Andrea P. Coan | Photography

This Valentines Day my husband and I planned to be in Seattle to enjoy the city we adore and explore the nature of Washington.  We piggybacked this trip with a stop in Colorado on our way home to visit some good friends that just moved from Milwaukee to Glenwood Springs.

Upon our arrival we headed to Ballard Ave to find something good to eat and start our adventure.  We stumbled across this awesome place called Kings.

After fueling up we headed to our hotel and started to research Seattle neighborhoods in perpetration for house hunting on Monday the 13th.  In between all the running around we made sure to enjoy some site seeing, night views, pike place market, nature hikes, and even discover new places together.

After a good nights rest we started our day off with some yummy Brunch and a list of open houses we had planned to visit.  Unfortunately we didn’t fall completely in love with any but still had a blast looking and got some inspiration in the house department.  Seattle homes have some amazing spaces.

A pit stop at the Market is always a must when you are visiting Seattle…so that is what we did.

For the first time we drove over to West Seattle to explore the area…it felt like we magically ended up in a beach town.  We quickly checked out two homes that were holding open houses and then went to Alki Beach and enjoyed the views while taking a short stroll on the beach.

It was incredibly peaceful after a busy day.

Monday morning came quickly and we viewed homes with our lovely Realtor for the majority of the day – the reward afterwards was an amazing Italian dinner at Bizzarro Italian Cafe.  I highly recommend checking this little joint out, it was even featured on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  

Valentines Day — > Today was a day for us!

I was looking forward to this day of our trip from day one.  We had planned a ‘nature’ day to explore beyond the city limits.  It was the first time for the both of us to see what other elements were right outside the city.  We started with Snoqualmie Falls which was only 30 minutes away from downtown.

After we left the 270 ft waterfall we drove through some rainfall and sunshine to get to Twin Falls.  Once we arrived we decided to hike the whole trail…through we were not prepared to do so, it still was absolutely perfect.  Ended up being just what we needed!

This place blew me away…

After our short hike we ended our day with an amazing drive back into the city during sun set.  We also got to witness another rainbow during our drive.

Today was our last morning in Seattle before we headed to our next stop, COLORADO.  So, we did some wondering before heading to the airport and saying goodbye to this wonderful city.

Hello Colorado.

The first full day we had in Colorado was pretty chill, being that we were pretty tired from traveling, but we still managed to do a little hike and started our exploring and re-uniting with our friends.

…meet Micah.

Thursday the 16th was the day that my husband and I learned how to snowboard for the first time!

Our good friend, Micah, works at Sunlight Mountain and hooked us up with lift tickets.  During the first half of the day Joel got comfortable on his board and I focused on taking photograph’s of Micah on his skies.  Colleen hung out by me and took some video as we anxiously awaited our turn to get on the boards in the afternoon.  It was a great day full of falling on our asses, breaking skies, blue skies, peacefulness, sore muscles, and picture taking!How can you not love the creamy blue skies in Colorado, seriously?!Thanks Micah for kicking a** on your skies!

Micah also had some of his friends hit the slopes for me to get some ‘action’ shots during our day at the mountains…some talented boys out there!

Till next time….goodbye Sunlight Mountains.

Next stop…to  the Hot Springs to soak our achy bodies.   

Besides waking up real tender from all the activity on the mountains the day prior it was also a sad morning because it was our last full day in Colorado with our friends.  Still, we tried to do as much as our bodies would allow us to.  We started with a chill gondola ride up the mountain and enjoyed the wonderful views bellow.  It was very relaxing and a nice slow start to the morning.Relaxing things to do in Glenwood Springs:

For the hell of it we decided to take a short drive to Aspen and roam around downtown.

We ended our trip with stargazing and light painting in the sky. 

Though are adventures were fun, it was great to come back home and get back to our daily routines.

Till we meet again enjoy this recap in snapshots.

Hope you enjoyed our trip through my eyes