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Garden of the Gods

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Garden of the Gods Colorado

Some of you know that we traveled to Denver, Colorado, last year for a small wedding. I already posted photos from the Royal Gorge, Red Rocks Amphitheater, and Manitou Cliff Dwellings, but I have just one more excursion to share. Have any of you been to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs?

We parked in the big parking lot and hiked on a stroller friendly trail through the main part of the park. The rocks were beautiful! There were quite a few people there, but everyone did a great job keeping away from each other. There was plenty of open space. It was a sunny day, and the temperature was absolutely perfect.

Garden of the Gods Colorado

We saw a few folks climbing with ropes and harnesses up some of the rock faces. I have climbed on an actual rock face, but it was exponentially shorter. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to bring myself to do what these people were doing. Unfortunately, one of them was having a difficult time and looked sort of stuck. It gave me anxiety just to watch them.

We didn’t snap too many pictures during our hike, but I wanted to share the few that we took. This one is of the famous “kissing camels.”

Everywhere we turned, there was another beautiful view. Mr. Handsome wants to paint some of the scenes.

Royal Gorge

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Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

Last year, I posted about our quick trip to Colorado, but I didn’t quite get around to sharing all my pictures. Mr. Handsome spent a day fishing in the mountains with his friend who had just gotten married (Mr. Handsome was the best man). Little Buddy and I weren’t about to waste a day of vacation, so we went on an adventure of our own. Has anyone been to Royal Gorge Bridge?

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

Located about 90 minutes from Colorado Springs, it’s an expansive gorge with water and a train running along the bottom. The gorge is more than 1,200 feet deep in some places.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

You can take a gondola across to the other side and walk back on a giant suspension bridge, built in 1929.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

There is even a playground area on the other side. Every group got their own gondola, and there weren’t many people at the attraction in general.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado
Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

Little Buddy wasn’t a huge fan of the bridge. He made me carry him the whole way across and didn’t even want to sit in the stroller. I think he was able to sense the danger.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

You may have heard about the wildfire that impacted the area in June of 2013. While most of the other structures in the park were destroyed, the bridge itself only suffered damage to 100 of its boards.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

We had a great time! Little Buddy loved having my undivided attention for the whole day. It felt very relaxing to not have anything that I had to accomplish. 

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

Manitou Cliff Dwellings

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The day after our friends’ wedding near Denver, we drove down to Colorado Springs to enjoy the beautiful scenery. We would have loved to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, but we had heard about how busy it was, and we didn’t want to throw ourselves into huge crowds of people and be exposed to a bunch of germs. 

We made a quick stop at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, where we were able to walk into cliff homes that were inhabited by Native Americans 800 to 1,000 years ago.

The cliff dwellings were originally located in southwestern Colorado and were moved to Colorado Springs and reassembled between 1904 and 1907. The moving process included transport by oxen, horse, and railroad.

Red Rocks Amphitheater

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Red Rocks Amphitheater

It was still light outside when our friends’ wedding near Denver wrapped up, so we headed over to Red Rocks Amphitheater to stroll around. The park was just about to close, and there were very few people still there. We weren’t able to hike any of the trails, but we walked into the amphitheater and looked out over the seats. It was an amazing view!

Red Rocks Amphitheater

Have any of you ever seen a show at Red Rocks Amphitheater? I have heard that the sound quality is unbeatable. 

Red Rocks Amphitheater
Red Rocks Amphitheater

Denver, Colorado

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We recently returned from a weekend trip to Denver, Colorado. Mr. Handsome was the best man for his best friend’s wedding, which was planned about a month in advance. I was nervous about traveling with a toddler with everything that’s going on, but the trip was incredibly smooth, thanks to the wonderful airport and airline employees.

Southwest Airlines is not selling their middle seats, so the three of us were able to sit in our own row and bring the car seat on for free, even though Little Buddy is under age two and didn’t purchase a seat. Having him contained made the trip much simpler. When we flew to New York City last year with little Buddy as a lap child, it was pretty challenging to keep him from squirming. (Did you read our Baby’s 1st Plane Ride post?) This experience was exponentially better than our flight to NYC.

When we disembarked the airplane, we picked up our rental car and headed straight to the rehearsal dinner. There were about 25 people at the rehearsal and 40 at the wedding ceremony and reception. Most were family of the bride and groom. Little Buddy had four other young children to play with, so he was very happy.

The wedding took place in the hills outside Denver. While Mr. Handsome took photos with the wedding party, Little Buddy and I took a driving tour of the area. Rather, Little Buddy had his afternoon nap in his car seat while Mama silently marveled at the beautiful scenery.

I stumbled upon Red Rocks Amphitheater and enjoyed driving around the large park. Later, we visited with Mr. Handsome and were able to walk around. This was my first trip to Colorado, and I hope to have a chance to go back. Both Mr. Handsome and I were surprised at how desert-like Denver was. We stuck around for an extra two days to do some sight-seeing (more photos coming).

20 Hours in San Francisco

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I have one last round of pictures from our West Coast road trip to share with you all. Here are the links to my past posts, in case you missed them:Multnomah Falls
My brother’s seaside wedding
Driving the Oregon Coast
Visiting the Redwoods

After spending the night in Fort Bragg, California, we stopped by the famous Glass Beach before continuing on our way. During the first half of the 20th century, the area was used as a garbage dump. Today, all that is left of the dump are millions of smooth pieces of glass that have washed up on shore.

We stopped for lunch at Ocean Cove Lodge in Jenner, California, where we enjoyed a beautiful view of the ocean.

Then we continued driving down the California Coast to San Francisco! The road was quite harrowing, especially the spots where there was nothing keeping our car from toppling down the cliff to the ocean more than 100 feet below.

We had dinner on the bay at Guaymas, a Mexican restaurant in Belvedere Tiburon.

Later that evening, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge for a few hours of sightseeing. Fort Point is one of the best spots to photograph the bridge.

We are avid fans of the TV series Monk, so we stopped by the street corner that is shown in the opening credits (Montgomery Street and Green Street). It also happens to have an iconic view of the skyline, which is why many commercials and TV shows have been filmed there over the years.

Before heading to our hotel, we stopped by Ghirardelli Square to pick up some milkshakes and chocolates. (Is your mouth watering? Mine sure is!)

Do any of you live in San Francisco? If you do, your leg muscles must be made of steel! The hills were beautiful, but boy were they steep. I was amazed to see so many townhouses with garages built on the hills.

The next morning, we drove Mr. Handsome’s family to Oakland Airport and then spent two hours sitting in traffic on the Oakland Bay Bridge. Before returning to the airport to catch our own flight at 1:00pm, we did a quick tour of the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, a WWII cargo ship, at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Our goal was to take a double-decker bus tour of the city, but the heavy traffic caused us to miss it. If you’re planning a vacation in San Francisco, be sure to ride the historic trolleys (schedules and maps can be found online). I grew up watching the show Full House and was eager to see the Painted Ladies (a block of Victorian row houses), but we will have to save that for our next trip.

We did stop at In-N-Out Burger (any fans?) It was greasy, but oh so delicious! Overall, we had a great trip.

Visiting the Redwood Giants

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It’s time for another batch of pictures from our trip out West! After visiting Multnomah Falls, catching up with family and friends at my brother’s seaside wedding, and spending a day sightseeing along the Oregon Coast, we arrived in Northern California to visit the spectacular Redwoods.Ever since I was a little girl, I had been dreaming about visiting the Redwood Forest. It actually turned out to be even more majestic and breathtaking than I had imagined.

To walk up to the base of those massive trees and try to wrap my mind around the fact that they are hundreds (and even thousands) of years old was truly amazing. It’s one thing to see a building or other man-made structure that was build before the year 1 AD, but to think that these trees have sustained themselves for that long is such an awesome thought.

We drove past many Redwoods that had been darkened and hollowed out by forest fires but were still standing strong. Then we learned from one of the park rangers that these trees are naturally fire-resistant. How neat!

As we were walking through the beautiful forests, I kept thinking how neat it would be if we could watch a time-lapse video of everything the Redwood Giants have witnessed over the past two millennia. The tree below is a spiral tree, which means it was formed by multiple “shoots” from the same root system.

After passing through Crescent City, California, we enjoyed stopping for a few short hikes in the Redwood National and State Parks near Berry Glenn and Orick. I found it quite hilarious to see Mr. Handsome dwarfed while standing next to even the medium-sized Redwoods.

Some of the trees had little hideouts in the middle of them, which made for great photo ops. Here’s one of Mae and Lena…

I think Lena is trying to find the top of the tree!

This picture is a little dark, but seeing Lena’s tiny head poking through really captures the size of the trunks.

The “Big Tree” extends 304 feet above the forest floor and is an estimated 1500 years old. Wow!

The bright orange and yellow leaves and the vibrant green moss made the forest look like a scene straight out of a fairy tale. This isn’t a Redwood, but it’s still a beautiful tree.

Later that afternoon, we stopped at Humboldt Redwoods State Park and drove through the Avenue of the Giants. (Thank you to the readers who suggested we visit Humboldt. It was time well spent!)

We came across a tree that fell last winter, but unlike all the others we saw lying on the ground, it had splintered.

This is the Dyerville Giant, which once stood a whopping 362 feet tall with an estimated age of 2,000 years and a circumference of 52 feet. Before it fell in 1991, it was believed to be the tallest tree in the world.

Before heading to a hotel for the night, we stopped at the Chandelier Tree in Legget, California. At 315 feet, this tree is approximately 2,400 years old. Visitors with regular-sized vehicles can drive through the base of the tree, but we were in a 12-passenger van, so that didn’t work out. There’s Mae standing in front of the opening…

We spent 16 hours in San Francisco (pictures coming soon) and then headed home. Now that we’ve seen the Redwoods, the trees around here just aren’t that impressive. LOL.

Photo Ops Along the Oregon Coast

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Hope you have been enjoying the pictures from our trip out west. After exploring the waterfalls east of Portland, Oregon, and spending time with family and friends at my brother’s seaside wedding, we loaded into a 12-passenger van with Mr. Handsome’s parents, grandparents, and two youngest sisters and headed down the coast to San Francisco.

It was early October, and the weather was chilly (around 50 degrees Fahrenheit). There was rain in the forecast, but it always seemed to clear up just as we were pulling over to snap pictures
at lookout points or embark on a short hike. The ocean looked quite different than it does further south, but it was still beautiful.

 

You can see Heceta Head Lighthouse in the background at this lookout point. Mr. Handsome loved the view so much that he did a painting of it a few days after we returned home.

The coastal highway curves along the cliffs, providing a new, breathtaking view at every turn.

 

At one spot, we stopped and walked down to the shore, just as the sun was setting. It felt really strange being on a beach wearing heavy coats.

My sister-in-law Lena happened to climb up on a rock at just the right time for me to take this photo. Look at that spectacular sky!

We exhausted all the possible photo ops on that beach. Can’t wait to make a scrapbook!

 

These next two are my favorites. The originals were beautiful, but Mr. Handsome edited them to make them even more gorgeous.

 

Stay tuned for photos from the Redwoods, the California coast, and San Francisco!

Stunning Oregon Waterfalls

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Greetings, blog readers! Hope your week is off to a good start. On Friday, I shared photos from my brother’s wedding on the Oregon coast. Living in Tennessee, we knew we likely wouldn’t have another chance to fly out West for quite a while, so we decided to spend several days sightseeing.We flew into Portland International Airport on Thursday evening and met up with Mr. Handsome’s parents, grandparents, and two youngest sisters (Mae and Lena). We spent Friday morning exploring Wahkeena Falls and Multnomah Falls, located east of Portland. Thank you to those of you who recommended those attractions. The scenery was absolutely beautiful!

After just 10 minutes of hiking, we arrived at this beautiful waterfall. The vibrancy of the green moss made it look like a scene straight out of The Lord of the Rings.

Our pictures turned out so well, despite the fact that they were taken on an iPhone. The backdrop almost looks fake, doesn’t it?

After that first stop, we continued along the path, which snaked up the hillside and provided an excellent leg workout.

Mr. Handsome found a giant rock that jutted out from the path and had nothing below it. I had a slight freak-out moment as he climbed out onto it and asked me to take his picture. You could tell that the rock used to be much bigger and that part of it had toppled down the cliff. Needless to say, I was relieved when he stepped off.

As we continued walking, another couple came up behind us and did the same thing. (The wife freaked out while the husband climbed out onto the rock and asked for a picture.) I had to laugh at that…

The view from the first lookout point along our hike was stunning!

By that point, we were quite tired, but another group of hikers told us that the next stop, Fairy Falls, was gorgeous and not to be missed. So we continued on for another mile. This waterfall was smaller than the first one but still worth the trek.

After making our way back down the hillside, we drove a few miles to Multnomah Falls to snap a quick picture.

I also had Mae take a photo of me drinking out of a 100-year-old water fountain. LOL.

In order to make it to Lincoln City for the rehearsal dinner, we weren’t able to explore any of the other falls. After the wedding, we headed down the coast to San Francisco. More pictures coming soon!

An Oregon Coast Wedding

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 Mr. Handsome and me on the Oregon coast
(a super windy day, as you can tell by our hair!)

Happy Friday! Sorry for the delay in posting over the past week. Mr. Handsome and I were on a jam-packed vacation, which included my brother’s wedding at a seaside chapel in Lincoln City, Oregon; a three-day drive through the Redwood Forest and along the California coast; and 24 hours in San Francisco. (If you follow my Facebook page, you have probably seen a few pictures that I posted during our trip.)

We had a blast! Those of you who live on the West Coast are truly blessed to be surround by such breathtaking beauty. I have tons of photos to share, so I’ll start from the beginning. Here are my snapshots from my brother’s wedding. (Hopefully when we receive pictures from the photographer, I will have even more to post.)

The bride’s mother was in charge of the reception hall decorations, and she did a fabulous job. I was totally impressed to hear that she came up with all the arrangements without looking at Pinterest.

After the rehearsal dinner at the church, we all headed over to the reception hall to help add the finishing touches to the decorations. Mr. Handsome was quite proud of the pillar that he and a few other groomsmen decorated:

The wedding cake was definitely the most unique I had ever seen. Half the layers were chocolate, and the other half were vanilla. I just love the vibrancy of the flowers!

My brother and his new wife sat at this newlywed table during our delicious dinner (salad, salmon or chicken, veggies, and rolls).

The reception hall was also on the ocean, so we enjoyed taking family photos with the sea as our backdrop.

Most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were able to make the trek from Canada. Mr. Handsome’s parents, grandparents, and two youngest sisters also came to the wedding and drove with us down the coast. It was wonderful to have both our families together.