I heart Colorado

This past week, Kristin, Andy, Chad, and I had an AWESOME vacation in Colorado! We have tons of pictures (500+ compliments of Chad, the photographer) so I'll only include some of the best here.

Highlights of our vacation:
We spent the first night in Boulder sampling all of their food and tasty brews. We were celebrating Chad and I's engagement and just being on vacation! Here's a beautiful view of the mountains. Seeing these mountains in the background every day is definitely something that I could get used to!

After experiencing everything that Boulder had to offer, (except the scones at the tea house-I'm still bitter about that) we all headed off to our cabin in Peaceful Valley for the next six days and nights. It was an idyllic cabin, complete with our very own boulder in the raging river in our backyard. Here are some pictures.

Once we got settled in, our wildlife extravaganza began. We saw tons of wildlife in the RMNP (about an hour from Peaceful Valley). Here are some of my favorites.

We also did TONS of hiking. The extreme elevation made this hiking some of the hardest that I have ever done. It's amazing what two miles elevation makes in your ability (or inability to breathe). Chad and I even climbed a "mountain" the last day we were there. That was the hardest hike that I have ever done. I'm not sure that I'm going to the miss all of the uphill hiking of Colorado, but the scenery was totally worth it!

Yes, that is waist deep snow on our hike.

Also, we took some photos at the Continental Divide!

In addition to the hiking, we also decided to risk our lives on a White Water Rafting expedition on the Cache le Poudre river. Click on the below links for a video and pictures of our excursion. It was a lot of fun, until the last Class IV+ rapids where I thought that I was going to become a widow before I even got a chance to marry Chad.

Video here:http://www.vimeo.com/1214246

Photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristin.sutter/RaftingCacheLaPoudre

All in all, our vacation was one of the best that I've ever had. Kristin and Andy are fun vacation partners! Also, if you want a more detailed description of our vacation day-by-day, go to Kristin's blog: www.kristinsutter.blogspot.com

The skyline in Columbus is very drab compared to Colorado...