Escape to Estes

Jeremy totally surprised me with a spontaneous overnight stay up at Estes Park.  We walked away from responsibilities and left Cambrie in charge while we were gone.  It was marvelous.  We stopped in Lyons at my favorite cherry shop and picked up some cherry pie filling, cherry juice, cherry honey, and cherry pie.  I couldn't wait to eat that cherry pie in front of the fireplace in our hotel room.  Our hotel smelled perfect.  I know that's a strange observation, but it smelled like pine and campfire.  We ate dinner in a very quiet town then walked the streets.  All of the shops were closed, but that meant that we were able to window shop with zero guilt.  Estes still has their Christmas lights up and it made a perfect strolling atmosphere.  

After a very stress free evening, where we really did eat the cherry pie in bed in front of the fireplace, we got to sleep in without worrying about getting the kids ready for school.  Cambrie on the other hand, did have to get everyone out the door.  Luckily the kids, mostly, cooperated for her.  

Jeremy and I packed our bikes in hopes that the weather and road conditions would allow us to go on a ride.  We couldn't have asked for better conditions in  February in a mountain town.  We layered up with every piece of cold-weather biking gear we had and made our way up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The ranger let us pass through for free, which was really nice, and we settled in for a great ride.  We saw a lot of elk grazing.  

We also saw some amazing views.  There were barely any cars on the road, so we didn't have to worry about the small shoulder or tight turns.  The roads were remarkably smooth and clean too.  I was having such a great time just enjoying the scenery, that I was disappointed when it was time for us to turn back.  

We finished off our sneaky getaway with breakfast at a local breakfast joint and headed back to reality.  I'm so grateful Cambrie felt like she could handle the responsibility of watching the kids overnight.  I'm also very excited because I feel like nights away like this are becoming more of a reality since our kids our growing up.  I love it!