Refreshing Colorado

Deep inhales and exhales… the crisp fresh Colorado air is so refreshing to breathe in. We really enjoyed our time in Colorado. There’s something so peaceful and charming here. We spent some of our favorite moments in Denver, a memorable weekend in Jefferson and a long weekend in Centennial for the Fourth. I also snuck away for a week trip to see my best friend, Naomi, in Portland! I wasn’t quite ready to leave Colorado yet… but we had to get all packed up and ready to hit the road early last Saturday morning.

I love travel days! The drive itself is always so beautiful. We get to drive through so much scenery and see all the beauty that the US has to offer. I am just beyond thankful that we have this opportunity to go on these adventures and I am so happy we are both really loving this new lifestyle we are living. After a short beautiful drive to Moab, we stopped at Willow Springs Trail BLM campground that Mike found for a night. We tried to go to Arches National park after setting up but they were closed by the time we arrived, so instead we drove around a bit and found a short little trail to hike. We enjoyed a beautiful fire and sunset before the winds picked up and sent everyone into their trailers. The winds have been pretty bad every where we’ve been. Something we didn’t really have to deal with in California. Checking weather daily, and sometimes hourly has become a thing for us now. The weather is always so unpredictable!

Coming from Utah into Colorado, the temperature really changed on us in a very positive way! We were in 90 degree desert out in Utah so of course it was extra nice coming into the Colorado mountains. Granby is the city we stayed in. I got lucky early on and extended our stay through July 4th holiday and that allowed for us to get in some good quality time with some family! Booking RV parks isn’t always the easiest to do, especially around the holidays. Parks fill up quick so you really have to be booking more than 3 months in advance in order to get into a good park. Something I’m learning as we are on this journey. One thing I did learn is to always pick up the phone and call even if you can book easily online, and they can check for discounts and deals for you over the phone as well. I am so happy we were able to stay longer, we really enjoyed our time spent there.

River Run RV Resort is truly a spectacular Resort! They have 2 restaurants & bars, a bowling alley, arcade, heated swimming pool and 3 hot tubs! Their clubhouse had bike, kayak & SUP rentals and so many games and activities around for families to enjoy. We were in the middle of a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains views around us. We spent many evenings after work, riding bikes around and just soaking in the beauty of Granby. Being by the Colorado River makes the ride even more enjoyable. There’s just a tiny little town in Granby, but they also had a few really cute towns just about 15-20 minutes out. Really loved the small town vibes that we got when we were at the town shops and restaurants. We found a crossfit gym just a couple mins away from home, Stand Firm Crossfit . Cal & Tammy, the owners are so sweet and such great people. Cal qualified for masters 3 years in a row now, so we’ll be looking out for him at the CrossFit Games this year and cheering him on! Working out in 8k elevation is no joke, it really wiped us out each time we went. I love being able to drop into crossfit gyms and how everyone just makes you feel so at home. Definitely looking forward to seeing more gyms all across the US.

Our very first weekend in Colorado, we drove 2 hours out of the mountains and into the city. Mike is a huge motocross fan, so we absolutely had to go watch the race at Thunder Valley MX! The race experience out there was awesome! Such a super hot day, big crowd of fans cheering, and the race just a few hundred feet in front of us! But because it was such a hot day, we didn’t end up staying for it all. But before we left, I made sure to get him a Tomac shirt to remember this race. We drove into Denver to grab some food and spent the evening there. We got a couple of bird scooters and got to see most of the area. What a beautiful city! I loved how you can just hang out by the Colorado River right in the middle of the city. We had a first weekend in Colorado! The very next day Mike dropped me off at the airport and I was gone for a week in Portland Oregon with Naomi and Pat!

I had a great week in Portland with the Shen’s but it felt so good to come home and I was so excited to see what Colorado was all about. Mike took me to Winter Park for lunch the day after I got back. They had cute little shops and a couple restaurants to choose from. Then we drove to Grand Lake and enjoyed some more shops and ice cream while walking along the lake side with a beautiful mountain view right along the lake. What a perfect way to be welcomed home after being gone all week. We came back to Grand Lake a couple more times during our time in Granby. Once to the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre for a musical, Johnny Cash! That was a fun night, the show was amazing! So much talent on the stage. Other times we came back just to enjoy some ice cream or a walk along the lake.

The Rocky Mountains were just a short 30 minute drive from home. The first few miles of the National Park, the trees were all burnt/dead from the fire that recently happened a few months back. As you continue the drive in, it becomes more and more green and so gorgeous. In Colorado, up in the mountains, weather is almost always unpredictable. We originally wanted to go for a couple hikes, but with the rain we were not able to go on the hikes we had planned to do. As we continued to drive along the park, we would exit and go explore when the weather permitted. All the views we saw were so beautiful! As we were driving along from one stop to the next, we saw a couple of Elks/Deer crossing the road! I am absolutely loving all the wildlife we get to see while on this journey!

When we knew we were going to be visiting Colorado, we were so excited to go visit with Family! Aunt Kathleen, Butch, Dan, Christina, Bailey & Payton live in Colorado, oh and we can’t forget about their little dog Holly Jolly (she’s so cute!) Being able to visit family while we travel has really made our adventures so meaningful and so memorable. We spent a weekend at Auth Kathleen & Uncle Butch’s Cabin in Jefferson. Aunt Kathleen surprised us first thing with teaching us how to cook Grandma Borba’s Enchilada Recipe! It’s such a treat when we get to learn any bit of history about family. Over a few games of the Portuguese card game, Sueca & dinner, we shared many family stories with each other and shared so much love, laughter and joy. Aunt Kathleen also had a couple photo albums full of older photos of family for us to look through. It was so nice to hear about all the little stories as we flipped through an album together, definitely one of the best moments of our weekend. Our cousins Dan & Christina came the following day, and they saw a couple moose on the way up! The boys went out before lunch for a little guy bonding time. They went fishing down at the lake nearby. They fished, they caught and they had fun! The girls got our time in at the cabin and chit chatted away until the boys got home. We all had lunch together and a played some card games. It’s always so great to stay in and spend quality time with family. And since we were able to extend our stay in Colorado, we planned a full weekend with them for the Fourth of July!

Aunt Kathleen & Uncle Butch, thank you so much again, for such a memorable, fun, loving weekend. We had so much fun playing games and getting to know more about the Lourenço family history and especially getting to spend some quality time with the two of you! We can’t wait to see you guys again, we love you lots!

It was back to work after our super memorable trip at the cabin, for a short few days. Then when Thursdays rolled around, we had our Dirty Heads concert to go to at The Red Rocks Amphitheater! I was beyond thrilled when I found out a band that we enjoyed was going to be playing at Red Rocks while we were in Colorado! So of course we had to go! On our 2 hour drive there, it was super rainy. We really thought we would be in a poncho and a heavy jacket all night long, but thank goodness the rain stopped and the weather turned out to be perfect! They have really good tacos there. I overheard they were known for them, Mike came back with some and they did not disappoint. I wanted to go get a hat or something, but the lines were too long. The concert was awesome, we had a great time. We originally booked a hotel to stay at after the concert, but Dan & Christina were so sweet to offer their home to us. We planned to stay throughout the weekend and into the 4th of July with them! So happy we also got to see both of the girls! Bailey got to hang out all weekend but Payton had previously made plans for her weekend. I am so happy we at least got to do a little shopping together and get some lunch with her before she left! Getting some one on one time with Bailey was definitely one of my favorite parts of the weekend. It’s so sweet getting to know her and really getting to spend some quality time alone. We went shopping and got some boba, then went to a firework stand and picked some up for family to play with for the fourth! We ended up playing with them all on the 3rd and went right back there on the 4th to get even more fireworks! What a fun memorable Fourth at the Lourenço’s! Our friend Alex was in Denver at the same time on his road trip with his cousin Jesus, they came by to hang out for a few hours before we took them to the airport. It’s so awesome that we have friends who will stop by and visit with us no matter where we are. So sweet of everyone for welcoming them in to their home, thank you family for being so sweet to our friends, they had a great time and are grateful for the time they spent with us. I’m hopeful the next time we come by, I can get some more time with Payton, definitely missed her all weekend long. A long weekend of quality time spent with family was so heart-warming. The last time we spent quality time with them was back in 2018 when Mike proposed to me on our Lourenço family Portugal Trip. This was long over due and I’m hopeful to see them all again very soon! In fact, we already booked a trip to come back to Colorado in August!! Just for a night with Dan & Christina at Red Rocks to see our favorite band, Rebelution! Woo! I cannot wait!! I’m hoping we’ll also get to squeeze in some time with Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Butch and the girls too!

Thank you so much again to Dan & Christina for welcoming us into your beautiful homes and sharing such a special weekend with us! We love you guys, can’t wait to see you in August!

And that pretty much wraps up Colorado. A couple more short days of work then we packed it all up, and off we went….a full 8 hour drive all the way to Cody, Wyoming!