(Spring?!) Snowshoeing

I'm sure if I really thought about it, there are a bunch of things I'd never envision myself doing. Shark diving and going on a cruise definitely come to mind. Another random thing that comes to mind would be planning a mountain snowshoe trip - a night snowshoe trip at that - followed by dinner in a yurt. I sure did have to google what a yurt is when I was told about this.

Before I left Denver, I made a little list of things I'd like to do before I moved. Being a Georgia gal turned New Yorker, the mountains and snow aren't things I'm accustomed to enjoying. I've totally had snowshoeing on my list though so when one of my good friends, Alisa, mentioned going, I really got excited.

One thing I will never get used to in Colorado is that it can be 80 degrees one day and pouring snow the next. Playing in the snow in April just doesn't seem normal but hey, it keeps life exciting. As I mentioned, this was a night snowshoe adventure so we got to the mountain around 5:30pm and started the trek up to the yurt for drinks and dinner:

It was only a mile to the yurt but it was no joke. I'm sure all the deer enjoyed hearing me huff and puff my way up. I mean, seriously. SNOW. In APRIL. It sure was pretty, though:

Honestly, it's just breathtaking in the mountains. The majesty of it all will never get old. I like how the mountains make me feel so small and remind me that the world is so big.

When we got to the yurt, I officially felt like an eskimo:

How cool is that?! We found out they do sleep yurts too which I kept thinking would be so fun for a group of friends. We sat out on the deck for a bit to enjoy a little vino before dinner which was lovely. 

I just fell in love with the inside of the yurt. The wood burning stove was my absolute favorite part:

I could happily wake up each day and have my coffee here. Maybe I would befriend a squirrel and I could do something rustic like crack walnuts to feed to him.

They do most of the cooking down at the base of the mountain and transport it all up by snowmobile which I thought was neat. Another part of this adventure for me was eating elk for the first time:

I'm serious. ME in a yurt eating elk. This is not my average Saturday evening but man, did I enjoy it. By the way, I'm pretty sure we could feed a small country with that pile of potatoes.

I think I should really note the significance of me in a headlamp, too. Not much more to say about that:

It was eerie walking back. It was dead silent aside from our snowshoes and this is all you could see:

You really could feel the power of being so small out there. Seriously a cool experience. 

I'm so glad I did something like that before saying farewell to Denver. Now, if only I would've gotten myself on skis. Another time...