Colorado

Over my winter break, I was fortunate enough to visit Estes Park, Colorado. I visited Colorado a few summers ago, and I completed my first backpacking trip  in The Rocky Mountains. The landscape was gorgeous and I have been eager, ever since to return in the winter months.

This was also a special trip because my mom and mother-in-law agreed to come along with us. It was nice to travel as a family and so much fun to see my mom experience the sights for the first time. I was so proud of her for easily completing our challenging snow shoe hikes. It’s pretty obvious where I get my tenacity from.

We divided our time between Boulder, Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Some of the highlights:

The Estes Park Brewery

I love microbrews. This local, quaint establishment produces some delicious beers. The Stinger was my favorite. There was not many vegan options so I ordered a cheeseless pizza, it was not bad, at all.

Hiking around Rocky Mountain National Park:

Snow shoeing around Bear & Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park:

This was tough, cold and windy, but so much fun and oh, so beautiful!

One of my favorite meals was from Poppy’s Pizza & Grill. They offered vegan cheese options for pizza, along with veggie pepperoni. This was DELICIOUS after a day of snow shoeing:

A visit to Boulder took us to Cantina Loredo. The one vegan option I found was amazing. I ordered the artichoke and avocado enchilada, with no cheese. The mojito was one of the best I ever had.

I finally went to Lush Cosmetics and was excited to find vibrantly colored lipsticks and eyeliners, that were cruelty-free!

On our next visit to Boulder, we toured the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. It is just adorable and a fun, little tour. Plus, you get tons of free tea tastings. Hair nets required.

We took a few trips to The Stanley Hotel, famous for being the place where Stephen King wrote The Shinning. It is also where a very important scene in Dumb & Dumber was shot. We enjoyed a few of the Redrums, the bars signature drink.

We also had some fun sledding, and more snow shoeing, on a particularly windy and cold day:

This trip was amazing. I definitely hope to visit Colorado again!