Looking back on 2011

I love making collages of pictures that remind me of all of the neat stuff I did in a year.  I've made one of these collages for Dave and I the last two years of things we did together in 2010 and then 2011.  Of course we do lots of things without each other as well,  but I think this is a cute way to remember the fun we had together this year. 

2011

(top left) We took a trip to Beaver Creek ski resort for a fun weekend and skied in the coldest weather I've ever experienced. 
(second from top, left) We went on the ATOC retreat to the YMCA cabins outside Estes Park and hiked with department friends.  Dave is pointing to my favorite clouds, lenticulars.
(second from bottom, left) Dave surprised me on my 29th birthday with new trekking poles and a day of snowshoeing he had planned for us at East Portal.  It was snowing so hard, and so beautifully, we barely made it back in time for birthday dinner at Pasta Jay's with friends. 
(bottom left) We climbed to the Royal Arch in Chautauqua in Boulder with friends visiting for a Phish concert. 
(Top middle) We took a few friends to the Vagabond Ranch for a weekend of backpacking, snow shoeing, skiing, sledding, and hot-tubbing.
(Middle) We went to Utah and drove to the San Rafael Swell where we hiked down several canyons.
(Middle second from bottom) While in Utah we went to Goblin Valley.
(Bottom) At home, Dave's PhD graduation, long shadows in the Utah desert
(Top, second from right) We went to Boston for Polar AMS conference and toured the entire city, including the Cheers bar. 
(going down)We camped on the Poudre.
We brewed lots of beer.
(Top right) We backpacked Needles in Utah. 
(going down on the right) We fished South Boulder Creek (and many, many more).
We went over Cottonwood pass in between camping nights on either side of the pass and visited the hot springs.
We visited Wisconsin for Dave's Grandma's 85th birthday party. 

Unfortunately, we don't have pictures from every excursion.  We just got back from San Francisco a week ago and managed to not take any pics together!  This Thursday, Dave's parents, grandma, and aunt and cousin all came for Dave's PhD graduation.  What a fun celebration!  Now we've got a good two days together before we fly to our respective home states for Christmas and New Years.  It has been a crazy month and I've had a cold for most of it. 

Here's the 2010 collage I made for us.  I can't remember if I posted it here or not!

2010

I'm going to go left top to bottom to right, top to bottom:
We stayed with friends in a yurt in the Never Summer Mountains.  We backpacked with friends near the rainbow lakes just days before the Fourmile canyon fire.  We spent a weekend in Rocky Mountain National park with friends and dragged them on a rainy 10 mile hike to Granite Falls.  (top) We hiked in our "backyard" during one of many snow storms.  We went to NYC's Central Park after a trip to the Jersey Shore with Dave's family.  We went to Island in the Sky in Utah.  (Top) I hiked my first 14er and made it to the top of Gray's Peak!  We cut down our first Christmas tree together in Wyoming with Dave's aunt and cousin.  It was at least 11 feet tall!  Dave's Grand-dad passed away and we hosted his family for the funeral, so we took a trip up to Porter Ranch Rd, where he used to live, and walked around with the family.  (top) We hiked up to one of the glaciers that feeds our water supply.  We hiked Lathrop Trail in Island in the Sky.  We saw a moose in Rocky Mountain National Park. 

Time to finish grading!