Aspen

I am a little late posting this but I could not skip posting our Aspen trip a couple weekends ago to celebrate Tj and our friend Natalie's birthday. It was crazy beautiful and we HIKED, in the snow no less. And there was an animal sighting!

On the ride up we took a quick stop in Glenwood springs which we've been wanting to visit for awhile. 

Once we arrived to Aspen we ate at the cutest little restaurant in downtown, we knew it would be a great weekend!!

 Our next stop was a micro brewery.

 We were staying in a condo in Snowmass that was incredible, I am so sad I didn't take any pictures.

Happy Birthday to the birthday twins Tj and Natalie!!! November 9th :)

The next day was our hike and it was a really pretty day!

 

My first time seeing a Moose sign, but it was too late in the season to see them. They move to lower elevation during the fall/winter months. Boooooooooo!

After we survived our hike, we headed for lunch which could have easily been our last meal when we nearly got attacked by a herd of dear. 

After lunch we headed back to the condo. We were all pretty bummed that we didn't see any wild life but also figured it may have been for the best while on our hike. Natalie spotted what she thought was a moose and because I'm obsessed it was just my natural reaction to slam on my brakes to take a peek. Let me tell you that God was with us during this little adventure because #1, did I look behind me before I pumped my happy brakes, NO! Everyone is looking out the window and we see nothing. The guys start to doubt that she saw anything so we decide to take a closer look. #2, did we have business parking our car and getting out to find what could have been a massive moose who could have attacked us, NO! So we all get out and start to head toward the area where the wild animal was spotted. Natalie thinks it may have been an elk instead. She starts over the hill to see if she can get a better look. Tj says he'll wait for her reaction before he gets any closer. WELL her reaction will forever been stained in all of our minds. She turns around with the biggest eyes and her husband yells run! Did we hear him, yes and no, because all we needed was to see her face and we ran like we stole something.

 Just then their cousin JP turns and makes a shrieking sound. A dear looks like it's running in our direction. Tj yells and starts running the other way, just then I decide it would be safer on the other side of the guard rails and hop over the railing into the road. #3, if a car would have been coming around that corner at that exact moment, it would have either A: hit me or B: got into an accident trying not to hit me. LAWD!! The dear actually makes a turn for the mountains and runs to get away from us. We all take a deep breath, then something tells me to run again. I run the rest of the way to the car while the rest stroll. I can see Natalie a few seconds later running to the car while checking behind her. The last to the car is Andy who took a picture of the Elk with huge antlers. We all crack up while taking in the deepest breaths EVER. Good times!!!

Happy hump day!