Santosha: Boulder to Salt Lake City to Lake Tahoe to Ashland

Woah! A lot happened in the past few days. I must say, I was far too busy hiking, seeing an old friend, and generally riding in the car to post properly.

Boulder, CO turned out to be pretty awesome. I would most definitely live there. At first it did seem a bit like Wilmington, NC as we rode into town on a very long two lane road that was plagued with traffic and strip malls. But then I began to realize what filled these strip malls. Not Bed, Bath and Beyonds and Best Buys and Jamba Juices. No. But, amazing coffee shops, awesome beer stores, cute little restaurants, and one of the best running stores I've ever seen. Also, Boulder is not all strip malls. They have a pretty cute little downtown area, too. And, hey, the city is at the foot of the rockies! So, my new assessment for Boulder is that it is a cross between Burlington, VT, Chapel Hill, NC and a little bit Wilmington, NC.

Awesome hike at the Flatirons

Great Coffee at The Laughing Goat

Jason contemplating rock domination

Pretty Pretty Pretty

Crazy eyed Blaine for a beer Sampler at Mountain Sun

Boulder, the Burlington VT walking around part

An Amazing Pizza with Black Truffles and Pork Belly, from PastaVino

Salt Lake City was beautiful! Utah is still one of the prettiest states in my opinion. And, it made it even more special that I got to enjoy it with a great old friend.

When I went to Thailand in 2004 for Yoga Teacher Training, I was paired with an awesome girl as my roommate for the month. We spent a great deal fo time together and really bonded during that month, realizing that we had so much in common. We really became good friends during that time in Thailand. After I returned to NC and she to California (at the time) we emailed for a while and tried to stay in touch, but you know how that goes. Eventually, we moved on to other things and kind of forgot about each other. I still though about her every now and then, the way you think about people who have been good friends over the years. She went on to open up her own coffee shop in Salt Lake City where I surprised her during our first trip out west in June. We decided then that Jason and I would stay with her on this trip out. We had a blast! We got to meet her super sweet boyfriend, Dan, check out some awesome food and beverage, and do a pretty crazy hike. Salt Lake City, I would definitely live in you too!

Erica's cafe, The Rose

Adorable little apt. under The Rose

Jason posing next to Dan's El Camino

Beautiful Utah

Amazing!

Looks like Alaska

Chipmunk friend

Moose friends

Chillin at the summit

Wow

hike hike hike

Hiking along this ridge line was a little scary

Reunited...and it feels so good

Then, on to Lake Tahoe where a beautiful lake is vacationed by rich people. We camped here, got up walked around a bit, did a mini hike on the apparently famed Tahoe Rim Trail, and then headed out. I would definitely like to go back and vacay there.