Friday morning I had to get up and go to work but my supervisor Tiffany was nice enough to give me a half day so Ben met me at my office where I got to show him around and then took me to lunch. After lunch, we met Dave and Mary back at the Broadmoor for a tour of the property. After this it was on to the tourist activities. First stop was Garden of the Gods:
After exploring around, we came back to the Carlson's and to include Ben on my new love for raw fish we made sushi! Like literally made it...I'm so proud.
Saturday, we got up early and did a nice little hike called the Mount Cutler trail which had great views and was just the right length. PS, our way to the trail my fears were confirmed...in the next door neighbors yard just walking along was a Black Bear. Ben was really intelligent and grabbed my camera and ran AT the bear to get a picture, to which the bear turned around and started walking towards Ben...Ben screamed like a girl (so did I) and we escaped safely with a cool picture to show off/terrify me the rest of my time here.
To finish up, probably our most memorable activity was a hike called "the Incline" which had been suggested to me by a number of people because its just a good thing to say you did. So, thinking that I was way more in shape and athletic than I am, Ben and I decided to try it. WHAT a mistake that was. The incline is not just a "hike", its a straight up vertical staircase up a mountain side leading to an asthmatic's death. I tried my hardest not to faint but after about 30 minutes, I was seeing black spots so I forced Ben to go on without me. While I sat there watching him go, I looked to my left and realized that the massive amounts of flies around me were because of a huge pile of dog droppings right beside me. This was enough motivation for me to get up and take it 100 steps at a time to get to the top. So, about an hour later I had made it to the top...oh wait...the "top" or what you see from the bottom as the top is really HALFWAY. I wanted to die and almost had a temper tantrum but by that time Ben had already made it up to the real top and down to the half way mark to meet me. We decided to head back and spent the afternoon in Manitou Springs, the little hippie town at the base.
Ben left on Tuesday, July 6th to go home to a whole new life in Burlington, which will be so strange to go home to Raleigh without him living there. But we are both so excited for what's to come with his new job! But before he goes on to become a farmer, hes taking an awesome 10 day back packing trip with 7 of his Young Life guys who have just graduated from Broughton. They will be back packing through Canada and sharing some great time together, so be praying for Ben and those boys!