Oh, Mountains, How I Have Missed Thee...

Vacation has officially begun! Today, we made our way out to Colorado after a somewhat sleepless night. It was not so much the stress of traveling, but rather procrastination that led to about 4 hours of sleep.

When I got home from work on Friday, I watched a little TV, had a beer, cooked a simple meal, got my Ipod playlists ready to go...before we knew it, it was after 11pm by the time we started packing. Combine that with some choice movies broadcasting on AMC as we were getting everyting together, and it was about 2am by the time our heads finally hit the pillows.

Regardless of this fact, it's amazing how easily it is to get motivated when it comes to a vacation. We left our house this morning about 7:45am to head to Columbus for our $160(!) round trip flight with Southwest Airlines. I snagged a great deal thanks to my dad's tip-off!

Our flight went direct into Denver, CO and apparently the stars were aligned for us on this day. We left Cbus on time, and we actually arrived in Denver 30 minutes early! Of course, once we got our luggage from baggage claim and went to the rental care place, all of that "extra" time was washed away. From the time our flight landed at 11:30am to the time we left the aiport with our rental car, 2 more hours had passed.

So, with our excessive amount of luggage and our GMC Acadia SUV, we got on the road. We made a brief stop before officially exiting Denver-proper to grab some lunch at a Smashburger (what can I say, it's a guaranteed tasty, quick meal). Then, we continued on I-70 W into Rocky Mountain Country. I'm always amazed with these mountains because the landscape literally goes from relatively flat to an explosion of rocky terrain within a handful of miles.

By about 4:30pm, we reached our resort, the Sheraton Mountain Vista, in Avon, CO (just outside of Vail). Shortly after checking-in, my vacation-planning prowess was affirmed as we met with the resort concierge to go over the features of the area. I wouldn't quit my day-job by any means, but I'm pretty damn good. He was impressed with how educated I was about the area without ever having been here.

From there, we went to our room, quickly unpacked and relaxed for a few hours. I don't know why, but plane flights are exhausting! Finally, about 20 minutes after 7pm, we left for our dinner reservation at Vin 48 Restaurant and Wine Bar. It was literally about a 2 block walk to get there. Nice 'n' easy.

Both Justin and I had about 3 samplings of wine with dinner...those 3 oz. pours go down so easy! I had a Sauvignon Blanc, a Syrah and a Red Blend called "The Prisoner." Justin had a Carmenere, a Merlot and a Syrah. Our cuisine included a traditional Antipasti (olives, cheese, proscuitto, almonds, crostini, etc.) and a mussels appetizer. For dinner, I had a homemade spinach papperdelle pasta with mushrooms and Justin has a beef tenderloin with ratatouille and a shoestring potato pancake. We capped off the meal with a shot of espresso.

With renewed energy, we stopped at the Avon Liquor store on the way back to the hotel to pick up some beer and wine for the week. Then, we hopped in our SUV to head to the local grocery store. With the various day trips we are going to take this week, it's nice to be able to eat lunch on the road as well as having breakfast and snacking options.

So, that essentially concludes Day 1. We have some interesting hikes planned for tomorrow, so there will hopefully be some glorious pictures, wildlife and other interesting tidbits on the horizon.