Travel | Aspen | Our Engagement

Two weeks ago, Mike and I took a ski vacation to Aspen, Co. where he proposed!

We had the most wonderful trip - I love Aspen because not only does it have picturesque skiing, it is a fantastic town with amazing restaurants, cafes, shopping and fun night life, as well. The entire village is located at the base of Aspen Mountain - you can ski right into town for lunch or an apres ski drink.

ABOVE : this is our first day skiing after our lunch at Cloud 9 Bistro. The restaurant is located 100 yards off of the Cloud 9 lift on the Aspen Highlands Mountain - my favorite mountain... it is a private, luxurious feeling mountain without crowds and long lines.

DAY ONE :

The first day was our travel day - we flew directly into Aspen, then settled in to our hotel, The Grand Hyatt Residences.

ABOVE : a view of the town during the day.

The first day, we had lunch at the Ajax Tavern at The Little Nell. It was delicious - truffle fries and tomato bisque!

ABOVE : Mike in front of our hotel at the base.

For dinner, we went to the Brexi Brasserie - a fabulous little spot. At restaurants, instead of sticking with the typical salad then entree routine, I like to order several small courses to be shared. At the Brexi, we started with crab legs, then we shared a warm goat cheese and beet salad, then steamed mussels in a saffron broth. I'm still daydreaming about it today...

On our first day skiing, we skied Aspen Highlands. Here I am in front of "Apple Strudel" my favorite run... note the 'easiest' designation.

ABOVE : Lunch at Cloud 9 - such a nice treat to be 12,000 feet up having a white tablecloth lunch by the fire. We started with a seafood and potato chowder, then...

I had a pan fried bass with homemade dumplings and caper berries. We ended the meal with the most spectacular hot chocolate.

After skiing, we hit the hot tub at our hotel.

That evening, Mike surprised me with a horse-drawn sleigh ride thru trails on the back side of Aspen Mountain, where he proposed : ) Unfortunately, I only had my iphone camera with me, so we didn't have a flash for a better photo - this was taken by the light of the sleigh!

ABOVE : Chocolate covered strawberries and champagne to congratulate us on the engagement from Mike's parents.

The view from our hotel room - an ice skating rink and sparkling lights!