July was a crazy busy month. Two weddings, a 4th of July party, a vacation to Charleston, SC, and Calabash, NC, a 5k down in Columbus... and a short little trip to Vail, Colorado. (Currently sitting in the Denver airport waiting for our flight home.) What would I do if I had a job where I had to work in the summer?!
I'll start with our Colorado trip, since it's the freshest in my mind. Each year, my Business Man has the opportunity to win a vacation with his company, and this year it happened to be an escape to the beautiful mountains of Vail.
We flew out Sunday morning, and arrived in Vail just in time for some exploring. Our resort was located about 2 miles from town. There is an awesome little trail that connects all the resorts & shopping/dining areas, so we walked that a lot into town.
Monday morning, we decided to be all athletic and take a hike up the mountain. It was only 3.2 miles, and labeled as "intermediate", so we thought we would breeze through it. Hmmmph. (And, we didn't want to pay the $25 fee to ride up the gondola instead. $25! For a 10-minute gondola ride up the mountain. Insane. Pretty sure I would be disgusted with the price to go skiing in Vail.)
The hike was fun, but a lot harder than I expected. It felt like we climbed basically straight uphill. But the views more than made up for it. Wowza, it was so peaceful up there.
Before we were even done hiking up, we (or at least I) had already begun to dread the hike back down. Seriously, I was so scared that I would fall and be sent rolling down the ravine, never to bake a cupcake again. Luckily, once we reached the top, we discovered that it was FREE to ride the gondola back down! Such a sweet reward for making the hike up.
That night, we had a tasty pizza dinner at Blue Moose Pizza. Salad, BBQ chicken pizza, and fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. What more could a girl ask for?
Tuesday, we drove over to Glenwood Springs to take a dip in the hot springs pool. It's a huge pool that is filled with water from the Yampah spring, full of 15 types of minerals that are good for you. (Or so we think.) The water comes from the spring at a temperature of 122*F, and they have to reduce the temperature down to 90*F before it goes in the pool.
It was seriously the biggest pool I've ever seen. We spent the afternoon lounging & swimming, because the water was so warm. The sun was out in full force which made the day that much better.
We explored the cute little town of Glenwood Springs before eating dinner at The Pullman. This was easily my favorite meal of the trip. And it wasn't outrageously priced like most of the restaurants in Vail.
So many choices, and what did I go with? The burger. (I know, come on.) But it was the best burger of my life. Grass-fed beef, with caramelized onions & white cheddar, all on an over-sized homemade English muffin. Seriously, so good.
My Business Man had the braised pork shoulder with smoked mozzarella grits. It was gone before I could even ask for a taste! (He has since requested that I learn how to make grits... hmmm, might need to consult my girl Paula Deen.)
We finished up the night eating a pint of ice cream from the market at the resort and watching the Olympics in bed. Perfect in my opinion.
Now we're back in good ole' Ohio and plan to stay put for the month of August. Ugggh... how can it be August already?! School starts in 20 days...
I'll start with our Colorado trip, since it's the freshest in my mind. Each year, my Business Man has the opportunity to win a vacation with his company, and this year it happened to be an escape to the beautiful mountains of Vail.
We flew out Sunday morning, and arrived in Vail just in time for some exploring. Our resort was located about 2 miles from town. There is an awesome little trail that connects all the resorts & shopping/dining areas, so we walked that a lot into town.
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| View from one of my runs |
Monday morning, we decided to be all athletic and take a hike up the mountain. It was only 3.2 miles, and labeled as "intermediate", so we thought we would breeze through it. Hmmmph. (And, we didn't want to pay the $25 fee to ride up the gondola instead. $25! For a 10-minute gondola ride up the mountain. Insane. Pretty sure I would be disgusted with the price to go skiing in Vail.)
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| just the start of the ginormous mountain |
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| ready to hike! |
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| view from the gondola ride down |
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| my Business Man's mad Instagram skillz |
That night, we had a tasty pizza dinner at Blue Moose Pizza. Salad, BBQ chicken pizza, and fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. What more could a girl ask for?
Tuesday, we drove over to Glenwood Springs to take a dip in the hot springs pool. It's a huge pool that is filled with water from the Yampah spring, full of 15 types of minerals that are good for you. (Or so we think.) The water comes from the spring at a temperature of 122*F, and they have to reduce the temperature down to 90*F before it goes in the pool.
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| I could get used to this view. |
It was seriously the biggest pool I've ever seen. We spent the afternoon lounging & swimming, because the water was so warm. The sun was out in full force which made the day that much better.
We explored the cute little town of Glenwood Springs before eating dinner at The Pullman. This was easily my favorite meal of the trip. And it wasn't outrageously priced like most of the restaurants in Vail.
So many choices, and what did I go with? The burger. (I know, come on.) But it was the best burger of my life. Grass-fed beef, with caramelized onions & white cheddar, all on an over-sized homemade English muffin. Seriously, so good.
 |
| didn't even need ketchup! |
My Business Man had the braised pork shoulder with smoked mozzarella grits. It was gone before I could even ask for a taste! (He has since requested that I learn how to make grits... hmmm, might need to consult my girl Paula Deen.)
We finished up the night eating a pint of ice cream from the market at the resort and watching the Olympics in bed. Perfect in my opinion.
Now we're back in good ole' Ohio and plan to stay put for the month of August. Ugggh... how can it be August already?! School starts in 20 days...
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PS. I LOOOOOOVE being back in Ohio! :)