caution: smiles ahead.

Welcome to my backyard.

I err on the side of caution

I walk out my front door to a national park.  Nature at its finest.  Fields of wild flowers growing up the ex-ski slopes, the greenest hillsides reaching right up to the completely blue sky, natural caution signs that grow along the sides of the trails, dogs everywhere, and the fresh, flowery air.

What could be better?

After yesterday's warm-up hike along the Rio Grande, my mom and I checked out the slope outside our condo.  Of course we were in our obviously flattering pajamas when we casually ran into some male hikers on Fanny Hill.  Fitting right?  FANNY HILL... get it?  Of course you do...  Just our luck!  Snowmass has interesting obsession with slopes names after a certain body part: will start with the obvious... 

Fanny Hill

Bear's Bottom

Assay Hill

Bottoms Up

Snowmass

And then, of course, there is Naked Lady...

 

Just being clear... there is even Aspen.  You can find t-shirts all throughout the city with the saying:

"How's your Aspen?" 

John Denver Memorial

Of course we had to visit our beloved Aspen

This morning we headed to what is known as Ditch Trail near the Campground Lift here in Snowmass.  It was a pretty easy trail, but was beautiful because you could see all across the Snowmass-Maroon Bells Wilderness Park, which is a lush valley leading to the areas around the Maroon Bells, Snowmass Mountain, and Mt. Daly (also known as Ribbon Mountain because of this strange, lightly colored ribbon of land that traverses the mountain face). 

If your checking out the map (which is old by the way..) you can see the lift to the far right.  That is where we were hiking!

Today I finally pulled out the GoPro... jealous of the shots Erika and Cole got in Italy!  It was a great day to use it and be outside.  The weather was PERFECT, the dogs were out and curious about my camera, the sky was 100% blue, and I was tasting some outdoors. 

Just taking a sniff

"Careful"

EW

Oh, Hey!

Ciao-Ciao