Day four in Evergreen, CO

NOTE: "This post is better when viewed with a cup of coffee in hand." - Matt

 

This was our last full day in Colorado. And it was perfect. We skied at Winter Park to avoid the ridiculous resort/touristy traffic and craziness in Breckenridge, Keystone, etc. Best decision. The views were rockin headed to Winter Park...and a bit scary at times...but photos were taken and that was alllll part of the plan:)

A mine on the side of the road. The only pretty one. Rest were boring brown.

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

 

Pic out the front window. We're finally seeing the snow!Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

And just like that, you're in a blizzard. And this was the scary part. To the right is a cliff. And no guard rail. But we'd prefer this route over Loveland Pass ANY DAY! Go read about Loveland Pass.

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

Ugly snowy moment.

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

Then it stops every so often and looks like this. Not kidding. Gorgeous.

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

This is pretty cool. Ever heard of Mary Jane? This is part of it...Olympic team trains here. It's straight down hill. See the little people near the top?

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

 

Then we skied. Half day. We had plans that night. Plans to sleep and eat...because our bodies hated us by this point:)

Goodbye Winter Park!

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

Matt not too excited about driving home. Not a long drive. Just scary at times for us Ohio drivers.

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

And this was me the entire day. Not as much previous days but I'm wishing I had. I feel like we don't have nearly enough pics of the good stuff. This is me taking the shot you see below it.

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

Sun going down on the way home. This was taken in the car.

Mine_Lauryn Byrdy Photography_Columbus Ohio Travel Photography

Believe it or not, there are more pics coming:)

Day Two - Part 2 + Day three!

(all pics in this post were shot on my little Canon G11 - the grainy ones at the top were shot through a window with zoom) Day two (after the hike) was spent with Lisa and Nile, clients of mine that I actually just met about two weeks ago! They helped set up this whole stay and then invited us over for game day. Great times and they have THE CUTEST cabin up here. Sorry everyone, but the highlight of game day for me was when these cute little buggers hung out right outside the window. I was in love.

Lauryn Byrdy Photography

Lauryn Byrdy Photography

Lauryn byrdy Photography

Lisa made guac. Nile made dip. Matt and I brought some goodies and the Mooberry's came over too. Great group for game day!

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DAY 3

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If you've seen any of my posts on Facebook or Twitter you'd know how excited Matt has been to go skiing for the first time. In fact, he fell asleep with his goggles on after testing them out in the cold and snow Friday night.

Lauryn Byrdy Photography

Then, as if that didn't show his excitement, I heard a ton of noise in the kitchen the next morning (Saturday) at 5:20 am to find this guy all decked out, ready to go, and making banana pancakes.

Lauryn Byrdy Photography

Found out later he barely slept the night before. Adorable :)

We were on the road by 6:40 am on Saturday so we wouldn't hit any traffic on the one road to Breckenridge.  A quick recap on the day: I haven't skied in a while and Matt has NEVER so we decided to take a lesson together. Our instructor rocked but 30 minutes in, I remembered everything I had ever known and wanted to pluck my eyeballs out knowing there was another 4 hours of "here's where your foot goes, and here's how you ride the lift". I managed to make it until lunch with Matt and had to try a few runs on my own. Then, I plucked Matt from class and pulled him down a green. He did great:) And let me tell you - green here is not like the greens in Ohio. But more on that when we share stories on Winter Park, our ski stop today.

Sorry there aren't many pics - we weren't ready to bring the cam on the slopes! I'll post a few from my twitpic though.Lauryn Byrdy Photography

Lauryn Byrdy Photography

Lauryn Byrdy Photography

A few from the camera posted via Twitpic

On the gondola (sp?). #fb on Twitpic

Its snowing so hard #fb on Twitpic

Ate lunch in a wall-sit position. Then got a table as we were... on Twitpic

Overall - amazing day two. Day three was just as great! More to come. We still don't know exactly when we're leaving. We're thinking tomorrow (Monday) morning. Plans got a little open and well, unplanned. That's good every so often:)

Day Two - Part 1

We took a little hike yesterday, we met these two totally awesome folks. They let us short cut through their property to get to the trail. But before going, we stopped for 15 minutes to chat. They have  a sweet story about how they got their house 30 years ago. This is the short version: they showed up on the street and asked some guy outside of his home if he wanted to sell. Guy said yes so they bought and moved in the next week. lauryn byrdy photography

The day was like this. All day. Gorgeous.

lauryn byrdy photography

And this was EVERYWHERE. Deer poop. Looks like coffee beans:)

lauryn byrdy photography

lauryn byrdy photography

I love this shot of Matt

lauryn byrdy photography

A little snowball throwing action.

lauryn byrdy photography

This was the only place we could set our camera to get a shot (forgot the tripod). There were some much more amazing views but this one wasn't too bad ;)

lauryn byrdy photography

lauryn byrdy photography

lauryn byrdy photography

Matt wanted me to shoot this. Markings or something on the tree. Looks cool.

lauryn byrdy photography

lauryn byrdy photography

Our street. The hike started right out of front door.

lauryn byrdy photography

Our house.

lauryn byrdy photography

So many more pics from the day but I have to go! We're at Breckenridge getting ready to go ski. Matt barely slept last night he was so excited. In fact, when I woke up this morning, I walked into the kitchen to find him fully decked out in his ski gear...at 5:30 am. He's nuts but I love it:) We're pumped. Video to come!!!