Estes Park + Arches Day 2

Guys, I have reached that point in the semester where I'm done. 

When I'm working around 24 hours a week (or more) plus full time school, I'm exhausted.

So, that leads to me procrastinating homework, which leads to me blogging. 

Oops. 

And blogging about Colorado makes we wish we were back on vacation. 

Good thing Thanksgiving break is around the corner or I might die (i don't even know if i'm exaggerating or not here, 

for reals my brain is almost dead). 

But anyways.... 

Our last full and final day in Colorado we were able to go up to Estes Park. 

Colorado is it's own little nature land and I loved it! Estes Park just added even more charm to it all.

Later I found out that my dad came here all the time when he was a kid with his family. 

Being the history person that I am, especially when it comes to family (you may have noticed that from yesterday's post) 

I wish I had known that before. Being where my dad and grandparents were 50 years ago and having those made up images in my head... 

Guess we'll just have to go back ;) 

^We were so close! I'm amazed every time I get close to wildlife^

 They had the cutest Christmas shops all over Estes Park. 

I freaked out when I saw all the different styles of nativities. I love them so much! 

At that point I could have skipped over Halloween and gone straight to Christmas.

^Estes Park also had so many different taffy stores that had the funnest flavors too^

Some of the best taffy I've ever had. 

After Estes Park we went back to the Hayes' apartment and just relaxed, talked, and laughed a whole bunch. 

For instance, have you seen this video? We had it on repeat! 

Colorado is unquestionably beautiful. I loved touring the area and seeing all the unique things around.

One day we'll go back and take it all in again. 

We absolutely loved our time in Colorado. Go there! It's amazing. The end.

Ooohhh, and I'm going to squeeze in our 2nd day at Arches in here real quick.
Because who knows when I'll have time to blog again (#life #homework).

The following day Andrew and I said our goodbyes which are always the worst and left back to Utah.
Once again, the drive amazed me. I am someone who gets in the car and if the car ride is longer than 45 minutes, I'm out.
But driving through Colorado I was awake the entire time! I was that amazed!

We decided to go back to Arches because our pass was valid for 7 days. Totally worth it.
We hiked to Landscape Arch and beyond.

^Utah has its beauty too.  I mean come on! 😍^

^Double O Arch^

We went to go and see the Dark Angel which was beyond the Double O but Arches fooled us
because the entire time we thought it was an arch. Lies!
A storm was coming in and we were looking for a arch and we could not find it.
We reached the end of the trail and right in front of us is this tall rock. Somewhat disappointing.
But now we've seen it. Done and check.

Thanks school for giving us a fall break. We needed you. 

The Mile High City

One of my absolute favorite things about our trip to Colorado was going to the Denver temple. 

All growing up I heard the stories about events that happened at this temple.

Clifton family history time: 

(1) My parents got engaged here. Part of a threat. haha. My mom and dad had been friends for YEARS

(i'm talking around 12 years here) and my dad had asked my mom several times to marry him but she always said no. 

She liked dating and he was just her friend. 

Well he surprised my mom at the temple one day and said if she didn't say yes this time he was leaving 

and would be gone forever. Well, she thought about it and 2 hours later in the temple she said yes. 

(2) Two months later they were married in this temple. 

So I really wanted to come and see the place where their forever began.

It was special. 

And I am so grateful for my parents and all the sacrifices they went through to make sure 

that getting married in the temple happened. 

I loved every minute. 

^28 years ago^

I love them so much! 

We went out to eat after our trip to the temple and funny story (and totally me): 

We brought clothes to change into that were a bit more casual. I went to change and I packed everything but a
shirt. Well, guess that I meant I was staying in my dress for the rest of the day. So glad I packed a pair of flats.
Or that would have been killer! haha. 

The Hayes took us to the cutest ice cream shop that I've ever seen in my entire life.
And it was all decorated for fall as a pumpkin patch with hay and pumpkins.
I almost died.
Not only was it cute but it was delicious and they had some of the funnest flavors.

Such as french toast, pb&j, ginger snap, horchata, salted oreo, lemon lavender. 

We tried quite a few before settling on which ones we wanted. 

 ^We all got smalls which come with 2 scoops. pb&j and space junkie were my favorite.^ 

We toured Denver and it was funny. It was a Saturday night and hardly anyone was out. The city was almost dead.
I said they were all camping. Colorado is an outdoor kind of people place.
We had a lot of fun being in the city and saw a lot of people were high, and not just in the elevation,
if you know what i mean.... 

Denver was such a fun place to be. It was a city inside an outdoor town. 

Wish I was back there because there homework doesn't exist! ha! that would be great. 

Only a month and a half left of the semester and then I can breathe a bit! 

We Googled it!

Driving from Grand Junction to Boulder was one of the prettiest drives I have ever been on.

Many people told us the drive would be pretty, and I believed them, but oh my goodness, it was beyond beautiful, 

especially with all the fall colors going on. 

We arrived at the Google Headquarters and met up with our friend Kenny. 

Earlier this year he and his wife moved out to Colorado to work for Google. We've missed them so we decided visit 

them and to see Google in all its glory. 

Google has everything! When we got there they were serving lunch to all employees and guests for free and it was good food. 

It's an everyday kind of thing. 

They had salmon, clam soup, pasta, salad, and the chocolate chip cookies were something else. 

After lunch we took the grand tour of Google. Kenny was an excellent guide and we got to see a lot of fun stuff.

I mean, look at all these places where employees can take their work! You just don't need to sit at your desk, you can go to 

a different location and do your thing. 

^There was a guy working in the trailer, really so many different places to take your work^

^Small room to have to yourself for work or a video conference- Lord of the Rings style.^

^Designed after the Colorado flag^

Kenny described Google as a mom who is a multi billionaire who takes care of you.

Breakfast, lunch, snacks. It's right there when you want it. 

They had these micro kitchens everywhere where employees (and us) could grab something to eat.

^A mini game room if you need a break or during lunch^

Not pictured- a gym and a massage room.

Also they had all these mini games like table shuffle board and chess. It was amazing. 

After Hallie got off work she came and joined us. It felt so good to be with the Hayes again. 

Two years ago when Andrew and I were only 1 month into our married lives we went to church and went to the 

meeting for new move ins. The Hayes' were there as well for their first time too and we hit it off with 

them and have been really good friends ever since. 

^Just look that view^

We walked down Pearl street, a cute little downtown area with so much life to it.

It was closed to street traffic, cutest shops, and there were street performers. 

Our first day in Colorado and we already fell in love with it. 

(10.20.2018)

Fall Break "Rocked!"

Since Andrew and I are now both back in school, fall break is the only time that school and work lines up for
both of us to take time off and we took full advantage 🙌

We started our break by going to Arches National Park (my favorite one) and it did not disappoint!

We hiked to the famous Delicate arch- the largest free standing arch in the park. We went to Arches 2 years ago for fall break with
my parents and hiked to Delicate arch and it felt like it took FOREVER! This time we timed ourselves and it took us 35 minutes! Amazing things happen when you develop a habit of regular exercise!

^If you look closely you can see I'm doing an arch under the arch^
sometimes i think i'm funny.

We love Delicate Arch so much we just stayed there for awhile and took pictures.
If this is not on your bucket list, I strongly suggest putting it on there.
Some places on this earth are magnificent.

Before we left the park we quickly went to Sand Dune Arch. It takes about 2 minutes to hike there from the parking lot.
When we were at Arches 2 years ago part of the arch had fallen so it was blocked off for safety reasons.
This time we were able to go right under it.

^Isn't Arches gorgeous?!^

We left the park and drove 1.5 hours to Grand Junction, CO to our AirBnB.
Sleep never felt so good.
Such a good first day of fall break!
And more to come!

(10.18.18)