Memorial Day in Breckenridge, Colorado

Ashley surprised me with a weekend trip Breckenridge for the long holiday weekend. I got off work at 4:30 on Saturday and we drove west. Minus a quick and intense hail storm in the Rockies, we made it to The Lodge at Breckenridge. What a beautiful view out of our room!



Down in the lower left corner of this photo you can see where we ate our continental breakfast Sunday and Monday.



Saturday night we crushed some food at the Breckenridge Brew and Pub. For a holiday weekend, there were a lot less people in town that we thought there would be.



Sunday morning after we ate breakfast we walked around downtown Breckenridge. Even though it's June, there is still a decent amount of snow in the mountains. You can still see the runs at the huge Breckenridge ski resort.



I just liked the way this small waterfall looked in the camera.



Here you can see one of the lifts up to the ski runs at Breckenridge. It's kinda funny to see when there's not any snow on the ground. I didn't realize that there are several different locations that you can get on the mountain for skiing. This resort is A LOT bigger than the ones I'm used to back in California.



Hey I'm ready to go! Now all I need is some snow and a board!



Ashley and I really do want to get get some engagement photos done, but until we find someone to shoot them for us, we just have to settle for me setting the camera on a tripod, using the 10 second timer, and sprinting to get in the photo.



Hanging out with a HUGE bronze dog outside of a store in downtown. The city itself is VERY dog friendly. Everywhere I looked people had dogs with them. It made me miss Cali but she was in good hands being watched by one of my co-workers.



Snow was still fighting the losing battle against summer temps on the peaks of the mountains surrounding Breckenridge.



Sunday night we ate a steakhouse in downtown. On the way we passed this bridge that had a steady stream running under it.



Monday morning after breakfast we got somewhat dressed up to take some more photos of ourselves. More of me setting the camera up, and then running over to get in the shot. These were shot on the balcony of our hotel.





Check out time was 11:00am so we headed back towards home. Before we left though, we stopped near this huge lake to take some more photos.







After leaving Breck, we decided that we would drive to Black Hawk, which is in the mountains on the way back home. We thought it was just going to be a small town with one tiny casino, but it turns out it's like a mini-Vegas high up in the mountains!



HUGE Ameristar Resort and Casino in the foreground.



So Ash and I went into the Golden Gates Casino with about 9 bucks in cash between us and so I put $5 down on a blackjack table and won on the 1st hand! So we cashed out (now with $10) and walked over the Ameristar Casino across the street, fresh of my hot streak, we ended up winning $16 more bucks and walked away huge winners! Here's Ash holding all her benjamins!



Overall it was such and awesome trip (even though it is REALLY hard to breathe up in the Rocky Mountains!). Ashley and I had a great time. This is going to be a busy month for the both of us. In two weeks I am going back to California to go the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach with my brother and Ash is headed to Michigan for a friend's bachelorette party. We are still planning the wedding for next year, and I'm going to meet with a photographer and DJ.

We are still encouraging our West Coast friends and family to come visit us! Maybe a photo of the beautiful mountains can convince you to come see what Colorado has to offer!