Beautiful Colorado!

A quick collage of some of the beautiful scenery on this year's trip back to Colorado...an annual thing :).  It was August/September, and there were so many beautiful wildflowers blooming!  And the weather was perfect!

Colorado Favorites

One of our favorite places in Colo is near our home in Woodland Park (which is just a 25 min drive up a beautiful mountain pass from Colorado Springs)...Manitou Lake.  We love riding the paved trail all the way from town to the lake...it is so beautiful.

One of our other favorites near Woodland Park is Rampart Reservoir...although there was some damage there from recent fires, we have wonderful memories of mountain biking around the reservoir - some of the trail is advanced, but oh so beautiful and FUN! Great campgrounds there, but not sure if the vegetation has grown back since the fires or not.  We love kayaking the lake...water is a little colder than our Florida water!

 

Colorado and the new Jeep

My husband's new toy...well, it was new in 2012, but since I'm catching up and it is now 2014...he's made a few changes...new chrome bumpers and some other stuff.  And of course, one of our trips back and forth to our home in beautiful Colorado.  Sure beats the summer heat in Florida once in a while (although this one was a winter trip)! He wanted the Rubicon, but saved a lot of money doing all the necessary upgrades to his Wrangler....and LOVES it! (me too).

Aspen Colorado - The Old Crystal Mill

One of our favorite trips was a 4-wheel drive trip we took with the Land Rover dealer up to the old Crystal Mill outside of Aspen Colorado and past Maroon Bells - what a beautiful place to be in Fall when the aspen are changing!!! And boy did we have fun going through some of the streams and rock beds to get there. At the time we had just bought the Discovery, and were a little tentative at spots so we didn't scratch her up - the dealer was quick to assist when we needed it! It was a perfect weekend trip - we got to experience the Hotel Jerome and some of the world's most beautiful scenery! We're definitely a 4-wheel drive couple, and look forward to getting back to Colorado for some more outdoor fun when I am able to retire and do the snowbird thing between Florida and Colo. Thought I'd share a few pics from our trip!