Between my cold, Max's exhaustion, and the fact that the temperature was hovering right around zero, we made the surprisingly smart decision not to go skiing today. Instead, we opted for a road trip to Glenwood Springs, where we promptly embarked on an impromptu three hour hike. Strike one for Northwestern education. It was actually a blast--the drive to Glenwood, about an hour, goes right through a major canyon that is pretty staggering, and Glenwood Springs itself is a cool town that I hadn't been to in nearly a decade. On the way back we stopped at "Grizzly Creek", where we thankfully didn't meet anyone of the Ursine persuasion. The trail mercifully wrapped away from the highway and became quite narrow as it snaked along the creek and through the canyon. I really do love that this is my backyard, although loafers may not have been the way to go. The most bizarre moment of the day occurred when, just after I had randomly mentioned Caramel, a golden retriever shot by us with his owner, and then proceed to literally run back directly to me, stop, and look up at me with those soulful eyes. Someone call "Crossing Over".

Weird Matt fact of the day: I remember that my license plate starts DVT because it stands for Deep Vein Thrombosis. (J.R., that is on you)