Colorado

I've always loved Colorado. Before I had ever been there, I heard about all the beauty and adventure that was there, and I knew I had to get there. About four years ago, I got to go for my first time. My dad works for Youth for Christ, and he had planned a trip to Crooked Creek Ranch (totally awesome!) for his kids. I volunteered to go along as a counselor. The 36-hour school bus ride (one way) was rough, but it was worth it! Ever since then, I've wanted to go back, especially with my hubby. We finally did! To celebrate our second anniversary, we set out to conquer Colorado...

The first day there, we checked out Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater. It's a really neat rock formation where concerts are held. I totally enjoyed being out in the fresh air and wide open spaces!


It was a beautiful, slightly cool day (probably 55 degrees), and I was shocked and excited to find snow (and right next to cactus at that... still crazy to me)!

Our second day was spent in the mountains. We went on a horseback ride at Aspen Lodge. It was a gorgeous area with stunning views.


Then we drove around and went on hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park. A lot of the park was closed for the winter (unfathomable to us Kentuckians... it was only October!), but we managed to see a good bit of it. We'd definitely like to go back again.

On one of our hikes, we climbed up a big rocky area. I thought this pic was fun with the sun flare and all!


In that same area, we discovered a herd of elk! How neat is that!? We could hear their call and everything. We were standing up where the people in this pic are:

This is a view right near where the elk were:

Then we drove up to Bear Lake. By then, it was freezing cold because the sun was going down. It was really neat to see.

The next day, we headed out to Waterton Canyon to do some mountain biking.

We had heard that the mountain biking trail was 6 miles down a dirt road from the parking area. No biggie, right? Well, we didn't know it was 6 miles up hill! And with the high altitude, it was rough! By the time we got to the trail, we were running short on time and I was exhausted. Matt went on and explored the trail for a bit, but our "mountain biking" didn't turn out like we had thought. Regardless, it was worth it. The scenery was so nice, and we ended up seeing big horn sheep on our way back! They were so close to us too! It was neat to see them running all over the hillside--it's amazing how they can do that when it's so steep and rocky. The big guy was checking Matt out:

Then we went on to visit my cousin, Michele, and her family. They live in Denver. It was so great to spend time with them on their own turf! They took us out to Boulder, where we did some shopping, hiking, and climbing. We climbed on these rocks:


Matt ventured out to the edge:



The rocks again:

It was such a great vacation! We definitely want to go back some day. Thanks go out to Becky for letting us borrow her little camera for our biking and horseback riding! And thanks so much Michele and family for having us stay with you! We had a blast!

And thank you, God, for such a beautiful creation and for making it possible for us to enjoy it. :)