The Trees Have EYES!

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do!"

"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

In Colorado...

[caption id="attachment_2847" align="alignnone" width="864"] Club Scrap Garden Shed digital kit with accents from Botanicals. "Aspen eyes" images made by ME from my photos![/caption]

We spent Labor Day weekend traveling around Colorado. The mountains were calling! We went to Gourmet on Gore, food festival and wine tasting,  in Vail Village for our first stop. Everything smelled so delicious!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaQ47Sx8UgE]

We walked around sipping Arnold Palmers, checking out all the food and enjoying the glorious weather! Everyone was either walking or riding bikes. Chris bought some of the most delicious organic plums. I swear they were so sweet and fragrant I felt like I was eating a flower!

I love the mountain air, though I did have mild altitude sickness and had to suck on a can of oxygen the first night. That's what I get for being hardheaded and walking two miles, while the rest of my crew took the shuttle to dinner!

Since this was a road trip, we decided to travel through the mountains to Aspen for a night and loop back to Denver via Independence Pass. We stayed at the Aspen Meadows Resort, home of the Aspen Institute.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmSn7tLwhkw]

The grounds are BEAUTIFUL, though the buildings look a bit like the Dharma Initiative in Lost! The rooms were really nice inside though, and the flowers were blooming everywhere!



We left the windows open all night (the rooms don't have air conditioning) and the low night temp was 40 degrees! Loverly!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqRcvksj_6c]



[caption id="attachment_2907" align="alignnone" width="2448"] Water station in the lobby. Cucumber mint ice water, so refreshing![/caption]

My family tried to kill me...We rented bikes to ride into town. It's been years since I've gone bike riding. Chris was leading and I was the caboose. I was leisurely pedaling and just enjoying the mountain view. I should have known better when I saw the giant mirror on the curve. No lie, the road sloped down 60 degrees and I cruised right down it! Luckily, there was road construction, so no traffic, BUT we had to climb back up to get back on the main riding path. Honestly, I haven't had that much fun in a LONG time!

We walked all over downtown Aspen. Is that background gorgeous or what?!





Ahem...I wanted to check out a dispensary, so I walked into The Green Dragon. Unfortunately, I didn't have my ID and was politely asked to leave! (Insert howling laughter) Flashback to 1987! I haven't been asked for my ID since high school! This is all I got, a pic of the t-shirts in the waiting area!



I don't do heights, but I did Independence Pass! The drive was breathtakingly beautiful, but scary! At one point we inched past a USDWF work truck and had a hairs width between us. Yikes! I got tickled when we were walking to the summit of the pass. We passed two young children with their grandparents. The little boy kept saying he was tired and the grandfather said, "You're not tired, it's just the altitude!"  12,095 ft up on the Continental Divide...I had a little trouble myself! My boys LOVED it!





 

We finally made it to Twin Lakes, (big sigh from me!) and it is gorgeous!

[caption id="attachment_2928" align="alignnone" width="3264"] Twin Lakes[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_media-25" align="alignnone" width="3264"] That water was too COLD for me![/caption]



I had a fantastic vacation with my sweet family. I didn't want to come home, even though they pushed me to my limits BUT we took the scenic route!

Do more of what makes you happy!