We visited Pauline and enjoyed the house kitten, Gus.
After multiple trips to REI, we felt we finally had everything we needed.
We decided to give it a dry run and start with the Rocky Mountain National Park , off Estes Park, about 30 minutes from Boulder. The long term weather forecast was not promising so we decided to go out only for 1 night. 
The only negative about about Rocky Mountain National Park is that not only you need to get a backcountry permit , which is not a big deal, but that you have to know which campground you want to go to. This in itself is hard when you do not really know how you will feel after 2 or 3 hours of hiking.
We settled on an average distance of 4 1/2 miles and reserved a site at Jacksaw, on the Western side of the park. We set out at 1 PM and we reached our site around 4 PM. Just in time for the afternoon 5 min sprinkle. Fortunately, our new tent is set up in minutes.
We started our new Jetboil stove and proceeded to make dinner. Quinoa and a dehydrated meal pack. It soon became evident that should we decide to go for multiple days, we could not afford to boil anything for 20 minutes without having running out of fuel.
The site was wonderful. Close to a meadow and a river. Mosquitoes were not a big issue.
As we were preparing for a cosy night, I unpacked what I thought was my -5 F sleeping bag to find a sleeping bag that probably belonged to one of Niki's friends instead. It looked mighty thin... and indeed, I had to put on all my clothes and use multiple toe heaters. This would not cut it at 10,500 ft. We did not sleep very well that first night due to the altitude.
We got up early and set up for a day hike over the Continental Divide.
Straight up to 12,700 ft. We ran into a herd of female big horn sheep and a few elks.
The return to the car was brutal as the downhill was long and we had really not been working out for the past 3 months. Frank got the biggest blister on his heel which necessitated immediate treatment with duct tape.
After a great lunch at a small Cajun restaurant in Grand Lake , decided to backpack in Wyoming where the weather was more promising.
We spent the night in Steamboat Springs, where we almost moved to 18 years ago.
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