Who turned off the oxygen?

PJ and TJ sitting next to Lake Marie at the base of Medicine Bow peak.

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PJ and I are writing this post together. He arrived last Thursday in Denver ... an hour early! For the past few days we have been running around a bit and just trying to settle into living together as opposed to visiting one another always with the knowledge that in a few days, one of us has to head back home. We have about 8 weeks left here in Laramie, so we are also trying to get in some fun activities on the weekends. We have a football game coming up next weekend and are planning a couple hiking and camping trips. In fact, today, we headed up to the beautiful Snowy Range for a bit of sightseeing and a picnic lunch. In two weeks we plan to go up again for a camping trip and to climb Medicine Bow peak (12,013 feet). It is the highest peak in the Snowy Range and prone to some serious lightning storms, but beautiful nonetheless. Interesting Medicine Bow peak factoid: it is the site of the first commercial plane crash! So now, for a bit about what we think of as our first real day together here in Laramie ... with photos!

We packed up our lunch and camera and headed straight out of town. Our first stop was Centennial, WY, where we were able to buy some coffee and visit the farmers market. Unfortunately, we only brought a few dollars with us today, so we were out of luck when it came to buying much produce. We did manage to procure some locally grown garlic, however, and we shall remember to bring more cash when we go camping up there in a couple of weeks.

After Centennial, we stopped at Libby Flats, where there are great views of Medicine Bow and some cute little islands of krumholtz trees.

Looking out from the observation deck at Libby Flats. This is looking roughly south and a little west down into Colorado.

PJ looking out over Libby Flats with Medicine Bow in the background.

Trail head for the Lake Marie trail. It is a short little jaunt down to the lake. We saw several fish jumping about while we ate our lunch. We only stayed at the lake a short time, as a storm began rolling in and the lighting was quickly approaching.

This is looking out from where we sat and ate our lunch. After eating, we bounced about on the rocks into the lake. It was an incredibly beautiful day out and there were few other people in the area. That is one of the beauties of Wyoming ... the trails are fairly vacant, so you can enjoy the solitude of open spaces.

TJ and the Collinator sitting by the lake's edge.

PJ and TJ standing on a rock out in Lake Marie. The trail going up to Medicine Bow peak is just behind us up the ridge.

PJ is hiking our lunch stuff out from Lake Marie. He's still getting used to the altitude, but didn't seem to have any serious issues. We're excited to get out more in the coming weeks that we have left here. We can only get out on the weekends though, sadly, due to that silly little thing called a dissertation that TJ is trying to finish. BOO!

This is one of the two trail heads up to the top of Medicine Bow peak. We went out a way on the trail, but it was getting late and the lightning was becoming more threatening with each passing moment.

On the trail to Medicine Bow peak.

After our day of sightseeing and exploring, we hung out around the lakes and relaxed. PJ saw this as serious business!

Collin celebrates after visiting a lovely Forest Service toilet in the Medicine Bow trail head parking lot.

TJ, as usual, is smiles all the way around!

On our drive back to Laramie, we saw a couple of bull moose feasting in a small clearing just east of the Libby Flats area. We stopped and watched for a bit. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any closer without taking a serious risk. One of them was already showing a bit of irritation at being watched from a distance.

What else did we do today? PJ and TJ went running together for the very first time! We only ran about 5k because we are both a bit out of shape at the moment. We have a half marathon coming up in about 4 weeks though, so we sort of need to get out and run as much as possible in the coming weeks. We are both runners, so it is more a matter of consistency for us right now. Neither of us has been in much of a position during the past year to develop regular running schedules, but we are hoping that with some team work, we can get our game back on! And, we have decided, that we did AWESOME today!