Harps Visit Colorado 2.0

Our college friends, Matt and Andrea Harp came out to visit us again this year, for Colorado 2.0 - the 4th of July trip is becoming a tradition. They asked for the "Colorado Experience" so that is what we gave them! The trip started with a hike to hanging lake, a beautiful hike just out side of Glenwood Springs Colorado.

Note: Trail is difficult. Yes, it was. But, the end was totally worth it!

Views of the canyon from the top.

The lake was crystal clear, absolutely beautiful.

We stayed the night in Glenwood Springs at the historic Hotel Colorado. I don't think you can get much more Colorado-authentic than that! We also introduced them to the Glenwood hot springs and enjoyed some time relaxing that evening.

The next day we drove to Fort Collins and toured the New Belgium Brewery - We've had reservations for this tour for 3 months because its difficult to get a reservation. We were very excited to finally get to see the factory and were very impressed by the tour. All around, very successful trip and a great Colorado weekend.

Matt and I both won a beer on the brewery tour - I won the trivia question, which was "How many bottles are produced per minute?" and the answer is "700." Matt won a beer because he was the only home-brewer on our tour!

Bekah and Beth in Denver

We kicked off a month of friends visiting Colorado with a visit from Bekah and her friend Beth. Bekah and I led Young Life in college together and was a bridesmaid in our wedding, and she's now living in Texas and working as an illustrator for Fossil. Her friend Beth, from Nashville, met her in Denver for the weekend and we all had a great time seeing Denver and hiking! The spent the other half of their visit with another friend, and topped off their trip by hiking a 14,000' mountain. What a trip!

Friday night we had dinner reservations at this great new restaurant in Denver called "Linger." Chris made dinner reservations 3 months ago because reservations are tough to come by on weekend nights! When he made the reservations he looked up which nights the Rockies baseball stadium fireworks would be, knowing the restaurant has an incredible view overlooking downtown Denver (and the stadium). The restaurant also overlooks Little Man Ice Cream - which we all know is one of our Denver favorites - so in the photo below you can see the top of the Little Man milk can, with the fireworks in the distance. It was a magical view, and a delicious dinner with great friends. 

We hiked at Mount Falcon on Saturday, and made a puppy friend along the way!

We also went to Red Rocks Amphitheater to check it out - it really is such a neat place to take people visiting Denver because it is unlike anything most people have ever seen. The natural rock formations and bright red color of the rocks is incredible. I was sad to see them leave, but so glad to get to spend time together catching up.