Rocky Mountain High

We made it out of Nebraska into Colorado!

http://youtu.be/eOB4VdlkzO4

That first view is just... Well it's like fresh air just fills your lungs instantly.

We saw some awesome people along the way...

For starters, this guy. We met him on the highway during some bumper to bumper traffic. Turns out he's from Dekalb! Not quite our hero (every trip needs one) but he DID smoke his cigarette, helmet-less, while cruising through the Rockies' passes. He's for real.

Speaking of mountain passes, we got our share of Kumbhaka (breath retention) practice through all the tunnels.

Side note- if it wasn't obvious enough from our first music video, we DO go back each night and re-visit our old posts and crack ourselves up. 

Anyway as we were saying...

In Denver we had a quick stop at a construction site to see C's friend from San Diego, Kelly! He was digging the trucker hats so we let him borrow one. BORROW. 

Some friends are just worth driving 2,060 miles for...

Next stop, the ER. That's right, we needed to go to the hospital... Don't worry-just to see D's friend Nate who works there.

Our friends and family are truly such great sports!

After winding through the valley, we made it to Carbondale where we got out for a quick hike. Eager to move after 18 hours of driving the past 2 days, we were bouncing around Red Hill and no one could stop us.

 

When we finally got to Aspen, we met up with our buddies for sushi. 

They were pretty excited to celebrate our arrival!

We got caught in the rain after dinner. 

And man, running though pelting rain at altitude after a bottle of wine (each?) is hard work. 

Next day we took a rest day and went for a breathtaking hike up to the Maroon Bells. It was the perfect day.

Next stop, Salt Lake City! Bonus- we have road buddies now :)