Road Trippin' with my Mountain Man...

Daniel and I have been married for almost 12 years and haven't had an actual vacation with just the two of us in around 7 years...last time was our 5th anniversary trip before we decided to start a family. Daniel actually surprised me twice with two different trips to celebrate our 10th anniversary, but both of them fell through due to our sweet Mr. Max being in the hospital. Now that Max is more stable, Daniel and I couldn't wait to hit the road to our favorite spot in Colorado...Crested Butte!

The first day we were there, we off roaded this old gal...

and had the best time trying not to get stuck! Oh yes, we took her on so many 4x4 only trails we are lucky that the suspension is still holding up :). Since Daniel and I love, LoVe, LOVE the mountains, we knew we wanted to spend the first of our trip camping, soaking up God's beauty.

We found a pretty sweet spot at the top of a mountain, around 9,500 feet of elevation. Together we set up camp...

nestled in these trees...

but when you walked into the clearing, the view was absolutely stunning.

Our camp was in the grove of trees to the right in the picture below...

Our second day Daniel surprised me with a white water rafting trip! I was hoping to raft and my sweet hubby took me on a Level 3 Extended Trip (around 3 1/2 hours)...and boy did we have fun. At one point our raft caught some serious air, while at another time we did a 360 in the middle of a rapid, but my favorite might have been towards the end when the drop was steep enough that our raft tacoed in the middle! Sadly, there are no pictures of this adventurous excursion...oh well, memories will suffice :). The third day, Daniel and I had a guide take us on a fly fishing trip which is something we both were geeked up about. 

Of course we envisioned the whole River Runs Through It scenario where we were in waders and fishing while in the river, but instead we stood on the bank...which was probably the best idea since Daniel and I had TONS of knots...thankfully our guide was awesome and put the voo-doo on our tangles.

 We both had the best time and even had several fish on our line...

but quickly found out how hard it is to actually reel them in. Trout have such soft mouths that the hook would slip right through and they would wiggle right away. Fly fishing was so addicting for us, that after our guided trip was over we hunted down another spot to practice our fly fishing rhythm.

We stumbled upon the most beautiful lake and I never wanted to leave...

The fourth day we decided to peak Mount Crested Butte...which is my 5th mountain to peak. Well, I must confess that we didn't peak the entire thing since we road the chair lift up and peaked from there. Our view from the top...

It was fun for Daniel to show me all the back country areas he and Kent hike to ski in the winter. Even though we had a springboard to get us started, the hike was still a challenge. The trails weren't bad, but there was a large section of rocks at the top that took some time and maybe a few crawl spaces :)...

My favorite point of the journey was at the top when Daniel facetimed Kason!

Oh yes, he freaked! Kason knew immediately what we were up to and was super excited to share the gorgeous view with us. That afternoon was the only time we split during our trip. Daniel hit the trails...

Fun fact: Daniel actually rode a mountain bike race in Crested Butte a few years ago. On the first day, part of our driving around was him showing me the route they road..while it was treacherous, it sure was gorgeous!

While he rode, I was spoiled with a massage and shopping. One of the reasons Crested Butte is a personal favorite is due to the adorable village...

I love that there aren't any national or commercial chains...all their businesses are local. Daniel and I loved enjoying all the local dives, especially my ultimate favorite...

This joint is eclectic in style as well as food. I'm not a huge foodie, but for some reason I love to try out new hamburgers and pizzas...so here was no exception.

And yes, it tastes as good as it looks :). During the week, after our initial camping, we spent the remainder of the trip at the Grand Lodge in the ski resort area of Crested Butte. I've only stayed in town there and used their local bus system up to the mountain, so it was fun for a change to stay in the resort area. There was even a cool trail that we road down into town from the resort. I can't even put into words how much we enjoyed our trip together...having the opportunity to dwell in each other's presence without our rambunctious rascals, busyness of work, day in/day out stress of life...just time to rest in our relationship, in our conversations, in our love. We ended our trip feeling rejuvenated...

but definitely ready to see our favorite munchkins! There is no other man I'd rather go on an adventure with, than my very own mountain man...he's definitely a keeper. Saying I'm blessed doesn't even feel sufficient for how I feel about this man!