The Mountains are Calling || Colorado 2021

For a year now Douglas and I have been dreaming about how we should celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  Lots of places and experiences were thrown out there, but we just kept coming back to the same place: Colorado. He had been as a child and for about a day for work; myself, never. We have figured out over the years that we like nature with a side of city; action and adventure paired with good food and drinks.

Colorado kept calling our names, so we booked flights, quizzed our niece Courtney about where to go and what to do, and set out to see and do lots of things we had never done before. 

It was a trip we will never forget. 

Stop #1: Red Rocks: Lets See If We Can Breathe

We flew in late Saturday night, slept in some strangers house for as cheap as we could find and hit the ground running bright and early Sunday. Our first stop was the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, CO.  We still have "see a concert here" on our bucket list, but just seeing it in person was neat. I was winded just looking at the stairs, but there is only one way to see if your body is adjusting to the altitude...

You go for a hike! We did the Red Rock/Morrison Slide Trail; a three mile hike with an elevation gain of 680 feet. The first half had us breathing a little heavy, on the look out for rattlesnakes and in awe of the views. 

The second half had us breathing less heavy (and feeling more confident), still on the lookout for rattlesnakes, and still in awe of the views. It was a great first hike and left us wanting more. 

Stop #2: Greetings From Golden: Where the Food is Delicious and the Creek is Cold

A short drive after the hike took us to Golden. The cutest, most fun town ever.

We were starving by then and thankfully Golden gifted us one of our favorite meals on the trip; pizza at Woody's Wood Fired Pizza. Mine was the yummiest, and I am going to go ahead and say it, the best pizza I have ever had. This place also had my heart because they served their pizza with honey. I don't know if I have ever shared my love of honey on here. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent tubing (read: laughing) down Clear Creek. Golden has a large creek running through the town that you can tube down, walk back up, and tube down again. Told you it was a fun town. Doug and I rented a two man tube, marched up the creek, made our way into the ice cold water and pushed off not knowing what exactly to expect.

I don't think we have ever laughed at/with each other as much as we did on this cold creek. From getting stuck on rocks, to riding the rapids backwards, to running into people, even to Doug falling out at one point (I won't talk about the look of panic on his face or the fact that I was zero help), Sunday afternoon was a Sunday well spent. 

Stop #3: Loveland Pass: I'm On Top of the World!

After Golden we headed to the Dillon area where we were actually staying. Our drive was about an hour and a half; an hour and a half of the most amazing views I have ever seen. Douglas did a great job of maneuvering up (and up) the mountains, and we had to stop at the famous Loveland Pass sign. 

It was cold and windy and felt like true Colorado. Every mountain seemed bigger than the next and even though we had had such a fun day, this view just made us feel like we had finally made it. 

Stop #4: Hello Sunshine: One Kayak, Two Paddles and Three Plates at Breakfast

Monday morning we woke up to sunshine on the mountains. This was the view from our cute little home away from home. It never got old. 

We had a fun and full day ahead, so coffee and breakfast were a must. Give Douglas endless hot coffee and beautiful weather and you will have a happy guy. 

Same goes for me. 

We ate at Butterhorn Bakery and Cafe. Doug got some man-ly breakfast sandwich thing and potatoes. I wanted something "lighter" and opted for two side dishes...and order of one biscuit with gravy and one pancake with fruit. Does this look like a "light" breakfast to you? We had to laugh when it came out (hot and delicious). The pancake with fresh fruit won for best breakfast ever...light or not. 

After breakfast we rented a kayak and explored Lake Dillon. If you are going to Colorado, I would highly recommend this area. The views were stunning, the weather perfect. 

I would recommend kayaking too. Especially if the guy you are kayaking with thinks it is a race and does all the work. 

After convincing Douglas that he did not have to paddle his little heart out (he actually was fine...I am just lazy), we took in the views of the surrounding mountains, peered into the calm, clear water and even got out and explored our own little island. We were out for about two hours total and enjoyed all of it. 

Stop #5: Booth Falls: Come for the Waterfall, Stay for the Wildflowers

All we had on our agenda for Monday afternoon was to hike; the question was where. Our criteria for the hike was to push ourselves a little more than the day before and to see a waterfall (I added this part). We settled on heading towards Vail and doing Booth Falls: a 4.2 mile hike with an elevation gain of 1,358 feet. The latest reviews on Alltrails kept mentioning the wildflowers that had apparently just bloomed in Colorado. One person even saying that you go for the waterfall but stay for the wildflowers...

This person wasn't lying. I will just say right now that none of these pictures do this hike justice. It was gorgeous. It was also hard. Much harder than the day before. We had to take many breaks (I am the queen of taking breaks it turns out), but we finally made it to the top.

And it was so worth it. Here's my Mountain Man taking in the view.

Good job Mountain man! Actually shout out to Douglas for cheering me on our whole trip and not ever making me feel wimpy during my breaks. You were just what I needed. 

We hiked a tiny bit further so we could have a picnic (and drink) right next to the falls. Its not everyday you have to shout over the sound of a waterfall while you have a picnic. Its also not everyday that a ground squirrel becomes your best friend and takes eight almonds from you. I should have brought him home.

The hike down had us taking in the views even more. We came for the waterfall...but it was the wildflowers that really made this hike. By the time we got back to the car it was raining, our legs were tired and our lungs were burning...but it felt great. 

Stop #6: Mt. Bierstadt: Who's Idea Was This?

All of our hikes, our hydration, our rest was leading up to Tuesday morning. Back when planning for our trip, our niece Courtney sent us a huge list of fun things to do, places to eat and hikes to try. On that list was one "14er". A 14er is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 feet above sea level; there are 96 of these in the US with Colorado having 58 of them. The one on our list was Mount Bierstadt. Labeled as a good "beginner" 14er, it is 7.8 miles long with an elevation gain of 2,765 feet. 

I very quickly decided we should try it. (Fun fact about me: I am very optimistic even when I shouldn't be.) We studied up, read every review on Alltrails, packed layers and officially put Mt. Bierstadt on our itinerary. Tuesday morning we woke up to darkness and rain...but the ever optimistic me just knew the rain would be over soon. We were the 10th car to arrive to the mountain...so not the only crazy ones out there. 

Again, none of these pictures will truly show you what we saw. These pictures will also not allow you to feel the 30 to 40 degree weather or the rain that never stopped. One of our biggest worries of this hike was the creek we had to cross near the beginning. We wanted to do everything in our power to not get our feet wet...well the creek ended up being the least of our worries. Mud and constant running water became our new way of life!

The views really were amazing even in the dense clouds and rain. See what looks like a little pond way out there to the left? Our car is way past that. At this point I will be honest...the optimistic, always up for a challenge Ashley was gone. I was wet, I had to go to the bathroom, I was cold, I couldn't breathe, my legs hurt. I almost cried...I almost quit...but dang it, I wanted to climb this mountain! Douglas was a trooper. He let me stop what felt like every other minute (or more) to breathe and rest. He assured me I could do it while simultaneously letting me know that we could be done at any time.  

We got to the rock scramble portion of the hike just in time for the wind to pick up and for it to start hailing...but we had come this far. We had to make it to 14,065 feet. We had a cute sign and everything.

And I am very happy to announce....

That we did not make it to the top. Earlier in our hike we spoke with an old man who had done this hike multiple times. He wasn't thrilled with the weather, warned us about the possibility of lightning later in the day, told us we were doing great and then went on his merry way. Well we met this man again on his way down. We knew we were getting closer..with the false summit just in the distance...so we asked for his opinion and advice. His advice was to keep an eye out for trail markers as the clouds were so dense one could easily get lost. Great. He noted that we had completed two hard rock scrambles but had one more harder one to go. Great. He then admitted to almost turning around himself due to the weather and the forecast. Great. He then checked his phone which told him we were at 13,500 feet above sea level. "Have you ever been this high before?" To which we answered a big no. A smile came across the old man's face and he said the words we needed to hear: "I think you should be very proud of yourselves today". 

Doug and I looked at each other and knew exactly what the other one was thinking. We should be very proud of ourselves. We should also get off this mountain. With the kind words from our Godsend relieving us from the pressure of finishing, we snapped a quick picture with our sign just for fun, turned around with a much better attitude and started down with a new found pep (if you would call the tiny, slow, muddy steps I took peppy) in our step. 

This is us at the end. Hooray us!

According to Doug's phone we covered 6.77 miles and were out there for 6 hours and 44 minutes. We have yet to say that it was fun or that we enjoyed it. We will admit that we will never forget it. We laughed, we (I) cried, we met such nice people, we saw views that many people never get to see. 

We were a true team. We are proud of ourselves...and we will do a full 14er someday. Someday!

Stop #6: Downtown Denver: Nothing a Shower, Nap and Glass of Wine Can't Fix

Mt. Bierstadt about did us in. We were soaked all the way down to our underwear and completely out of it, headaches and all afterwards. We drove back into the city for our last night. I quickly took a hot shower and crawled into bed for a nap. Douglas was snoring before I could fall asleep. I have no idea how long we slept, but we woke up feeling much better. Our last night called for a walk around the city (our legs actually let us!), a wine tasting and more yummy food. It was the perfect way to end our trip. 

Stop #7: Sweet Home, Sweet Home: We Refuse to Miss Our Flight

After almost missing our flight home (like running Home Alone style) we made it home Wednesday evening. The big hugs we got from these four prove that they did miss us (although all of our facetimes showed otherwise). A huge thank you goes out to Brooke and Katie for coming over to play for an afternoon, D for staying and playing a day and a half and to Nana for all the other time and everything else (laundry was done, kids were entertained, supper was ready when we got home...). Doug and I could not have gone on this trip without you. We were never once worried about our littles and that made the trip even more enjoyable. It was great to get away...but we sure did miss them!

That was our trip. Colorado was so fun. Being married for 10 years (the whole reason we went) has been so fun. We feel very blessed to be celebrating and to be celebrating with this trip. 

So here is to the next adventure and the next 10 years...I wonder where we will be called to next!