All these items were able to be checked off as my family spent 4 nights in Edwards, Colorado, taking daytrips to Aspen, Vail, and little places in between. It was a wonderfully wintery trip, begging me to take around 1200 photos. The bulk of those photos were shot on my Canon, Some from my Olympus (Because, snow and active outdoorsy activities), and just a couple from various phone cameras. I have 5 days worth of awesome to cover, so bear with me.
Day one-
We arrived at the airport around 10am to catch a flight going out at noon, and we were set to arrive in Denver at 3pm. We faced delays, missed connections, and mechanical trouble, delaying our arrival to 8pm. We picked our rental Jeep Patriot and headed up into the Rockies. It was dark and there wasn't a whole lot to see, but I managed to hone in on my bubble gum bubble blowing skills, and captured some of the best. The stars were also shining brighter than I'd ever seen stars shine in my whole life. They were stunning.
This striking blue sky though.
Downtown Austin from the air.
Me. Being a dork. A pretty tired and impatient dork. And being the resourceful ninja I am, I was experimenting with diffusing the flash with silly putty. Fun results.
Day two-
My parents spent their 5th wedding anniversary in this same area and EVERY SINGLE TIME we went skiing at our favorite little place in Yosemite they told me about how wonderful the skiing was in Colorado. EVERY SINGLE TIME. And on day two of our adventure I had the opportunity to experience the fabled slopes at Cooper.
And my word, did they live up to my expectations. The sun was shining, it was a comfortable 34 degrees with occasional winds. Completely gorgeous. We skied on lightly packed powder, which was something I've never been terribly accustomed to.
Another new element was the sheer size of the resort. Badger Pass in Yosemite has 3 lifts that run on a consistent basis and less than 12 runs. I love Badger Pass, and it was a great place for me to learn how to ski and to build my confidence, but Cooper is just so huge! I never knew that there might be a run inside a run, where you go up one lift, ski down aways to the base of a smaller lift, and go up to the top again without ever reaching the base of all the runs. Trippy.
I carried my Olympus with me on the slopes because I am highly uncoordinated and was afraid to carry my Canon with me in a backpack. So, if possible, let's look past the quality issues, okay?
We were really up high on some of these lifts.
I stopped skiing pretty often to take some photos.
Considering how clumsy I am, I'm proud to say that I did not fall one single solitary time while skiing. I did, however, fall into waist deep snow while trying to photograph my surroundings with my Canon. Picture me, in wait deep snow, still wearing ski boots, trying to throw myself up out of the snow with one hand, while the other held my camera over my head. Once I got myself back onto the packed snow I was laying there sideways, trying to stand back up. I'm sure it was quite the sight. The things I do for my art.
On our way to Cooper we drove through this eclectic little town of Minturn, and on our way back towards Edwards we stopped in to see what we could see.
Those icicles though!
I found the most delicate pine cone that ya ever did see in someones driveway. I photographed it and then gently picked it up and packed it with care so I could bring it home with me.
As we finished up a day of skiing straight from the storybook, we headed to Vail Village. I'm pretty sure that somewhere along the way we met up with Bert and jumped through a chalk art square led by Mary Poppins, because Vail village in the wintertime is the most picturesque thing I've ever laid eyes on.
This sculpture gradually changed colors, allowing for pretty spectacular gradients.
We ate dinner in this moderately fancy Italian place in Vail Village. I had a hand-tossed margarita pizza and it was fantastic. Lots of the other patrons were wearing North Face gear and had evidence of a day out in the cold on their cheeks. We arrived back in Edwards fairly late and gladly crawled in bed.
Day three-
Day two was our adventure-around-the-area-in-the-Jeep-and-on-foot day. We first went to Aspen, where the X-Games were being held. The area was buzzing with activity. We parked downtown and walked through the downtown to reach the Silver Queen Gondola so we could ride up the the top of the peak and enjoy the views and lodge before gondolaing back down.
Okay you see this adorable little family walking up the end of the run? They're pulling their LITTLE son up and then they'd let him "ski" down a few feet into the arms of the other parent. His smile was precious.
This gondola ride was no short little hopskipandajump. This was serious. High and long. And really stunningly gorgeous.
When we reached the top of the peak the snow started really coming down and the wind was whipping like there was no tomorrow.
In this picture you can see the snow that is being picked up and carried by the wind.
I'm sure on a clear day you could see for miles.
These 3 streamers were a steaming when I went into the lodge but by the time I came out only one was still standing-the other 2 had fallen down to the ground because the pipes that held them just couldn't do it.
It was fun to watch the skiers traverse the various runs from above.
It trips me out to see a whole city at the foot of a bunch of runs. Like people pop off their skis and leave them on a rack outside a restaurant and then pick them up again and hit the slopes for the rest of the afternoon. Like, what?
The downtown area was so cute and old timey with some nice stores which we popped in to.
Just after noon we ventured to Krabloonik, a homey little restaurant that owns a bunch 214 dogs. What does a small (and delicious) restaurant do with 214 dogs? They offer dogsled rides! We did not go for a ride, but we were able to mingle with all the dorky fluffballs. They were all so excited to see us walking down their row of little houses and came out to lick and sniff us.
Okay this guy basically has my dream job. He photographed the restaurant and their dogs for their website.
These two are buds.
Dogs. Everywhere. It has heavenly.
This dork carried around his full can of water just of show off.
I am very proud of this photo. I was talking to this dog and complementing him on his spectacularly blue eyes when he looked right at me, stared right through my soul, and stayed still so I could take his photo.
We had to leave Krabloonik early because of a pending snow storm (which was a bummer because there were so many beautifully eyed doggies) and we chilled in our hotel all evening. Mom and I sat in front of the fireplace in our hotel, I uploaded photos, and we played a few hands of rummy. I was kicking myself for not bringing my laptop because I could have started on this post. (It has taken me a small eternity)
Day four-
On our 4th day of our adventure we went snowmobiling, another first for me! I've driven go karts at my grandparent's old house quite a bit, but this was the first time I've ridden a real off-roadsy vehicle like this. We went with Nova Guides and were the only ones on our tour, as the other group of 6 had cancelled that morning. The trail was made of freshly groomed powder and we did not see another snowmobile the whole way.
It took a little while before I hit my stride and felt comfortable with my speed and leaning into my turns, but once I nailed that I could look up more often and marvel at our perfect surroundings. Snow was falling and dusting the trees once more, wind was blowing, rustling the boughs.
I've realized that when I'm doing something like skiing or snowmobiling, something where you can't listen to music or check your phone or talk to anybody, I do a lot of thinking. While skiing I was thinking about what true unconditional love means. While snowmobiling I was thinking about where we derive our value and worth, and how that is tied to our identity. Big stuff, I know. A post coming on all those thoughts will be happening in the nearish future, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. I guess my point is, big things happen in the brain place when other petty stuff isn't occupying all our energy.
After we snowmobiled our hearts out we ate some snacks on our drive to Lionshead Village, which was like Vail Village but a little quieter and more modest. It was snowing pretty seriously so I broke out my camera's home made rain poncho. Yes, a carried my Canon through an outdoor mall in a cut and taped produce bag. Again, what I do for my art. I just couldn't resist the warm glow of the lamps and the falling snow. So I'm basically a moth. Whatever.
The shops and their fun little storefronts were a bonus too.
Once we arrived back at our hotel we packed up some of our bags and then played some more rummy in front of the fire.
Day five-
Our last day in Colorado. Our flight was scheduled for 5:45, so we decided to eat breakfast, pack up, and head out early to get down into Denver. I was tasked with finding something enticing, yet mostly indoors, to enjoy before we had to fly out. I chose one of my favorite kinds of places to go, the Denver Botanic Gardens.
We enjoyed our hotel's continental breakfast everyday, but on day 5 my donuts accidentally made a very enthusiastic happy face, which just made me happy.
It snowed multiple inches over night and I wanted to snap a picture of our car. I just walked out in my flip flops because it was only going to be for a minute and I wasn't ready to put real shoes on yet. Once I got outside it was colder than I expected so I was power walking so I could snap the picture and get back inside ASAP. In the midst of my power walk my feet shot out from under me and I slipped and fell hard on the ice. Fun times. And I even managed to get a blurry shot of my foot flying our from under me.
But anyway, here's the photo I was out to shoot. See the icicles? This weather was not messing around in the least.
What the drive to Denver lost us in time it made up in beauty.
I worked up a bit of a sweat photographing all the indoor plants in the tropical houses, so I headed outside, where 90% of the plants of the Botanic Gardens are found. It was obviously covered in snow which made for a quite and scenic walk.
You see the snow that has been disturbed, middle foreground? That's where I was walking towards this fantastic sculpture when I heard a crack under my foot and my foot gave way. That is where I realized that I was walking in a frozen fountain.
After a delectable lunch at the Botanic Gardens Cafe we headed for the airport, and ultimately home. Our plane was delayed out of Denver due to deicing. I've never been in a plane while it was deiced, but here's about all you see. The truck thing gets all lined up and then...
...BAM! Goop on your window.
We ran through the Dallas airport and made it on the last boarding call to Austin. Fun times.
What is important though, is that we made it home safely from a trip of a lifetime.
I am grateful for all the opportunities I was given during this trip.
And I am grateful to you for reading this whole post, because boy, it was a doozy.
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