Breckenridge is for Anniversaries...

This past weekend afforded us a chance to get out of town. It's the perfect time of year to hit the ski resorts for a little getaway because the summer tourist season is over and the ski season has yet to begin. Prices are in the dirt, and there are plenty of things to see and do. We took advantage and headed to Breckenridge for the weekend.

I was excited for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it was time in the High Country during peak leaf season. That was also a bit disappointing because the cold snap we had managed to stop the color in its tracks. Much of the trees were already bare, many more were just pale. There was still some green, but mostly it was pale and past peak. I don't mind, though. It was still beautiful. The hard part was the amount of the evergreen forest that is dead, ripe for a fire to sweep through. Stupid pine bark beetles have just devastated this part of the state. You hear about it, you know it's there, but it's startling when you actually look around and see (I usually don't because I'm looking at or for other things).

Second, Saturday was our eleventh wedding anniversary. This was a time to celebrate and it's not often we do much more than go to dinner for our anniversary. Being able to get away was wonderful!

So we headed out on Friday and made the 2 1/2 hour drive to our destination. The first shock was the amount of snow still up there. We knew the last storm had dumped a couple of feet, but it was amazing how much as still there! It was so gorgeous....

We were there early, so we grabbed some local pizza as a snack. Fatty's is in the old Colorado House hotel building, and it's pretty cool! It's modern now, but you can still feel the layout of what it used to be. And the pizza is great! Worth the stop. We wandered next door to the Mountain Outfitters and found some great stuff. Too bad we didn't need any of it...or maybe that's a good thing. They had such great stuff that we'd be broke if we decided to actually shop! Then it was off to get checked into our hotel, so down the road we went.

Jeff ran in to get the keys and came back out with a perplexed look on his face. I thought "uh oh, what's going on." They had upgraded us and we had to go to another hotel! It wasn't actually a hotel, though. They gave us a 1-bedroom loft apartment in one of the timeshare buildings! That's pretty cool! Made it easy, too, because we now had a kitchen, something I was hoping for.

We dropped everything off, took a quick look around the room and building, the hopped back into the 4Runner for the 20-minute drive to Keystone for dinner. We had been told to check out the Wolf Rock Brewing Company restaurant there, and we figured it was a good time to do so. Anniversary dinner a night early. Oh. My. Goodness!! If you're ever in Keystone, or the surrounding area, you MUST eat at this place! The food is to die for! And so affordable for the quality! Seriously, the only meal I can compare it to is the 5-star restaurant we ate at on our wedding night. It is THAT good!

The next day we just wandered the town, did a little shopping, had some ice cream, and headed toward Frisco, Silverthorne, Dillon, and the reservoir named for the original town of Dillon. It is very well known for J24 sailboat racing, is highly touted as one of the best lakes for sailboats, and a place we've wanted to check out for some time now. It was incredible! We've already decided we HAVE to head that way for a regatta next summer and to do a little camping on the shores. Not to mention it was such a great day to sail.

Then we did the little hiking loop known as Sapphire Point. It's just an easy little trail that loops around the hill and overlooks Lake Dillon. Luke initially didn't want to do it, but then decided it would be fun to canter with daddy around the loop. He had fun, despite being a bit grumpy. The sun was thinking of setting by this time so we headed back to Breck, had dinner, and relaxed in our room for the rest of the night.

Sunday morning was warm and vibrant. We checked out, headed to the middle of the town, and to a playground on the river to let Luke play a bit. He thought that was a fabulous idea! Between the playground and the grassy hill on the other side of the river, we had a very happy little boy! We watched a little girl de-cloth herself and play to her heart's content in the river, and Luke wanted to do the same. We let him feel the water and he quickly changed his mind. Not that we would've let him do it because we didn't have towels and it was much too cool (temp and water), but it was fun to watch! Much like most of the snow that had melted from the peaks, it came time to hit the road and head on home. It was such a wonderful weekend and we didn't want it to end. While it's always nice to be home and with our pets, it's always hard to leave the High Country. I'm so grateful we live so close to the mountains that we can get away like this pretty much anytime we wish, and I never tire of it. Great thing is my little family feels exactly the same way....