I’ve always loved travel. It started when my parents took me on my first big vacation to Disney World when I was five. Throughout the years my parents and I would go on an annual trip--Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, the Caribbean—I had seen them all by the time I was 19. But it wasn’t until a trip to Colorado that I realized on all those trips, I was just a tourist. I saw the requisite sites you MUST see in each place, but it was like being a spectator at a tennis match as opposed to a player.
I was on a four-day trek through Southwestern Colorado visiting Ouray, Durango and Silverton. Unlike my past travels, there were no 
mandatory stops at museums, or a checklist of top ten sites to see. Instead, the focus was entirely on experiencing what Colorado really has to offer in spades—pure, heart-pounding thrills in any season. While I’m a gym rat and former college athlete, I had never considered myself a thrill seeker, and never planned a trip that revolved around physical activity and adventures.
Colorado changed all that. I jumped right in with an ice climbing experience in Ouray. I live in Phoenix because to me 65 degrees is sweater weather, but I quickly found out that with the right gear, even a thin-skinned Arizonian could be comfy in 30 degrees and blowing snow. At the world’s first ice park, armed with an ice pick, crampons and a good guide, I scaled a very small part of what looked like a vertical glacier. It was exhilarating and empowering.
In Silverton, I operated a snowmobile for the fist time. Scaling 12,000-foot peaks, our group crisscrossed the mountains, rarely encountering another living soul. As soon as I got the hang of the machine, I was like the little kid in Talladega Nights, “I wanna go fast” became my mantra. For the first time I (sort of) understand why my husband just had to have that motorcycle. With the wind whipping in my face, I was truly experiencing the scenery rather than watching it whiz by from the seat of a car or tour bus.
My last adventure of the trip took me on a chair lift to the peaks of hell. Purgatory Mountain in Durango that is. Everyone comes to Colorado to ski, but we were doing something different—snow shoeing down the mountain. Away from the skiers we had the mountain to ourselves and I saw the purest snow I’ve ever seen in my life (I grew up in Wisconsin and am no stranger to the white stuff).
This short trip, my first introduction to the Colorado that lay outside of Denver, was a life-changing experience. First it opened my eyes to a whole new way to see the world. No longer am I content with seeing what everyone else sees, I want to really experience the places I go. I want to have adventures in each new location. Since this trip, I’ve whitewater rafted in North Carolina, kayaked in Vail, and hiked all over the place. Perhaps more importantly, this trip showed me that I have an adventurous side, and that I can do anything I put my mind out to do.
