Pizza and Wildlife

I met two of my fellow co-workers for dinner tonight. Kristen can claim part of this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I think that is pretty darn cool. Jeff is a man of all trades but is currently working at NOAA doing air pollution studies. We went to Proto's to have some yummy pizza and drinks.

On another note. On my way home tonight from Boulder, I spotted a mountain lion and we stared each other in the eyes for a few seconds. If you have never seen a mountain lion, they are very impressive animals. I also saw a bobcat the other day too. I didn't take the pics below but I thought you should all know what a mountain lion and bobcat look like.

BobcatMountain Lion

The Big D-Town

I had to go to Denver twice in the past two days. Once to the Mexican Consulate to FINALLY get my visa for Mexico and once to DIA to pick my parents who just got back from a 3 week cycling trip in Turkey. Doesn't retirement sound nice?
Indian Summer has come back to Colorado. Here is a picture of Boulder on my way back from Denver yesterday. The nice weather means more bike riding for me in the clean Colorado air before I head back to Mexico sometime next week.

Mags and Meegs

My very, very good friend Maggie drove from Bozeman, MT to visit me for the weekend. It is fun to have the Mags and Meegs team together again.
Today was the second snowfall of the winter. Mags and I took a nice walk through the forest to our neighbors house with all 3 dogs. This is Pawnee.
And here is Endo. Endo and I will be leaving for Mexico in about a week. I think we are both sad to leave mountain life but at the same time excited to see what city life has to offer.

First Snow!

This is a picture I took of the house on Friday. Sunny, beautiful, and around 70˚F.This is a picture I took of the house this morning. Snowing, beautiful, and around 30˚F. You've got to love Colorado!

Colorado Indian Summer

The weather in Colorado has been just beautiful, which means that I have to get out and enjoy it before the wind and snow starts up (although that may not happen until after I return to Mexico, but its still a good excuse to get out and play). So below are some photos from some of my adventures thus far this week.
I've been on a couple nice runs along the Switzerland Trail. Here is one of my favorite views of Arapaho Glacier.
Shoshoni, one of my parents' dog during a run along the Switzerland Trail.
Morgan and I went mountain biking on the trails in Nederland today. Here we are enjoying the great view from the Tennessee Mountain Overlook.
We rode some very nice single track through some beautiful aspen forests. The leaves have all fallen off the trees leaving a beautiful golden blanket on the ground.

Ridin' and Friends

I have been trying to get in as much riding as I can since I didn't have my bikes with me in Mexico. Today I rode up Fourmile Canyon and down Sunshine Canyon on my cross bike and yesterday I rode up to Brainard Lake on my road bike. I have also been catching up with a lot of friends while I am home.
The view upon arriving at Brainard Lake.
I had dinner at The Med followed by a little window shopping for Halloween costumes with my friends Megan, Alison, Jen, and Erin.

Fresh Air, Family, Friends, and Pies

I have definitely been enjoying my time in Mexico City and am already excited to return to my life there. However, being home has reminded me why the Boulder/Nederland/Ward Colorado area will always be my home. Nothing in the world can replace the beauty of Colorado (especially in the fall), the familiarity of family and friends, nor my favorite place on this planet which is the house I grew up in. I will continue to post pictures throughout my stay here to give my new friends back in Mexico City a taste of what my life here is like.
I woke up my first morning back home to the sun shinning through the changing golden aspen leaves.
On my first day back I had to make a trip to Ft. Collins to drop a computer off for Andres, a graduate student in Mexico. Luckily, I was able to grab lunch with my cousin Molly Rose while I was in the Ft.
On Sunday I hosted a brunch for 10 of my very good friends. I contributed two of my famous made-from-scratch pies to the feast.

My Future Plans

For those of you that don't know, tomorrow I coming home to Boulder for about 3 weeks. I will return to Mexico at the end of October by driving from Boulder to Mexico City with my car, my dog, my bikes, and my belongings (don't worry, my friend Abraham is going to meet me in Texas and drive with me through Mexico). When I return to Mexico, I will move into a new apartment. Below are pictures of my new place, which has a very nice guest room for those of you that want to come visit. The apartment is still under construction but I am told it will be completely finished by the time I return. I am super excited about my new place and I think you'll understand why by looking at the pictures.
The entry into my apartment looking south toward the deck and the main living area.
Looking north from the deck towards the main living area.
The kitchen which is to the east of the main living area.
The stairs to the second floor, which continue on to the roof garden.
Looking south from one of the bedrooms, the other bedroom is just to the east and is identical to this bedroom.
The bedrooms come with very nice built in closets and the floors are going to be wood.
The view from my roof garden, which will have a nice table and lots of plants.

Plaza Garibaldi

A few days after I arrived in Mexico, I met my friend Federico. I was looking for an apartment to rent and he was walking out of the complex. So I asked him about the apartments and we exchanged numbers. That night, I met up with Federico and a couple of his friends as well as Wolfgang (the other post-doc I work with at UNAM). After a couple of hours of drinking beer in Coyoacan we headed off to Plaza Garibaldi in the center of Mexico City. Luckily, there was someone at the plaza taking Polaroids so the night could be documented. As you can see, Plaza Garibaldi involves drinking LOTS of tequila and listening to mariachi bands play until the break of dawn. You basically pay individual mariachi bands to play your choice of songs and down shots of tequila in the process. It was definitely a fun night and I would like to go back to Plaza Garibaldi in the near future. The people in the picture from left to right are; Tony, Antonio, Federico, Me, and Wolfgang. Thanks to Antonio and Tony for getting me a copy of the pic to post on my blog because as Erin Huck would say, "It was a blog worthy night."