The Mountains Were Calling...

Last week, Colorado's Rocky Mountains were calling our names, and we went! Our good friends Justin and Sam were getting married, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to celebrate the official start of their married lives. It was a beautiful few days of friendship, laughter, and mountain tops. 

We flew out Wednesday afternoon to Denver, and finally made it to our place in Dillon around 5. After checking out our beautiful AirBnB, we freshened up for the festivities that evening. We headed to Timberline Craft Kitchen for dinner, drinks, and conversation with other wedding guests and the almost bride and groom. You could tell how thankful Justin and Sam were that so many people headed out west to celebrate them. 

Thursday was wedding day, but not till later that afternoon. So to kill time in the morning we headed into Breckenridge, making a pit stop at Sapphire Point (where we took family pictures with Eric's family two years ago) for a beautiful photo op. 

Then we headed to town and did a little souvenir shopping and bar hopping. We ate lunch at a yummy little burger place, and I got to relive some of my favorite rolled ice cream from when Eric and I were in Breckenridge with his family. (I may or may not have gotten said rolled ice cream every day we went in to Breckenridge....but that's not an important detail.)

We got all dolled up for the rest of the festivities that day and made our way to the Dillon Marina Park Pavillion. This was the prettiest spot for a wedding I've ever been to, with the most picture perfect mountains in the background just beyond the lake. It was a lot warmer than I was expecting, so I did a little sweating in my long sleeved dress, but I do have to say that I was thankful for the sleeves that evening- the night still got pretty dang cold!

After everyone was choked up from the heartfelt ceremony (thanks to their officiant/Justin's brother in law Curt Frost, and Sam's friend Debbie), we enjoyed the scenery with yummy snacks and drinks. Before we knew it we were being sent off to their reception sight, which I swear was pulled straight from a magazine. 

We played a fun little game, ate delicious food and cake, and danced and drank all the way till they shut the wedding dance down. We were thankful for a shuttle to take us back to our AirBnB that night, and somehow we managed to stay up long enough once we got back for some time in the hot tub. Don't ask me how I was still awake, it was definitely way past my bedtime. 

The next morning we all enjoyed sleeping in until we woke up. We grabbed ate breakfast and packed up a backpack full of water for a nature hike! There were a few options thrown around as to which hike to take, but I think I can safely say that everyone was glad we went with a 3 mile hike instead of an 8 mile hike ha! 

We did the Meadow Loop and Ridge Trail, which is clocking in at 3.2 miles long. All Trails says you gain 475 feet of elevation on the trail, and I'm pretty positive that all 475 feet of that is done in the first 100 feet of the trail. The climb up from the parking lot was steep. Some brave souls took the shortcut up, which was literally a straight climb up to the top of the hill, but I opted for the switch back trail that made it to the top, and my lungs still felt like they were going to give out on me.

Luckily the rest of the trail was relatively easy, and it provided us with some beautiful look out points for pictures. 

After the hike it was back to the house for lunch and naps. We travelled back in to Breckenridge to ride the gondola, and were presently surprised at the area at the Peak 8 stop. Once we got off the gondola there, we found a huge area with mini golf, a roller coaster, an alpine slide, food, drinks, and more. We were kind of bummed that when we were here with Eric's family a few years ago we didn't know about this place- it was so cool! We all enjoyed a trip down the alpine slide before heading back down on the gondola to get dinner. 

Saturday morning we rented two jeeps and headed off to the countryside to do some trails. We started out on Georgia Pass, which was totally off-road, through creeks, over rocks, and up a mountain. The view from the top of the trail was just beautiful, and we crossed the continental divide on this route.

After soaking in those views, we made our way back down the mountain to civilization and headed towards the Boreas Pass. On the way we soaked up the sights of rural Colorado, the most exciting being real cowboys moving cows down the side of the road. I'm sure they thought we were crazy city people stopping to watch them, but I just wanted to tell them that our kids just really love cows ha!

The Boreas Pass was beautiful, and the beginning of the trail was a little hard on my nerves as we drove up the side of a mountain with no guardrails and a huge drop to the bottom, but after that initial climb the trail was easy peasy. The trail overall was relatively uneventful, and it was heavily trafficked. We crossed the continental divide again on this trail, and this time we found a sign and took a picture by it. 

But after that trail, I think that most of us were craving something more "off-road". We headed to the last trail we would be able to do for the day, and I'm not going to lie, when we started out I was very disappointed. We went right past all the ski lifts and ski trails, and nothing seemed that exciting. I remember Kenny, who was driving the jeep Eric and I were in, saying that he wished we were doing something more like the first trail, with the rocky roads and exciting drive. Not even 5 minutes later we hit the rocks. 

We were still in the the trees, so it was hard to tell how high up we were, but the road very quickly turned from a dirt road to a rock road that was pretty narrow. This is an up and back trail, so we did run into vehicles coming back down the trail as we were headed up, and I'm not going to lie, it was a little intimidating as the roads were narrow and the rocks were loose. We commented multiple times about how we could feel the rocks moving under the tires.

The trees cleared and we were reeeeeeally high up the mountain. But we weren't away from the rocks. The trees had provided a nice barrier next to the trail, but towards the top it was wide open, and the trail was a tight switch back with all those loose rocks I mentioned earlier. Meeting vehicles on this portion of the trail made me feel like I wanted to throw up. I spent a lot of time going up this part of the trail with my hand holding tightly to the jeep and my face pointed towards the floor. I was very relieved when we reached a stopping point with some room to spread out a bit.

The view here was quite breathtaking. We ended up close to 13,000 feet above sea level, and we could have went even a little bit higher, but we had to have the jeeps back by five that afternoon so we needed to head back down the mountain to turn in the jeeps. It was probably a good idea that we headed down when we did, because as we went back down it started to rain on us, and wet, loose, rocks under your tires on the edge of a mountain doesn't sound fun. 

That night we took it easy and ordered some pizza and enjoyed our last night soaking up the views and soaking in the hot tub.

Sunday morning we left bright and early to get back to Denver to catch our flight home. We could have used a few more days in the mountains, but home was calling us and we were definitely ready to see Brady and Ashley again. We are looking forward to our next adventure!

Colorado 2019

Family vacations are always a blast, and when our entire Schackmann family headed to Breckenridge, Colorado I knew it would be a good time. We ate too much, laughed a ton, snuggled with Grant, and explored the great outdoors that is the beautiful state of Colorado.

Our first full day there was spent fly fishing. Dan, Eric, Chad, Connor and I met our guides at Breckenridge Outfitters and drove to Kremmling to fish the Colorado River. Either we royally stink at fly fishing or the fish weren't biting (or more than likely a large combination of both), but we didn't have much luck that day. I think most people got a bite or two, but only Connor was able to get his fish in. Regardless, we all enjoyed being outside, feeling the rushing water of the Colorado River around our legs, and breathing in that fresh air.

Our next day we spent jeeping! After picking up our jeeps, we drove out to Idaho Springs to get on the Yankee Hill jeep trail. We were initially planning on jeeping closer to Breckenridge, but we were told that the trails would probably have snow on them as they had such an extended winter season. They actually still had the ski slopes open the weekend before we arrived!

The trail was not well marked and at one point we ended up on a winding road up a hill with no guardrails and a steep drop off the side. It was pretty dang scary and someone might have even cried (and no, it wasn't me!). We decided that that wasn't the right way so we scarily turned around and made it safely back down. 

We did eventually find the trail, and had a minor jeep breakdown along the way. It made for a nice pit stop for pictures though!

We were soon back on our way- it was such a beautiful day for jeeping! We made plenty of pit stops for pictures and to soak in the gorgeous scenery.

I might have just mentioned that we had beautiful weather for jeeping. That was, until, we didn't have such beautiful weather. We made it to the top of a mountain and the sky turned so dark. It wasn't long before it was raining, and it wasn't long after that that it was hailing on us! And hail in an open backed jeep is not much fun. Luckily it didn't last long, and we decided to make one final stop before heading down the mountain for a photo op. 

The next day was white water rafting! We met in Silverthorne and rafted about 6 miles down the Blue River. The first three miles were pretty mild, but decently fast as the water was really moving. The last three miles were pretty much straight rapids. There was a time or two I thought someone was for sure going overboard, but I'm happy to report that no one ended up in the freezing cold water. 

It took us about an hour or so to get through the six miles, but our guide told us that in a few weeks when the water was moving even faster it would only take about a half hour-crazy! I got like no pictures of us rafting because I didn't bring my camera, but I did snap a few of Erin and I and Eric and I in our wet suits before we put on our helmets and jackets. Connor got video of the rapids on his GoPro and I'm really looking forward to seeing that footage!

After rafting we all got dolled up and took some family pictures. We drove out to Lake Dillon and up to the lookout at Sapphire Point. It was so beautiful out there! After family pictures were done, I took engagement pictures for Erin and Chad. I am so in love with how they turned out. You can check those out here if you're interested: https://sharonschackmannphotography.com/blog/2019/6/22/chad-and-erin-engaged. 

That night was probably my favorite night of the entire trip. Grant was stalling out on bedtime. He kept grabbing each of our hands and leading us down to his bedroom. Before long, we were all down there. He started playing and left the room and shut the door on us. The second time he did it we decided that each time one of us would hide until everyone was hidden in the room.

We started hiding in the closet, and at first Grant didn't seem to notice. When it was Eric's turn to hide, he decided to climb under the bed. So I blame him for all that was to follow. Grant eventually realized we were disappearing and found us in the closet, and then found Eric under the bed. He must have thought that that was funny, because he crawled under there with him.

Then, he started taking us by the hand and having us go under the bed as well. When it was Nikki's turn, I guess Grant was getting impatient and started pushing on her head to get in! The four of us ended up under the bed with Grant- only an adorable almost two year old can get four grown adults under a bed at one time. Connor and Chad eventually were drug under the bed as well (don't worry, the rest of us were out of there by then. That would have been very close quarters!). I don't think we've all laughed that hard in a long while. It's definitely a memory I don't want to forget!

Our last day there was pretty chill. We decided to go on a family hike. We hit up the Blue Lakes Trail and boy was it stunning! It was also pretty chilly by the time we made it to the top. I don't think any of us knew we would be hiking up a mountain!

Once we made it towards the top we saw a nice group of mountain goats just roaming around. 

There were even people skiing at the top!

Our drive back also brought us our first adult moose experience. There were two moose in the field, but this one had the better antlers. 

The rest of these pictures are just an array of random pictures from the trip that I don't want to forget. Up first is rolled ice cream. We might have gotten it two or three times while we were there...

The gondola opened our second to last day there, so we made sure to take a trip on it on Saturday. We weren't in the same car as Grant, but Nichole told us that he was absolutely loving the ride!

A little hot tub fun with us and Grant.

We even saw a baby moose in a parking lot in town. I'm sure momma moose was not far away, but we didn't catch a glimpse of her at the time.

And our last night in town was deemed date night. All us "kids" went out for an afternoon of drinking and munching. We did a pirate escape room- and escaped with 10 minutes to go! We went our separate ways for dinner, and met back up for some rolled ice cream. (I told you we might have had it once or twice this trip!)

So there you have it! A week in Breckenridge with our Schackmann family. We made so many memories, took so many pictures, and had so much fun. I'm sure our next family vacay will be a little more low key, but I know that no matter what we do, we'll have just as much fun as we did that week in Colorado.