Off to a great start!

We left Colorado early this morning and drove all the way back. We were so excited to see Bruno, who was definitely excited to see us too! It's probably really nerdy to admit to missing your dog, but that's alright.
We stayed in the beautiful mountain town of Estes Park, CO for three days with my parents and my sister and her fiance, Zac. Zac's family owns a cabin there and was kind enough to let us stay there...it was awesome! We could actually lay in bed and see deer out the window, so Norris was in heaven. We saw plenty of elk and deer throughout our stay. These deer were right outside the cabin, looking at Norris.We took a few drives through Rocky Mountain National Park, and stopped to walk around Sprague Lake. We weren't exactly dressed for the weather (most tourists weren't...the shirt shops that sold sweatshirts were loving the extra business!) and Lauren and I were really NOT smart and wore flip flops. COLD! But so pretty.

Lauren and Zac--I think this is Zac's cold face
Norris and I. He took off his fringe blanket cape for the picture.

My parents--who also happen to be celebrating their anniversary tomorrow! They stayed on for a few more days and the rest of us went home. Great place to celebrate an anniversary!
Yesterday, we went horseback riding in the Rockies in the Glacier Basin area. It turned out to be not nearly as cold as we expected, which was nice. Norris's horse, Norman, was HUGE. He's always been into horses and has always wanted to ride a horse like this, so it was perfect for him. We had some pretty incredible views and the horse ride was surprisingly a little challenging--definitely not horse head to horse butt walking in a straight line on even ground the whole time like some guided rides are! My horse, Crystal, was pretty nice, except when she stopped the whole line to make a huge foamy pool of pee. Not so ladylike!

Yesterday afternoon, we took the drive up Trail Ridge Road. It just opened for summer on June 1, so we were some of the first to get to enjoy it this year. There were ten foot snow drifts on the side of the road. How would you like to be the guy that had to plow that on the side of a mountain? We took some awesome photos too, and then the cameras were all dead or out of memory space. Poor planning! When we got to the top, it was snowing hard pellet snow. I couldn't believe how hard it was snowing and it actually kind of hurt to get hit by the snow! Totally worth the drive--incredible masterpiece. I found myself saying little prayers of thank you to God a few times throughout our horseback ride and looking at these incredible views.

Overall, it was a great vacation--we played lots of rummy and checked out lots of local specialties. I definitely ate like I was on vacation, and loved it!

Back to our world here--Saturday planned for the lake, and I start my internship in dietary at a retirement home next week, then culinary school the next week. Better squeeze in some sun time tomorrow! :)