COVID vacation 2.0

 

At the end of April, Levent and I once again escaped to the mountains. This time, we headed to Colorado Springs. We stayed in a cute Airbnb complete with a fenced in yard for Tito and a hot tub for us. It was amazing. The weather was perfect, we went on beautiful hikes, we got so much excellent take out and ended each day with a long soak in the hot tub. 

Tito exploring the backyard

This was the front entrance to the Airbnb

On our first full day in CO Springs, we hiked the Middle Columbine Trail. Since we were staying in the south west part of the city, this hike was less than 15 minutes away from the house. This worked out really well since I had some serious issues with my fibroid on our trip. (Meaning I had really bad cramps and often needed to be in close range of a bathroom). We made it work though.

People often ask me if Tito gets tired on walks. Really, I am the one in our party of three that needs all the breaks. Tito is such an adventure pup and loves a good walk with lots of smells.

For our second hike (the next day), we went to Horsethief trail falls, which was still covered in snow. (The waterfall was very, very frozen). Thanks to commented on Alltrails (the app we used for hiking), we knew there was going to be some snow, but I don't think we realized how much of trail was covered in it. (It wasn't very deep so we made it just fine). Tito, always the adventure pup, loves snow so much. I think it blew his little mind to suddenly be able to play in it again.

A close up at how thick the ice was at the frozen waterfall

Determined to not be those millennials who die in the woods because they don't know what they are doing, every time we go on hikes, we get a little bit wiser. For this trip, Levent bought us "platypus" water pouches so we could be better at staying hydrated on hikes. It was such a good purchase. I don't know how we had been going on day hikes without it prior to this trip. 

Not surprisingly, one of my highlights of traveling is getting to find and eat really great food. And we definitely feasted on this trip. Usually, our vacation style is to get up when we want and find a decent breakfast, have snacks on the trail and then have a large supper in the evening back at the Airbnb. On this trip we had wood fire pizza from Bambino Urban Pizza, breakfast burritos from the Caffeinated Cow, Indian food from Little Nepal, ice cream from Josh and John's, bagels from Old World Bagels and shawarma from Taste of Jerusalem Cafe.

Josh and John's and Taste of Jerusalem Cafe are actually repeat places for us. When my brother lived in CO Springs, they would take us to Josh and John's for some seriously amazing ice cream. So every time I am in CO Springs, I make a point to get some. Levent and I were also in this area about 6 years ago or so and had supper at Taste of Jerusalem Cafe. So it was fun and familiar to revisit it.

With the pandemic still on, we didn't try to eat at any place, even outside in part because we had Tito with us and because it was easier and really nice to get takeout and eat it while relaxing at the Airbnb. (This is also why I don't have very many food photos). 

Traveling with Levent is one of my favorite things. Vacations are wonderful by their very nature, but getting to spend some extra time with my boo is always the highlight of the entire year. (I am grateful for his patience too as I huff and puff up the steep, high-altitude mountains). I can't wait to go back.