Let’s Gab: July 2021

This monthly gab could better be titled “Here’s 20 Pictures of My Dog”. So…sorry in advance for that. But when you adopt a spur-of-the-moment pandemic puppy in June, the new mom obsession is obviously going to carry over into July.

And a busy July it was! It began with the most Colorado-like celebration of the 4th of July possible – seeing The Blues Brothers at Red Rocks (which included this pretty hike to get to the venue), and watching fireworks from Coors Fields!

Camp stop, won’t stop

All winter long while I was skiing, I wondered what I would do in the Colorado summers. Turns out, I would camp. A lot. We packed in three camping trips this month, taking Rhubarb on each of them!

We started off on “easy mode” when a group of us gals all went camping at a designated spot in Leadville (the highest city in America!). We hiked and cooked all our meals on the fire and played card games in tents. And Rhubarb, who had obviously never slept in a tent before, did great (aside from a little accident in the corner of the tent I found while packing things up 🤦🏼‍♀️).

We then hit “intermediate mode” with some dispersed camping, a.k.a. camping outside of a designated campsite. It was so freeing to just pull off the road and walk around until we found a spot. We ended up nuzzled in some trees next to a river. It was gorgeous, but needless to say we kept the bear spray by our pillows all night.

We capped it off on “advanced mode” (well, advanced for this Colorado newcomer). We drove out to Peru Creek near Lake Dillon and set up our tent city for the weekend, celebrating a friends 30th with Hawaiian themed camping and pontooning (Rhubarb was a big fan of her lei).

Taking a hike

Interspersed in all that camping was a whole bunch of hiking! But Rhubarb, who is still only 3 months old, can’t keep up with those tiny legs. So I found a solution…the puppy pack.

I bought this K9 Sport Sac and spent a week showering her in treats anytime she would get near/in it. Soon enough, she was in the pack and ready to rumble!

We hit many of the Colorado basics, to include the Boulder Flatirons, which had so many trail options and were covered in wildflowers!

And Saint Mary’s Glacier, where Rhubs got to experience her first taste of snow and get her paws wet in the lake.

In the headquarters

Needless to say, work has become trickier now that I have a sneaky vacuum of a puppy scouring the kitchen for food. I typically shoot all my recipes on backdrops that I set on the floor. While she understands the meaning of leave it, sometimes it’s all just too tempting. So I give her pupsicles when she’s being a good assistant.

I’m so excited about the recipes we have coming up! I’ve started working into fall recipes (how is it almost fall??), to include a whole two weeks about oats, and another two weeks about (wait for it…) WINE AND CHEESE!

On the homefront

When we’re not out in the woods, these ladies are living life in the city. We still hit up the Goodwill stores of Denver (and have now found the ones that are happy to have Rhubs in store).

I’ve also been (trying to be) intentional about socializing Rhubarb with other pups. One such method has been through “puppy kindergarten” where a bunch of people can bring their puppies so they can all safely learn how to play. Well, Rhubs spent every session hiding under chairs, begging for belly rubs from the humans while staunchly avoiding the pups.

Anyways, I took a video and put it on TikTok and she went viral and long story short I’m now obsessed with TikTok.

And I’ve discovered a bunch of new eateries around Denver! Some of my recent favorites include:

• East Fax Tap, where you can enjoy live bluegrass with $20 bottomless bloody mary’s on Sunday
• Postino Wine Bar, which has the best array of bruschetta options
• Bigsby’s Folly, a winery with amazing food
• Ironton Distillery and their tasty cocktails
• Café Miriam, with a terrace and menu that felt like having coffee abroad

And that’s all the gab for this month! Rhubs and I wish you the happiest August filled with pool days, popsicles, and pups!