carciofo

That is not a trick of perspective--that is the true size of the artichoke I ate last night. It took up half the plate! And with some vinaigrette, it was delicious too. The beau grilled salmon and made some rice, and I brought some wine that went really well with the meal. All delicious.

Yes, spring vegetables are showing up in stores here, and spring itself has finally decided to make an appearance. It was warm this weekend, although a little chilly near the lake, where we ventured for a bike ride. A lot of ladies were rockin' the summer dresses, but it was a little early for that (brrr). Today and tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 70s, and maybe even 80 tomorrow, although it's supposed to rain. I'll be stuck inside at work, unless I decide to work at home. I think the long-awaited return of warmer temperatures should be an automatic holiday, don't you?

Colorado

I've not posted much because it's been such a depressing long spring. No sun and the temperatures have barely budged out of the 40s and low 50s, often even lower. I really would have liked to have gone somewhere warm, but a lack of funds on the part of my boyfriend dictated that we went to Colorado instead, where he has family. It actually was a lot of fun, even if we had to endure a snowstorm and some quite cold temperatures for a couple of days. Unfortunately those cold days coincided with our visit to some hot springs! Nothing like getting out of the water into some 20 degree temperatures.

I can't really compare southern Colorado to a European country I've been to (blog theme FAIL). It is its own place.

Red rocks at the Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs.

Did you know they make a fair amount of wine in Colorado? I didn't. This is the tasting room at Holy Cross Winery, which we happened across while trying to go skiing. Turned out the lifts had stopped running the previous day, so we improvised. The wine was good! I bought four bottles.

The Royal Gorge on the Arkansas River. We would have gone over the bridge, but it was 26 bucks each and we are way too cheap for that.

There is a big naturally heated pool near the Great Sand Dunes National Park where you can stay overnight. This was our little modular home, obviously brand new and filled with Ikea furniture. Powerful winds had kicked up so much dust we couldn't see the mountains (this picture was taken when they finally died down the next day), but this sturdy little unit barely creaked.

Big Colorado sky.

We stayed at another hot springs resort where the mule deer were relatively mellow about humans.

One of the hot springs pools. I couldn't take too many pictures as the resort was clothing-optional, yikes! Fortunately it was very cold when we were there, so other than in the pools people were pretty covered up. I preferred to keep my bathing suit on, especially since we were there with some of my boyfriend's family members. Yes, I'm uptight and I'm fine with it!

More mountains. I tried to take some panoramic shots but most of them didn't turn out for some reason.

Margaritas on our last night. This was at Jorge's Sombrero in Pueblo. President Obama stopped there in 2008 and had the fish tacos, which I can report are excellent.

My boyfriend actually has a house in Pueblo that is currently gutted--he's trying to sell it but he also talks about fixing it up and staying out there for a couple months at a time during the miserable Chicago winters. I was not impressed by Pueblo on first glance. The poor parts (where the house is) are kind of like the more ramshackle parts of New Orleans without the music or culture. But I have to admit it grew on me a little bit by the end of our trip. We did drive through some nicer areas, which is where I told my boyfriend he should buy a place if he wants me to join him out there, heh.

Now I have to go back to work tomorrow at my ugly office in the boring suburbs, where I'm going to be slammed with work. I am not looking forward to the artificial nature of corporate America after a week in the mountains. I still have four weeks of paid time off to use, so I guess I'll survive by planning our next vacation!