FAREWELL Colorado!

All experience is an arch, to build upon.

-Henry Adams

Well, here’s to my last blog post in Colorado!!

I’ll catch you up first...

Two weekends ago Cody took to me Biaggi’s…a nicer Italian restaurant. When the server explained the olive oil concoction and the different breads and all of that, it sounded like he was speaking Italian it was so foreign…Cody knew better than to look at me because I was laughing pretty noticeably already, it was bad. We went out on a limb though, and tried weird stuff and it turned out to be better than we expected!  We left for Winter Park Saturday morning! The weather was pretty rough but we made it 2 hours later than it should have taken us and after a few stops! The entire weekend was so so so cold! It took me hours to get warm after skiing all day. We stayed at a hotel since we wanted to go Sunday too, as a final skiing weekend for me since finals were coming up! On the way back, the temperature gauge in my car got down to 1 degree…I was watching it so closely just to see if cars from the south could even read zero or negative temps but it’s still a mystery! We found a country Christmas music station on my Sirius radio…that was the first tie in my life that I have listened to Christmas music while it was snowing…it was pretty cool though, not gonna lie! By the end of that weekend we had heard each song at least 15 times. There are only so many Christmas songs and so many artists to go around. We came across these ram looking creatures...they had curly horns but my driver didn't exactly slow down for me to get a good picure... :( haha. 

During the week, my mom sent my card that brightened my day. It was a paper doll with some nails and instructions to stab the doll…that may or may not have resembled one of my roommates. That may or may not be a noose around her neck resembling a necklace. Hahaha, it was deserved though, I promise. One morning it was negative 5 so I tried to catch the bus when I could, everyone knows I freeze when it’s anything below 60 degrees so if I would have been stuck out there long, there’s no telling what would have happened!  But, I think I’ve changed a little bit…especially when I get excited about the highs being in the 30s, oh boy!

This past weekend, Cody, Blake and I were going to eat at CiCi’s for their 1.99 buffet…..so, we showed up about 6pm and the line was wrapped around outside with the temperature in the teens. Our next best option was Taco Bell! We went to a few Pawn Shops and went to visit Blake’s girlfriend’s grandparents while she is away at basic training for the Navy! They were from Alabama and Auburn fans so Cody and I had fun with that. Saturday night, Cody helped me pack up and get everything ready to go. Giving him all of his stuff back that he had in my car or apartment kinda felt like we were breaking up, haha :/ We went to a free light show at a church and they had live nativity scenes with the lights and all, so that was neat! We went to Crave Burger before he went back to USAFA to study…..soooo delicious! They have the strangest, best burgers. For instance….a jalapeno popper burger, one with 2 grilled cheeses as buns, one with bbq added on top, one with glazed donuts as buns…not kidding.

I saw someone eating it! I finally got everything in my car last night….I feel like I’m  going home with double the amount of things that I came with. I gave Cody 2 rules for tomorrow…#1, don’t open a door unless you ask first and #2, pack light, haha. I’m already dreading going through the gate at USAFA tomorrow because they always open my trunk…I won’t be surprised if they don’t even let me on base with all that stuff!  

The only time I needed my fish to die, they live. So, I decided that I would let them go in a pond and they could live a happy, normal fish life. Well, the pond was frozen over and I decided that even if I made a little hole to let them go, it would be instant freezing death so we’re about to see how tough they really are….they’re in a water bottle and will be joining us in our trek home tomorrow!

I finished my finals this morning and Cody finishes this afternoon. I got some reindeer ears for my car and a red nose on the front, so me, Cody and the Rudolph-mobile will be headed home in t minus 2 hours-ish! I ordered 65 degree weather for when I get home from my father and he told me that he must have misspelled it or something when he put it in, because it’s supposed to be 64. Either way, that sounds lovely to me.

Laying on my bed looking out my window at 2am last night, I started to think of things I’m going to miss about my temporary home. Like walking out of my door to a random surprise of snow or watching the beautiful sun set over Pikes’ Peak. I’ll miss last minute trips to USAFA to see Cody on a random day of the week and having fun with the people at the gate, making up a new place that I was going to on base everytime just because visitors aren’t allowed where I picked Cody up. I’ll miss convincing myself that I would do the incline the next day by myself and then waking up and realizing how cold it is outside and backing out. I’ll miss flyovers all the time, living by 3 Air Force bases, and the sense of pride at USAFA football games. I’ll miss having three huge Goodwills within 10 minutes to dig through random junk and going to CiCi’s with Cody almost once a week to get my favorite apple pizza.  I’ll miss the random green light about half way up the mountains that nobody knows what is and the huge star made out of lights up in Monument. And I'll miss this water bottle that I am choosing to leave behind. If you have been around me at all since I got here, you've most likely either seen this water bottle or been with me when I was freaking out about losing it or begging Cody to hold it and promise he wouldn't throw it away...I just really really liked it, haha. I won’t miss freezing to death and the medians though.

Cody has gotten me very excited for Christmas, and I am excited to be coming home but I can’t believe the semester is already over. I’ve stocked up on diet coke, energy drinks, gummy bears, peppermints and chocolate for the long haul! I’m hoping Oklahoma and Kansas wont be so bad this time since it’ll be dark and I won’t have to see them, haha! After nearly 14 hours of darkness, the sun shall rise in Arkansas and we’ll be so close! I’ll have to let you know how the roadtrip goes but until then, FAREWELL COLORADO!

BRING IT.