Well hello there, happy Saturday!

Just popping in to say that my trip to visit my mom and stepdad in Colorado was FABULOUS and that we hiked SO MANY MILES and had SO MANY ADVENTURES! And now I’m home again and trying hard to catch up in all areas of life. I’ll leave you with a few pictures (thanks to my stepdad for the phenomenal photography!), but of course they can not even begin to describe the beauty or memories that were made…

On my first day in Buena Vista, we drove to and then hiked for hours at Great Sand Dunes National Park … this was the main purpose for the trip, since we can’t go in the summer when I’m normally visiting. It was everything I dreamed of!

The next day we hiked to the top of (user-named) Igloo Peak right from the Independence Pass parking lot. This was a five hour hike in the SNOW!

I love visiting the pass, but driving up and down is NOT my thing. Thank goodness my stepdad is all about driving! After our long hike we went down the other side of the pass to wander around Aspen for a bit and eat an early dinner.

Our third day of hiking took us to a gorgeous place near Salida called Railroad Gulch, and in typical canyon fashion it was downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back … SO HARD ~ I prefer the uphill on the way out, but it was gorgeous!

Every hike has a snack break at the halfway point and my pack is ALWAYS full of baked goods from my mom’s freezer!

After the canyon hike we went to my other trip priority ~ Mount Princeton Hot Springs! This is another place my mom doesn’t love visiting in the summer, so I saved it for this trip and YAY it was amazing! We enjoyed both the natural river pools and the manmade pool ~ I love that these springs are gorgeous, HOT, clear, and do not smell like sulphur.

We went out for dinner every day, with my favorite spot being The Buena Viking, right in downtown Buena Vista. They definitely had the best NA drink menu as well!

I had two full days of travel and three very full days of playing (and sleeping) HARD ~ I’m so damn glad I took the time off work and made this trip a priority.

This was my first time EVER visiting my mom solo since having my first baby in 2005 … every other visit was either with my kids or siblings! It was a truly special and phenomenal adventure to one of my favorite places on earth.

Okay, that’s all for today! I’ll be back on Tuesday with another edition of my Wintering series, and then I’ll be back with some books to share on the 31st!