Steamboat Spot: Bella Vista Estate

The other night, my friend Danielle and I had a chance to go up to Bella Vista Estate to watch the sunset and take a few pictures.

Bella Vista is a vacation rental, used for fun events like weddings and family reunions and it's so beautiful up there. It's on Rabbit Ears pass and has the best views of Steamboat down below. If you're thinking of doing a big group vacation or family reunion in Steamboat, it would be the perfect spot. The property is surrounded by wildflowers and there are so many neat spots to sit outside with a drink or for dinner - including a hammock overlooking the lake below!

 And how amazing is the pool?! They also have an incredible hot tub and a fire pit where it would be so fun to make S'mores and watch the sun set...

Thanks for having us, Bella Vista! The 3rd and 4th beautiful photos are by Danielle.

PS - What to do in Steamboat in the summer and our favorite Steamboat happy hour.

A Summer Weekend in Steamboat

Have you ever been to Steamboat Springs? We're lucky enough to live here in the summers and I've grown to love it. There's a really relaxed, laid back vibe here (perfect for summer) and there is so much to do, for everyone. Here's what we'd recommend for a weekend in Steamboat:

Boulder, CO

The other weekend we went down to Boulder for a night to check out the scene. Boulder is so wild and eclectic - it's like no other city I've been to. Here are a few pictures from our trip, and some recommendations, if you're headed that way...

The Adventure Trip

Last week we went camping for a few days and we met a family while we were hiking. We started talking to them and the littlest boy announced, "we're on our epic trip!" His father explained that each year when the kids get out of school, they do a camping trip for a few days, to a different spot. We told them that we do the same, every spring, and the little boy said, "And do you call it the epic trip too?!" But we call ours the adventure trip! We pick a starting point, camp there for a few days and then continue on to wherever we feel like....here are a few pictures from this year's Adventure Trip:

5 Camping Essentials for the Non-Camper

Last June we started a camping tradition: we would pick a starting point, camp there for a couple of nights and then go wherever we felt like from there.

It started by accident; last spring we decided to go to Moab, Utah to camp for two nights. We hiked during the day and sat by the campfire at night and we were having a great time so we decided to continue on to the Grand Canyon. After two days there, we made our way back to Colorado via Mesa Verde where we spent our last night. Last year's trip was one of our favorite trips of all time (we both wrote about it here) and now we're looking forward to our second annual spontaneous camp trip.

The kicker is: I didn't grow up camping and prior to last year's trip, I had a self-imposed camping limit of two nights (now it's up to five!). I always thought that I would prefer to stay in a hotel with down comforters and hot showers, but camping can be a great, inexpensive way to explore new areas. Here are a few things that I like to bring with me to stretch a two day trip into a five day trip: