Colorado Weekend

Hi friends! How was your Fourth of July weekend?

We had a BLAST in Colorado!!!

(Surprise– I’m a blonde right now!)

To recap a bit, we spent Friday night at a Colorado Springs Sky Sox minor league baseball game:

Our team lost, but the game ended on a positive note– with a fun fireworks show!

We spent our first two nights in Colorado camping near Colorado Springs, in a cute campsite called the Lost Burro. Check out the beautiful view from our site!

We camped with two of our good friends, who drove there with all the camping stuff! We were so lucky to have them, because they were PRO campers! Check out the awesome 12-person tent we shared:

I have to say, this tent slept 4 people VERY comfortably (well, as “comfortable” as sleeping on the ground can be…)– but I don’t see more than 6 people cramming into a tent this size! I really liked having space to spread out in my sleeping bag.   It’s amazing how much the temperature can change between day and night there, too. It could be in the mid-90’s during the afternoon, but at night, it dropped down into the 30’s! I woke up from freezing both nights that we camped! Luckily, all I had to do was scoot my head down into my sleeping bag, then I was warm and toasty again, and slept like a baby. I really love chilly sleeping conditions, as long as I have enough blankets!!

We had a lovely campfire dinner on Saturday, with festive decorations:

After working up quite an appetite hiking through the Seven Falls that afternoon!

There were a LOT of steps to climb, before even beginning our hike!

Even after all my Insanity workouts, I was huffing and puffing climbing all those steps! I don’t think altitude was helping, either…

Luckily, they had a rest point after the first 109 steps, so we stopped for a quick photo op:

I loved the scenery here! Crisp, mountain air, pine trees, waterfalls… it was a perfect way to spend the afternoon!

We also visited Cripple Creek, which featured a small downtown FILLED with casinos! As well as a HUGE sand castle:

Pretty elaborate, eh?

On Sunday, we got BRAVE, and decided to tackle the drive up to the top of Pike’s Peak.  I had NO IDEA what we were in for!

At first, the drive seemed like no big deal. We were on a paved road, that was gradually winding around the mountain. But eventually, the paved road became a dirt road, and the winding roads started to be sharp, hair-pin turns above the tree line! You could literally look out the window and see NOTHING but sky! It was TERRIFYING!! I tried to capture it on camera, but photos do not do this drive justice:

This was one of the rare areas that had a guard rail– other scary turns had NOTHING to keep you from falling off a cliff! Luckily, most of the drivers were very careful, and drove around 10 mph the whole way!

We were all giddy from the lack of oxygen and pure ANXIETY!!!! At the peak of our fear, the Jeep we were driving started warning us that the engine had over-heated! We took this as a sign that we were not meant to make it to the top. Our friends needed that car to drive home to Kansas, and we didn’t want to risk the extra 3-miles to the top, when we were already so high up! We got to almost enjoy what the top of the mountain was like! While we pulled over on the side of the mountain, to let our engine cool off, we climbed a few rocks:

We had an AWESOME view:

Oh, I forgot to mention– my husband is ESPECIALLY terrified on heights! Ha ha. He was so scared during the drive up the mountain, that he pretty much hid his head in my lap the whole time! He was a good sport for posing with me on that rock.

Fun fact: Ever since last year, we’ve started traveling with a little shrimp key chain. It started off as an inside-joke, but now he goes on all our vacations with us! (including our honeymoon in Paris!)

Here’s “Shrimpy” posing in front of the mountain:

I have to say, Shrimpy’s had an awesome travel schedule in the past year– my husband even took him on his European tour a couple months ago!

Our trip wasn’t all hiking and mountain climbing, though– we also found a FUN area that my husband remembered from his childhood! It was a cute downtown area in Manitou Springs, featuring TONS of old arcade games!

We played one of my favorites, Skee Ball!!!!!

As well as some other vintage games:

And you can bet your booty, if there is a Pop-A-Shot nearby, my husband will find it:

He loves basketball.

Last night, we headed to Boulder, to explore their downtown. Lots of local restaurants were closed down for the holiday, but we found a local Latin restaurant was open– right in the nick of time! It started POURING while we waited for our table:

I enjoyed a refreshing wine spritzer while we waited at the bar, then ordered their Goat Cheese Masa Cakes as my entree:

I have to say, I was really disappointed in my dinner. I was really looking forward to the “bed of greens” and “fresh avocado” that the menu described– but all the veggies were soaked in vinegar, and my avocado was battered and FRIED! See that chicken-finger thing on top?? That’s my avocado!! Ugh.

Luckily, we had a lovely barbecue this afternoon with my father-in-law, so that bad meal is all in the past! It was really nice visiting with family before ending our trip!

All in all, we had an AWESOME time! I loved being in the company of good friends, enjoying fresh air and sunshine– even if we did indulge in too many s’mores.

Now I’m in Kansas for another business trip! I know tomorrow is going to be a really stressful day (my dad is moving home, so it’s going to be crazy!!), but hopefully things will calm down by the end of this week!

Reader Feedback: How did you spend your holiday weekend? What’s your favorite food to indulge in over Fourth of July? Mine was definitely camp-fire s’mores! I was looking forward to them all weekend!!