GW Volleyball’s Scenic Excursion through Colorado and Wyoming

Over the long Labor Day weekend, my team and I played in the University of Wyoming tournament and then spent the rest of the weekend in Colorado, more specifically Estes Park. On Thursday, we flew into Denver and then drove the 2 hours to Laramie, Wyoming for the tournament. And then on Saturday night, after we were finished playing, we drove another 2.5 hours back into Colorado (Estes Park) where our coaches had rented a gorgeous house in the mountains that sleeps 20 people that also had its own hot tub (which our team utilized quite frequently). To make it even better, the view from the house was absolutely gorgeous.

view from the house

That evening while everyone was settling into the house and deciding where they would be sleeping for the next 2 nights, the team captains went grocery shopping since the team was responsible for cooking all three meals the next day, which actually went really well. Our team is filled with fantastic cooks.

eating our homemade dinner

On Sunday after we cooked breakfast, we got into our rental cars and ventured further up the mountains to the Rocky Mountains National Park where we climbed the Alluvial Fan Falls as well as another trial to the highest peak (it was quite cold up there, but there wasn’t any snow). Another highlight of the day was a trip to the famous Stanley Hotel, which was featured in the Stephen King movie, The Shining.

Alluvial Falls

at the top!

Stanlley Hotel

That evening while we were making dinner, a few of us went on a mini adventure around the area to see if we could spot some wildlife and we did! We got pretty close to some elk that were in the middle of a fight! We got as close as we could, but we were warned beforehand not to get too close for safety reasons. We just sat there for about 20 minutes watching them fight and of course taking in the beautiful view of the mountains behind them. It was quite relaxing.

Unfortunately we had to leave the next morning to travel back to DC, so that was all we had time to do, but we had a lot of fun!

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

GW Nike Volleyball Invitational This Upcoming Weekend!

This Friday (9/14 & 9/15) is GW Volleyball’s Nike Invitational Tournament! On Friday we will be playing Princeton Friday night at 7pm and on Saturday, we will be playing New Hampshire at 10am and #21 BYU at 7pm. All games will be held at the Charles E. Smith Center, located near the center of campus. It should be a great tournament and if you are in the DC area, come and experience GW athletics! Remember 7pm on Friday and 10am and 7pm on Saturday!

As for our season so far, we have been busy! We have played in the Purdue, Wyoming, and Maryland tournaments over the last few weekends. Some of the matches have not gone the way we wanted, but we have played numerous top ranked teams in the nation and from each match we are learning valuable lessons and growing as a team. We have also been battling an injury-filled preseason, with at times having 6 people out and not able to play. Every day we have been getting better and we can’t wait for this weekend to play at our home tournament and to continue to prepare for our A10 regular season matches!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their school year!

Feel free to email me with any questions, cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie