travel diaries | colorado part two

When I asked Mark if he wanted to do anything specific while we were in and around Vail, his answer was "Maroon Bells". One of his friends had told him about Maroon Bells and that is all that he requested. I initially didn't want to go because it is past Aspen, which was two hours from where we were staying and I really wanted to enjoy the area we were in...but I thought about it and decided to appease him (#imagoodwife) so that was the plan for Thursday. 

Mark started the morning with a free fly-fishing lesson on the lawn and in the creek right outside our room. He loved it! I loved sleeping late and enjoying the hotel room to myself. :)

When he was done with that, we started the drive toward Aspen and Maroon Bells. We devoted the whole day to the drive and decided to just enjoy the journey as well as the destination. We stopped by our favorite bridge again:

We accidentally stumbled upon the Continental Divide and we both excitedly braved the cold and windy pass to take in the scenery. 

It was a beautiful drive through Independence Pass, which was going to close in just a few days on October 1 for the winter. I saw a big group of big horn sheep right off the road as we drove through, and the yellow leaves of the Aspens are a favorite on these drives!

We pulled into posh Aspen and enjoyed the perfect fall weather and a great view on the patio in town. 

Our table was on the right side of this building:

After lunch and a little wandering around town, we headed down to catch the Maroon Bells bus. We succeeded on our second attempt to get on the bus (hopped on the wrong bus first! whoops!) and headed about 20 minutes up into the park. 

It was gorgeous!!! The bells are the two peaks in the center of the photo. We spent a little over an hour exploring the area before we had to catch the last bus back to our car. 

It was beautiful the way we saw it, but we would also love to see it when the sun wasn't right in our eyes. If we ever go back, we'll have to allow more time! 

It was a great excursion to Aspen and Maroon Bells and I'm so glad we did it! There's one more day to cover, coming up next!

travel diaries | colorado part one

Mark and I took an adults-only trip back in September to Vail, Colorado! We took off Tuesday morning after we dropped Beau off at school and flew straight to Denver. Of course, as we were walking through security at Love Field I got a call from Beau's school that Beau was 'so sad' and asking for mommy. Insert broken heart here. Luckily Nana was able to pick him up and soothe his sadness and we've just about recovered from the trauma! 

We landed in Denver and started the drive west to Vail, complete with a stop at Beau Jo's pizza in Idaho Springs. 

We got to our hotel just around dusk and ended up eating and playing pool at a small bar in Vail Village to finish off the day of travel. 

The next morning we walked along Gore Creek and into Lionshead Village, about a mile from our hotel. The weather was about 60º and perfect!

At this point, Mark was itching to explore so we headed off to nowhere, with the intention to just see the area and the fall colors. We drove to a nearby small town and stumbled upon this cute bridge!

We went about 15 minutes down a 'nicely graveled road' until we realized our sad little Chevy Malibu wasn't cut out for the rough terrain. We took a tight u-turn and went back the way we came!

We found a cute little town that had been around much longer than Vail and enjoyed some snacks on a patio next to the creek. The restaurant we went to had been around since the 1800's! We also had to go into the cutest fly fishing shack ever. It was right next to the creek and we both loved it's quaintness!

We got back to the hotel with some down time so I enjoyed the cool temperatures with a book on our balcony overlooking the flowing and rocky Gore Creek. It was so peaceful!

That night, I suggested we try a German place for dinner. If you know me, you might describe me as picky and not super adventurous, but German food was something I decided I could handle and I hoped Mark would appreciate the gesture to step outside our normal food palate! 

The restaurant was called Almresi and was highly rated online. It ended up being one of the best meals/restaurants I'd ever been to!

We were greeted by a hostess in a full Dirndl dress with a strong German accent. The interior was completely transformed to feel like a quaint German cottage and it was amazingly well done! The lighting was low and homey. My pictures of the interior wouldn't do it justice, so I pulled these from their website. It was unreal!

Our waiter came over in full Lederhosen (made of reindeer leather, he told us!) and he had a very strong German accent as well! It turned out he was from Munich and was in the US for a 15 month work program. We chatted with him, he recommended some great items on the menu, and we enjoyed our fondue, beef, and spaetzle. It was soooooo good and I couldn't stop grinning and repeating "this is so cool!!!" hahaha for real. It was a great experience.

We headed back to the hotel full and happy! More of our trip coming up next!

travel diaries | destin - the movie