Bartleys Run.: Summer Vacation 2012

Vacation is not an accurate word for what just happened. We went on a work-cation.

Now… if only I could figure out how to make every day of “work” like this…

End of July:

Started the week working my paying job, customer visits in Indy and NW Indiana. Someone hit my parked car in a parking lot in Indy, which was a bummer. It was drivable.

Anyway, vacationing out West is a bummer with a boot on. So many missed opportunities for hikes, runs…. oh myyy. We have to come back again.

Flew out of Chicago Midway, and Tom and Ben in Denver (they flew in the day before from Indy). We went straight to Fort Collins.

Honestly, FC would be way cooler if you didn’t get accosted by SOMEONE wanting something from you. We were approached by people wanting a petition signed. More hilariously, a bunch of brainwashed-like cult-follower-esque high school girls followed us and wanted to pray for me because they had a dream that told them they should pray for someone with an injured leg (wrong, it’s a hurt foot). We took refuge at a local restaurant where we had a delicious lunch. It’s a cute-sy town. Cool shops, good restaurants, local artists. Boulder without the stigma.

Then we headed to our home-away-from-home in Boulder and caught a sunset on the way.

Caught a Rockies game. It rained almost the whole time. We go because of the sunsets, so unfortunately we missed it on this particular day. And the Rockies lost.

As a consolation, we got ice cream from Little Man Ice Cream in Denver. I got salted oreo + caramel ice cream.

Farmer’s market in Boulder… we bought some RIDICULOUSLY good peaches. The Bolder farmer’s market is a highlight every year because their food tents are the best you can get.

More scenery from atop Flagstaff Mountain. We drove up. Ford commercial, much? (We were actually very impressed by the Ford Escape and the Ford Edge we rented during this trip)

Pearl Street mall

My favorite store on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder – Bayleaf.

COOLEST IDEA EVER. Vending machine for energy gel, bike tubes, and other good stuff.

So then, after 2 days in Boulder, we checked into the St. Julien for the beginning of the 2012 Newton Retail Summit.

The next few days were filled with seminars, panel discussions, and breakout sessions that were really really interesting. It’s always nice to network with other retailers and see how they do these. We grilled a couple of the guys we met. :) We at REALLY well during this entire event. Like I said last year, probably best if I don’t get used to this type of VIP treatment!

Stuffed prairie dog for sale in the mini bar. I wanted it last year, and still wanted it this year. SO I KEPT IT. ($20 worth of kept it… ech)

I ate my weight in food daily. Don’t ever let people tell you runners eat very little. Lies.

Coffee with Craig “Crowie” Alexander. He wins stuff.

View from the hotel room

Oh! and we each got a limited-edition pair of Newton Gravity. The Newton logo is glittery!

After the Summit, we went to Park City. 9 or 10 hours in the car… AHHH – my longest road trip EVER to date! We took is leisurely and stopped a few times on the way.

Tom the geologist found a bunch of rocks that were really exciting. I can’t remember exactly why, but I thought it was photo-worthy. :)

More ridiculous views on the trip to Park City, UT.

We ate at a place in Steamboat Springs called Freshies – it was really good! They display pieces made by local artists. We also saw the HQ for Honey Stingers (but it wasn’t photo worthy).

Ben almost hit a deer or elk or something.

It started storming. After a few attempts we captured the lightning on camera!

Park City – arrived SUPER late at night and stayed at the Marriott.

We got up in the morning and headed to the park where the Outdoor Retail Open Air Demo was taking place.

Here’s where we got acquainted and began to love geogaching.

Vendors were giving samples and trials away, like free shoes, demo runs, and the like. Most of them were extremely friendly and willing to share about their product, but a few of the more stingy types would see what type of retail business we had before speaking with us, or wanting to give out samples. That was really weird.

During the rest of the Open Air Demo, we got to try out gear. There was:

- the ElliptiGo (you ride and steer it like a bike, except pedaled with elliptical motion),

- the SkiMotion (similar to rollerblading, except the “skis” are attached”),

- some kind of skateboard-y paddleing thing (which I only saw but didn’t try),

- fly fishing (we learned how to do it but I am not very good at it),

- and stand up paddleboards (SUP).

They also had surf boards, kayaks, paddleboats, and more watersports. There was even a 5k trail race there in the morning!

OHHHHHH SUP!!!! It’s a way of life, a culture, and an attitude. For us from the Midwest, it’s just a different way of thinking. It’s that super laid back surfer-type lifestyle.

…which was really strange, because every SUP tent that we passed was really kind of closed off, as if they didn’t really care to let us try their product or tell us about it. Finally, we stumbled across the Doyle tent, and the guys there were all really relaxed and willing to chat.

So I finally got to try it… and yeah, it’s been on my bucket list since we discovered it in Maui a few years ago. I thought I would like it, but I didn’t expect to be obsessed with it…

And now I have literally thought about paddleboarding every day since this adventure. There were kids out there (3 on one board!), a woman paddling with her dog, … SUP is so much fun! I felt comfortable within about 5-10 minutes on the board. And it’s actually kind of hard to tip them over. Think canoe width. I mean – look. I’m wearing normal clothes. They’ve only had 3 people fall in in the ten years they’ve been demo-ing. That’s good stats, right?

After a crazy fun day of new experiences, we went to Park City and Brighton. It’s a cute mountain town on top of a hill. Dinner was excellent.

Some ski slopes.

Look! Boots are handi-capable! One good picture out of a few not-pretties.

Unfortunately, I lost my sunglasses somewhere around here as we were sightseeing on this mountain.

Um, what were we doing?

Then we saw a moose.

Ok, so after this we went to Brighton (Park?) and walked it. We were looking for a geocache, but never found it after about an hour and a half. I wonder if it’s still there?

After having no luck in finding the geocache, we headed to Salt Lake City in the dark.

Next day: Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake.

Pictures aren’t really allowed… so I’ll just say the place was packed. It was like learning your way around a new city!!

After two TIRING days at the show, we met up with Danelle and Andy and baby Piper for dinner. Danelle’s one of my besties from Ohio State. :) <3 I love her even more ‘cause she makes me feel tall. :)

And then… we finished out the night with a successful geocache hunt through the University of Utah campus and area, of course!

We spent a few hours at the show on Friday, but had to catch a flight to Chicago in the afternoon.

That weekend – Alyssa and Brice’s wedding! Ben was a reader. That didn’t really go off as planned, but it was all good.

Most beautiful wedding and reception I’ve been to – unfortunately I didn’t get a lot of photos because it was dark. But, the reception included an Irish dance performance, which was cool to watch. It took place on a nature preserve. Very pretty!