Colorado

Mt. Evans, Idaho Springs, CO

We're back! We enjoyed a nice long stay in CO. Omar had a conference in Denver and we arrived a few days early to have a vacation with some of his cowokers in Vail. I shopped a little, explored a little, dined a lot! (my favorite pastime these days) and just relaxed. I tried to bike ride through the village with Omar, but the elevation, hills, and pregnancy got me winded pretty quickly. After that I decided to take it easy while the rest of the crew went mountain biking and white water rafting. No fair! Nonetheless, I enjoyed beautiful views, admired nature, and just rested.

The best part of the trip was the detour we took on our way back to Denver. We headed to Mount Evans which has the highest paved road in North America. The views were absolutely breathtaking but not without a cost. I am afraid of heights and was terrified for half of the ride up. There were drop offs with no guard rails for miles below. The higher we got the closer we got to the clouds, and I literally felt as though we were in the sky. Sometimes I really didn't even look below me if I knew I could see straight down. It was totally worth it though and do highly recommend it. Once at the top it was just amazing and I wasn't as afraid on the drive back down. LOTS of pictures below.


VAIL

From the hotel balcony
One of the villages where I shopped. :) while Omar rafted

A view from Lionshead Village, the village we stayed in.
On a gondola to Vail Mountain
On Vail Mountain
View of Vail Mountain
A creek in Vail village


MOUNT EVANS



A lake half way up the mountain
You can see for miles
Goats and a view
A mama goat and her baby

When we were on top of Vail Mountain the white on the mountains looked tan. I didn't believe it was snow until we got to the top of this mountain and realized it was really snow!
View of the cars below us
Cars headed up the mountain
Can you see why I was scared?
Cars headed to the summit. See the dome?
I'm on top of the world
look closely for the hikers headed to the summit
The "almost" Summit. The real summit is 1/4 mile hike higher. See pick above.
View from the summit

DENVER

An enormous blue bear looking into the convention center where Omar had his conference. I thought of the girls here and how they would enjoy seeing a giant blue bear.

Omar's company held a function at a restaurant and had these as center pieces. I thought it was cute.
One night on the way to dinner we ran into this group of girls. It was a bachelorette celebration for the girl in green who was dressed as a nurse because she was studying to be a midwife. Her friends pretended to be pregnant with balloons under their shirts. I thought it was funny and thought it would be fun to pose with them.
And at only 16 weeks along I'm already showing.