One of the most surprising forms of support has been friends offering me connections with other friends and colleagues they know in Colorado. Yesterday I met one such friend in Longmont. Not only was it a fun and enlightening conversation (she has been in Colorado for about 6 months now), but she also scoped a new-to-both-of-us meetup, Ozo Coffee. Ozo is based in Boulder but has a few locations throughout Colorado. They have an entire menu of mochas — the raw liquid cacao in the Cholaca Mocha may have made me a little chattier than usual.

(When I talk about Colorado everyone mentions beer and pot but damn, there are coffee shops everywhere. And I’m talking unique, local, fair trade coffee shops.)

Skipping forward a few hours…

Dan and I have loved loved loved our Volkswagen Tiguan for years. It is a fantastic adventure car, but ours was starting to show its age. Meet our new Volkswagen Golf Alltrack — same color, same sunroof, same 4Motion, but sportier, lower (great for our roof tent) and with more storage.

We had a price in mind and originally the dealer wouldn’t meet it, so we walked. We decided to drive to Horsetooth Reservoir while we decided what to do next. The moment we arrived, Dan’s phone rang — the dealer had changed their mind — so we headed back. During our test drive we drove to Horsetooth again, figuring it would be a great way to test how well the Alltrack climbs and maneuvers. We loved it, we bought it, and Dan didn’t even hesitate when I suggested we drive to Horsetooth one last time to celebrate. Horsetooth provides.