Brendan and I just got back from 9 days in Colorado – one of the best weeks of 2014, by far. We flew into Denver, spent the night and the next morning in Boulder with my college roommate Meri, her husband Tim and their three kids (my favorites), then picked up Brendan’s brother Kyle and drove out to their hometown, Grand Junction, on the western slope. Then, we drove down to Pagosa Springs for skiing, hot spring-ing and relaxing, then up to Telluride for Christmas, then finally back to Brendan’s hometown for a night out with his friends before flying out of DIA the next day. WHAT A WEEK. Colorado is my favorite state in the country, and it was so great to be back there, getting to see where Bren grew up, spending time with his family and just being able to kick back for a while. The pace of life out there is so much more manageable; people are healthy, fun and active; the culture is smart and progressive; and don’t even get me started about how unbelievably gorgeous every single part of that state is.
A year to the day that Bren and I met. <3
Bren’s dad made this amazing smoked turkey, which made me immediately start thinking about when I can buy my dad a smoker for Thanksgiving next year.
Meet Brendan, the most expressive baby ever.
Grand Junction hiking – that look on my face in the picture above is probably when Brendan told me we still had to hike up into that rock structure behind us, which actually ended up being amazing.
Kyle, Brendan and I drove through Utah to get to Pagosa Springs – so pretty. Kyle and Brendan’s dad, for the record, are two of the best road-trip DJs ever. You know how sometimes you’re in a car with someone playing their music, and it’s excruciating? This was the opposite experience. I spent at least 30% of the trip Shazaming the songs they were playing.
Colorado blue skies and JBG in his element.
Telluride on Christmas morning. Unbelievable town.
Dinner at Smuggler’s, which was a standout.
Thanks for everything, Gibbons family – we had a perfect week!