For Black Friday we scouted out Soapstone Prairie to see if it would be suitable for future mountain biking (…on Dan’s part). Soapstone is about 40 minutes north of our house, still within the city of Fort Collins and stretching almost to the Wyoming border.

It. was so. windy. Whatever you’re imagining, triple it. (Unless you live in Wyoming, in which case, cut it in half.)

Dan was determined to tackle at least a few miles, so he took off in one direction and I hiked in another. I don’t spend a lot of time hiking on my own — my goal is to do much more (though always where Dan can find me when I’ve wandered a few yards off the trail, in all likelihood reduced to crying and chewing on the leather from my boot for sustenance. #nosenseofdirection).

By the way, Dan loved the mountain bike trails, wind and all. We’ll be back, though I believe the area is about to close for a few months to let the plovers nest.

P.S. My friend Danny texted me to say that one of my #optoutside pictures had made it into one of REI’s newsletters. Hilarious!