Discovering Denver with the Dudziks!

above the fruited plains...

Well the past week has been jam packed full of adventures all up and down the front range. Some of my good family friends (the Dudziks) from home came into town for my friend Ashly's wedding and we've had a blast!

Purple Mountains Majesty:

my first CO snowman!!

Friday, we headed down south and visited the Air Force Academy, Garden of the Gods (spectacular rock formations!) AND we took the cog railway to the top of my first 14er, Pikes Peak, the mountain immortalized by Katherine Lee Bates in her famous poem, 'America the Beautiful'...and boy, was it beautiful! We lucked out with a cloudless sky and 80 degree weather (it was 40 at the top which is extremely mild for Pikes Peak). After enjoying a lunch at the top, I made a snowman (my first of the season!!) and we enjoyed donuts. Apparently, everyone who goes up to Pikes Peak eats these donuts - seriously, there was a big line for those chocolate covered balls of dough.

                                                                Ashly's Wedding:

the newlyweds!!

Saturday of course was Ashly and Jay's wedding and she was an absolutely STUNNING bride! We were blessed with the most beautiful fall day possible. The reception was in Golden, CO and the fall colors set the town ablaze...combined with beautiful weather and wonderful company, it couldn't have been a better day :)

The Denver Marathon and my debut as a Downtown Denver Tour Guide:
Sunday, I had signed up to volunteer at the Denver marathon...which means I had to awake at 4:30am...after a night of dancing and drinking at the wedding, I wasn't the happiest camper but it ended up being a blast (of course) and inspired me once again to someday soon run a marathon. Later in the day, I got to show my first set of visitors (Bob and Judy) around my new town and it was SO FUN. I'm sure you all know my affinity for being a tour guide so we had a blast. From Larimer Square to LoDo to 16th Street Mall to the mile high Capitol step to the arts district to the sketchy civic park, we experienced all that downtown Denver has to offer and then enjoyed a scrumptious meal at one of my favorite breweries in LoDo where Scott, Angela, Jenna and Chris joined us!

the Wynkoop gorilla and Bob pounding it

Judy and I at the mille high step!

Rocky Mountain National Park and MY FIRST SNOW!!
Monday, we day tripped up tot Estes Park and the amazing Rocky Mountain National Park Estes Park is a lovely little mountain town where elk seem to just wander through the streets...it's also where I had my first elk burger. RMNP was beautiful and the minute we drove inside, it started to snow!!!!! So naturally, we made little snowmen and had a snow ball fight and then I honestly thought I might have frostbite. Hmmm, gloves might be a good idea if I'm going to be living in snow? Goodness, I have become very thin skinned living in SLO for the past five years... And we saw tons of elk in RMNP - they are such majestic creatures! We ended the day by driving through more of the Rockies and having dinner in Boulder :)

majestic elk in the blanket of snow

Thanks for coming to CO Dudziks - I had a wonderful time with you!!