Ahh... 2008... Where did you come from?!

Well amazingly enough, we find ourselves once again in another new year. I can't believe it is already 2008... where has the time gone?! After a crazy and quick Christmas in Denver with my family, Darrell and I only had a couple days back in Glenwood before we were off again. Good friends of ours own a lodge outside of Silverton, CO. They have been trying for years now to get us out there with them, and it seems like we can never seem to coordinate dates. Every year they have a little New Year's Eve bash there and last year I was determined to make it out. Well... my appendix burst at the beginning of December... so that didn't work! But this year we made it!!!

This place is just amazing.....! The Eureka Lodge is an old miner's lodge built in the 1920's and is one of the best examples of an early 1900's miners boarding hotel in the west. We had to park probably 1/2 a mile or so from the lodge and ride snowmobiles in. Talk about the perfect retreat. I can't believe it took us so long to get here!!!

Along with our long time friends, we shared the hotel with their family, friends and other Glenwood locals- some we knew, and some we got to know. We spent our days playing pool, snowmobiling (or getting the snowmobiles stuck- whatever), building puzzles, and eating great food. Eat, drink, and be merry right? :) With a bonfire in -10 degree weather, and the stars shinning brilliantly above our heads, we rang in the New Year. It was just the break we needed and honestly, I was sad to leave. With no phones, limited internet (just enough to know the roads were open to get home) amazing views, and a warm fire... I could have stayed MUCH longer. ;)

This is actually a mine on the property. A fresh water spring provides the water for the lodge, but the dripping ceiling and cold temperatures create these amazing stalagmites in the entrance. It was an absolute fairy land! And of course the caver in me was SUPER excited about these! :)

Thanks so much to Ian and Amy for finally getting us up there, and also to Amy's parents for sharing their second "home" with us. We will definitely be back. Well I mean, of course we will be back, we have a wedding to shoot! (I almost forgot to mention that Ian & Amy are getting married at the lodge next June. Can you even imagine the photos we will get!?! I am SO excited, I can't wait!)