Colorado is pretty cool. We spent a week in the Vail Valley with our pals, the Bloems, for our annual Blinger adventure of hiking, eating, strolling, and laughing. (You can read about the first half of our trip here.)
We took a pretty spectacular hike to Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon. It’s a pretty steep hike up the canyon to a magical little lake where you will absolutely want to swim (sadly, you aren’t allowed).
And now for a series of photos I’ll call, “Men staring at nature”:
Apparently early settlers once confused Glenwood Canyon with the Grand Canyon, if that gives you any idea of how cool this place is.
Hanging Lake is this amazingly clear lake at the top of a cliff. I wish the photos did this lake justice!
We took a little side trail up to Spouting Rock, which has a waterfall you can walk behind. Pretty neat stuff, Colorado.
By the time we finished this hike, we were so hungry that I thought these rock walls looked an awful lot like stacks of pancakes. Am I right?
I think the real highlight of our time in Colorado was our morning spent horseback riding at Bair Ranch.
None of us had ridden horses in a very long time, but we saddled up for a two-hour guided ride. It made me wish I had grown up on a ranch. What an amazing way to take in the mountain views!
Please note that all of us city-dwellers realized plaid was a necessity for ranch life.
My horse, Ol’ Red, seemed to be slightly out of shape…this was my view of everyone else as Ol’ Red sweated and panted his (or her?) way up and down the hills. Poor guy (girl?).
I think we’re ready to take over the wild, wild west. Or at least sing the Will Smith song in unison.
I made a cake during our trip partially to celebrate Megan’s sister’s birthday, and partially because we just wanted cake. I had never baked at elevation before, but I followed an altitude-adapted version of our favorite chocolate cake recipe. Apparently it wasn’t adapted quite enough, and the middle of my cake remained completely raw. The solution? Cutting out the middle of the cake and filling it with strawberries. Yum.
Thanks for hosting us, Megan and Jordan! We miss you already!
-Ally
You can check out past Blinger adventures here:
–Backpacking Della Falls on Vancouver Island
–Vacationing on Vancouver Island
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