Rocky Mountain High

I've had the pleasure of spending the past week with 4 of my classmates and about 80 other students in Colorado.

Keystone, Colorado - around 11,640 ft.

We went for an Audiology Summer Camp put on by a hearing aid company called Oticon. During the week, we had plenty of free time to explore and take part in activities on our own. 

Sunday, I hiked up a ski slope with David and Joe. 

My view once I climbed the ski slope. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I almost quit twice. David, however, talked on the phone most of the way up and showed no signs of exhaustion.

That evening, we went to a restaurant called The Mint. You order your food, and they bring your steak to you raw and you go cook it. We had a great time cooking our food and spending time getting to know other students in our program. 

Monday, we went white water rafting. I didn't bring my camera to take pictures because I didn't want it to get wet. We got soaked. The water was freezing and the sun wasn't out, so leaving my camera on the bus was a good idea.  

Tuesday, we had a day packed with sessions and workshops. That night, we had free time to go enjoy dinner wherever we wanted. A group of us went to the village and enjoyed a nice dinner at Wolf Rock. I had the best filet mignon. Ever. It was perfect. Then, it rained. According to the locals, this is the most it's rained. So, you're welcome, Colorado. We took the rain with us from Texas.  

Wednesday, I rode a ski lift up to the top of the mountains. 

Another scary thing. Going up was much scarier. 

But once we got up there, the scenery was amazing. 

Just one of the views from the top. Breathtaking.

We stayed up there a while and enjoyed the view, taking plenty of pictures. I've always wanted to go to Colorado, but I'd imagined myself there during the peak season. When it snows. To see it like this was a real treat. 

That evening, we went to the Country Boy Mine in Breckenridge.  It's an old gold mine. 

You can't see our tour guide in this picture. He looked like Shaun White. He also looked like he was about 16. He referred to the miners as "we" so it was hard to take him seriously, because we all know good and well that he was not around back in the day when this mine was still in business. He took us about 1100 feet into the mine, 200 feet before the gold vail. He claims there is 50 million dollars worth of gold still in there, but it would cost about 70 million to get it out. I don't think I believe that, but it keeps people from trying to get in there to steal the gold. 

We also encountered this beautiful creature: 

Meet Blizzard. He's a purebred Newfoundland. I thought he was a bear.  I want one. 

This is 100% the best trip I've been on thus far. The Oticon staff were amazing and they never once distinguished themselves above us. They spent the whole week hanging out with us, starting trouble (Henning!), and having a good time.  It definitely gives you positive thoughts about how the company is run. The people who work for Oticon love their job, and they look forward to the summer camp every year. 

I am so glad I was able to go on this trip, and I had one of the greatest experiences of my life. I will definitely go back to Colorado. But I'm making sure Sam comes with me to enjoy everything Colorado has to offer. It was so refreshing.

But I'm definitely glad to be back home. 

Houston, Texas. View from the plane!

I decided to do this blog as a picture/diary one. I figured it would give you a good insight on my trip and invite you to enjoy some of it with me. I have many more pictures that will be up on Facebook towards the end of August (took a Facebook hiatus for a couple of weeks). 

Rae :)