H-H-H-Honeymoon! {part 3}

So where did I leave off? Oh yes... a mouse trap. 

It worked. Will saved me the day. We'll leave it at that.

The next morning, Will made us poached eggs with English muffins. Poached eggs are my favorite egg prep style, and evidently Will had been practicing poaching them at home so he could surprise me with this on our honeymoon. 

What a guy, huh?

After the well-prepared-for meal, we headed out to Strawberry Park Hot Springs. It was wonderful! We had pretty mild weather (I think high temps were in the 80s), so it was kind of an odd time to go to the hot springs. Basically, there are little pools carved out (some made naturally, some made for the tourist action), with the hotter pools at the top and the cooler pools at the bottom. With temps in the 70s-80s, the cool pools were way too chilly for us. The hot pools were pretty steamy, too, so we jumped from pool to pool as our body temperatures adjusted to each varying degree.

Hooray for hot springs!

I can totally see how popular this spot would be with crisp Colorado snow on the ground. Very romantic and relaxing.

You can see some of the little tents and sitting areas set up in the midst of the different pools

Also, apparently the hot springs are "clothing-optional" after a certain time at night. Oo la la.

Again, the top pool was significantly more warm than the lowest pool. People would try to walk across this pool on the rocks because it was just too chilly!

Um, what's with the chipmunk?

Let me explain the chipmunk. This area is clearly crawling with tourists, so the wildlife here is fearless. They don't become spastic when humans come near... they get hungry! As Will and I discovered...

"What's that you're snacking on, ginger human?"

I got a little excited about this development. Will and I were snacking on almonds when they initially approached us. Will fed them half of an almond (at my behest, I think), and not surprisingly, the little guy wouldn't leave us alone after that. 

He's got a skinny little face in the earlier picture, but here, when he's conferring with his friend, you can see his almond-filled cheeks

Scarfing down another almond. Not chewing... just stashing it for later

There's a clear outline of that almond in the lower chipmunk's cheek. 

Chippy, as I've named him, decided to take my seat as I documented his intrusion on our honeymoon

Sniffing out our almond reserve

Aaaand finding a way into my bag with said almonds

Chillin' on Will's lap ... Colorado, your wildlife is pretty rude

After typing all of this, I realize that wasn't the most riveting play-by-play. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, and even reliving it through telling the story in words and pictures made me giddy all over again. 

You're really livin' large, Jenn.

We came home and Will grilled up some steaks while I had kitchen duty.

Menu: Grilled Ribeye, Cheese Grits, Grilled Peppers & Onions, Beer

I think those are the last pictures we have from the honeymoon. The rest of the time spent in Steamboat Springs was trying out different restaurants, going back to Off the Beaten Path bookstore to read and relax, and shopping for souvenirs.

Another short story: we wanted a variety of things to keep as souvenirs. We got a Steamboat Springs cook book (fitting for the Killmers), a sweatshirt, and a home decoration... but I wanted something more. As we were walking through a small mall filled with tourist-y shops, we saw a Christmas store filled with ornaments, decorations, and snow globes, with scents of cinnamon and Christmas tunes spilling out. As Will turns to me to say, "What kind of people actually shop in those stores?", I had already taken off at full-nurse-walk-speed towards the store. 

What kind of people?

The kind of people you married, apparently.

Anyway, we ended up with a Christmas ornament to document our honeymoon travels. 

The next day we left to spend the weekend in Denver, which included going to the Denver Aquarium, dining at John Elway's Steakhouse, and hanging around a huge independent bookstore (shocker!)

Then on Sunday, we headed to the airport and flew home to Virginia. It was a wonderful way to start off our married life together... doing things we love together, lots of time to talk about the ceremony and digest the whole experience, and enjoying all of this in the midst of some serious beauty. We are so thankful for the time we got and the way we got to spend that time.

Then we returned home & had 48 hours to move me out of my Charlottesville apartment. Back to reality, Jenn & Will...

H-H-H-Honeymoon! {part 2}

In the last installment of the Honeymoon series, I explained how we got to Colorado (literally and decision-wise) and showed you our digs for the week.

Will planned the whole trip. He did a wonderful job! It was all a surprise to me. Everyday, we would wake up and he would tell me what the plan was for the day. Each day was filled with the perfect balance of local, unique activities and time spent resting, either at "home" or in cozy spaces. It was exactly what I was hoping for.

Walking around the lake behind our cabin

Yup. PDA. This is about our honeymoon, after all

The next day, Will and I woke up and went to a breakfast place, Creekside Cafe, that came highly recommended by his family. Eggs Benedict is one of my favorite meals, and this place offered 14 varieties. Heavenly.

The creek near Creekside Cafe. They're very literal in Colorado

After breakfast, we went to this little local bookstore nearby, Off the Beaten Path. It had a small coffee shop and reading areas, study areas, stationary and notebooks. It was adorable! We looked around and picked out some books to read. We settled into a couch and read for a long while. Not a typical honeymoon excursion, but one that fits us pretty perfectly. 

Later that day, we went to the grocery store with our handy list. We planned a menu of tasty meals for the week, taking advantage of the grill and weather. We got home from the store and got straight to work on dinner.

Dinner: Pasta Carbonara, Caesar Salad, White Wine

It was a pretty perfect day, actually. Slept in (relatively) late that morning, went to a wonderful breakfast place, spent time in a cozy bookstore, and then made and ate a fabulous meal. It tickled a lot of the things that Will and I love to do together, so it was a perfect way to start off life as Mr. & Mrs. Killmer.

The next day, we had breakfast and headed out for a hike at Fish Creek Falls, a recommendation from Will's family. There were several hikes available. We chose the moderate sounding path, primarily because it is a paved walk and that sounded more appealing for our knee joints.

The namesake waterfall is behind us

Well, we started walking along, enjoying each other's company and the smoothly paved roads and moderate weather... and then we were done. Just like that. We turned a corner, and suddenly we were at the "overlook". Not really the hiking experience we were expecting.

You can see the waterfall is a little bit closer, but it was a mini-hike, and the Killmers were hoping for a more dramatic & brag-worthy hike

But we got some beautiful pictures on the walk back!

We walked back and decided to take the harder route up the mountain and closer to the falls. The 3 hiking options were: a "walk" to the picnic/family area, the paved path we took, and... a 5 mile hike through the wilderness. Go big or go home, Colorado.

So we decided to take the harder path, go until we got tired, stop and have our picnic lunch, and then turn around. We got closer to the falls, walked between trees and around rocks, and got out of the way of the SUPER HIKERS who had walking sticks that looked like ski poles. 

Gratuitous "honeymoon waterfall" picture

Wilderness man... makes his beard look so tame

Smile, Mrs. Killmer!

Our "action" shot. BAM

We finally stopped for our picnic lunch. We found a large tree that had fallen over, providing for us the perfect bench (and lunch guests... hello bees, dragon flies, and crazy big ants.)

Um, this is our "eating action" shot. Also, this is the face Will makes when he impersonates a wookiee* (which he does more often than you'd guess...)

*Yes, I Googled how to spell this

We made our way back from the hike and were going to go play disc golf at a campus nearby, but the wind was CRAY-ZAY and the course was pretty hard for a beginner (ahem, me.) Also, I managed to get pretty sunburned on our hike, despite remembering to pack our sunscreen and carrying it in Will's backpack for the entire hike. #gingerfail

Not the prettiest picture, but I thought it was cool to see the paths of the ski slopes on the mountains

Then it was home again to make dinner. Grilling success.

Menu: Grilled Salmon, Grilled Asparagus, Mango Cilantro Salsa

Finished Day 2 with a movie from Redbox ... oh, and a visit from a local mouse. We were contentedly watching "Ironman" [please read: Jenn had fallen asleep on the couch and Will was attentively watching], when suddenly Will sat up and was very rigid. I thought something AWESOME just happened in the movie, but he didn't really say anything for a minute. Finally he said, "I don't want you to freak out." Um, not the best way to start this explanation, William. The he said he thought he saw a mouse go across the living room floor. I calmly raised my legs to the couch and looked around the room from my safety perch. Sure enough, we saw a small brown mouse jet up the stairs. We went upstairs looking for it, to no avail. 

Plan for Day 3: go to store for a mousetrap. Be still my heart...

H-H-H-Honeymoon! {part 1}

After our beautiful wedding ceremony and reception in Charlottesville, Va (the recap on that will come later... when I have more pics and more time to pour over the pics!), Will and I drove to Richmond, Va to stay at The Jefferson Hotel. It was divine.

The hotel package we bought included breakfast in the room, so we ordered up breakfast and then wheeled it outside onto our patio. It was a beautiful day, so we thought we'd enjoy it most outside. ... Also, there were no seats in the hotel room, but there were seats on the patio. Problem: solved.

We were still oogling our rings

.

Shinyyyy

We got Will's ring in Old Town, Alexandria, Va. He had it inscribed with "Perfecta Caritas 1 Jn 4:18 JHG", which is "Perfect Love" in Latin, and the verse is "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear." And my former initials, of course. My rings are originally from Will's great-grandmother. They were given to Will's aunt, and she gave them to us to use. It's nice to have a little history in my bling!

This was part of the little patio. We're all cleaned up, packed up, and ready to fly to Colorado!

bling bling

We flew into Denver, Co and rented a car to drive to Steamboat Spring, Co. This is our flashy ride.

Will's awkward pose is my fault. I told him to lean on the car for the pic. This was the result. (Sorry, huz.)

And this is my handsome chauffeur, figuring out our route to our romantic destination.

Why Steamboat Springs? Well, here was our thought process.

Honeymoon ideas:

- Travel to another country ... Will wanted to take me to Italy, since he loves it and wants to share that love with me, and I have never been. Also, an Italian honeymoon? Swoon. But we nix'ed this because of our ultimate goal for our honeymoon-- to relax! If we went to another country, we thought we'd feel obligated to go see all of the sights (and there are a billion sights in Italy), so it didn't sound very restful. Next idea.

- Beaches/Resorts ... Hmm. Two redheaded, pale skinned, freckled honeymooners in a beach resort? We didn't want to be paranoid about being non-stop sunburned (let's be real here, people), and we're not really "beach people" to begin with (I'm sure the latter statement is hinged upon the former...). 

- Places we've never been/ always wanted to visit ... BINGO! We both talked about the cities and states we'd always wanted to visit, and Seattle and Colorado kept coming up. We went back and forth for a while. We ultimately decided on Colorado because someone in Will's family gifted us their vacation cabin in Colorado for our wedding gift. Although Will has been to Colorado before, it had been several years for him, and he didn't go to Steamboat Springs. I had never been and was dying to see some mountains. Plus, having our own space would be ultimate relaxing and the freedom to do the things we really enjoy, like cooking for ourselves! 

So this is where we ended up.

Not bad, huh?

Our lovely cabin, tucked away in a little community surrounded by mountains

Set on a lake with a big porch in the back and huge sliding glass doors in the bedroom. Yup, we woke up to that scenic view every morning.

We both think we made the right decision.

Goodbye Virginia!

Today was our last day calling Virginia our home. We've packed up our storage units & seen them taken away. We've packed up our car to make the 10ish hour odyssey to Massachusetts. We've gotten road snacks, an audio book, and comfy clothes laid out. We are ready!

We thought it was fitting to spend our last day enjoying our beloved commonwealth. So we went to Mount Vernon! Will has been there on several occasions, but not since the renovations. I have never been, so it felt appropriate to visit the lovely estate before we headed to our new commonwealth.

It was actually a wonderful day to do the tour. It was mild summer weather, breezy, temps in the 80s. It was very pleasant weather for walking around.

I wanted to walk arm-in-arm with General Washington, but if Will had my other arm, he covered up Martha (which I mostly cover up anyway). Instead, we awkwardly posed William on the other side of the General.

Mount Vernon has several tour guides set up throughout the mansion and estate. You walk into each area and the guide gives you the information about that particular space, then allows for related questions. A family friend of the Killmers, Ellen, works for Mount Vernon. She was kind enough to reserve our tickets, and she tracked us down after her tours had ended. Thanks Ellen!

 Don't you love those squinty eyes and windblown hair?

William's mother, Melissa, joined us for the tour. When Will's family trekked from Texas to Virginia for our wedding last month, they toured Mount Vernon at that time. Melissa had lots to add to the tour since she had just experienced it herself! My favorite exchange from these two on the tour:
Will: says some obscure George Washington fact
Melissa: How do you know that, William??
Will: I am full of knowledge, Mother.

That, actually, is a (mostly) adequate summary of my husband. "I am full of knowledge." Love it.

This is William & me behind the mansion, overlooking the Potomac River. Our beautiful state makes it hard to say "Goodbye", but we're excited for the beauty that awaits us in New England.

Farewell, Virginia!

Hello, Massachusetts!

Statement of Purpose

Welcome friends!

I like doing things on purpose. I'm purpose-driven. So I decided to start this blog with a few purposes:
- keep family & friends updated on our life together
- keep records of our life together
- share pictures, stories, and musings
- reciprocate my love for reading friends' blogs by sharing my life, in blog form

I guess I could break each of these down for you.

Update.
We are moving away from most of the people we love to be around and keep in touch with. Family. Friends. Co-workers. And, even though Will and I aren't exactly "phone people", we still want to keep those people involved in our lives. This seems like a good space to share those experiences.

Record.
This summer, I have quit my job, gotten married, moved away from Charlottesville, started a new job, and moved to Massachusetts. A lot is going on. There's a lot to record. I don't want to forget some of the details just because I don't have the brain capacity to store it all. So this, too, seems like a good space to keep a record of all of these changes, and any other changes that we venture upon!

Share.
Specifically pictures and vignettes. Not our day-to-day life together (we can't possibly be that stimulating), but funny stories, touching stories, and stories that have helped form our lives together. In that sense, sharing a "snapshot" of our life. And, also, literally sharing pictures! I'm a visual person, so I'd like to share some visuals of our life.

Reciprocate.
People use blogs for 1,000 reasons. Raise support/awareness. Accountability in healthy lifestyles. Tutorials on cooking or cosmetics. There are a plethora of reasons to blog. And I enjoy many of those reasons. I like the personal touches of a blog; the casual cadence of sharing thoughts and reactions to something. Blogs feel like an invitation into someone's life and home. You don't have to read it, but you're welcome to if you so choose. For friends and family that are far away, it feels like a way to hospitable to them... open my home and space and time for these people. When I read my friends' blogs, I feel invited into their home. So it feels good to reciprocate that hospitality with a blog of my own.

So that's why Ginger Snap exists.

And a few words about the title. Will and I are, obviously, both redheads. This detail been a huge identifier in both of our lives; it has gotten the most reactions of any other feature of ours; it attracted Will and I to each other. It's a fun facet that we share. Will's family has lovingly named us "The Gingers", making us a cohesive unit under our little copper umbrella. I associate very fond feelings with being called one of "The Gingers". So that's the (probably unnecessary) explanation of "Ginger". "Snap" ... well, mostly because I thought it would make for a good (and memorable) title. But also going along with the stated purpose: a snapshot into our lives.

So that's why Ginger Snap is so named.

Thanks for coming to visit with us. I hope you enjoy this space as much as I intend to!