Vacation Adventures: Part 2

The second part of our vacation was the real reason for the trip-- the Harley ride. Every year Brandon's company takes their big account costumers (and their wives) on a Harley ride. Since Brandon works exclusively with these guys we were also invited. I kept trying to put it off, but ran out of excuses and ended up going. By the way, I had a great time and am uber excited for next year-- by then Brandon should have his motorcycle license and he can haul me around wherever we're going (this year we drove the support truck). Here is a list of the adventurous places we passed through this year:

Steam Boat Springs, CO- Cute little ski resort town, pituresque, but the place we stayed at (The Rabbit Ear's Motel-- no joke, that's the name of the place) was a little shady. Brandon is sure he saw someone make a drug deal and I woke up both times the train passed through--it felt like it was in our room! The little cafe we ate breakfast at had the best hot chocolate in the world (which totally redeemed the Rabbit Ear experience).

Aspen, CO- We loved the little bed and breakfast we stayed at-- I have 2 words for you: jetted tub! We had so much fun that we decided to abandon the group and spend an extra couple of hours putting around town. We took the gondola to the top of the mountain, enjoyed the views, and went on a short nature hike. Then we rented scooters (it was all very Dumb and Dumber). After lunch we hit the road in order to catch up with the group. Unfortunatly, the GPS took us down an impassable 4x4 road. I was scared out of my brains. I was convinced we would either fall off the edge of the road or damage the car and be stuck in the middle of nowhere. When we finally came to the raging river of death Brandon decided to turn around and find a different short cut-- Whew!

Crested Butte, CO- We pulled into the parking lot of our hotel at about the same time as a rowdy bunch of bikers. They were very friendly, though. They invited our group over to their tailgate party for a drink, but hard liquor isn't really our thing. The next morning we left early with our group-- we didn't really want a repeat of the GPS short cuts.

Pagosa Springs, CO- Women love a good spa experience! Since I am pregnant I couldn't fully enjoy the mineral pools and spas, but I througouhly enjoyed my cub rub massage. It would be fun to go back after the baby is born so Brandon and I can spend more time in the pools-- there were around 25 of them (all different temps) and the river flows right next to it.

Telluride, CO- Our favorite place by far-- it was so quaint and the Ice House was the most luxorous place I've ever stayed at. Oh, and we arrived on the last night of Nothing Fest (the only week of the year that nothing is going on in town); which is celebrated by the townspeople riding down Main Street on bicycles with NOTHING on! We all gathered outside to see what it was about. I think we all had the impression that these bike riders would be the retired hippie type (you know, real oats and granola-esque). Boy, were we wrong! I think all 40 of them were drunken college students. After that we all felt a little dirty, but it was an experience we'll never forget. The next day Brandon and I went for a beautiful walk on the trail behind our hotel and then everyone rode the gondola before leaving town.

Moab, UT- Moab is Moab. It's great if you like to hike, jeep, or mountain bike. It's miserably hot if you aren't into any of that. On the way into town we took a detour through Mesa Verde National Park. It was cool to see the ruins (especially since I used to teach about it in Utah).

I hope you'll forgive me if I got a little long winded-- I guess I just had too many fun adventures to contain myself! This weekend I'll snatch Brandon's camera and post some pictures.