CAMPING!

The whole group of us in the middle of a hike...one of eight trillion pictures taken by a sweet old lady!

Kraig...not real sure what he's winking for, but Lauren and the half of Cherise's face are really cute!

Robbie, doing the mountain-man-rock-jumper thing!

Nate's boot? I think this was after he fell in the river while trying to cross at the most difficult spot known to man...

Michael and Nate, displaying the bromance full-force!

One of the many elk we saw this weekend, out in the field outside of our campground.

This big boy was actually IN our campground!

The group on our way back home from Estes Park.

This past weekend we went camping for the first ever Watermark Denver Married Couples excursion! On a side note, it was my first time to ever go camping, so I was definitely looking forward to it. Nate and I registered and got camping equipment for our wedding, and it only took us about 2 years to use it! Anyway, the two of us plus five other couples headed up to Estes Park to begin our adventure…

First things first: breakfast. We all met up in Boulder, and, at Robbie’s suggestion, ate breakfast at the Village Coffee Shop. I’m telling you, this place should be on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (a show on Food Network for all of you who don’t know what that is). However, I had one of the best breakfast burritos I’ve ever had…all smothered in pork green chile…YUM! Then it was off to the mountains, where we had the chance to see the Aspen trees changing. Driving through Estes Park was a lot of fun…all two minutes of it…but it is a beautiful town.

We were camping at Morraine Park campground, so we stopped and set everything up, then went hiking at Lawn Lake trail. It was really gorgeous and a fairly easy hike, so we all had a great time. When we got to the falls, we hiked around the water a little bit, and Nate decided to go down and try to get some pictures from a different angle. When he tried to cross again, he fell in the water. Michael offered to take Nate’s camera so that he could cross a little more easily, and in the process of handing off the camera, Michael’s foot slipped in the water too!

After the hiking excursion, we drove back to camp to find out that our food had been confiscated! Apparently we had “improperly stored” our food, and the rangers came by and took both of the coolers. So, we had to go get it back, and then started cooking dinner. Nate made fajitas (steak and chicken) which were awesome and then we all settled down to talk around the campfire and eat s’mores. We had a great time getting to know all of the other couples in a deeper way, and were truly blessed at some of the stories we heard.

That night was windy and rainy and cold, but I was snuggled down deep in my sleeping bag. In the morning, I did NOT want to get up, but unfortunately it was time to head home.

We had a great time, and I definitely enjoyed my first time camping. I can’t wait to go again!