Week 23: the one with all the SNOW!

Greetings from Colorado!

Hey, hi, hello from beautiful, snowy Colorado!

Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado

We started the week off camping at Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and it started snowing! I was so excited — I LOVE snow.

(ominous music plays)

The snow kept coming down harder and harder and at times we couldn’t see Cheyenne Mountain. We checked the forecast and it looked like we were in for a BIG winter storm.

J cleaning off the snow!

We were worried that we’d get snowed in, so we decided to head north to try and stay out of the worst of it.

Cherry Creek State Park, Aurora, Colorado

We made it to our Cherry Creek State Park (near Denver) with no problems — luckily the roads were clear and there wasn’t much traffic.

We thought we beat the storm!

But woke up to this:

A foot of snow on the picnic table!

Yep, that ruler reads a foot of snow! (And yep, I have a ruler in the van — see, J, all my art supplies do come in handy!) We later learned that was half the average snow for the year for the Denver area! Whoa!

Holiday Hues Collab with Letter Sparrow

We stayed nice and cozy in the van, and I even worked on some Christmas cards!

Watch the video HERE on Instagram.

The palette that I used to make the cards is an extra special one. It’s a collab that I did with Kelly from Letter Sparrow filled with her amazing handmade paints. Check out the video to see it in action.

The Holiday Hues Collab with Letter Sparrow.

This collab is a bundle with an Art Toolkit demi palette filled with 8 gorgeous colors for Christmas (and Thanksgiving!), a mini pad of Legion Stonehenge Colors (so cute!), a wreath sticker on the lid of the palette (designed by me!) and a mini mixing pan.

Find the Holiday Hues Collab HERE on the Letter Sparrow website!

I’ll be sharing more tutorials on Instagram in the coming days.

AEONrv Meetup

On Saturday the weather warmed up and the snow started melting, so we headed into Denver for an AEONrv meetup. Jason has been following them for a long while now and this was our first chance to see one in person — we couldn’t pass it up!

AEONrvs are built on the same Ford Transit 350 AWD base van that we have, but instead of being a cargo van like ours, they build out a highly insulated fiberglass composite box.

It’s about 2 feet longer than our van and it seems really nice.

It even has a dinette with seatbelts for a third passenger.

So cool to see innovations like this happening! Wonder what the future will hold?

Leaving Cherry Creek State Park

Yesterday we left Cherry Park and headed back to Cheyenne Mountain. But not before soaking in the views of the mountains around Denver one last time. I loved seeing the yuccas in the snow!

Garden of the Gods

On our way to Cheyenne Mountain we had to stop at Garden of the Gods Park for sunset.

I’ve wanted to go there for years after seeing my friend Heather’s photos — Hi Heather!

It was so beautiful seeing the snow with the red rocks and the moon shining down on us — my photos don’t do it justice.

Here’s a little history for you from the park’s website:

In August of 1859, two surveyors started out from Denver City to begin a townsite, soon to be called Colorado City. While exploring nearby locations, they came upon a beautiful area of sandstone formations. Surveyor M. S. Beach suggested that it would be a “capital place for a Biergarten” when the country grew up. His companion, Rufus Cable, a “young and poetic man”, exclaimed, “Biergarten! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods.” It has been so-called ever since.

Such a beautiful place. Needed that bit of peace.

Back to Cheyenne Mountain

We’re back in our old campsite at Cheyenne Mountain — but it looks so different now — scroll back up to the top for a comparison! :)

We’re going to stay here tonight and tomorrow while we plot our next moves — hoping to head someplace warm! We’re deciding between heading towards Tucson, Arizona, Chiricahua National Monument, and Big Bend National Park. We’ll probably do all 3 at some point — which is your favorite?

See you next week, and thanks for following along on our adVANtures! — Lisa & Jason