Hello, Colorado!

For Christmas 2013, Jeromy gave me a hot air balloon ride in Colorado that we were both just way too excited about. From the day I got it, I had people whispering behind my back telling me that he would propose on that hot air balloon. Of course, that was his plan. Which meant that every single person ruined it for me, and he just couldn't use that plan anymore.

I still think I had the most perfect proposal ever, so I'm not complaining.

However, that still left us with a trip to Colorado, which we decided to consider it a "Happy Engagement" vacation. (Or, engagement-moon, as my mom called it.) And, as far as vacations go, this one pretty much topped the list in every category. The weather was stunning, the adventures were awesome, and the whole area made me fall in love all over again.

The first time I saw the Rockies. Swoon.

In an effort to keep ourselves well rested (HA!), we decided to rent a cabin the mountains for a few nights. It was several hours closer to our hot air balloon take off point, and had ZERO cell phone service, which was the perfect way to kick off our vacation. (We played at least 10 games of Uno and watched Harry Potter and napped A LOT.)

Our view from the cabin.

The cabin was near Manitou Springs, which is this little touristy/artsy/homegrown town that had some pretty awesome food. We ate at an old inn, had locally brewed blueberry beer (Oh. My. Goodness.), and bought some artwork from a local artist.

The first night of our trip, we drove into the outskirts of Denver to see comedian Jay Mohr at Comedy Works. Apparently, he's a pretty popular comedian, and Comedy Works is often the scene of Comedy Central standup shows. Despite a touch of altitude sickness and travel exhaustion, it was a pretty awesome experience and the perfect way to kick off our vacation.

The authentic Mexican restaurant we ate at before the comedy show.