Top 3 Worthy

Jason and I try to take at least one "big" trip every year, usually over the summer to celebrate our anniversary. We've traveled to many interesting places over the past 10 years together. My top three would be our honeymoon to Mexico, our trip to Nashville for New Years this past December, and our most recent trip to Colorado. These three places are completely different, but all matched our interests. Mexico allowed us to sit in the sun for 6 days and eat (until I got sick from the water), Nashville allowed us to listen to country music and drink beer at 10 am, and Colorado, well, the sky alone healed my broken heart.

In 5th grade I completed a "state report" on Colorado. Yes, it was an easy state to draw, but I had some early fascination with this state. It sounded beautiful and fresh. I didn't make it to Colorado until 2008 when I invited myself to my friend/co-worker's house near Denver. Luckily my buddy Erin had her 30th birthday ski weekend at Breck, so I had TWO reasons to be there besides that I just wanted to see this magical sounding place. Yep, it's amazing. I am obsessed with this utopia state and want to be there as much as I can.

I really wanted to attend this counseling conference I heard about my first year at RP. Conveniently it is held in Colorado Springs. All the stars aligned and despite "hard economic times", my school sent me to Colorado Springs for a week long conference. Naturally, I extended my trip to bring Jason back out to enjoy 10 full days in Colorado.

For anyone that lives in the mid-Atlantic knows it was hotter than blazes this summer. I think it was over 90 degrees with 200% humidity for 96.5% of the summer. I'm exaggerating a bit, but it was hot as hell. My hair looked like a frizzy mess and I could only walk Parker at 6am or it was too hot for both of us. Not to mention I just had a horrible July and was ready to get out of Baltimore for a while. When I saw it could go into the 50's at night in Colorado, I happily packed my sweatshirt and boarded the plane.

First stop, Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs for my conference. The Stanley King Counseling Institute was just what I needed both professionally and personally. I was surrounding by amazingly thoughtful, caring, and just overall wondeful people. We laughed, cried, learned, and hung out in our little bubble for a week. We went up Pike's Peak, experienced some nightlife in Colorado Springs, and reflected, a lot.

Jason picked me up and we started a marathon 5 days of seeing as much as we could on the Front Range. We stayed in Colorado Springs for 1 overnight, Denver area for 2 nights, and Boulder for 1 night. We hiked, we took lots of pictures of the awesome sky and mountains, we drank beer from as many micro brews as possible, and enjoyed the picturouresque weather. We ate meals outside, we wore jackets and jeans at night (!!), and made the most of some much needed time together to heal after a tough summer.

Here's a little taste of our travels. I love Colorado.

Colorado - August 2010