September 7th, 2024
Mile Marker: 1811
Miles Hiked: 0
We sure are taking our time getting through Colorado. I’ll hardly ever turn down the idea of a zero though.
Today started with sleeping in until 8ish then heading over to Mercantile 1886 for breakfast.
It was a fancy hotel restaurant and I ordered pancakes, eggs, and a cinnamon roll. The cinnamon roll was quite different than any of the others I tasted, very dense and not too sweet but not exactly what I was wanting. I’d give it a 6 out of 10.
I also thought about my love of cinnamon rolls and where it may come from.
When I was a young child, during the summers, my single father would wake us up around 5 AM and drive us to our grandma’s house before going to work. Here, my sister and I would sleepily crawl back into my grandma’s bed (I was always in the middle) and fall back to sleep.
Sometime later my grandma would wake up and occasionally bake Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. The aroma would fill her house and make its way back to her bedroom where we were sleeping. I can still remember waking up to the smell of cinnamon rolls and being so excited.
I could also go on and on about how amazing my father is. As a single father of four kids he worked two jobs to make ends meet and keep us together. As a child you don’t think much of it, how he endured the stress, work, and kids. But now, as an adult, I’m amazed at his grit and determination. I’ll stop before I become a soppy mess.
We then walked around the main strip of town and checked out the outfitters where I got a new pair of gloves, turns out the other new pair I bought at REI are too tight and made my hands numb! So that’s not going to work and got a new fleece pair that I’m excited to use.
Then we headed to the famous Melanzana shop. Typically one has to put in an appointment to get any clothing but since we are thru hiking the CDT we are able to give our trail names and show a picture of us at the terminus. I was so thrilled to finally get a hoodie! Also, the store was a mad house and when we asked the cashier if it’s always like this, she reported an exhausted yes.
Then came my favorite part of the day, Maddie came up for a night! I’m so lucky she lives close and is willing to come out to hang. We were all also very lucky she has a car because the closest grocery store was about a mile away.
So we first went and grabbed groceries then lunch at the High Mile Pie.
On the way back to the air bnb, we grabbed some coffees and shakes. I decided on a chocolate, peanut butter, and banana shake and it was one of the best shakes I have ever had!
After that we walked back to the air bnb to hang out. I enjoyed getting to catch up on each other’s life.
Eventually I took an Epsom salt bath and then we started making dinner which was stir fry and brownies for dessert.
I didn’t take any pictures at dinner as I was enjoying sitting around and chatting. It felt just like having friends over for dinner in normal life. I think I’m getting excited for whatever comes next after trail.
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 