With Joel traveling so much and us not fully getting a chance to milk our first summer in Colorado together, Joel made a promise to me about a month ago that he would take this last weekend off from playing shows and we would take full advantage of a full weekend to go camping one more time in the mountains before they fill with those beautiful snow caps.

When we first moved here, it was this time last year. Joel tried hard to contact different resorts to try and set up shows, but most places book months, sometimes a year, in advance. Knowing that his music would be so perfect in the background, next to an amazing stone fire place in a mountain resort, having people come in and out off the mountains, he persisted. He was just recently contacted by the Ritz Carlton in Beaver Creek and he set up his 'interview' for Friday, knowing we would be passing through on our way camping. After getting done with work 2 hours early and cruising home on the most perfect Fall day, we packed up and were headed for the mountains, in my car. BAD IDEA. Long story short, we were completely stopped on the highway because vehicles in front of us had voluntarily stopped and then proceeded to go 25 mph because it was pure ice once we got to the Eisenhower tunnel before entering Vail. As we sat there, Joel, in the drivers seat, reacted like a truck was coming straight for him and sure enough, there was a truck sliding right for my car. Thank you to the stone median and the fact that it was just a truck and not a semi. We thought it was going to come straight over. Kelsey was there with us on that one. As we began to drive away, I worried for the person in that truck, knowing they were now facing the wrong way and right around a corner where cars coming his way were now flying out of that tunnel. A ways down the road, we saw an ambulance and a firetruck heading that way and I had to tell myself that it wasn't for that guy. 

Once we safely got to the Ritz Carlton about an hour and a half late, I was amazed at how huge and beautiful the resort was and immediately wished I had put makeup on and wasn't dressed to go camping. After intending to just go inside to the bathroom and not sit in on Joel's interview, I don't know how I ended up in there. Listening to Joel talk his music up and sell himself was refreshing to me and I was even asked a couple questions by the manager; What are 3 words I would use to describe Joel/ his music and if there was one thing I would change about him, what would it be? First of all, this is something that Joel has never done. He's never had to 'interview.' Apparently this place is so high end, you don't just play music for them, you pass an online application, go through multiple interviews, you are on the payroll, make an hourly wage, and reap the benefits of an actual employee. Which, made Joel and I smile specifically because both managers loved him and because you get discounted prices on many, many high end hotels and resorts around the world. At about 10:30 we were back on those icy roads and headed for Deep Lake Campground. Last week we did a little research on campsites and found that only a handful were open through October. We choose Deep Lake Campground because it looked the prettiest and seemed the nicest. Let me tell you, they failed big time on specifying that the drive was two hours on a dirt, narrow road up the side of a snowy, slippery mountain. Keep in mind we are in my Fushion and not Joel's Sequoia. This is what it looked like on Joel's phone.

Here, let's zoom a bit.

This. On a snowy, narrow mountain side in a little car at night time. The farther and farther we went up the mountain, the more snow came, obviously. We eventually got to a point where we both agreed that if we parked, and it snowed more, we would be stuck for sure. Saturday, we were told many people have had to abandon their cars up there during winter time and wait for the snow to melt. Anyways, after crying out of frustration and telling Joel this was not how I had pictured camping and being a little too dramatic, we decided to go down a ways, park and sleep in the car. Thank you to Joel's 20 degree sleeping bag, we both slept comfortably, but only for a couple hours. I laugh about it now only because we survived, got to watch the beautiful sunrise from the top of a mountain, and made it down safely.

We were pretty stoked to finally be on a paved road again and drove about 15 minutes to the campsite that was second on our list it should have been first.

It was chilly, yes, but the sun was constantly shining and the hot apple cider was endless. Too many times I looked over at Joel and we'd agree how content we felt just sitting there. The only thing that made Joel not so content was loosing to me in Battleship too many times in a row, like he usually does. The scenery won't change your skill level, babe. Shortly after noon we headed into town for Glenwood's Oktober Fest where we laughed at how life works out. We far too often fall upon greatness. This life is just too good to us. 

After making friends at the Fest and hanging out on the edge of the Colorado River and listening to Joel play his beloved, we headed back to the campsite and went to bed at 8:30 caught up on some sleep. We woke up early Sunday morning, drank our coffee, ate our coffee cake and got our protein from that delicious Alaskan salom that we luckily haven't run out of yet, and were off to hike Hanging Lake. Have you heard of Hanging Lake? Google it. And visit it someday, if you can. It's amazing. Aside from my knee hurting here and there, the treacherous, 1 mile hike was worth it and I got a handful of compliments on my shirt. 

 

 

After the hike, we grilled some more food and were headed home. Our weekend was successful and quite adventurous. Although, Joel was not done. He drove us right to Red Rocks to show me more amazingness and we were there as the sun went down and the clouds turned orange and pink. This weekend, I crossed off two places on my 'Places to Visit' list and we learned our lesson in taking my car anywhere towards those beautiful mountains. Never again! 

Also, this week, I went to the dentist for the first time in a year and a half and tried squash and liked it for the first time in my life. It was a pretty epic week.