The morning of the wedding Sophie, Alex, Dale and I headed back out for another morning hike. We went to the same area but did the full Fish Creek Falls trail. The waterfall was beautiful!
Hello, Steamboat
We spent Labor Day weekend in Steamboat, Colorado to celebrate my cousin Ben’s wedding! When we first arrived we headed straight into town to explore before checking into our Airbnb. The next morning Grant went on his first hike with us! He loved facing forward in the carrier to take in the scenery and we all enjoyed the beautiful early Fall weather.
LA Adventures Part Two
Wednesday we started our day with breakfast at Blu Jam Cafe before heading to Malibu for a hike with Perry and Emily! We chose to hike Eagle Rock in Topanga State Park which ended up being quite the challenge with the heat and getting off the path in the last half. The views were worth it, though! Afterward we rewarded ourselves with a beachside cheese board courtesy of Whole Foods. My favorite part of the day was walking along Matador Beach and in some of the sea caves. I’m so grateful we got to see so many of our friends in LA, next up Santa Barbara!
Bandelier National Monument: Part Two
After the whole family walked the Main Loop Trail, Dale and I decided to continue on to the Alcove Trail. In hindsight, I may have let Dale climb the 140 ft. of ladders while I relaxed at the bottom but we safely made it up and down and the view was great. Approximately 25 ancestral Pueblo people lived at the top!
We ended our time at the monument with one more hike to the Upper Falls waterfall. This was a beautiful hike around 1.5 miles each way, ending at the waterfall. (It even had some rocks similar to Tent Rocks which was still closed for visitors.) There are tons of hiking opportunities in the area and I would love to return to the park and hike some of the other trails as well! That night we had a great dinner at Dr. Field Goods. Don’t let the unassuming location stop you from visiting, the food was incredible (I had the shrimp tacos)!
Bandelier National Monument: Part One
Day Two we headed to the Bandelier National Monument after lunch at the house. It was a beautiful drive there and our whole family walked along the Main Loop Trail and climbed into the cliff dwellings.
Ptarmigan Lake Trail
Our trip went way too fast and our last day arrived before we knew it! Dale’s number one request was that we hike up to Ptarmigan Lake, and while it was a little longer of a hike than anticipated the view at the top was spectacular. I’ve never been to Colorado in the Fall and really loved getting to see the start of fall with the orange and red ground cover and yellow trees. I’m more grateful than ever that we had a chance to get on the road and visit somewhere new. None of my travel plans went as expected this year but it was SO nice to have the smallest bit of normalcy with a road trip. I hope you all are staying safe and have some adventures of your own (even at home!) planned for this Fall!
