Aspen Day 1: Glenwood Springs and Hanging Lake
Hi, there!! My apologies for delaying updates. We arrived late, late Saturday night from Aspen and the next two days back were slightly stressful. Does anyone else ever come back home from vacation just to encounter unexpected stresses? No, just us?
Don't worry, it's nothing life-changing or tragic...just a bunch of petty annoyances that we'd prefer didn't exist, and especially as soon as we arrive from a relaxing vacation.
ANYWAY. I'm going to do a recap based on each day we were there. Some days were busier than others, some days we didn't even take pictures (or at least, I forgot to take pictures, but those were mostly of some meals we had), so I'm hoping it doesn't take me too long to recap.
We flew into Denver really early as we left Ohio around 6:30am, and b/c of the time change it was still pretty early when we arrived. We got our rental car and started driving toward Aspen, which is 4 hours away from Denver. Halfway we stopped for our first meal of the day in Colorado!
After breakfast, it was onto Glenwood Springs for our first hike (and my very first "real" hike, although I didn't realize how hard it would be beforehand). I knew we would be hiking the day we arrived, and I thought I was wearing the proper attire (I had purchased hiking shorts from Dick's a few days before), but I made the mistake of wearing a semi-long sleeve shirt that was black...big mistake! Even though its cooler in Colorado, it still got toasty b/c of how hard the hikes were. The mountains were breathtaking!
At this point, we were almost at our destination, which was Hanging Lake. I was whining a lot around this point b/c of how steep and scary some of the switches were. I was shocked to see old ladies and little kids climbing up and down this trail! But I suppose I'm more paranoid than most b/c of my agoraphobia. Ryan thought I was joking, but I truly am scared of heights. I'm sorta proud I went on this trip b/c in a way, I faced one of my biggest fears: heights. At the same time, I think I'm still scared of heights. Oh well. Here is Hanging Lake!
I had wanted Ryan to walk onto that log in the middle of the lake for a photo op, but there were too many people that had the same idea, so we moved on. We hiked up a bit higher to another rock that had a powerful waterfall, but my camera, for some reason, died. It made me pretty mad.
After our invigorating hike, we traveled onto Aspen. We stayed at Snowmass Village, which is only minutes from downtown Aspen. Those rolling, steep hills and roads made me nervous in our dinky little Toyota Corolla rental, but Ryan seemed comfortable driving at those altitudes.
Silly me! I forgot to take pictures of our condo! I was so enthralled with the outdoor photo ops, I completely forgot to take pictures of the rest:( Once we arrived, we unpacked and changed into our swimsuits to check out the heated pool and hot tub right around the corner. Wow, hot tubs feel even more amazing after a hard hike! From there, we walked around the Snowmass Mall, which honestly, seemed like a ghost town. Hardly any people there! We attributed it to major construction that was going on nearby. It was kind of annoying, but at the same time, kind of nice that not a whole lot of people were around to take up the pool!
We settled on dinner at the Stewpot where I figured it would be amazing since the prices were steep, but we were majorly disappointed. I could have made a better dish. All it was was basically beef stew thrown on top of plain boiled penne pasta. I had to add tons of salt for taste, and I hardly ever do that at restaurants. Disappointing. We avoided that place the rest of the week. The guy that ran it was nice, though.
If my memory serves me correctly, that was the end of our first day in Aspen! I slept like baby that night and the next day, we woke up bright and early for another exciting day. Day Two recap coming soon!
Don't worry, it's nothing life-changing or tragic...just a bunch of petty annoyances that we'd prefer didn't exist, and especially as soon as we arrive from a relaxing vacation.
ANYWAY. I'm going to do a recap based on each day we were there. Some days were busier than others, some days we didn't even take pictures (or at least, I forgot to take pictures, but those were mostly of some meals we had), so I'm hoping it doesn't take me too long to recap.
We flew into Denver really early as we left Ohio around 6:30am, and b/c of the time change it was still pretty early when we arrived. We got our rental car and started driving toward Aspen, which is 4 hours away from Denver. Halfway we stopped for our first meal of the day in Colorado!
 |
| This was one huge pancake. I tried to finish it..but failed:( |
After breakfast, it was onto Glenwood Springs for our first hike (and my very first "real" hike, although I didn't realize how hard it would be beforehand). I knew we would be hiking the day we arrived, and I thought I was wearing the proper attire (I had purchased hiking shorts from Dick's a few days before), but I made the mistake of wearing a semi-long sleeve shirt that was black...big mistake! Even though its cooler in Colorado, it still got toasty b/c of how hard the hikes were. The mountains were breathtaking!
After our invigorating hike, we traveled onto Aspen. We stayed at Snowmass Village, which is only minutes from downtown Aspen. Those rolling, steep hills and roads made me nervous in our dinky little Toyota Corolla rental, but Ryan seemed comfortable driving at those altitudes.
Silly me! I forgot to take pictures of our condo! I was so enthralled with the outdoor photo ops, I completely forgot to take pictures of the rest:( Once we arrived, we unpacked and changed into our swimsuits to check out the heated pool and hot tub right around the corner. Wow, hot tubs feel even more amazing after a hard hike! From there, we walked around the Snowmass Mall, which honestly, seemed like a ghost town. Hardly any people there! We attributed it to major construction that was going on nearby. It was kind of annoying, but at the same time, kind of nice that not a whole lot of people were around to take up the pool!
We settled on dinner at the Stewpot where I figured it would be amazing since the prices were steep, but we were majorly disappointed. I could have made a better dish. All it was was basically beef stew thrown on top of plain boiled penne pasta. I had to add tons of salt for taste, and I hardly ever do that at restaurants. Disappointing. We avoided that place the rest of the week. The guy that ran it was nice, though.
If my memory serves me correctly, that was the end of our first day in Aspen! I slept like baby that night and the next day, we woke up bright and early for another exciting day. Day Two recap coming soon!
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