Boulder Bound: My First Colorado Trip

Like I described in my post on learning to love my husband’s hobbies last week, my hubby is quite the athlete.  He loves anything that takes him outside! The main race he was training for  this season was a Half-Ironman triathlon in Boulder, CO this last weekend.  In case you aren’t familiar with the Ironman races, a Half-Ironman is a race where a bunch of crazy people swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, and then run 13 miles.  On the same day.  Without dying. (Remember when I said they were crazy?)   We left Thursday morning to start the nine-hour drive from KC to Boulder.  Although I WISH we could have taken this cutie with us,  we had two wonderful ladies to stay with her and snuggle her while we were gone.  Thanks, Aunt Jessie and Aunt Liz!

The road trip passed by pretty quick because we listened to about seven hours of Serial.  We’d heard so many good things about it and it was awesome! Definitely had us on the edge of our seats and curious about the story, although I don’t know we were as shocked by how it all developed as our friends had said we would be.  It was still good though, and made the trip there go by super quick.

After a quick stop in Denver for some dinner at a yummy vegan place called Native Foods Cafe, we headed to our Airbnb in Boulder.  We stayed with an awesome couple who lived a half-mile from the entrance to the Boulder Reservoir where the race was, so we just strolled on down to the race site while everyone else spent 45 minutes to an hour sitting in traffic to get in! AND it only cost $45/night! Seriously folks, if you haven’t used Airbnb, you need to go back and read my recent post on it so you can get started.  It’s the best!

This was taken in front of the house where we stayed, and the race started right at the lake behind us. AWESOME.

While I wish we could have walked around and taken in some of the beautiful views that night, it poured rain, and our walk in light rain turned into an uphill sprint in the pouring rain back to our house.  But still fun!

Like I said on my Instagram of this pic, I am clearly an expert in non-awkward, graceful picture poses.

We both woke up super early on Friday morning (darn summer school/cross-country schedules got us waking up TOO early) and headed to Snooze AM, a super yummy breakfast restaurant in downtown Boulder that three different people had recommended to us.  I had sweet potato pancakes with candied pecans, ginger butter, and caramel sauce that were to die for (and I miiiiight have eaten the leftovers for breakfast the next morning).

After Jordan checked in for the race, we spent Saturday exploring downtown Boulder.  Y’all, it is SO cute! It has such a laid-back feel and the downtown is full of cute restaurants and shops.  It seemed like everyone was walking/biking/running everywhere and gorgeous mountains towered into the distance wherever you walked.  If we didn’t love Kansas City and the people in it, we might be tempted to up and move to Boulder!

I think ice cream might be my favorite food in the whole world.

We woke up pretty early for Jordan’s race on Saturday, and it was so fun to see him compete in this race he’s been training for for months.  I might have even teared up a bit when the gun went off and he started swimming! I was just so proud of how hard he’s worked and how brave he is to keep trying to improve and take on these new challenges.  I hung out with our Airbnb host and cheered people on and various stages of the race until hubby crossed the finish line five hours later.

Seriously, folks…I couldn’t be prouder of this guy! He reached several of his goals and even looked pretty handsome doing it.  And considering a triathlete’s attire is spandex and a swim-cap, that’s quite an accomplishment!

We celebrated a great race by heading downtown for some unhealthy and delicious food.  We spotted this German place off the main street, and couldn’t resist! Germany was one of our favorite places we visited during our five-week trip to Europe last year, and we were giddy to walk in and order half-liters of beer and giant pretzels (I got a Radler, aka half-lemonade half-beer, my favorite from our Europe trip!).  It was so so so good and made us wish we could hop on a plane and do more Europe exploring.  We walked around some more, headed home to pack, and then left for KC early the next morning.

Even though it was short, I loved taking this mini-trip with my husband.  It was so great to eat good food, take in some beautiful scenery, and just play together.  Anytime we do trips like this, I’m reminded of how Jordan is not only my husband but also my best friend.  He’s the only one I can spend days and days with and not get tired of, the one who makes me giggle with silly faces in the car and sings along to Taylor Swift with me at the top of his lungs (sorry, babe, I know I just outed you on that one!).  But really…he’s the best, and I’m so grateful for life and adventures and making memories with him.  Whether it’s everyday life in KC, round-the-world adventures, or long weekends with lots of driving and playing, there’s no one I’d rather share life with.

Are you taking any weekend trips or bigger trips this summer? What are some of your favorite things to do when you travel?