Did we just break into a political rally?

On Sunday, Chad, Kevin, Sean, Jordan and I went to an Obama rally at Civic Center Park, which is just a few blocks form our apartment. We had to jump a fence to get in almost an hour before the rally started because there was a line that went on for blocks (we never did find the end of the line...)Obama was an amazing speaker, as usual, and got the crowd really pumped up. We were standing with a group of women who had not been to a political rally since seeing Bobby Kennedy. They all went to college 'during the war years' (as they put it) and had never been inspired by a candidate until Obama came around. It was really fun to talk to them and to recognize the energy they felt before with the energy we were feeling right then. Such an exciting time. I am making phone calls for Obama tonight and the rally really got me pumped to feel more like a part of this campaign. The crowd was over 100,000 and was Obama's biggest crowd in the USA. Pretty awesome. Now Vote!

Another Weekend, Another Peak

This past weekend we headed out with Chad to tackle another 14er. For this trip, we woke up super early Saturday morning instead of camping on Friday night. We climbed Mt. Bierstadt, 14,060ft, which is one of the closest 14ers to Denver. We began the hike at 8:30 and finished close to 2. The hike was a class two climb, and was definitely harder then Quandry! There was snow the entire way up, which was mostly crunchy and had only a few deep spots. It was probably about 4-6 inches deep most of the way. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with the only weather problems being the wind on the way down. It was very intense and was contiuosly blowing snow in our faces (it stung!) so much so that you really had to turn away form the snow, pull your hood over your face and wait for the wind to die down so you could take a few steps and do it all over again. Once we got 1,000 feet or so from the ridgeline we were fine. And glissading got us down from the mountain in no time.



















Here are some of Chad's Pics...

Marathon

Well, I totally flaked on posting about Sean's fabulous marathon. On October 19th Sean ran the Denver Marathon in just over three hours and forty two minutes. This in and of itself is a great time, but take into account that Sean hadn't run more than 15 miles since May, that Denver is a mile high and that we went to a concert the night before, and his time is down right amazing. It was fun to watch him, I got to see him five or six times during the marathon. This involved hitchhiking and my first ride on the Denver Light Rail, but it was well worth it. Here are some shots of Sean during miles 19-22 (tough time to get photographed!)They are in Washington Park, one of Denver's biggest and most beautiful parks.

Welcome Zoë!

The newest addition to the Helfrich family, Zoë Suzanne, was born on October 17th at 12:37 am weighing 7lbs and 13 ozs. She is (obviously) incredibly beautiful. A big congratulations goes out to Mom Beth and Dad Tim. We cannot wait to meet her!

Quandry!

Saturday morning Sean, Chad and I summited Quandry Peak via the Quandry Peak trailhead about 8 miles south of Breckenridge. Quandry is the highest peak in the tenmile-mosquito range and rises 14,265 feet. The 3.3 mile trail gains 3450 feet in elevation. It is a gorgeous hike, espeically this time of year because you get the snowy mountain with some beautiful yellow trees.

The best part of the whole trip was how easy it was to get to the backcountry from Denver. The trailhead was about an hour and fifteen minutes from our place. We left Friday night, but by the time we got to the trailhead it was too dark to start hiking, so we set up camp in the parking lot.



We started our hike at about 8 on Saturday morning. We were below treeline for about the first mile, and there were some really beautiful views during that part of the hike.



Once we got above treeline we were very very exposed. We could see huge clouds on the mountains around us and it became evident pretty quickly that we needed to get to the summit as fast as we could and get down. Usual mountain advice is to get off of the summit by noon because of thelikelihood of afternoon storms. We didn't have that kind of time, as the storms were coming early on Saturday.






After a while, we all stopped talking and each got into our own rhythm. I think we were all dealing with the altitude in our own way. You are so focused on getting to the top that you have to stop and remind yourself to look around. At that kind of elevation every rest provides something beautiful to look at....but nothing like at the top







We were able to get off the summit at about ten to eleven, just in time. The storm moved in pretty quickly and we couldn't believe all of the (unprepared) people we passed along the way. It was definitely in the low 30's on top of the peak and some people were heading up in shorts and after noon. We also met a couple who got enaged on the summit in the morning (we were going up when they were coming down), which is pretty cute. We got back to our apartment- and more importantly, our hot tub- around 4 on Saturday. Literally a 24 hour trip, totally amazng.

employed!

I got a job!!!!!

I am starting part time at an international adoption agency in two weeks. I will be working on the Ethiopia Program, helping to prepare dossiers for perspective famillies and spearheading fundraising efforts for the Ethiopia side of our partnership. We help families from all over the country, but most of them do reside in Colorado. We also work with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. I'm only working Tues, Wends and Thurs so I might try to find other part time work somewhere else in the meantime.

UPDATE:
They called back today and offered me full time, starting Monday.

Life, I love you, all is grooooovy.