From Kansas we headed to Denver, Colorado where we were able to spend time staying with our friends Matt, Michelle, Nicole and Josiah, and their friends Cathy and Dennis.  We wound up staying about six days in Denver – some of the highlights from our time there were:

Spending time with our friends – going out bowling, hearing them speak at their home church, and going to Impulse Comedy with them (hilarious improvisational comedy – Reuben was laughing the hardest of anyone in the audience!)  We were also really pleased to be able to catch up with Caleb and Nancy, who were the original inspiration behind this trip – Reuben met them six years ago in India when they were doing a similar trip and we caught the vision from them.

Exploring a little bit of Denver and visiting an epic REI outdoors store…for you Kiwis, picture about three Kathmandu stores spread over 3 stories with a Starbucks added on and you will just about have it. We also found an amazing second hand bookstore…two stories of secondhand and new books, comfy couches and beautiful things to buy…I was quite sad that as we are travelling I couldn’t really justify buying books!

Spending a day in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Our original plan to hike around Bear Lake was foiled by a road closure and a shuttle bus that would have taken hours…so instead we went to a less popular trail and hiked up to see several beautiful waterfalls, including the Calypso Cascades.  We also saw some very cute chipmunks!

Going to Boulder for a day. Boulder is about an hour from Denver, and is a really funky, artistic town. We found the best coffee of our USA trip so far, street performers, beautiful shops and ate lunch in a teahouse sent from Boulder’s sister city in Tajikstan.

PS – you may notice Reuben’s hair has changed colour…Nicole and I dyed it for him!