Our Anniversary Trip to Beaver Creek!

Over the summer, I was telling my husband that I have never truly been in the mountains. I've seen some really pretty foothills and caught traces of mountains from far away, but I had never seen them up close. From that moment on he was determined to set up our 5-year-anniversary trip to Colorado for me to see some real mountains. So a few weeks ago, we set out for Beaver Creek, CO leaving our kids behind with Grammy:)

I think it's a test of a good marriage to take mishaps in stride and keep a positive attitude no matter what. So when our minivan broke down on the way we really tried to just have fun and not get mad/stressed. Which resulted in a few silly turns of event like spending the afternoon in a fun retro diner and being forced to rent a U-haul truck to get home!!

After abandoning our really dead minivan, we decided to press on to Beaver Creek since we were already in Colorado. I'm so glad we did this instead of just abandoning the trip and going straight home. When I saw my first mountains up close, I turned into my five-year-old self (or the double rainbow guy) and couldn't help from saying "whoa!" every five seconds. Here is the first glimpse of them - so pretty!

If you've never been to Vail, Beaver Creek, or any of the surrounding ski-towns, it felt to me like being in a foreign country. In Beaver Creek the hotels were built right up next to the mountains with stunning views. They all surround this cute little village with shops, restaurants and even an ice skating rink. We came too early in the season to try skiing but even without that it was such a fun place to stay!

One of the restaurants we tried was 8100 actually in our hotel and it was so good! I talked Stephen into getting lamb because honestly, how often do you get to eat Lamb?? (For us, like never.) I got this amazing flatbread pizza and it makes me hungry just thinking about it!

Since it was the week before the official ski season, the area actually wasn't too swamped with people yet. We just explored and I realized how out of shape I was when we went hiking the first day. We celebrated getting to the top of the slopes by having a snowball fight;)

The above picture was only halfway up the hill! I really  loved the day of hiking because it seemed like everywhere we went there were new surprises - like finding hidden streams or just randomly running into this beautiful church.

We also couldn't leave without getting in a little ice skating. We tried not to be depressed at the little kids doing triple axels while we wobbled around the rink like penguins haha. I was hoping to put Stephen to shame with my dancer-like balance and grace...but no such luck haha.

It was such a perfect place to spend being silly and in love. As we parted ways with our lovely resort it started snowing, leaving us with the memory of everything looking sparkling and magical. So awesome!

Have you been in the mountains? Where's your favorite place to vacation?