Colorado Birthday Trip - Part 1

I love Colorado and everything it has to offer: perfect climate, healthy people, gorgeous landscape, and the escape from the flat plains of Texas. This past spring, Cliff and I had the opportunity to visit his relatives in Breckenridge and Denver. Besides being pampered by his aunt and uncle at their humble abode in Breck, we skied and enjoyed our Spring Break. On our way home, we discussed how fun it would be to make the trip back out in the summer...which led to the most recent trip...

Cliff's birthday was during Labor Day weekend (yes, I'm obviously behind on posting) and my schedule was still pretty flexible at the time, so we decided to drive out to The Rockies once again. Except this time we had an extra team member, Jake. :)

We stayed at Cliff's cousin's house in Denver for the first half of the trip, then made our way to Breckenridge for the last couple days. We could not have asked for better weather or better hosts during our stay. Hardy and Mary Grace McCallister are two of the most hospitable people I have ever met!

Here are some pictures from our adventures...

• Washington Park - This park was across the street from Greg & Sarah's house in Denver (where we stayed). The park was HUGE and had so much activity going on at all times of the day. Cliff and I ran here in the mornings, and took Jake out for walks in the afternoons. I couldn't believe how beautiful the flowers were and how perfect the landscaping was!

• Izakaya Den - Sushi restaurant I took Cliff to for his birthday dinner. The place was fancy and the architecture was gorgeous; exposed brick, exposed beams, neat lantern lighting, etc. I didn't get any pictures from this, but here's the website: http://www.izakayaden.net

• Genesse, CO - Before Cliff, Jake, and I left for Breck, I was able to get a hold of my Aunt Mollie. I had not seen her in a while, and knew she lived close by. Turns out, she lived right off the highway we had to travel on to get to Hardy and MG's house. We stopped by her (and her husband, John's) amazing home for lunch and let Jake play with her dogs. These pictures were taken on her HUGE deck over-looking the mountains. Isn't it a great view?!

(Stay tuned...there will be more photos in the next post!)