hi my friends! i have been meaning to write this post for some time now, and i have no other excuse except that my mind has been elsewhere. i have most definitely had the time since oklahoma (and much of the country) has been dominated by snow!
our trip to crested butte. AMAZING! even without the engagement, it was a perfect trip. if you have never been there, i highly recommend. even if you aren't a snow person. something about that town just makes you happy.
to begin our trip, we drove. which we swore we would NEVER do again. but, sometimes plans just don't work out. so we left OKC at about 3:30-4ish and headed west on I-40. we didn't even make it out of the metro area when we saw our first "road trip sighting" and it was a good one. in the median of I-40 were two horses, cowboys on back, looking over a rather large, black mound. we get closer and see that the cowboys (seriously...real life cowboys) have ropes in hand and have roped a big cow! now....i don't really do rodeos, at least not the roping part. it makes me sad. BUT, this appeared to be a happy roping experience. from what we could tell, this cow had escaped from somewhere, was cruising I-40, which is NOT a place for a cow, and these lovely cowboys stepped in and helped! joe assured me that the cow was okay, that the roping wouldn't hurt him. it was quite a sight and one of those moments when you remember that people ARE good.
we continue on our way....west to the Oklahoma/Texas border, and then start to veer northwest. the fun thing about our road trip was that blake, gena, carrie, brendan and james were about an hour or so behind us, so we were non-stop communicating via text with updates on our trip and what they could expect, so it was kind of like we were all together. somewhere in the middle of the texas panhandle, we see flashing lights in the rearview mirror. awesome. seriously....this was a prime example of a bored cop. there was nothing around but fields of who knows what! (it was dark at this point). but, he was nice and gave us a warning and sent us on our way. 6 miles after that, stopped in a town for water and restrooms, got back on the road, and i am not kidding you, within 2 minutes we saw flashing lights again! we were not speeding this time....for real! this fellow was a highway patrol and really just wanted to warn us of the weather we were getting ready to encounter. we told him we had just had a lovely visit with another law enforcement gentleman and he was actually irritated that someone else was on his turf! HA!
cut to somewhere in the middle of New Mexico. WHITEOUT conditions. the blowing snow at this point was unbelievable and i don't know how joe did it because i almost had a heart attack every few minutes. it would be okay....and then nothing but white. to add to this lovely experience it was a 2 lane highway with construction! awful.
we finally made it to our pit stop in canon city....at about 2:30 am...local time. we were exhausted.
the next morning we were up and at em and ready to make the significantly shorter drive on to crested butte. PLUS, it was scenic so it was so much better.....
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| leaving canon city |
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| loved these guys |
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| so bizarre...there were houses and little towns in the middle of these mountains, close to nothing |
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| Monarch's Pass....gorge! |
after a few hours, we made it to crested butte....
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| one of the shuttles. no need for a car here |
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| the town is just littered with cuteness |
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our hotel (or lodge)
LOVE |
i am not so much a winter weather vacation girl, but i was instantly in love with this place.
we went and met the bride and groom at a place within the lodge complex called Butte 66 (which us okies kept referring to as Route 66). we ate, had a drink and then headed into town to celebrate the kickoff of the wedding festivities.
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| this bride danced her bootie off! |
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| i hated seeing this moose on the wall, but had to show him some love and let him know i would never do such a thing to him |
the rest of the weekend was spent shopping, drinking, eating and enjoying the company and surroundings. it was perfect.
the wedding was wonderful as well. the couple looked like they stepped out of a magazine and were so happy! i wish i had more pictures of that night, but i was busy celebrating the occasion! a side note here....in crested butte, no one gets dolled up. which was awesome! but the night of the wedding we all looked a fool in our dresses and heels, suits and ties! but it was cool, we like to stand out and make a statement!
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| scott loved him some champagne |
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| cute family |
The next morning joe and i got up and headed to Colorado Springs, where we relaxed, ate, went up pike's peak, went to the Garden of the God's, tasted the spring water in Manitou Springs (ick!) and just enjoyed our new engagement!
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| that sticker would be two elks humping |
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| frozen lake about 6 miles up Pike's Peak |
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SCARY! driving along an icy ledge. joe kept saying, "if we go over, the trees will stop us"
comforting |
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| 13 miles up! the rest of the way was closed due to weather. (thank goodness!) |
it was a wonderful, perfect trip! i really hope we can repeat it soon!
getting to spend that much time with joe was pretty awesome. but coming home to reality not so much. :)
Sorry for the world's longest post EVER!
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