Colorado Trip: Pt. 1

On Thursday morning at 6am, I left for a wedding in Colorado with a car full of girls, tons of tunes, and puppy chow. Josh stayed home because he had too much work to get done and wasn't able to leave on a trip for four days...

This was an interesting trip for me because Josh wasn't around to let me do whatever I want, dote on my altitude nose bleeds, and kiss me during the kissing-game at the reception (this was horribly depressing, especially because we have the. cutest. friend-couples on the face of the earth).

These are some of my plain observations from the trip and some things I learned about myself with some dramatic-Mollie-isms thrown in between.

1. As much as I love our friends dearly (for real...we're like family)...I will never take another trip with them and without my husband. I missed him so. much. it was ridiculous. And by the end it just got embarrassing. Everything that came out of my mouth was either 'that's what she said' or something whiney.

I think a lot of people thought I was ridiculous (and in true Mollie fashion, I'll admit I was probably playing it up a bit) but I felt like I was walking around for four days with half of myself missing. Aside from the three hours on the dance floor where I'm usually able to shine without Josh, I spent the rest of the time desperately wishing he could have come along for the trip.

Bless my dear car buddies, Laura and Katie, who put up with me for more than 20 hours. Bless them.

I missed them the minute they left our driveway.

2. I was wonderful about going with the flow for the first 48ish hours...and after riding for 10 hours; hiking faster than I would have preferred; running down the mountain in the cold rain; weird nose bleeds; and a very unplanned evening in downtown Denver with a big group...this little control-freak had just had enough. I didn't even complain (although I did offer to stay at the bottom of the mountain and get a pedicure while everyone else went hiking...they said no).

My breaking point was the $52 per night Motel 6 room in Fort Collins that smelled like stale pot. The bath towels smelled like cigarettes. And there were scary men with face tattoos and piercings staring at us  and saying 'Hey how are you doing?' while we unloaded our things in the parking lot. Laura got a two syllable damn while she was walking up the stairs. I'm convinced there was some sort of gang activity happening at outdoor pool. I threw something that resembled a 'Rich-Housewife-Tantrum' because I was not about to stay in that scary motel for two nights without Josh there packing heat...

Okay that was dramatic...it wasn't a tantrum at all...I just came down with a small case of 'Rich-Housewife-Syndrome.'

I guess I didn't really learn anything from this except that my limit for being flexible and patient is 48 consecutive hours max. I already knew I was a control-freak, and so did all of you.

I know...we make hiking look goooooood.

3. I'm spoiled. Okay, again not a surprise...but after this weekend I have a new appreciation for my adorable husband and remembered just how lucky I am. A pedicure for my poor broken nail; shopping in the boutiques in Fort Collins; Starbucks in the mornings; a text that said, 'If you need to go to another hotel by yourself you can babe. I want you to feel safe and have fun' after the motel incident; and an entire vacation that didn't include him...and that darn that husband of mine sent me on my way, paid for it all, and never complained once.

I'm convinced I have the. best. husband on the planet. He understands my need to be surrounded by solid encouraging friendships and my undying love for wedding dances.

4. Most of you will probably be offended by this, but the mountains didn't 'take my breath away' or anything like that. Yes, they were pretty and fun to look at for a while. Yes, they're God's beautiful creation and that's awesome to think about. Yes, they were kind of cool to have in the background while I was driving to go get my pedicure. But I was actually surprised that I wasn't more excited about the mountains. I think the most exciting thing for me on our little afternoon hike was a cute giant Elk we spotted in the woods. Seriously, he was adorable. I wanted to get closer to get better pictures but those silly hardcore hikers I was with made us keep going and that made me a little homesick because I knew Josh would have let me stop for 20 minutes to take Elk pictures.

So after thinking on it for a while, and asking myself, 'What part of God's creation does amaze me?' I've come up with my answer.

Water.

Water is always pretty to me. I never realized this, but when we travel, I typically plan our vacations around water. On our honeymoon to Florida we had a hotel on the beach and spent most of our time with the ocean. On our family cruise to Florida/Haiti/Jamaica, I printed off more than 400 pretty tropical water pictures to scrapbook. On our weekend getaways, we spend time at a cabin at Twin Lakes, go on walks, take pictures, and dream about owning a lake home someday.

I'd never spent time thinking about this before, but I shouldn't have been surprised at all when the mountains didn't move me. Just give me some water and I'll be amazed. :)

5. We have the best friends anyone could ask for. I counted that we had between 20 and 30 of our best college friends in Colorado for this wedding. If that's not a testament to the kind of man that Jesse Reyes is and what amazing friends we have, I don't know what is. I cried more during this wedding than I have in the past five years put together. You think I'm kidding? Ask my sister. She will tell you that I literally never cry.

Best written vows I've ever heard. Best parent speeches I've ever witnessed. Best wedding dance I've ever attended. Best friends everywhere. It just made me realize how blessed we are to have been apart of Salt Company where we were able to surround ourselves with wonderful, God-fearing, incredibly solid friends. I don't even want to picture what our college experiences would have looked like without them...or what our lives would be like without them coming over to eat our food, sit around our fire, and watch Christmas movies until 3am.

So despite the hundreds of scary unshaven hippies I saw, the hatred I have for hiking, and the constant smell of reefer, I'm unbelievably glad I was able to go.

And I'm unbelievably happy to be home now watching How I Met Your Mother with my husband.

MmB