Happy Birthday, Nick!
Nick’s birthday gift was getting to decide what we did all day. It started out with breakfast at the Boxcar Cafe, where I ordered the delicious chocolate chip pancakes (they were everything I wanted them to be). On our way out, we stopped to say hi to Gump and Juniper and meet Peaches and Hot Rod. Peaches and Hot Rod are renting a car and offered to give us a ride to the trailhead, but, of course, we had to decline. Then they offered to take our packs to the trailhead so we could slack-pack. This, too, we had to decline (although it would be nice). We appreciated their offers, though!
The Boxcar
For lunch, Nick walked to the Family Dollar for snacks and then stopped at Rio Chama Espresso for sandwiches, which we shared while watching a movie.
For dinner, we went to Fosters. I’m glad we got there early because there was only one waitress and quite possibly only one cook. The waitress was incredible and managed the restaurant like a pro, although I really felt for her.
For dessert, we went back to our hotel, where we planned to get the dessert sampler we saw Cody and Bodhi with the other day. When we walked in we saw a huge table full of hikers we know. They invited us to sit with them but Nick really just wanted to get back to the room. We did stay to chat with everyone while Nick waited for his sampler, though. And then, once he received it, everyone sang him Happy Birthday. I wasn’t fast enough with the phone to video it, but I did manage to get a few pics at the end.
When I wasn’t eating, I spent a lot of time stretching, rolling out my muscles with the cork ball, and attempting to rehab my ankle. I also finished reading the book someone left in the hiker box (it’s wonderful to actually read a book!) and painted my toenails with the hot-pink nail polish Cody dropped off for me (she and Bodhi came to the hotel to drop off things in the hiker box and she knew I had been wanting to paint my toenails to hide the dirt that accumulates underneath them.) With my freshly painted hot-pink toenails it feels like I should be going to the beach instead of climbing a cold, snowy, mountain.
how I spent my day
When Nick wasn’t eating, he watched a lot of Netflix and YouTube. :)
how Nick spent his day
he’s going to hate this candid pic
Because of weather, it seems like everyone is planning to leave tomorrow now. Of course, Nick and I (and maybe Shredder) will be the only ones doing the road walk back to the trail - I think everyone else either slack-packed the miles already and/or plan to get a hitch tomorrow morning.
I can’t believe tomorrow we’ll be in Colorado! I’m very excited (The San Juan Mountains!) and a little nervous (Snow. Cold.) I hope it’s not too crazy out there, but we’ll see.
headed that way tomorrow!!!