After a lazy morning at our hotel in Snowmass, Andrew and I made the short drive down to breakfast in Aspen. We parked on Main Street and strolled a few blocks to a breakfast place called Aspen Over Easy. The streets were lined with unlocked bikes and mopeds. It's such a cute town! Aspen Over Easy was bustling! Servers were rushing food and drinks out to people. The restaurant was buzzing with people's conversations. The liveliness was fun. We ordered breakfast and enjoyed people watching. When we were finished, we decided to start making our way back home. We didn't want to retrace our steps on I-70, and so we drove a loop around the state. We took Highway 82 east out of Aspen and over Independence Pass, south on Highway 24 to Buena Vista, and ... read more

Last time we tried to hike to Hanging Lake, we had the kids. We turned back because the trail was too difficult to hike with them. We have the weekend to ourselves this weekend to celebrate our sixth anniversary (early), so we decided to head to Hanging Lake. Parts of the drive on I-70 were so sad. Either the beetle kill in the forests are getting much worse, or it's just easier to see in contrast to the green pines in July. To me, it looked like one dry lightning strike would just send the whole area north of I-70 past Silver Plume in flames. It's just so bad. As we neared Glenwood Springs, the views were breathtaking. The canyon's beauty is just beyond words. The rocks that jut from the river below, the green pines ... read more

On our way up to Logan, we passed by a cute little vacation area at Bear Lake State Park as we turned off Route 30 onto Highway 89. It appeared to be a popular vacation destination with a number of hotels, shops, and boat rentals. We wanted to stop with the kids on the way down. As we continued on to Logan, dozens of cars were on their way down the mountain side, pulling boats, likely on their way to Bear Lake. When I mentioned wanting to stop there, my mother-in-law told us that the area is famous for their raspberry shakes. I'm not a fan of raspberries, but I told her I would definitely be up for trying one! As it turns out, the town of Garden City is famous for their raspberries in general, ... read more

Our drive from Green River, Wyoming to Logan, Utah was uneventful. We made it in a single stretch. It is a good thing we filled up with gas in Green River because I am not sure we saw any facilities for two hours. The drive in western Wyoming was much different than in eastern Wyoming. Like Colorado, the ground turned dry and treeless, and almost all we could see was scrub brush. When we crossed into Utah, the land changed again. The ground was green, likely from irrigation because we passed through lots of farm land. We passed through Bear Lake State Park, which looks like a must-stop on our way back. After that, we drove up and down windy mountain roads and finally cruised into Logan. We arrived hungry, and our Utah family suggested we ... read more

Most of the campgrounds in the Taos area don't open until May 1. Rio Grande Gorge State Park, located about 20 miles southwest of Taos, is open year-round. They have six campgrounds that are first-come, first-serve. They all have bathrooms, and four of the six campgrounds even have hot showers (coin-operated) and water spigots. A woman I spoke to at the Bureau of Land Management told me the Rio Bravo campground is probably the nicest, as it has shade. All of the tent sites were just $7 per night. Two of the campgrounds offered RV spots, and those were $15 per night. We entered the state park from the north, and the Rio Bravo campground was one of the furthest south. The Rio Bravo campground sat right on the water's edge. Almost all the spots were ... read more