Nicole Daacke Photography

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3 Days in Colorado - Winter Fun in Rocky Mountain National Park Adventure

Rocky Mountain National Park Adventure | Colorado Winter Fun in 3 days | Elopement photographer in Colorado

I’m so excited to share some of the photos from Chad and I’s 3 day mini winter escape to Colorado. We decided that plane tickets sounded much more appealing than Christmas gifts for each other, so we booked some flights and headed out to Colorado for 2 days of skiing fun, and a day adventuring in Rocky Mountain National Park. Literally this whole state is gorgeous and I’m dying to go back to photograph an elopement - any takers?!

We had an evening flight to Denver, so when we got in, it was already super late, but then we had to pick up our rental car and drive about 90 minutes to our airbnb in Keystone. We finally made it, tired, but superrrrr excited to play in all of the snow that was falling in the coming morning. 

After some much needed sleep, we woke up, and walked down to explore the little ski village of Keystone, where our airbnb was. We got some crepes for breakfast (my FAVEEE!) and then headed about 10 minutes down the road to Arapahoe Basin, which is where we skied, instead of Keystone. 

We both were a little effected by the altitude change, especially when on top of the mountain, so we took it slow at first but had a really great day skiing around and taking in the gorgeous views that make up that area. 

 

The next day, we decided to take a break from skiing, and make a raod trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was about a 3 hour drive but sooo worth it. We found a day hike to do, that circled around a few lakes, and knew we should probably get some snowshoes, so we stopped in a local gear rental store to pick some up, however the guy insisted that we wouldn’t need snow shoes, just micro spikes. Well turns out, AllTrails was right, gear store guy was not. 


The micro spikes were better than nothing, but we definitely needed snowshoes, and on the final trail to the last lake, we literally sunk into the snow to our waist, and Mother Nature said a big nuh uh to that happening. So we turned around and headed back down, but luckily we did get to see a few of the lakes! On our way back home, we saw a massive herd of elk, one of Chad’s favorite moments because he’s never seen him in the wild. And then I introduced him to Vietnamese Pho - not his favorite, however still one of mine ;) 


Our last day, we headed back to Araphone basin to ski one more day. But before we did that, we hit up the hot tub (WWAHHOO!!) to enjoy some hot water soaking as snow fell on our heads. Mega epic. We headed to the mountain, and this day we stayed pretty much the entire day, and both of us we’re struggling to use our legs on the last run, so I’d say we got our money’s worth. 


We were both thoroughly exhausted with our 3 day run of winter fun, and it left us both ready to come back and explore all of the rest that Colorado has to offer. 

If you’re planning an adventure elopement in Rocky Mountain National Park, or somewhere in Colorado, Summer or Winter, I’d love to be a part of the fun! To get the party started on having me as your photographer, click the button below to get in touch!