Earlier this week, our company as well as others participated in a function at the park. I’m not sure if we were supposed to be celebrating something, but it doesn’t really matter.

There was a free cookout, free catering from Famous Dave’s (one of my favorite restaurants,) and free beer (I don’t drink.) I happily pigged out when I got the opportunity.

There were a few businesses with kiosks set up for various things, not all of which I visited. One of those that I did see was a modeling agency. I signed their little application form, even though there’s no chance that they’d want me. Honestly, I just did it for a free balloon. (As a completely unrelated side note, there are few sights in life sadder yet as easily forgotten as watching your balloon escape and float away.)

I got my face painted too, because it was free. I asked for a luchador mask. Ended up looking more like a clown. Them some sergeant wanted to talk to argue with me about abortion for some reason. I was polite, but being anti-choice isn’t.

There were lots of games and things for kids. Apart from the park’s own playground, there was also a bounce house and some companies had carnival type games. Our company had a darts game in which kids (and a few adults) won prizes based on how many balloons they popped. At 50 cents a game (I believe it was a fund-raiser for FRG,) I didn’t like that the only prizes were cheap candies. I felt like those weren’t good enough prizes for 50 cents per game.

I decided to go to the store the day prior and buy some toys. I didn’t get anything fancy, some bubbles, rubber duckies, leis, sombreros, maracas, a toy fishing game, and some guns that shoot flying disks. I spent most of my day helping to manage the game.

At one point, a very young girl who looked as if she could barely walk wanted to play. Actually, she wanted the candy and tried to reach for some off of our table and receiving a harsh scolding from her mother. She was so small that the throwing line we used for the little kids was still too far away from her so I let her get about 2 1/2 ft away from the balloons to throw. She still had trouble popping balloons as she was too young to know how to throw a dart without it tumbling. A few times, she missed the board that the balloons were on entirely. I picked up the darts that went stray and let her keep throwing until she hit something. I’m a soldier at a fund-raiser, not a carnival worker concerned with maximum profit.

A few kids were kind enough to help with the game. A few helped count popped balloons as well as help pick up the mess in lulls in play. In exchange, they were paid in candy as well as free games.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day. I just wish I had brought some sunscreen. Got a nasty sunburn on my shoulders by the end of the day.

Later in the week, my BF and I went for a hike. The Manitou Incline is a very steep trail gaining 2000 feet of elevation in 3/4 of a mile and is a very popular hike and quite a work out. Amazingly, using the incline is illegal. It’s private property. All the visiting tourists and training athletes are actually trespassing. Currently, efforts are underway to make the incline public, but as of yet, it’s still an illegal hike.

Interestingly, the Manitou Incline up Rocky Mountain meets with the lower section of the Barr Trail, the trail the goes to the summit of Pike’s Peak. On our way down the Barr trail, strong wind, a grey sky, and a bit of rain made us worry about an impending storm (it never happened and the weather soon cleared up) so BF tried to run down. That proved to be a bad idea due to a twisting trail with loose gravel, large rocks and roots as obstacles. The difficulty of this lower section of the trail makes me wonder how hazardous it might be higher up.

I tripped once and reflexively tried to catch myself. Due to having kienbock’s disease in my left wrist, it instantly gave out and my shoulder took the impact. A hiker who had been jogging behind me was nice enough to check on me after I got to my feet. He put his hand on the shoulder I’d just fallen on as he asked if I was OK. Ouch.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a bad fall. I managed to avoid hitting my head. I bounce back.

My muscles didn’t really hurt going up or down, at least not much. My problem going up was lack of air. It get’s really hard to breathe working at that altitude. Apart from difficulty watching my footing, taking the Barr trail down wasn’t too hard on me. I mostly coasted my way down. That was a few days ago. My hips still ache when I walk. My BF reported the same thing. Our hips aren’t used to that kind of impact.

At the time of writing, we’re at the local airsoft field. I’d like to play, but my hips are killing me. I’m hoping to take the Barr to Pike’s summit soon.