Late-spring adventures are often my favorite. There's still snow on the peaks, but the green is rampant. It's perfect for portraits and landscapes alike, and seeing a new national park for the very first time.

I knew I'd love Colorado, but it was even more beautiful than I could have imagined. Much like Oregon, it has one incredible feature and vista after the other, but with more mountains, ASPENS (oh God, the aspens!), less air, and different crazy rock features. It's also packed with outdoor-lovers, but they seem even more hardcore than us Oregonians, somehow--bikers biking at 14,000' up huge inclines, runners running up those same hills, rock climbers on almost every available and inviting surface, and on and on. I loved seeing it. These are my people.

Below are photos from our adventures in Vail (we took the gondola up and hiked 2,000 feet back down the Berry Picker trail to Vail through groves of aspens with epic mountain views), Rocky Mountain National Park and our drive through the surrounding towns, Colorado Springs, Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods, and a couple of pretty canyon drives. There's even a parking lot sunset in there, since it was just that pretty.

Enjoy!

And our merry band of adventurers, including myself, Sarah, Jenny and Wells. They were fantastic partners!