Kate's 24 Birthday: Colorado Roadtrip

Two well-know secrets of us Marbles:

1) We love to travel. Cool places, preferably.

2) We love Birthdays. We're thankful for life!

So, we started a little tradition to combine the aforementioned elements: Birthday trips! It only makes sense, really. We started this tradition in 2009 with a trip to San Fran for Kate's 23rd Bday and then we headed up to visit Uncle Maury and Aunt Linda in Kelowna, BC for my birthday in August.

This year for Kate's two dozenth birthday, we did a road trip around Colorado. There are lots of places in this awesome state that neither of us has been.

So after a long work week for Kate, we headed out. Here was our route: http://bit.ly/8KcvNQ

Friday January 15th: Bright and early departure from Manitou Springs, CO, headed west. We were able to book dog-friendly hotels throughout, so Rosy joined. She started out in the back, but we were suckers for her cuteness. She looked down-right distraught!

Her new post:

A few other pics of the first day: on our way to Salida, CO here's Kate in front of Mt. Princeton.

We had lunch in Buena Vista on the first day, went for a nice hike just north of Nathrop, CO towards Agnes Vaile Falls.

Our trusty sidekick, Rosy, enjoying the roadtrip.

We stayed the first night in Salida, then headed west on Highway 50 past Gunnison, then south out of Montrose towards Ouray. This little town, was our most favorite on the whole trip. Several signs said, "Welcome to the Switzerland of America" and it definitely deserved such a title.

We took a quick little trip over to Telluride for the afternoon. The mountains there are absolutely stunning. Pictures don't do justice here either. Great little town too. Our 2nd favorite of the trip behind Ouray.

Telluride has a free gondola that you can take up the mountain and over to "Mountain Village" which has shops and other activities like ice skating. On our way up that gondola:

So our second night we spent in Ouray, then day three we headed up Highway 550, past Montrose again, then headed Northeast up towards Glenwood Springs. We stopped on the way in our namesake town. Good ol' Marble, CO! Not much a town (no offense, Marble) but we took a couple goofy pictures to commemorate.

(The newest proud member of the Marble clan)

We also stopped in Aspen, since Kate had never been. Here's a cool little shot of downtown Aspen, looking towards the ski hill.

We stayed our third night in Glenwood Springs. Our final day, Monday (Kate's 24th Bday!! Happy bday, my love!!) we had a great breakfast at "Rosi's Bavarian Restaurant" in Glenwood then made the trek back to Manitou Springs.

Overall, it was a great road trip for the three of us. Enjoyed our amazing state and saw several new towns we'd never visited. Kate really enjoyed herself, so: mission accomplished! Happy birthday, Kate Marblehead!

Christmas Time

Christmas in Manitou is Magical.

(Christmas last year)

If you have never been to Manitou around Christmas time, come visit because it is beautiful! The trees and street lights of Manitou Ave are covered with lights and the stores are decorated with garland and all things Christmas. So, naturally we went to get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. To add to it, Becka was visiting and came along for the excursion! Jesse and I had never cut down our own Christmas tree, so ......we donned our plaid/flanel and chopped.

And The Finished product.....

Just a few more weeks until we celebrate Christmas Florida style....

Boston in the Fall

Jesse and I finally were able to visit Tim and Abby in Boston!! I've always wanted to visit Boston in the fall, ever since I heard that veggie tales song :) It really was beautiful, but the best part was spending time with our most distant siblings.

Enjoying the lights of downtown Boston from a friends rooftop

Tim and Abby's street, the brownstone homes were beautiful!

One of the beautiful public health buildings on Abby's campus

(Boston University Medical Campus)

The first day we were there, Abby took us to Applecrest farms in New Hampshire. We were able to enjoy the leaves changing as we drove up.

The best part of the whole trip would definitely be the apple cider doughnuts.

Oooh my, they were good.

After our apple pickin' adventure we decided to drive up to Kittery, Maine because, well why not?!? Jesse and I had never been and it was close, so Abby happily obliged :) Just the start of our driving adventure...

When I say it was just the start of our driving adventure, I only say that because Abby was so kind to drive us to Marblehead, MA after our already long day of driving. Lets just say that our new iphones aren't as great at giving turn by turn directions as we thought.

After our amazing trip, my amazing husband was more than happy to

to carry around our apple cider throughout downtown, he's so cute!

We also enjoyed going along the Freedom Trail to visit many of the

historical sites of Boston

The balcony where the Declaration of Independence was read

after it had been signed days prior

Lastly the holocaust memorial located in the North End of Boston, the glass was etched with the number of each holocaust victim

Pikes Peak

We Hiked Pikes Peak!!! It was the first 14er I've ever hiked and Jesse's second. 13 miles, 6 hours and 40 minutes. Thank goodness for our ride back down the mountain by Jesse's parents. Enjoy the pics!

B-day Trip

Long overdo, but here we go! Jesse's 24th birthday was August 1st and to celebrate, we went to Kelowna, British Columbia to visit Jesse's great uncle who shares a birthday with Jesse. The last time their birthday's were celebrated together, Jesse was 2 and Maurie was 43. Here are a few pics from our long weekend trip.

Maurie and Jesse taking a birthday pic in the same spot as 22 yrs ago

(sorry I don't have a copy of the old pic)

Braden and Logan (Maurie and his wife Linda's grandchildren) playing out in the backyard. The kids loved playing freeze tag in the back yard with Jesse and I

Maurie, a history professor and the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, recently wrote a book called "Myra's Men: Building the Kettle Valley Railway". While we were visiting, Maurie led a tour through one of the camps of the men who built the railway. We were also able to bike along the old rail bed of the railway which contained many trestles.

Maurie and Linda, showing us where we were on the map on Maurie's shirt

Here's a pic of smoke approaching Maurie and Linda's house from one of the many

forest fires burning in the area.

Lastly, a pic of Jesse and I with Ogopogo, the sea monster in the Okanagan lake.

We had a lot of fun walking around downtown Kelowna with Jesse's relatives!