Hunja

This morning was cold, but not as cold as it's been the last 5 week days or so. Because of this, rather than wear my ski jacket which is bulky but covers my face well, I opted to wear my winter scarf I bought in Morocco. That made me think about this fantastic tea that is sold in the Djemma el Fna, the large square in Marrekech that bursts to life in the evenings.




The tea is called hunja and it's a ginseng tea with what I can only guess is a combination of cloves, ginger, cinnamon, cardamon, and like all the teas in Morocco: sugar. It's hot and spicy (they serve them in these tiny tea glasses but halfway through a serving my inner ears were on fire from all the spices). It is sold in giant gold urns with a cake which to the best of my research I've been able to identify as something called tkaout or maybe sellou. Both names came up when I tried to search for the cake sold with the tea. It's heavy and rich and I didn't think it was too sweet but by the time I ate it I was just trying to put out the slight fire going on in my mouth. :P


Marrakech was one of my favorite places, and especially the Djemma el Fna. I love thinking about the trip I had there with Jeremy and I can only imagine how good this tea would be on a day like this...it would warm anyone right up!

Giant Boulders, Frozen Waterfalls, and Thanksgiving.

I wanted to share two pictures of some amazing stops along the Fern Lake Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park. We hiked it last weekend while we stayed in Estes Park and it was beautiful...absolutely perfect heading up to the lake and then snow started falling as we headed down. :) As always, these photos are from Jeremy's camera.

My friend, Chrissy, and I standing on a boulder next to an even bigger boulder.

Jeremy and a half-frozen waterfall.

- - - - -

Estes Park is also the destination for Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. This year will most likely be the most nontraditional celebration I've ever had but I'm so looking forward to it (by "nontraditional" I mean gumbo will be served). :) Also exciting: Jeremy and I are going to the CU-Nebraska game in Boulder on Friday!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week of Thanksgiving festivities planned! That's it for now, but I'll leave with two quotes about having a sense of wonder and thankfulness from two of my favorites...

There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle.

-Albert Einstein

When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.
-Buddha

Kauai Pics!

Not to brag, but I've been quiet the last week because Jeremy surprised me with a trip to Hawaii that included four friends of ours.

Yes.

Sorry it's taken me so long to provide this link. It's Jeremy's Picasa album for Kauai!

Painting on the side of a building in Kapa'a.

Jeremy, in Kapa'a.

Monk seal sunning on Po'ipu Beach.

Po'ipu Beach.

Ziplining in northern Kauai.



At a Hawaiian ice stand near Princeville, Kauai.

Hang loose, all!

Bison Peak Pictures

Jeremy chillin' in the shade of one of the many rock formations near Bison Peak.

Alright, two Posts of Awesomeness in a row! I have some pictures of Bison Peak to share...these are from Jeremy's camera, at his Picasa site. We all kind of passed the camera around to mix it up, so enjoy...

Rockies v. Giants 8/24/09

Last night, Jeremy and I went to the Rockies game to watch them play the last in a series against the Giants, a team they are battling to stay ahead of in the wild card race. Here is the article from the Denver post: Rox jolt Giants with grand slam in 14th inning

In short, the game went on for 14 innings. At the ninth inning the game was tied 1-1, which meant extra innings. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

Jeremy, during the 12th inning...I think.

I'm not a sports reporter and I know very little about baseball, but hopefully I can sum this up well enough for everyone to understand (and also not make a fool of myself). At the top of the 14th the Giants scored three runs. Then the Rockies were up. It was a less than perfect situation, however with the bases eventually loaded and our pitcher Eaton walked by the Giants, we got a run when Dexter Fowler had to come home. 4-2, Giants.

After that, still with the bases loaded, Ryan Spilborghs (which I just checked and I can't believe I spelled right) hit a grand slam, bringing home all four Rockies - and bringing in the Rox win with 6 runs!

It was fantastic, and long (just a few minutes under five hours) and I'm exhausted. It was well worth it!

Coors Field, around midnight-ish, after the Rockies won 6-2 in the bottom of the 14th.

Bison Peak...

...was beautiful and different and gorgeous and HARD! It was well worth it though.

The evening before we camped right near a river under the stars, sans rainfly.

Saturday Jeremy, Micaela and I started what I would call a grueling hike and were rewarded at the top with a balancing act of rock. I only am putting up one picture here from all that were taking, but I will share more when I have time to edit and upload...I'll also let you all know when Jeremy's are up (since I took better pictures with his camera anyway - including my favorite of Jeremy sitting on a giant rock formation!)

Family Visit

As I mentioned in my last post, my family (well, my brother and mom) came to visit Golden, CO this weekend and play "Pimp My Crib" with my apartment. :P Jeremy flew in for less than 24 hours to hang out, go to dinner, and accompany us on our day of hiking and whatever else we had time to do. First we drove up to the top of Lookout Mountain at night. I may have scared everyone with my hairpin turns and downshifting, but my mom was freaked out on a stop overlooking the lights of Golden and Denver when Jeremy ventured out to chill on some overlooking rocks. I was advised, in short, not to ever take my grandma up to Lookout Mountain, night time or day time. We recouped on Jeremy's porch and all was well.

Next was a hike on Saturday morning to Panorama Point in Golden Gate Canyon State Park. This was the first hike Jeremy took me on in Colorado and, since we weren't going all the way to the mountains, it offers a spectacular view of them instead. Because of this, that's the hike I picked for my mom and Vin. It started raining shortly after we had our fill of the view at Panorama Point, and when the rain landed it turned to ice. Ridiculous. Pictures below:






Next up we went to the batting cages because I knew it would be fun for Vin. Turns out my mom used to play softball in college. I think I knew that, but Jeremy's prediction that she'd show me up was fulfilled. Jeremy and Vin also challenged each other to a racing duel with the clear winner being Jeremy. While none of the unusual, unscrupulous means can be cited for the win, interesting, natural methods of distraction were employed. ;)

Soon it was time to take Jeremy back to work and we all went to The Market in downtown Denver for lunch. After that was the hotel, then REI, then ice cream in downtown Golden, a walk down Clear Creek and finally rest, showers, and a movie.

Today was pretty chill: donuts, finishing touches, more walking and D'Deli while we watched kayakers.



:)

Sand, sand, sand...

I haven't updated everyone in quite a while, mostly because I'm just taking it easy after moving, the end of the spring semester at CU, and a weekend earlier this moneth that we spent eating crawfish. 180 lbs of crawfish.

That's okay, because all those crawfish were worked off this past weekend at the Great Sand Dunes near Hooper, CO. I even had a new down sleeping bag to test, one with which Jeremy generously surprised me. It worked like a charm and it was the first time I've ever been toasty on a camping trip!

The park was beautiful and strange with dunes, water, mountains, trees, and grasslands:



And speaking of water, we went off the beaten path and realized we were going to have to cross a barely above freezing cold stream of snowmelt water. This was probably the weirdest and most fun thing we could have never expected. :P


The flora and fauna were interesting too, having adapted to the sandy, hot, steep landscape. These neat trees had "eyes" on their bark:

There was also some pretty unique wildlife, though they ventured out after dark so the only evidence they left were their tracks in the sand. However, these little guys are familiar:


The sleeping bag! All ready for a long night's rest after the days activities of running up adn down dunes. Well, crawling up and speeding down...

This shot is Jeremy's and I think it's just awesome:

April 22, 2009 - Earth Day - What's Your Footprint?

It's Earth Day, everyone! Do you know your "global footprint"? I decided to publish mine (stats typed below or enlarge the cool images).

If everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle, we would need: 3.25 Earths US AVERAGE 6.35

My footprint in Global Acres by Consumption Category:

Carbon Footprint: Mine=49.1 Average (US)= 91.4

Food Footprint: Mine= 31.7 Average (US)=65.7

Housing Footprint: Mine=9.2 Average (US): 31.6

Goods and Services Footprint: Mine=36.3 Average (US)=57.7

You can take the quiz and calculate your footprint here:

http://www.myfootprint.org/

Earth Day is all about awareness and action. Some interesting headlines from the day and a summation of the articles below...all taken from the Colorado Daily, mostly quoted...I claim no authorship.

STUDY: SPAM'S BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
McAfee Inc. found spammers generated 62 trillion junk emails in 2008 that wasted enough electricity to power 2.4 million US homes for a year.
The carbon footprint? The report concluded that the electricity needed to process a single spam message results in .3 grams of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere - the equivalent of driving 3 feet in a car.

NCAR SAYS THE WORLD'S RIVERS ARE SHRINKING
The flow of water has declined over the past half century with significant changes in about 1/3 of the world's large rivers and a 14% decrease in the Columbia in the Pacific Northwest. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) analyzed 925 major rivers between 1948-2004. The reduction in inflow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi River.
The Arctic had the only significant increase, where warming conditions are increasing the snow and ice melt.
The point is, freshwater resources are likely to decline. Dams and the diversion of water for agriculture and industry are also factors.

ZERO WASTE GOES ZERO-TO-60 IN NINE YEARS
EcoCycle executive director Eric Lombardi said in 2000, "Imagine a world where all products and packaging are recyclable, reusable, or compostable." Nine years later, on Earth Day 2009, even the [University of Colorado] Buffs' home football games and the county fair are waste free. EcoCycle is hosting the Zero Waste Business and Community Awards with finalists ranging from REI to Summit Middle School here in Boulder.

There's a lot of bad news, but also a lot of good being done for the environment. While it's strange to think that some people and businesses don't even try to recycle, that's one extreme. Nine years ago, as the article says, zero waste was a wacky idea that was too idealistic. What wacky ideas do we have today that can be realized in nine years (or less)?

Clarity x 10

Last night Jeremy and I saw Jimmy Eat World's Clarity x 10 tour at the Ogden Theater in Denver. It was a beautiful night, warm(er) than it's been (didn't even need a jacket!), we ate yummy Mediterranean food in line, and had the best seats in the house!

The stage is set...

They were GREAT! There was energy the entire time in not only the music but also the band. I was getting tired just watching them! :) It really translated to the crowd, especially a section to the left of the stage that was just rockin' out. I also very much enjoyed hearing Clarity with a little bit of a harder sound. It was way more intense than I remember the CD being and I am really hoping I can find a live recording somewhere soon, though last time I checked they weren't on Archive.org.

I didn't have a tripod, okay?

I really want to post a link from Youtube, but it's being weird with embedding...I think because of this new thing you can do with borders. Anyway, this is from the same tour, but played in NYC. It's videotaped and I picked this one because not only was it pretty good quality, but it's also the title track.

This morning I woke up at 5:45AM to pick up Jeremy and take him to the airport (the next time I see him will be in New York at JFK and the gates of Royal Air Maroc!) and then drive to Boulder for work. I'll go back to Golden tonight which puts me at a solid 102 mile trek around these cities in the shape of a right triangle. Needless to say the plan for the rest of the week is to sleep. Key word: plan. :P

Snowshoes, Rocky Mountain, and FUN!

I think I'll let the pictures and video speak for themselves...an absolutely gorgeous weekend in one of the most beautiful places on Earth! And there's more at the updated album here.

Frozen bubbles: Loch Vale.

Loch Vale.

Jeremy snowshoeing on the iced over lake.

A spectacular view on the last, steep haul.

Footprints on perfect snow.

Earlier on the trail.

And lastly, this was really neat...at Alberta falls the waterfalls had frozen over. Actually, the entire river had and we were snowshoeing on the ice and snow. At one point, however, you could see through the ice at the waterfall still running underneath!

Alberta Falls...frozen waterfall:


:)