I didn’t get to wish you all this yesterday so, HAPPY SPRING! One would never guess it’s spring around here however. The snow and freezing temperatures really don’t go along with what I picture to be spring.

How about a little humor to kick off this chilly Thursday? It’s 7°F here right now as I type. Woof!

Question: What do you call a nosey pepper?

Answer: Jalapeño business!

I just realized I added another pun into the mix….this “chilly” (aka chili) Thursday! Peppers are in chili….get it?

Well anyway, I have a long overdue post for you all today. So, after our incredible trip to Turks and Caicos, we headed back to the states, but not home to Minnesota, instead we headed to Colorado to celebrate Dana’s uncle’s birthday.

We stayed with his aunt (my “aunt-in-law”) in their quaint neighborhood right outside of Boulder. I feel so at home when I am in Colorado and I’ve only been there twice.

I love everything about Colorado: the view, the people, the health enthusiasts, the fitness opportunities, and all of the great food companies! LARABAR, Justin’s Nut Butter, Celestial Seasonings Tea, Food Should Taste Good, just to name a few, are produced in Colorado. Those are some of my favorite companies!

If I weren’t such a homebody, I would think about moving out there, picking up skiing, and enjoying a “greener” life out there, but I am a total homebody. I love that my parents live just 15 minutes away and couldn’t imagine being away. So, I will stick to lots of traveling instead.

When we first got to Colorado, I struggled a bit with adapting to the altitude change, and had an upset stomach and a headache. Not to mention, I didn’t get much sleep that night because our flight got in pretty late. We all laid low on the first morning but once the afternoon rolled around I was aching to get out and get moving. I still wasn’t feel the greatest, but Dana and I drove out to Eldora Ski Area anyway do some snowshoeing.

The last time I went snowshoeing was in my senior year of high school for a class called Lifetime Activities. I remember enjoying it but I’m pretty sure the routes we took back in Southern Minnesota didn’t stand a chance to the Colorado Rockies. Actually, if I recall correctly, I’m pretty sure we just did the snowshoeing outside on the school lot.

We were expecting the mountains to be in the 30′s based on our Weather Channel research, but it turned out to be in the mid-40′s and maybe even 50′s. We went totally decked out in winter coats, long underwear, snow pants, two pairs of socks, snow boots, mittens, and hats….

We took the two-hour route that wove us through the tranquil mountains.

We made a couple of stops to admire the views!

The incline of the hike really had us heatin’ up and we ended up shedding our coat layer, plus our hat and mittens.

This definitely got the heart-rate going!

We followed the orange arrows marked on the trees until we made our way back to the chalet.

I absolutely LOVE snowshoeing! It’s fun, relaxing, and it’s such a great workout too! I want to do more of it. I am so glad we went albeit not feeling 100%.

A good majority of the weekend in Colorado was spent relaxing and hanging out with the family, but on Saturday morning we planned on one excursion:

The Celestial Seasonings Tea Tour!

Celestial Seasonings is located right in Boulder and it was only about five minutes from where we were staying.

Upon arrival we were handed “teakets,” which was a package of CS Peppermint Tea along with a sample mini mug to bring over to the testing area.

At the test bar, I was able to try ANY and every tea that I wanted.

I tried the Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride, The Nutcracker Sweet, Sweet Harvest Pumpkin, and a few more. We also tried their energy shots as well as there kombucha drinks. I didn’t know they made either of those! My favorite of the teas was the Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride which I ended up buying and bringing home to enjoy.

After our free tasting and chit-chatting with the “barista,” we headed in to the screening room to watch a 10-minute video about how Celestial Seasonings began, their morals, beliefs. I found it all fascinating.

Then we threw our hairnets on and headed into the production area. Photos were not allowed inside of this area but I can tell you that it was pretty neat inside; kind of magical if you will, like Willy Wonka. Each room you went by had a different scent. My favorite was the peppermint and spearmint room. This one has to have a door closed to block out the smell because it is so intense that it could migrate into other teas. They opened the door to the room, and as soon as you walk in the mint invades your nostrils, makes your eyes water, and is slightly intoxicating, but in a good way! It cleared my senses and made me feel calm. They call it free aromatherapy, and it’s very fitting!

We learned about all of the different kinds of teas like black, white, herbal, caffeinated, decaffeinated, etc. Our tour guide was great. She explained the process very well and added her touches of humor. I felt like I learned so much while I was there and I truly devoured every second of it.

After the tour we were led into their gift shop. This was the place to shop if you were looking for something for someone who has everything. Did that make sense? They had so many fun gifts, beauty products, treats, and of course teas!

This was the perfect way to spend our Saturday morning, plus it was sleeting outside so it  made it even that much more cozy inside.

We had a little time to spare before we needed to head back home for lunch, so we drove to the shopping area to do some window shopping. Again, it was sleeting and pretty darn cold out at this point, so we enjoyed this as much as we could. The mall is set up so that you walk outside in between stores. If it were nice out this would have been fantastic, but since it wasn’t so great, we spent most of our time in the shops.

I loved all of the athletic stores in the area. I refrained from buying anything though! After shopping we headed back home and stayed cozy for the rest of the day.

This Colorado stop was the perfect way to end our glorious vacation. If you’ve never been to Colorado, I recommend you put it on your list of places to visit, because it is truly beautiful.

I hope you had as much fun reading this post as I had reliving it.

Now, back to reality. I hope you all have a fabulous Thursday!