Valentine's Day weekend getaway - Day 1

We are currently enjoying our first trip without kids in 4 1/2 years. And somewhat similar to our bright idea then to go to Marco Island, Florida, during a sweltering July, while Mandy was seven months pregnant, we picked a cold place to go enjoy the snow after a long, cold winter in Kansas City - Estes Park. There was a little more logic when we made this choice about six months ago, as we had both agreed that we wanted to experience this place in the winter, and because we wanted to wait until Elliot turned two. It really doesn't matter where we picked, as long as we got to go, and we got to do it alone.

The closer we got to the date, the more excited we were. Even though we had been on many trips while we were dating and first married, it seems almost like it was a lifetime ago, and the people who did that then seem to be strangers to us now.

We packed most of our stuff a couple days before leaving. Mandy's sister came the night before to be with the kids on Friday when they woke up. Our flight left at 7:00 AM, so we got up early, showered and quickly packed the rest of our stuff. The first thing that struck me was how damned easy that was. No cajoling, persuading, bribing, threatening or chasing kids down, with interruptions of diaper-changing, putting clothes back on or feeding them while they're whining about being hungry. We just packed our shit and left. And that, my friends, is one of those moments when you really miss that time before children.

And it continued to be easy. We sailed through the airport, neither one of us spending any time on making sure no one got into the trash cans, or hassled the other passengers, or breached airport security. We just sat there until our flight left, chatted with some neighbors who were on the same flight, and then we left. We sat listening to our iPods and reading, as the snow-blanketed landscape below provided a terrain-map view of the country. No constant struggle to keep anyone entertained.

We are stupidly happy in this picture

As we were picking up our car in Denver, I noticed a woman wearing her little baby while she and her husband were trying to rent their car. Behind them was a stack of luggage, a pack-n-play and a huge stroller. I was thankful for the millionth time that morning to be traveling "solo" again.

We headed to Boulder and stopped at Starbucks for some coffee. It was only 34 degrees, but based on the single-digit temps we've been having in KC, it seemed downright pleasant and we sat outside to enjoy it. We then wandered through the REI store, which was unfortunately having a clearance sale on their winter gear. I have, admittedly, an unhealthy fixation for REI. I want practically everything in that place. It was nearly noon in KC and we were starving, so we headed to Pearl Street to find something. Boulder is the slowest opening town I have ever seen. Even the coffee places don't open until 8 or 9 around here, and none of the lunch places even opened for business until 11:00. We finally found a sandwich shop on Pearl St.

After lunch, we drove to Estes and got checked into our condo early. They provided snowshoes, which knocked off one thing on our to-do list, and we picked up some movies too - another novelty for us. Until this last month, we've maybe watched two movies since Noah was born.

Only picture taken in our awesome condo. Oops. Well the mountains were cooler, do you blame us?

We dropped off our stuff at the condo, which was located behind the historic Stanley hotel. I was initially a little reluctant to stay so close into town, but it turns out to be a great place to stay. We drove up to the Beaver Meadows visitor center and talked to the rangers about the weather conditions in the park. They gave us some good ideas for off-summer route snowshoe hikes, which we'll try over the next couple of days. After a quick trip to the grocery store, we came home and sat around watching movies. Mandy wasn't feeling well, partly due to a bug she picked up from Noah and/or Elliot earlier, but also because of the altitude. So after a quick trip to the grocery store, we laid around watching Crazy Heart.

The view from our front door. That's the Stanley Hotel in the foreground

I wanted to get a feel for the cold and wind and try to acclimate a little by doing a short hike in the area north of the hotel. In all the times we've been here, I've never noticed it before and didn't realize they had any trails so close in to the town. As the sun started getting lower, we decided to go for it.

We drove to the Lumpy Ridge trailhead and took off on foot for Twin Owls/Black Canyon. The snow wasn't deep, and boots were more than adequate. What we discovered was a really pretty, rocky hike among the foothills of the nearby mountains that overlook the Stanley. It felt good to get out and move, and see the beauty we came here to enjoy. We followed the trail until it entered the Park itself, then turned around.

Normally starting out that late, I would have packed more gear and some headlamps just in case, but it was a fairly easy path to follow, and we could see the moon out bright even before dark. We made our way back to the car in the dark, with the moon providing plenty of light to see by. We stood in the lot for a few minutes admiring the starry sky, both of us agreeing that we hadn't seen so many since we'd been camping out at Lois and Gene's farm in Callao this past October. That is definitely one of the downsides of living in a city.

Just the two of us

Afterward we headed to the Rock Inn for dinner, near the YMCA. It was recommended to us by some of the locals last year as a good place to eat. For all of Estes Park's charms, we've had very little luck in finding a good place to eat and hang out, but definitely goes on the regular list. We were one of the few non-locals in the place, a log cabin-like structure with a massive moose head on one wall and a real, and welcoming, wood-burning stove at the entrance. We sat for awhile enjoying the post-hike food and some live bluegrass music by a husband and wife team.

On the way, Mandy talked to both boys before their bedtime. I only got to hear one side of the conversation (apparently neither wanted to talk to me), but it was cute listening to her. After watching them both for the day, Sam said she had a new appreciation for all that Mandy has to do.

We were tired from the day, but thought a dip in the hot tub would be a nice finish. Unfortunately by this time the cold wind had kicked up and even the few steps from the door of the condo were not for the faint of heart. We both managed to get settled into the hot tub when the wind blew one of our two towels into the water. I yelled "Watch out!!" hoping Mandy would catch it, but she interpreted it as a warning that she was about to be attacked by a wild animal, and instead of catching the towel, screamed and lunged towards me. So now we were down to one dry towel in sub-freezing windchills. Then, having failed to examine the hot tub in the daylight, we noticed that the temperature was just set to warm instead of hot. So we only lasted a little while. I magnanimously gave Mandy the dry towel, and froze as I wrestled the cover back onto the hot tub in the wind, getting stabbed by a thick icicle in the process. Rather than getting sympathy, she laughed as she made a run for the condo door.

We finished watching the movie at 10:30, well past our normal bedtimes. It was very nice not having to stop and wrestle kids into the bath, get them to brush teeth and read stories before we collapse exhausted on the couch. Mandy was really missing the kids, and got teary for a few moments as we were heading to bed, but it didn't last long. We were really looked forward to the next day.