Pen Pals, USAFA Hockey, and Colorado Springs

And we're off!  We went to Colorado Springs this weekend so two special fellas could meet up - Reid and his pen pal, Luke.  They have exchanged letters and pictures for more than a year.

Our plans were to go to the Friday game, piddle around on Saturday, and then attend that evening game.  It all worked out great!  On Friday, we were running up to the building as the national anthem was playing so our timing was a bit late but pretty great considering Jason had seen patients and Grant had to go to Meridian in the morning.  

Our first glimpse of Luke Rowe, Captain of the United States Air Force Academy Hockey team.

Guess who got in the penalty box both nights?!?  If you're going to play, play tough! :)

There he is! From the start, Luke made Reid feel important, and it continued to this night. Luke politely turned down other people to talk after the game and made a beeline for Reid. It was cool. You can see the joy on Reid's face.  

The USAFA cameraman took these pictures.

There's looking at the campus at night from the Arena. The white block is the chapel currently undergoing renovation.

First snow of the year for us!  And, it hasn't even snowed there yet. This is just excess from the hockey rink.

We hiked a lot in Garden of the Gods on Saturday morning.  We went when Grant was in 7th so Reid didn't recall a whole lot.  Good to revisit and enjoy a 55 degree sunny December Colorado day! Perfection - and very few people!

Our new favorite store - Scheels - it's like a Bass Pro and Dicks combined AND on steroids. It was awesome!  We really missed Kyle at the store.

Back to USAFA - friendly deer on campus that don't care if humans are there.

The indoor track, basketball court and hockey arena are all in the same building!

Game #2 | Saturday night

We arrived early enough to watch the warmups and the intro.  Caught this of Reid with Luke just in the background.  Luke then skated towards us and threw (but that's not the right word as he lifted it with his stick and tossed it over the wall us to) a puck. 

AF Hockey Intro

https://youtu.be/zUOjQHsn2oM

When "your dude" is THE dude.... wait for it.

https://youtu.be/nlekztU5f98

Teddy Bear Toss - one game each season

https://youtu.be/kzSKQyLRfDw

Luke was the Power Slam player of the game both nights (that means a really big hit to an opponent).

Just missed the main part on this one but you can tell a little https://youtu.be/V_DX0royu6o  

He was also on the jumbotron in a prerecorded video with a teammate answering questions about the team.  One question was "who is the worst dancer?" and he giggled and said probably me!

This was like the longest time they stayed in "one place" the whole nights - just good to see the setup https://youtu.be/H74bTW-odDk

Luke scored a goal!
https://youtu.be/EmzvWsBXDas

Santa and Falcon were available for pictures!

Luke had texted after we met on Friday if we could meet up for dinner after the game Saturday.  We spent an hour and half getting to know him, and all walked away so happy we had that time and proud of that young man.  It was a great night!

Meanwhile, back in Stillwater, GG and Kyle (and Bubba) were redecorating and painting Kyle's room!