it’s all I could do to drag myself up the stairs and right into bed. I love days like that. Thank you James and Rebecca for adding to a perfect vacation.