hiking – Home of the Go & Tell Podcast

Monday, September 27, 2021

Breckenridge

The sunrise was beautiful again today! Clear skies and the sun just peeking over the mountains while I sipped my coffee in silence. Always makes for a great start to the day!

Originally, we didn’t want to hike today but the weather is forecasting rain tomorrow and Wednesday, so we opted for a much shorter and easier hike on the B&B Mile Trail in Breckenridge. It was stunning! I don’t think I will ever get enough of the fall colors – the yellow was just so bright and breathtaking. I’m certain I have over a thousand pictures of yellow trees on my phone 😉

After our hike we went back to town and grabbed lunch from Kenosha Breck then walked around town a bit. We stopped at The Crown to grab a coffee and I got the chai latte with oat milk – y’all – this was the best chai I have ever had!! We will be back before we leave! We took the kids to Fuzziwig’s Candy Factory and they each got to pick a few candies. After perusing stores for a bit, we headed back to our VRBO for dinner. While we waited for Stephen to go to the grocery store, we played in the falling leaves in the yard <3

As Stephen headed to the grocery store, he noticed there was a fire on the mountain and sure enough – the Ptarmigan Fire burned over 80 acres and many of the homeowners had to evacuate. We could see the smoke from our house, and it just broke my heart to think about all the trees and wildlife that were affected by the fire – not to mention all the homeowners who were probably very nervous that the fire was going to get to their homes, but thankfully it didn’t. We all watched as a helicopter loaded up with water from the Dillion Reservoir and dumped it on the mountainside. Sadly, the fire did not extinguish and kept burning for many days after.

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Vail

Back to Vail today!

The smoke from the fire + all the dust just caused some serious allergies so instead of hiking today – much to our kid’s dismay – we headed back to Vail to shop and eat. The boys played on the pirate ship, then we got lunch at Big Bear Bistro, grabbed coffee at Two Arrows Coffee & Bar (I got their maple cinnamon latte with honey instead of maple syrup and oat milk and it was divine!) and then headed back to the pirate ship for a little bit more playtime for the boys.

We left and headed to the gardens where we were able to walk around for a short while until the rain started down on us. As we were driving back, we noticed a bit of “dust” being washed on the highway – but it was white and us Texans didn’t know what it was. It didn’t seem like it could be snow…but as we drove a bit further, we saw snow accumulating on the side of the road – it was snowing! The mountaintops had already gathered a bit of snow and it was so magical! To see the change before our eyes in just one day was so surreal and beautiful! From dry and dusty to snowcapped – it was just so pretty!

Only one part left to share! Tune in next week for Part Four and the finale of our Colorado vacation!

If you missed if, here is Part One and Part Two:

Colorado Diaries – 2021 {Part One}

We just got back from a fall-licious vacation in Colorado and of course I had to document our time so I can look back – this is more of a “diary” with photos so I can…

Keep reading

October 4, 2021October 1, 2021

Colorado Diaries – 2021 {Part Two}

Saturday, September 25, 2021 Frisco and Dillion Today was a beautiful day in Colorado! I woke at 5:30 (still adjusting from TX time), looked out the window and saw a bear in the clearing! He was…

Keep reading

October 8, 2021

Hope you all have a blessed weekend!

We just got back from a fall-licious vacation in Colorado and of course I had to document our time so I can look back – this is more of a “diary” with photos so I can remember where we went and what we did.

If you are planning a vacation to Colorado, I hope this series helps you as well! We drove ALL day Thursday, September 23rd – left our home in Texas around 4:45am and got to Silverthorne, Colorado (with the time change) around 5:30/6pm. We did stop at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo to stretch our legs for a bit, then got back in and drove it out! 😉

Friday, September 24, 2021

Breckenridge

Today we went to Breckenridge after a nice leisurely morning of coffee and breakfast in our VRBO in Silverthorne. Once in town, we luckily found an available parking spot (there were only three spots available, and we got the last one) and started on our hike on Sawmill Trail at the Snowflake trailhead. The hike was a nice, easy hike that helped us to get acclimated to the elevation. We then took the reservoir turn off and had a snack at the water’s edge.

There were two brothers on the dock fishing, and I was watching them fish. Then I heard one of them yell, “what the?” and then saw the big brother looking at the younger brothers face and heard some crying. I had a sinking feeling and just knew that a hook got the boy in the face…I yelled out, “Are y’all ok?” and the oldest brother yelled back that he needed help. I could hear the panic in his voice, and I grabbed our stuff and we all rushed to them. Once there, I saw it – the younger boy had a treble fishing hook in his cheek. The oldest went to cast and hooked his brother instead.

If you are squeamish to things like these…scroll down…otherwise this is what happened:

Thankfully Stephen had some pliers in the car so he ran back to the car to get them. While he was gone, I helped the boy back to a bench and he laid down. I tried my best to keep them calm and prayed over them. Then I asked the oldest boy (they were 15 and 12 years) if he had called his mom yet, to which he said no. I grabbed my phone and called her, left a message, and then the oldest son called her office. She immediately came and was so grateful that we were there to help. Fortunately, Stephen came back just before she arrived and clipped the barb and slid the hook out and put some antibiotic cream on it. She was so sweet and so gracious, and the boys were just so shaken up. Thankfully both boys are ok! I am just so glad that God placed us there at that time so we could help them out because I don’t know what they would’ve done.

After that adventure, we headed back to the car and drove to check out the Trollstigen Trail – a very short trail that takes you to a big wooden troll sitting in the forest.

We snapped a few pictures then decided to walk the Illinois Creek Trail.

We checked out the little train playground that was close by and then headed to Cool River Coffee House for lunch and coffee. Since we had a bit of time left on our parking spot, we decided to walk around downtown Breck for a bit and stopped at Mountain Top Ice Cream where the boys got a sweet treat.

We noticed a few people in lederhosen’s so we followed them to the Blue River Lawn for the annual Breckenridge Oktoberfest. We walked around for a bit and then headed back to the car.

Our next stop was also eventful! I mean, the hook wasn’t enough…

After sitting in the car for a bit trying to decide what to do next, we decided to drive to the local gold mining attraction and see if we could just walk up and be able to pan…and thankfully no one was there and we were able to pan all by ourselves! After learning a bit from the guide, we all had our chance at panning for gold. And I can happily report that ALL boys, including Stephen, found some gold! We walked over to a little creek where we could pan some more, and after about 10 minutes, Clark was standing on the small little bridge, took a step back and fell right in the freezing cold water! Thank goodness he was ok and didn’t hit his head on a rock and was just scared and cold. We pulled off his shirt and I gave him my sweater then we took him to the car and used a blanket that we had to dry him off and wrap him up in the car seat and I had packed an additional shirt that he put on.

Well, all that adventure in just one day!

After the dip at the Lomax Gulch, we headed back to our VRBO, showered, grilled burgers and relaxed. All in all, it was an adventurous day in Breck…one that we won’t soon forget!

Our VRBO was in the best location and the owners were so sweet! They gave our boys a stuffed animal to remember their stay and the house was clean and nice!

The aspens around our house were just stunning!! By the time we left, this front right yellow tree was almost completely orange!

See you back here tomorrow for my conversation with Jenn Smith! This is a podcast episode you don’t want to miss! And Part Two of our Colorado adventures will post later this week so make sure you are subscribed to the blog so you don’t miss it!