Colorado: Road Trip Edition
Kevin and I recently took a road trip to Colorado, and we are very excited to share our experience with you.
One thing we did different this trip was that we drove all the way to Evergreen, CO where our Airbnb was located. This trip we also invited my mom and two teenage nieces to tag along. But it was having our pup, Rocket, along in the adventure that was the reason we decided to do a road trip in the first place. We’ve wanted to take her with us on our traveling adventures for so long but weren’t sure how flying with her would go. It took us approximately 14 hours to get there (from Central Texas), including pit stops along the way just to refuel body, mind, and car. Also, Kevin was paranoid about our luggage flying away the entire drive. I noticed his eyes glued to the rear view window to check on our items. He made a point to re-secure our luggage at each stop. Ironically, he left the tailgate open at one point LOL! Thankfully, a Good Samaritan honked and waved us down to let us know of this mishap.
The drive through New Mexico and Colorado was great and quite beautiful, but man, getting out of Texas seemed like an eternity! But it wasn’t anything a good podcast (Serial) and Hot Cheetos couldn’t get me through. My nieces, meanwhile, were completely content with listening to their own music with their headphones and taking many, many naps along the way. There were no utterances of “Are we there yet?” That’s a win!
We arrived to Evergreen, CO around 7pm on Thursday evening, and it felt like we were in a Hallmark movie. It’s a small town nestled in the snow-capped mountains, and I was falling in love more and more by the second. The long drive was already absolutely worth it! We explored our Airbnb with a chorus of oohs and ahhs and all crashed after chowing down on some pizza.
Check out the Airbnb: Ponderosa Mountain Home
Friday
Friday morning, we woke to snow, and it was a feeling I’ll never forget! We started our day by taking a stroll at Evergreen Lake, which was only a 5 minute drive from our Airbnb. The snow continued to fall, and it was making my day. It was the first time I had ever seen this much snow. But that was only the tip of the iceberg (pun intended) because it wasn’t the most snow we saw this trip.
After Evergreen Lake, we headed to Estes Park, which was 2 hours away. We drove through the Rocky Mountain National Park, and the views were insane, actually at times, kind of scary. The further we drove up, the foggier it became and less visibility we had. I have to give all the credit to Kevin for getting us to and from Estes Park alive.
After arriving to Estes Park, we got caught in a massive snow storm. It cut our time in Estes short, but my little Texas heart was already so happy!
Saturday
Saturday morning we woke extra early to make it in time for our private family ski lessons at Arapahoe Basin Ski Lodge. We were all so excited, but equally as nervous.
Two things I learned during ski lessons:
- Skiing is not for me. It’s something I have come to accept. And..
- I’m way out of shape. Like embarrassing out of shape (the food I later consumed probably didn’t help my situation).
Yet, even though I fell a million times and got gnarly bruises from my ski boots, I have to say it was an amazing experience! Just seeing my nieces have an amazing time really made the experience for us. Next time, I will watch them ski from the 6th Alley Bar and Grill while I chomp down on one of their amazing bacon cheeseburgers. Actually, I have to show you that burger, because honestly that’s all my nieces talked about for days after. As one of them put it, “I’ve never been so satisfied,” and the other could only make sounds, “MMMhhhmmm.”
After getting back to Evergreen and taking a much needed nap, we decided to take Rocket out on an adventure. We headed down the road to Elk Meadow Park and let our nature-loving pup explore and sniff around until her nose couldn’t sniff any longer.
Sunday
Sunday was our last full day in Colorado, so we headed to Denver to have breakfast at Denver Biscuit Company. We all shared a gigantic cinnamon roll to start, and Kevin and I shared the Lola which is a biscuit sandwich with fried chicken, bacon, and honey butter all covered in maple syrup. Delicious!
After breakfast, Kevin and I had a mini photoshoot with Shoot My Travel (photos to come) at the RiNo District, but, in all, we didn’t spend much time in the city before we headed back out to nature. Many shops were closed much to the dismay of my nieces.
To finish off the rest of our last full day in Colorado, we headed over to the Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. I have never seen our pup, Rocket, so happy in my life. She was running through dirt paths, and up and down rocks. She sprinted with her cousins and had an adorable smile on her face the whole time. I wish we could hike here everyday with Rocket.
Our trip to Colorado was probably one of our favorite trips yet (we might say that after every trip)! We completely understand that traveling is not an option at this time, but we hope you will use this as a resource for your future trip to Colorado, and we hope you enjoyed reading about ours!
Stay safe,
Rebecca & Kevin
My Most-Worn Sweater ft. Everlane
If you saw me during the month of November, it’s a pretty safe bet that you saw me in this outfit. This year, I have become an outfit repeater, and I don’t hate it. Having those outfits that you just love makes it so easy to get dressed!
I try to keep my wardrobe pretty minimal, only including pieces that I love and fit me well. Since I’m petite, I have a hard time finding clothes that do just that and the idea of a capsule wardrobe just worked.
I bought this sweater two years ago from Everlane, and I have not stopped wearing it since. I was very excited to take it out of storage and include it in my fall/winter capsule again this year. I’ll honestly wear this sweater until the Texas heat makes it impossible…so like another week?
I have been so impressed with the quality especially wearing it a couple of times a week (don’t judge!).
Unfortunately, this exact sweater is not available anymore, but don’t worry, they have a lot of new styles that are just as beautiful and well-made.
Wanna replicate this look? I’ve linked other great Everlane sweaters below:
- The Oversized Alpaca Crew in Almond
- The ReCashmere Vintage Crew in Bone
- The ReNew Fleece Raglan Sweatshirt in Oat
- The Alpaca V-Neck Sweater in Almond
Outfit details:
Sperry– Authentic Original Boat Shoe
Madewell– Heritage Chain Necklace Set
Wind Blown Jewelry– Resolute Earrings
Madewell– The Chain Crossbody Bag in English Saddle
xo, Rebecca
P.S. There’s no way this was sponsored. Just sharing what I love!
Mexico City: Weekend Edition
Kevin and I took a weekend trip to Mexico City for our 3rd Wedding Anniversary, and we were stunned by this magnificent city. Let me just put this out there right now: a weekend in Mexico City is not enough. There’s so much to do and see in this city of 20 million people, but we tried our best. This city is absolutely beautiful, rich in culture, and it opened our eyes to a completely different way of life. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t already planning our next trip back.
Friday
We arrived Friday right in time to check in at 3pm to our amazing Airbnb in the neighborhood of Coyoacan. After touring the apartment with out host, Cynthia, we set down our bags and wasted no time as we headed off to explore. Our first activity was the Museo of Frida Kahlo. We were advised to buy tickets online before arriving as the lines can be long. This turned out to be crucial advise as we were able to skip the line that bent around the corner and walk right into the museum without waiting one bit. We felt the jealous looks of those standing in line and just thought, “Good thing we got the heads up!”
Inside the museum, we saw what makes Frida Kahlo a national treasure – artwork, clothing, and an all-around influential life that inspired so many Mexicans. Truthfully, we weren’t too familiar with her work and life, but the museum did a great job of showing what made this woman special. The best part of the museum, though, was that it’s at Frida’s actual house that she resided in. And this place was UHH-mazing. Various small buildings surrounded a beautiful, tranquil courtyard that featured a calming fountain, a neat temple replica, and a stunning alter that served as the ofrenda since we visited close to Dia de Muertos.
Saturday
On Saturday, Kevin and I woke up super early and headed an hour out of Mexico City to Teotihuacan to see the famous pyramids that so many called must-see. This experience had to be one of our favorites. Climbing the pyramids was a challenge; we were huffing and puffing, but the view from the top was so worth it. I guess you could say it was breath-taking, literally and figuratively.
After climbing the pyramids, we had lunch at La Gruta. Eating in a cave was so cool, but we were so hungry that we didn’t take any pictures. I do have a video of our lunch spot on my Mexico City highlight on Instagram. This was where Kevin discovered that in Mexico not all quesadillas have cheese. “Why would they call it a quesadilla, then? Queso means cheese!” I mean, he’s not wrong.
After arriving back to Mexico City, we went back to our Airbnb and took a quick nap to recharge our life batteries. Then, we were off again! Our plan was to see the Zocalo, Templo Mayor, la Casa de los Azulejos, and then watch the sunset at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. But the Zocalo had been taken over by a Zombie Fest (HUGE eye roll) that didn’t allow us to take in the Zocalo or the Templo Mayor. Whoever came up with this idea was brainless. Get it? It’s a zombie joke. Can you tell Kevin wrote that? Anyways, we tried to not let that bring us down and off we went to look for la Casa de los Azulejos which ended being one street away from the Palacio de Bellas Artes. We were able to snap some good pics in front of their popular tile wall.
Before traveling, we got word that the best place to take in the Palacio de Bellas Artes is from Cafe Don Porfirio on the 8th floor of the Sears department store. Apparently, this was not a secret as the line to get into the cafe was pretty long. There was limited seating, but we were able to get the perfect spot to take in the view. We also took this time to catch our breath after a very busy day. At the end of the day, we felt like zombies ourselves.
Sunday
It was tough waking up early on Sunday, but we did it to make the most of our last full day in Mexico. Our first stop on Sunday was breakfast at Lalo!, and man, it was one of our favorite meals of the trip. It was a farm-to-table restaurant that absolutely impressed us. Their dishes seemed super simple, but they were so delicious, and YOU HAVE TO TRY THE CINNAMON ROLL!
After an amazing breakfast, we headed off to the Museo Nacional de Antropología. We only had time for one museum, and I’m glad we chose this one. It gave us a good sense of the Mexican way of life over the years.
After a couple of hours at the museum, we made our through the Bosque de Chapultepec, and let me tell y’all, we got lost in there. We have no idea where we ended, but we walked through streets of vendors selling treats and trinkets. In the park, there was a large pond with many people enjoying water activities, and a free, yes FREE, zoo. It wasn’t the best zoo, but free is free y’all.
We don’t really know where the rest of the afternoon went. We were so exhausted from all the things that we just walked around some mercados, and then headed back to our Airbnb.
Monday
Monday morning we had just enough time for a quick trip back to Jardin Centenario en Coyoacan to grab a cup of coffee at Cafe Negro and a couple of pieces of bread from Panaderia Lecaroz before our flight back to the States.
On our walk back to our Airbnb to get our bags, I realized that we hadn’t taken much pictures at all (we honestly were so mesmerized by our surroundings), and I just started snapping as many as I could.
Here are few from the neighborhood we stayed in, Coyoacan:
Mexico City was an absolutely amazing place to visit. We tried to do as much as possible with the little time we had, but now we have an excuse to come back to see the rest. Until next time, Mexico City!
-Kevin & Rebecca