This summer has been a crazy couple of months. We started off by moving into a new house at the end of April (I know, technically thats spring) and after spending most of May unpacking were looking forward to calm couple of months. Clearly that didn’t exactly pan out that way.
Being a law enforcement family we’re always on our toes so when Drew’s department needed some shift coverage over the summer he ended up working a ton throughout June. By the end of the month we’d barely seen each other so we both took a few days off to get out of town and just reconnect. With the mountains at our backdoor there are dozens of amazing places to for a weekend getaway.
We decided to head up i70 to one of Drew’s favorite towns and check into the newly opened Vail Doubletree for a long weekend. Located in West Vail, the Doubletree opened last spring providing the ideal getaway location just outside the hustle of the main Vail Village. I’m a huge Doubletree fan and if I’m totally honest with myself, the cookies were what originally got me hooked. Being able to pick a hotel that I know exactly what I can expect is a huge bonus for me.
The main lobby is a modern take on Colorado’s western heritage with a beautiful wood wall providing a backdrop to reception and a stunning gas fireplace as the centerpiece of the room. Shuffleboard and comfortable lounge chairs make the lobby ideal for catching up while driving a beer from Pivot62.
The rooms are just as relaxing, perfect for enjoying mountain air from your balcony (if your room is on the third floor). We stayed in a king room but also took a peek at one of the loft suites at the end of the hall. Available in either a 1 king or 2 king loft the two story suite accommodations would be ideal for a group or family ski trip.
Back on the first level a state of the art fitness center provides everything you need to stay in shape while traveling and a full laundry on-site for washing clothing muddy from hiking or drying ski gear before hitting the slopes the next day.
My favorite part of the hotel was definitely the pool. With live music in the afternoon and a saline pool and hot tub I knew exactly where I was going to be spending the rest of my weekend, cocktail in hand.
Our first night in town we headed into Vail Village for dinner and enjoyed wandering through the shops. Vail is incredibly walker friendly and the Doubletree provides a complimentary shuttle right into town so that there’s no need to worry about parking or finding a taxi back. With the chalet decor and architecture throughout town Vail is unique from other cities in Colorado and gives the feeling that you’ve been transported around the world to Switzerland instead of just driving up the highway from Denver.
We woke early on Sunday to head down to the attached Westside Cafe for breakfast before joining the crew at Charter Sports for a guided ride down Vail Pass. Charter Sports is located right in the lobby of the Doubletree so we didn’t have to go anywhere to get started on our day.
The last time I really road a bicycle was in college so I was a bit worried about how difficult this might actually be. After being fitted for the proper bike, we road the Charter Shuttle up to the Vail Pass Summit. By starting at the top of the pass, you don’t have all the heavy work as if biked the entire trail. Our guide Tom helped get us situated with some instructions and within minutes we were off.
Most of the trail is downhill but a few tricky parts really got my legs burning. There is no rush to get through the trail so throughout the ride we enjoyed water breaks and learned from Tom about the history of the area, places to watch for rock climbers during the winter and swung through the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens and Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. Once in town we dismounted to walk through the farmers market and people watch along the way. Tom shared the right place to get back on the road and we were off up the trail towards the hotel.
The entire ride took approximately 3 hours and was the perfect amount of exercise for our weekend getaway. If you plan to bike Vail Pass I highly recommend going with a guide. There are so many things to stop and see along the way that would be hard to do without a local expert leading the trail.
After lunch back in town and a walk through the Vail Arts festival we went back to the hotel to enjoy massages at Simply Massage. Simply Massage is more massage therapist than spa, but don’t let that hold you back from this amazing experience. Both Drew and I agreed that these were some of the best massage’s we’ve ever had. My masseuse was incredibly knowledgeable and talked through some of the aches and pains I get from sitting in front of a computer for hours on end. She even shared some stretches I could do to help stay out of pain after my session was over. A sixty minute massage at Simply Massage was just $75, a price that can not be beat in the mountains.
There are several other mountain locations to choose from by I love that Simply Massage is so conveniently located right off the lobby. It was the perfect treat for recovering from the days ride. During the winter months there would be no better way to wrap up a day on the slopes.
Our plan was to head back home tomorrow, so after an afternoon nap we hit the town for dinner at the Mountain Standard. This gastropub has a small menu but each item is packed with a punch. Located just off the riverwalk the open patio allows you to enjoy the outdoors while dining inside. We wrapped up the evening by heading over to a music venue to enjoy drinks and live music before calling it a night.
It was past the last shuttle of the evening so we asked some locals the best way to get back to the Doubletree and they recommended snagging a ride on the free bus. We jumped on at the transit center and let the driver know where we wanted to depart so he could give us a heads up to our start. Vail’s bus system is entirely free and runs until 1:30am so there’s really no need to pay extra for a taxi unless you are staying off the beaten trail.
After one final night in the luxuriously comfortable Doubletree beds we were headed back to reality. The Vail Doubletree was the perfect mountain weekend getaway for us and I can’t wait to head back up during ski season!
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Disclaimer: I received a complimentary stay at the Doubletree Vail to inspire this post. All opinions are my own.
I just realized its been eons in internet time since the last time I posted and I wanted to hop on and give a quick update of where I’ve been and what fun projects I have in the works for you to keep an eye out for. I thrive in staying busy but I have to admit that the kind of busy that I’ve been operating under for the last month is a bit extreme even for me.
Since my last post was right before Valentine’s Day, I’ll start there!
At the end of February we listed our house for sale and if you know anything about the Denver housing market you probably know that means that things have been a little bit crazy. If you don’t know anything about the Denver market, I love you, but please don’t move here 😉 We’d been planning since last summer to sell and move to the opposite side of town to try and improve the commutes to both of our jobs, but the actual getting things ready to go was a whirlwind. I’m hoping to put together a full post on my thoughts about staging a house for sale, so that should be coming in the next few weeks.
Since we knew that selling would mean a ton of showings, we intentionally planned the go live date for when we headed out of town on vacation to MAUI. It was an incredible trip and included some much needed downtime in what has started off as a real busy year. Maui is beautiful and I couldn’t stop thinking about how lucky we are to be able to take a trip like that and really enjoy the time off together. With opposite work schedules, sometimes its hard for Drew and I to be more than just passing ships, so spending an entire week together was incredible.
Here is my quick video of the trip and there will be more to come in talking about all the amazing things we did while we were in Hawaii.
Once we were back, we hit the ground running on finding a new house since thanks to our incredible realtor we were under contract before the end of the trip. After months of watching the area we want to move to and a handful of showings earlier in the year, we found the perfect house! Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that everything goes as it should for the next month and we’ll be all moved over to north side of town!
Outside off all that, I’ve been really excited to get to work with more bloggers and business owners as part my new SEO Agency, Mae Digital! Over the years I’ve worked with photographers and other creative business owners to help them get more exposure on search engines with referrals coming from the amazing ladies I’ve worked with! One of my goals for 2018 is to connect with and help more website owners understand the mysteries of SEO and I launched Mae Digital last fall. Since then, I’ve been working on rolling out SEO trainings and programs for bloggers and photographers and have had some wonderful clients start up SEO services with me. If you are interested in learning more about SEO, go join my facebook group were I host Office Hours every couple of weeks and walk you through questions and changes to the Google Algorithm.
That said, I can’t believe we are already halfway through MARCH. I’m excited about everything that is going on and looking forward to having a ton of new fun home decor posts to work on once we are all moved into the new house.
Living in Colorado I’m spoiled with the close proximity of the mountains. It’s easy to let wanderlust take over and head into the Rockies for an adventure, no plane tickets necessary. One of my favorite Denver weekend trips is through the mountains to Durango, Colorado.
Located just inside the state line, Durango is a marriage of history, agriculture and the Fort Lewis College student’s who call the town home during the school year. The six hour drive winds through beautiful canyons, providing ample sightseeing opportunities on the journey and making Durango the ideal Denver weekend trip. During the fall, you’ll be able to catch the change of the aspens as they ripple through the mountainside from green to gold.
Established in 1880, Durango was a hub of activities during the silver boom. Today, modern adventurers can experience a taste of what the town might have been like with a stay at the historic Strater Hotel on Main Street.
I spend most of my days in and around the bustling heart of Denver in LoDo. As a Colorado Native, I’ve seen some of the change that’s happened in the city over the last 15 or so years but most of the town has been a vibrant cultural scene for longer than I can remember.
Standing on the corner of of Wyncoop and 17th Street it’s almost possible to close your eyes and imagine what life would have been like 100 years ago when hundreds of travelers surged through Union Station and into the city beyond. Today, thanks to the hard work of community leaders and preservationists like Dana Crawford, the historical buildings have remained as vibrant as they were when the Edbrook Loft was home to Spratlen-Anderson grocer and the Denver City Railway Building housed horses instead of diners.
The area called LoDo is officially known as the 23 block space bounded by Speer Boulevard on the south, 20th Street on the North and Lawrence Street to the East. The western most edge of the neighborhood is closed in by the South Platte River as it cuts through town. It was registered as a neighborhood district in 1987 and the mixed use combination of loft style housing, retail and dining has since given the area new life. As one of the most in demand areas in town, LoDo is the must see destination for Denver tourists and one of the most sought after areas of town for urban living.
Starting this summer, visitor’s can go beyond imagining the history in the bricks, to learning about them as they traverse the city. The LoDo District just recently launched their Explore LoDo app, marrying the technology of geofencing with the rich history of the area into a fun to navigate app. As you navigate the area Explore LoDo will notify you of happy hours, sales and historical details through easy to follow alerts.
Outside of the app, the Explore LoDo website provides much of the same information and can be easily navigated through your phones web browser, although the alerts are what I feel make the app a fun way to experience the city. Once inside the app, users can create an account to favorite information you wish to return to later, like which happy hours are your favorite for a girls night out.
As a local, its always fun to be a tourist in my own city and Explore LoDo provides the tools to view the city through a unique lens that I might not experience outside a historical tour.
Explore LoDo is available to download on the app store, or you can head over to their website to browse LoDo businesses and history online.
Mockups courtesy of MagicMockup.com. All photography and opinions are my own.
