Aspen

This past Sunday we went up to Aspen with Stephanie and Joel.  We couldn't have picked a better day, it was sunny and warm.  We even stopped to swim on our way!

On our way up, we stopped at the lake we took our Christmas picture at.  It looks a lot different in the summer when there is green grass and flowers out.

We also stopped in Twin Lakes to cook lunch and swim.  It was a little cold, but very refreshing!  It reminded me of Lake Superior because the water was so cold and clear.

From the top of Independence Pass

The Maroon Bells

None of my pictures turned out very good at the Bells because it was humid and the sun was starting to go behind the mountain.

We decided to hike up to the second lake.  It was a harder hike than we expected!

Halfway up...we started down at the lake.

Whew!...we finally made it to Crater Lake.  You can see Michael laying down in the corner...we were a little tired:)

On our way back down...this reminded me of the U.P.  We don't see trails like this too often!

A guy died hiking the Bells the day before.

The trip up to Aspen makes for a long day, but well worth it.  I was definetly glad that I didn't have to work the next day, I was pretty exhausted!

Mt. Evans

Mountain Goats on Mt. Evans.

They let us get super close to them and didn't seem scared at all!

When we left Denver it was 100*, when we got to the top of Mt. Evans it was 54*.  Brrr!

Camping

Its been awhile since I have posted anything.  I meant to post about our camping trip to Wyoming a long time ago, but never got around to it.  It felt so good to get out of the city for awhile.  The stars were super bright, and you don't hear any cars.  There is pretty much no one around up in Wyoming...completely different than Colorado.  One night on our way up to our camping sight we almost hit a mountain lion. Yikes!  I knew those things were big but didn't realize they were that big...it was huge.  I wish I could've got a picture, but he disappeared pretty fast.  The rest of the night I was a little paranoid, I almost slept in the Jeep, but decided I didn't want so sleep alone :)
The guys did a lot of fishing while I sat and read a book.  There was still a lot of snow high up in the mountains...and it wasn't very warm!

Mom, these ones are for you!  I tried taking many pictures of the flowers, but most of them were blurry...not sure why?!

I am so glad we were able to get up there to camp...hopefully we will have time for one more trip up there before summer is over.  Before we go camping again, I am definetely going to get a new sleeping bag.  I woke up both mornings with numb feet and had to start a fire to warm up!

4th of July

Saturday night we went to another Rockies game...this time I actually watched the whole thing:)  After the game they had fireworks.  They put on a pretty good show!

Sunday night it was cold and rainy so we decided to just drive around and see fireworks.  Since it is so flat out here, we could see fireworks all over the city! 

We had thought several times today that it wouldv'e been nice to go up to the Harbor...we are just a little too far away for that!

I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July!

9 months...

Without a sauna...man is that a long time!  But we were finally able to take one last night.  Drove 3 hours round trip just for it, but it was well worth it:)  Makes me look forward even more to sauna and swim.  Can't wait!!

It has been 9 months since we moved out here...Crazy!!  Time flew by and we are having so much fun.  When we first decided to move out here, I was thinking 1 year would be plenty long enough.  I'm not quite ready to leave yet, and I am definetly looking forward to Stephanie moving out here:)  Anyone else want to move out?

Rockies

Wow, I've been slacking on this blogging thing lately!

Friday night we went to a Rockies game, it was a beautiful night for a baseball game.  It was pretty hot, but there was a nice breeze.  I have to admit...I think I only caught about 1/3 of the game, instead I was people watching, and watching the sunset over the mountains.

40 days until we are back in the good 'ole Yoop!  Looking forward to it!

Memorial Day Weekend

Our trip down to the Great Sand Dunes was a ton of fun! 

Saturday after Michael was done with work, we took off down to Pueblo and stayed the night there.  Sunday morning we woke up early and hit the road.  The terrain down south is totally different than what we are used to up here.  Its all scrub brush and desert looking grass.

As we got closer to the Sand Dunes, you could start to see them in the distance.  They looked really small against the mountains from so far away.

We had beautiful clear blue skies, with just a couple clouds.

Almost to the top...it seemed that everytime we got to what we thought was the top, we would have to go further.

The view was well worth the 2-ish mile hike uphill, in sand to the top.  It was definetly a work out and a lot of breaks were needed!  I realized halfway up that it wasn't too smart of us to wear flip flops because the sand got pretty hot!

The river way down below...where we started from.

Our hike back down was much easier and a lot quicker!  At the bottom we were able to cool off our feet in the river formed by runoff from the mountains...it felt really good, but boy was it cold!

From the Sand Dunes we headed up a gravel road a little ways into the mountains to check out Zapata Falls.  I think the water here was even colder than Lake Superior, and very clear.

We then decided to head further West about 2 hours to Pagosa Springs.  Michael had been wanted to go there since we moved out...we finally made it. 

A waterfall we came across on our way to Pegosa Springs.

That night we went soak in the hot springs, it was pretty smelly...but it felt really good.  This place was pretty neat...they had many different springs at all different temperatures.  The hottest one was 112*, I put my toe in but that was as far as I got :)  The hottest one I was able to get into was 108*, and I have to say...it definetly made my sunburn sting!

We got to talking to a couple at the springs and they recommended that we take the long way home and go further West through Durango, if we didn't mind spending a few extra hours in the car.

We decided to head home the long way, Monday morning we woke up and hit the road again.  The drive was very scenic and took us on the Million Dollar Highway.  Michael said he saw something on TV one day that it is also one of the most dangerous roads in the US.  I can see why!  It was very curvy, narrow and right along the edge, sometimes with no guard rails.

There was a lot of beautiful scenery along the way, and I took a lot of pictures.

Once we got past Ouray (sp?), a cute little town nestled between the mountains, we saw an amazing view of the mnts in our rear view mirror.  We found a road to pull off on so I could stop and take some pictures.  I had to take a couple pictures to crop together to get the whole range.  I could've sat there and stared for hours, but we decided we better get back on the road so we could get home at a decent time.

I could post a ton more pictures...but this is enough for one post I think.  Overall that weekend I took 450 pictures...not to just sort through them all!