Hiking the Mountains

When planning our trip, Jeromy kept bringing up hiking. My first thoughts? "Yea, and we can see magical unicorns riding on rainbows while we are up there." Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of spending so much of my precious vacation walking up mountains.

And, as always, Jeromy knows me better than I know myself.

The renter of the cabin had left directions to the closest mountain trail to our cabin, Esther Trail. When we were heading out to the trail, we ran into the landlord, who mentioned that the trail was pretty steep.

Understatement. 

This trail was intense! The mountain we climbed was 13,700 feet in elevation, which is pretty damn tall in terms of mountains. (For reference, Mt. Elbert, the tallest mountain in Colorado, is 14,400 feet.) Luckily, we found walking sticks near the beginning of the trail, which we decided to borrow for our trek. And thank goodness. There is no way I would have made it up (or down!) that mountain without the trusty walking stick.

The trail was difficult, for sure, but the views made it worth the hike! Jeromy and I found multiple places where we stopped to take in the surreal landscapes.

While walking along the trail, we came across this adorable bunny! He was seriously so sweet and as curious about us as we were about him. Then I got "Peter Cottontail" stuck in my head.

When we (finally!) reached the top of the mountain, we found an point that overlooked the area. After hiking up the mountain, it was such a relief and a joy to reach the top and find such an amazing view. We had brought supper in our booksacks up the mountain, and we stopped here to eat. 

After a bit more exploring, we came up to a meadow that was nestled in the valley between a few mountain peaks. I'm pretty sure I could have stayed in that meadow forever.

Overall, this hike was the highlight of the trip for both of us. It pushed us outside our comfort zone, made us work together, and gave us some of the best views of the trip. Plus, Jeromy said he can marry me with peace of mind now knowing that I can be a nature girl!

Hot Air Ballooning

As I mentioned before, Jeromy gave me a gift certificate for a hot air balloon ride for Christmas 2013. On the Sunday of our Colorado vacation, we put that gift certificate into action for the best morning I've ever had.

When we drove up (at 5:45 in the morning!), we saw a beautiful setup. In a valley between mountain ranges, a long table had been set up for breakfast. The sun rising over the mountain tops, the cloud-free sky, and the mountains on the horizon really set the scene for the amazing experience.

After chatting with the hilarious greeter of the company, we were able to watch them blow up the balloons. The process was really cool. The balloons were hooked up to the front of a truck via cable to keep the balloon from floating away. We got into the wicker basket attached to the balloon with 3 other couples and our pilot. It was a cool 50 degrees when we took off, and we took off from an elevation of 9,000 feet above sea level (!!!). 

When we took off, it was such a surreal experience! The balloon floats with the wind, so it felt like we were floating the entire time. (I said it feels like Charlie in the glass elevator from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.) The views were stunning. The picture above is a picture of the Continental Divide. 

There was another balloon in the air with us, and it led to some great pictures. I mean, look at that sky!

Jeromy used my gift certificate paper to create a paper airplane. We sent it down when we were 3,000 feet above the ground (or 12,000 feet above sea level!). It soared for a while before landing on the ground.

 

After an hour of traveling over five miles in the balloon we landed safely. I cannot say enough about the professionalism of the company we used! They landed the balloon so smoothly and softly. Then, after landing and packing up the balloon, we headed back to the launch site for some home cooked eggs, bacon, and French toast, with mimosas on the side! The whole morning was wonderful, and I couldn't have asked for a more awesome experience.

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.