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Wednesday, July 22, 2020

queen me already

Welp, I'm scheduled to work tomorrow at the hospital.  Remember I had a long stretch of days off?  Hoping to do something fun and/or productive with the extra time?  Reflection time...

It wasn't exactly nine days of "FREEEEEDOMMMM!" (cue William Wallace).  I had a couple dentist appointments and a coupla tutor sessions, so I did get a foothold on some dental work I was so looking forward to.  Got all inspected with the new dentist, and as we pondered a solution for my missing big honking tooth, he also discovered a tooth ready for a crown.  

Okay, fine, and now that's IT!  This will make my third crown - not counting the two front crowns - and according to my friend's crown theory, three is it for me.  Her theory is that women lose a tooth for every kid they have, based on all the calcium those babies take from us.  She had three kids and three crowns.  I have three kids, this'll make crown number three.  DONE!  

The front ones don't count because that was skateboarding trauma drama that happened before I was even of child bearing years.  

And speaking of teeth and time-off adventures, I finally got around to climbing that Horsetooth rock here in sunny Fort Collins.  

Horsetooth rock sits atop a foothill, aptly named Horsetooth mountain, overlooking Horsetooth reservoir and the city of Fort Collins.  Yes the namers really liked that Horsetooth title.  Gotta say, it does resemble a horse molar


I'd hiked the trail once before during a visit with Wolfgang and Meego a couple of years ago, but we stopped short of climbing the rock itself.  


So today, with a clear schedule, I headed to the tooth.  I knew I didn't want to go on a weekend because the trailhead gets packed, even if these COVID times.  ACK, I needed the nature fix, and the day was perfect!

I couldn't really remember how far it was from that one earlier trip since I was with the three guys and we were chatting the whole way.  Seemed like it took us a while, anyway, but I found myself at the base of the tooth more quickly than I'd remembered.

Once there, I realized it's not like mountain tops I've been on as those summits are relatively vast and can easily accommodate many hikers.  But I was reminded that this isn't really a "summit", but rather a rock formation.  


I got to the top with a bit of scrambling, thankful that I'd worn my mountain goat shoes.

Once there, I again realized there wasn't a whole lot of room to move around.  Add my persistent acrophobia, and well, I pretty much spent my whole "summit" time sitting on my butt.









This was a solo outing for me, but I knew the trail is popular and I wouldn't be all alone to be scarfed up by a mountain lion or something.  And yes, there were a handful of other friendly hikers but not so much as to feel at all crowded.

Spotted these lovebirds a bit above me on the toothtop.


Looking back, I suppose my mini impromptu vacation wasn't a total bust.  Got caught up on a few things in addition to the teeth adventures and didn't blow a bunch of money.  

Yet.



6 comments:

Linda Sue said...

I guess you get used to it- all up in the sky like that, no oxygen and a hot sun bouncing off of dirt- I have vague memories- but I , too, was once young...could do things I can only shake my head at now- your outing makes me do that, and I marvel! Good for you for getting crowned three times, you have lovely teeth, befitting of a Queen!

Chatty Crone said...

Well let's see - your teeth look pretty in the photo.
I can't believe you climbed that all by yourself - that would scare me to death - and you are afraid of heights?
What beautiful scenery there.
And you have three boys - I thought you had two and a hub.
I am always learning about my fiends.

Anonymous said...

(When pre-hike conversation opportunity presents itself....)
“YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TOOTH!”

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

well as Chatty said, your teeth look great.
I too am getting a couple of crowns. One is being removed that is old and a new one. Fun times ahead. I go on Tuesday. This is costing a small fortune. My dental insurance only covers 50% of crown after a deductible. As you know I tease those who love to hike but I get with you. :-) I wonder why that is?

Abby said...

Linda Sue, you are the queen of words! I'm grateful to still be able to traipse around in the hills, better get while the gettin's good.

Sandie, "that would scare me to death", says the woman who jumped out of a perfectly good airplane!
Yes, 3 sons, one husband, three ex-teeth.

Abby said...

Anonymous, I'll remember that next time ;)

Peggy, I feel like these crowns cost more than the Queen's collection.
Dunno why you get it with my hiking. Dirt becomes me?