The Climb: Castle Rock

DAY 2: As an intern.
I got a badge!
Which makes things even more official ; b

The day started off just like any other.
I woke up at 5:something a.m.
I went to the BootCamp Class that Jenn
teaches, which consisted of jogging up to Castle Rock. -_-

Castle Rock's elevation: roughly 6,200 ft.
Fort Myers, FL's elevation: around 7 to 10 ft.
Again, perspective here...


See Bambi!?

First, there were deer!

Then, there was a view.
OMG! Check that out. Good morning, Golden!

So, there's a group of like 8 of us.
Jogging up the small mountain,
stopping for dips, squats, push-up,
or maybe a breath of freaking air!

Almost to the top of Castle Rock!

Finally, getting to the top.
Ah! Look at that view.
Hello tiny town below.
Oh, wait. Now we work out?
Good warm up guys...

Jenn leading the group with some resistance training.

Also, here's a quick video I tried to be
sneaky about shooting during that class.
Yes, the audio is crap again.
But, I did figure out how to do that subtitle thing : D
So enjoy!



Okay, and after the bootcamp my day went like this:
Breakfast.
Balance & Strength class.
Volleyball with the Coors retirees.
Shadowing front desk.
Rock Bottom class (lower body).
Lunch Crunch class (core).
Lunch!
More shadowing desk hours.
Talk to the P.T. about scheduling, etc.
Got a badge!

Ta Da!
All done by 2 pm.
Boy an early day sure goes fast!

New places, New faces: Work Edition.

Today was my first day as an intern for MillerCoors Wellness Center!

Juli, the other intern, and I took yoga and spin today
as part of our orientation...amongst paperwork/ quizzes.

Juli et moi!

Our internship coordinator, Jenn, is super nice & easy-going!

Jenn et moi!

Tomorrow is a really early day for us.
We start work at 6a.m. because we're taking:
The Bootcamp Class.

This afternoon, I asked Jenn what exactly the class was...
so apparently we'll be hiking North Table Mountain
to work out on top of Castle Rock.

Which looks a little something like this:
The path is on the left hand side.

Just as a point of reference, in the mornings when I see people on top of
Castle Rock, they look like little ants!

Tomorrow will be the ultimate test of my adaption to this altitude : D

A day that calls for hooping : D

It's...Saturday!
A day that calls for hooping.

I woke up early this morning and went to the
Farmer's Market in Downtown Golden : D

After I had had my share of deliciousness
I thought, "well, I don't really want to go home yet...
I want to hula hoop!"

So I went down the street to the new
consignment shop in town and bought one.

Parked my bike near a tree.
And had some silly fun!

Okay, so here's Step 1.
First, play the song below. There's nothing to see there...
unless you like the windows media psychedelic screen.
Just some great audio.
This song has come on in every store I've been in during the past 2 days.
It's from 500 days of Summer. It's stuck in my head.

Next, comes Step 2.
While you have the lovely song, Sweet Disposition, playing go ahead and start playing, or loading, the youtube vid below. Turn the sound off on that one. Just clicky camera noise.

Step 3, is only if you like the above and want some more sunshine hooping happiness.
If not, then just wait until the song ends- and leave. Ciao!

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOYcccYCeD4

Welcome to my Golden Home!

Hi everyone! : D

I was feeling a little uninspired (or just darn lazy!),

when I thought to myself,

"Why type?... when I can make a video tour!"

So, come join me in a tour of my Four-Plex

in Golden, CO!

Golden Home Tour from saige silverman on Vimeo.

I hope you enjoyed the above.

I like this place.

It's really kinda cozy : b

Where has the weekend gone?

ZOOM!
Every moment seems to pass so quickly.
I cannot believe the amount of stuff I have done,
when I haven't even been here a full 2 weeks yet!

On Friday night there was another movie in the park:

It was a lot of fun! Packed with families and kids picnicking.
Marty, his new roomie Joe, and two of their floor-mates came too!

On Saturday, I did some more yoga.
Later that night Anna and I cooked dinner,
and Trever brought over a bottle of Funk Llama.

This morning I volunteered at the Fine Arts Festival here in Golden.
It is a sunny day here and I am currently taking refuge in the library ;b

This evening I'll be taking another yoga class...surprise!?
After class I will begin my first cleaning gig over at Vital Yoga.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that school starts tomorrow?
I hadn't thought too much of it except now I can't log on to
Facebook and not see statues' filled with sincere goodbyes to
the Florida sun.

Dinner at The Sherpa House

I did some more yoga...of course.

Then I called John at Vital Yoga
to respond to their karma yoga exchange.

We're meeting today to discuss my new role as:
Maid Saige! hehe.
I'm going to clean the yoga studio on
Monday nights for a few hours;
earning myself unlimited yoga at any of their locations!

How sweet is that!?

Well, Emma (Anna's sister) had one final request
before the airport yesterday:
GCB!

Then it was time for the sisters to go onward
to the airport in Denver.

I tagged along with Marty to the Mine's Campus
so that he could get stuff done,
and I could get in some impromptu sight-seeing.

As we began our trek back home,
there was a light drizzling from above.
In order to wait out the storm we decided
to grab some grub.

There are plenty of bars around since I am
living in the land of breweries.
However, we went for something a little more
fulfilling: The Sherpa House!

["My family and I are delighted to present our
authentic Himalayan cuisine and
traditional Sherpa culture to you."]

Culture is on the menu!

The people that work here are lovely!
The food was great and overall it was
such a fun experience.
I had the best chai tea here!
This will be my favorite little place to stop in and warm up during the cold months ahead!

We ate in this cool back room with great windows.
We both ordered Daal Batt-
1 vegetarian, and 1 yak.
Can you guess which was mine?

mmm...yak!

Marty moves out of my new room today and into CSM!
...and he's leaving his camera collection for me to play with : D

Daal Batt, Naan bread (1 onion, 1 garlic), lentil soup, chai tea, sweet lassi!

The Stack-a-bowls!

The fun with Nepalese food is that traditional Daal Batt
is served like so:
a big plate with small bowls.

1. rice
2. main dish (veggie or meat) in sauce
3. veggies
4. more veggies
5. lentil soup

You dump the rice and top it with the rest.
The soup you can add to taste if the rice is too dry.

For dessert we got Kheer and Ambrosia.
So many left overs...we brought the sweets home too!

After dinner, the stormy showers had passed,
and we were greeted with a double rainbow!
Hard to see, but there's one a little more to the left as well!

Yoga is Vital

There's a beautiful studio in downtown Golden

called Vital Yoga.
They have a free week long trial for newbies,
et voila! That's me : D

Yesterday was my first day & I totally took advantage of it.
I did a double!
Yoga at 11:30 and another at 4:30.

The first class was a vinyasa (all levels)
and it ended up just being 3 of us- teacher included.
So we got to do a little more play and 1/2 of the class was practicing
inversions on the wall- so fun!

Our teacher, Megan, spoke of karma's counterpart:
Leela.
She made the whole concept this beautiful story
that flowed throughout the whole of class.

The latter class was called "Vital Roots"
which is their own version of a heated yoga class.
Not kept as hot as Bikram and it's
their own series of poses,
each held for about a minute.

The teachers were both inspiring!
The imagery when they spoke was just amazing.

After class I was chatting on the phone with my momma,
when I suddenly realized I had sat in sap.
Enough sap to go through my pants and my bathing suit.
I was a total sappy-@$$.

I didn't want to ruin my new bike seat,
so I took the bus home.
Check out my baby on board!


While I waited to board I saw some jouster's jousting too.
On guard! Touche!

And now I am off to do more yoga!
Ciao!

I have WHEELS!

Yesterday, Anna drove me to a place called Heritage Square
so that I could pick up my bike from the Golden Optimists.
I had no idea what this place was, I only knew it wasn't very far from where we live.

Well, we drove up some parking lot back roads...and I first saw this:

The warehouse!

Since no one was there yet, we began to roam.

So, when I tuned around I saw this:
Teeny- tiny train tracks.

Anna and I went looking for Marty and Emma.

Turns out they had found this:
Heritage Square is a permanent carnival!?

They were on their 6th hole of putt putt.
18 holes of mini-golf. Watch out for snakes...


They even have swan boats & a Ferris-wheel!

Up the hill from the carnival is The Alpine Slide:
See the zig zags? You slide down the mountain! Ahhh!

After killing some time, I got this:

The big reveal: My WHEELS!

Hey guys!
I have wheels!**
And before I left they gave me a basket-
now I am totally tricked ouuut!
: D

**I live in a valley. There are 2 types of roads in Golden: uphill and downhill. The downhill feels very very fast. The uphill feels very very s-l-o-w.

Happy Meat Day!

Currently, everyone in this household has declared this day: Meat Day!

Luckily, they are understanding to my not taking part in the activities.

Other than celebrating meat? I am very excited to be celebrating the day I get a bike!
Yes, that is TODAY!
Yay!

Let's see, in the past few days I have:

1. Gone tubing for the first time down the Clear Creek Rapids! : DSuch a peaceful and lovely place!

2. Had fun attempting slack lining at the park.Anna's attempt at awesome-ness!

3. Walked, sat in the front yard, hooped, etc.

"Bealy on?"

"On belay."

"Climbing."

"Climb on."

Yesterday afternoon I came home and was relaxing a bit.
Felt a little sleepy. Thought about reading a book.
And then I got invited to go rock climbing.

ummm. YES!

There was full Sage in bloom all through the hike there. Smelled lovely!

So, I hopped into the car with:

• Anna- my new roomie.
• Emma- her sister (visiting).
• Trever- Golden local/ Anna's friend.
• Marty- currently lives in what will be my new bedroom/ CSM student.

Trever goes climbing often and is quite experienced. He's going to start leading climbs and has already led a few. Emma had been once before. Anna goes with Trever when she's in Golden. Marty goes with friends in Golden. I am scared of heights.

Emma going up! Trever being the belayer. Marty teaching me how to tie the figure 8 knot securely to my harness.

We drove down the road to Clear Creek, and began our mountaineering.
First, let's define this:
mountain climbing: the activity of climbing a mountain.

Trever leading.

There are several numerical ratings for the activity of mountaineering.
The grades are as follows:

• Class 1 is walking on an even, often planar, surface with a low chance of injury, and a fall is unlikely to be fatal.
• Classes 2 and 3 are steeper scrambling with increased exposure and a greater chance of severe injury, but falls are not always fatal.
• Class 4 can involve short steep sections where the use of a rope is recommended, and un-roped falls could be fatal.
• Class 5 is considered true rock climbing, predominantly on vertical or near vertical rock, and requires skill and a rope to proceed safely. Un-roped falls would result in severe injury or death.

^Thanks wikki!


Once you get up to level 5, there is a 1-12 rating.
(Actually, there can be up to 15; however, this is just getting technical.)

Our climb for the day...drum roll, please...was a 5.8!

I did the climb in my vibram 5 fingers,
and my yogi-ism definitely came into play.

We were already about 7,000-8,00o ft up above sea level.
I haven't been here a week yet. My body is getting a full crash course in altitude acclimation!

I didn't go all the way to the top-- but I did go up about 30ft : D
For a novice from the FL flat-lands, I am pretty darn proud of myself!

Marty rappelling down.