Colorado, part 4

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY Y'ALL! Hope you're wearing an obnoxiously patriotic get up and have fireworks and grilled goodies in your future. Or you're just relaxing and laying on the couch (yessss please!). Or working and getting that time and a half!

MORE COLORADO TRIP!

Our last day in Aspen we spent mostly in town. We got a hotel for the night, ONLY BECAUSE we decided at the last minute that we wanted to camp our last night there (the original plan was to stay at a hotel the last night) because our campsite was so amazing and we didn't want to leave. However it is so amazing that it, and every other campsite in the Maroon Bells area was already booked by 10am. So we had to get a hotel. While waiting for our check in time, we walked around some of the paved hike/bike trails in town. We found a little off-shoot actual hiking trail up a little ridge so we checked that out. Panted our way to the top, as usual. Worth it though, stellar views of the city.

How amazing is it that this is in the middle of the city. We were surrounded by houses, but this big ridge in the middle of everything was left to nature. So very cool. Aaaand we got to see a deer! Very close!

So let us discuss this hotel business. There is an app called Hotels Tonight. It was mentioned on one of the blogs I read, so I figured I'd try it out. FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING, do not use this app. Oh my gosh, we got so screwed. Not only was it still very pricey, we were put in the absolutely worst room in the lodge. It was teeny tiny, and even though AC doesn't exist in this hotel, there were NO WINDOWS OR CEILING FAN. It was a hellish and very hot nightmare. When we brought this up to the manager, he said he was aware it was the worst room in the hotel and they only use it for deal sites. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT? Mountain House Lodge in Aspen, CO. They're evil, don't stay there. Hotels Tonight is also probably the devil. BUHHH I HATE HOTELS.

Yeesh. Anyway, here are the culinary highlights of the trip. We recommend Victoria's Espresso and Wine Bar, Poppycocks Cafe, Main Street Bakery and Cafe, and if you're feeling fancy, Acquolina Aspen. Also we discovered Paradise Bakery and bought an embarrassing amount of mandarin orange muffins.

That's it for Colorado. Couple more stops on our way home and that's it. Back to the sporadic posting you're used to.

The rest of the trip here!

Colorado, part 3

Thursday was the Epic Hiking Day. We headed up to Maroon Lake which was just a mile or so from where we were camping and explored the wilderness for a bit. We hiked and hiked and ate some lunch and hiked some more. This place was B-E-A-UTFUL. Seriously disgustingly scenic. There are a couple lakes up there that are just punch yourself pretty, and of course, they're filled by waterfalls and streams of crystal clear snow melt coming down from the mountains. Those things are also not bad looking.

This right here. These streams aren't always around, while the snow is all frozen up top and once the snow completely melts they disappear, so I'm guessing hikers/park rangers kind of had to improvise to get across the rather fast moving water. So someone piled a couple of logs together, boom, bridge. Totally unstable and bouncy but very cool and functional if you're careful. We crossed over it the first time without any issue. But coming back, I ate it. Big. At the very end, just before I was about to get to the other side, the log bounced and I lost my cool and slow-mo crashed and burned. I mean like limbs flying around, getting scraped up, me laying on the logs/bank. Huge mess. I didn't fall all the way in, but somehow both my feet ended up in that cold ass water, so I had soggy kicks for a looong while. My left leg took most of the damage, I still have some pretty sweet scratches and bruises.

I think this is may be my first official "fall" while hiking as an adult, so I'll take it. It could have been WAY worse, and it was hilarious. Although it did hurt. A bit. But whatevs, kept on hiking!

That mountain there, Maroon Peak, is the most photographed peak in North America. I'm only telling you this because it's one of those tag lines that is on EVERYTHING and everyone says. Like we stopped in the visitor's center and the lady was all, "Oh, well it's the most photographed mountain in North America!" I mean, for real though. It is beautiful.

BABY GOOSE OMGGGG! So many animals everywhere! Beaver dam!

These streams, man. Raging rapids! After hiking our selves sleepy, we headed back to camp for campfire dinner. And here's our little campsite:

DAWWW, look at that baby tent! That thing has been with us for a while. We've had it for eight years! Since we were wee teenagers! It's a very good tent, the perfect size for us, and definitely from Walmart.

And this ridiculousness was just STEPS FROM OUR CAMPSITE. Like immediately to the right of our tent:

We slept to the sound of rushing water. We also sat and read books by it every afternoon (I read the Divergent and the Help, unimpressed by Divergent but the Help was lovely). It was like those "Nature Sounds" CD's, but real life. If you're in Aspen and you want to camp, Silver Bell campground is where it's at. Also can we talk about how much cheaper camping is than staying in a hotel? We stayed for four days and three nights at our campground for $50, including our car pass. I can't wrap my mind around how much it would have been to stay that long in a hotel in Aspen. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Plus we grilled/picnicked quite a few of our meals! Camping is such a money saver and 100 times more fun than staying in a hotel. Get ye a tent! More on hotels, and the nightmares they present, in the next post.

The rest of the trip here!

Colorado, part 2

Wednesday on our first full day in Aspen, we took the gondola up to the top of the mountain. It's a long trip up. Like twenty minutes. But man the views... They're stellar. And again, we were on top of a mountain! We took a guided nature tour (that I think was designed for 8 year olds) and then hiked around the top on our own. Since it's part of the wilderness area you can basically hike (or mountain bike or atv) wherever! There was even a trail that you could take to Crested Butte, but that might have taken a looong while. Also, hiking on mountains is hard when you're used to living close to sea level. We were huffing and puffing all over the place. Our lungs just aren't used to that altitude!

Having my Maria von Trapp moment. The hills were alive, y'all. Also, ya dig my soccer mom outfit? I was just trying to fit in with all the Aspenites.

Seriously. That is just ridiculous. Way to go Rockies. You are fabulous.

After walking all over the mountains, we headed down to the town to explore a little. I don't know if you've ever been to Aspen, but the place is FANCY. Like super affluent. For fun we looked at real estate listings and you're lucky to find anything under a million. And that's the very low end. We'll be real here for a second, it's a bunch of obscenely rich ass yuppies. Downtown is basically a mall. There's a Prada, a Chanel, a Louis Vuitton, and they're building a Dolce and Gabbana. Among a gazillion other shops, restaurants, and fancy places I'll never step foot into. But it is very pretty and if I was a millionaire, I'd live there.

And holy cow is Aspen bike/pedestrian friendly. The whole city, and really the surrounding area, is connected by trails. You can bike from one mountain town to another. Tons and tons of hike/bike trails. And TONS of cyclists. There is an insane cycling community in Aspen and I guess Colorado. We saw people biking up the interstate! I mean, we've got lots of cyclists in Austin, but nothing compared to these guys. And they are killing it up these mountain roads. I could barely breathe up there (and although we planned on it, running was out of the question), so mad props to those folks! I mean, with an area so beautiful, why not get outside as much as possible!

Next up, more hiking! And more mountains! Surprise!

The rest of the trip here.

Colorado, part 1

Road trip 2014 to Aspen, CO. Gosh you guys, this was a good trip. We left Monday afternoon, stopped in Amarillo for the night, and then continued northward Tuesday while racing a terrific thunderstorm out of Texas. As soon as we saw the Rockies, I was in my happy place.

Y'all know my obsession with the mountains, and this trip only fueled it. We went to New Mexico last summer and this winter, so it was time to head a little farther north. We chose Aspen because the drive there was supposedly pretty scenic. And holy CRAP you guys, it WAS. It's actually one of America's Scenic Byways, which are... scenic drives across America. Go figure. It would be super cool to check out more of them, because this baby was so pretty. This route was called the Top of the Rockies. I was kind of in awe the whole time. It is so beautiful. You go across the continental divide (which goes all the way from Alaska to the tip of South America, geography lesson!), and you're literally, on top of the Rockies. It was insane. Also, THERE WAS STILL SNOW! I guess they had an excellent winter this year, because all the mountains still had some snow on top of them. And it was slowly melting so, mountain streams EVERYWHERE. I mean, it's what my dreams are made of.

This lake that we're standing in front of is one of two twin lakes fed by the snow melt, that turn into the Arkansas River! We followed the river up into the mountains and got to see where it starts! It was a raging beast. Like seriously, super fast moving and full of rapids.

Um, still frozen lake on top of a mountain? Be still my heart. Also, Brendon and I got in a snow ball fight up here.

I know, I know, get out of here with this. Stupid beautiful. Also, incredibly COOL. I'm a terrible Texan, I am not a fan of the heat, at all. It was cold at night and lovely during the day. I had a jacket on most of the trip. I repeat, happy place.

So the drive to Aspen was phenomenal. Twisty and turny and up and down and around mountains. We ended up camping just outside Aspen in the Maroon Bells area of the White River National forest. More pictures later, but as a tease, this next photo is the rather fiesty stream coming down out of the mountains just steps from our tent. We slept to the sound of rushing water, every night. STUFF OF DREAMS!