Our Babymoon to Colorado

This past week, Isaac and I headed to Colorado for a fun little trip before baby boy comes (nope, still haven't decided on a name). We both really enjoy being active outdoors and find the mountains to be absolutely gorgeous. Our trip did NOT disappoint. :-) 

On Tuesday, we flew out early to Denver so that we would have the whole day to start off our vacation. We picked up our rental car and headed to Four Friends Kitchen for brunch. Isaac got a breakfast burrito that had chorizo in it, and I got the chilaquiles. Near the end of the meal, we switched--I'd have to say I liked his better. Chorizo is my fave. 😍

We then adventured closer to downtown and went to Blue Sparrow coffee. A friend of ours owns a local coffee shop here in Tulsa and he suggested this coffee shop to us. It was tiny, but super cute. It was fun to see them selling our local coffee shop's beans in the store. Afterwards we checked out the REI in Denver and then headed to Estes Park for a few days.

My aunt and uncle have a house in Estes Park on a mountainside that overlooks the valley. Holy moly it was beautiful. And the weather!!! In the mornings it was around 50 degrees and only got to about 80 degrees. I was in heaven. Tuesday afternoon we checked out the town and then spent the evening with my family. Wednesday morning we packed snacks/lunch and headed out to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some hiking. It was tough hiking pregnant, but thankfully we took it slow and rested a bunch. It was COMPLETELY worth the hard work. We went on a hike that went by 5 different lakes. Gosh, it was so great.

After hiking, we showered up and took naps and then headed back to check out the downtown again. Dinner was with my aunt and uncle (she did a GREAT job on meals...I liked having someone plan and prep meals for us!) and then we headed to one of their friend's house for fireworks. Watching fireworks while wearing pants and a jacket was a new experience for me! ha (Tulsa is in the upper 90s/100s right now). We even had a group of elk walk right by us during the show. 😂 

Thursday morning we got up and drove to Colorado Springs. On the way, we stopped in Denver for a second breakfast (our first didn't keep us full) and coffee. If any of you guys live in Denver, I highly recommend the breakfast tacos from Illegal Pete's. They were cheap, delicious, and customizable. I got mine with egg, potato, chorizo, black beans, cheese, and pico. Isaac got one with bacon and black beans and one with chorizo and pinto beans and a green chile gravy. We split an iced latte from Little Owl Coffee. 

We then hit the road again and got to Colorado Springs. That afternoon we got groceries for packing lunches for the rest of the trip (it was cheaper and easier for us so that we could just bring them with us and not worry about the timing of meals with whatever we were doing) and then headed to Seven Falls. We hiked more that afternoon, checked into our little Airbnb, and then got dinner at the Skirted Heiffer. I'd heard good things about it and saw that it was on Guy's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Meh, we weren't impressed. The menu sounded great, but we both thought they were just greasy diner burgers. 

Friday we woke up and got coffee and breakfast at Switchback nearby. We split a bagel sandwich and toast with goat cheese and a blueberry/blackberry spread. Both were delicious! I ate mine with a milky latte :-). Afterwards we headed out for a different hike at 7 bridges (which thankfully was free this time...did you know you have to pay to hike sometimes???). By that end of that day, my body was worn out! We chilled out the rest of the afternoon and split dinner at Cerberus Brewing Company. The lamb sliders we got were 👌🏻. Went for a walk and ended our evening with ice cream from John and Josh's. 

Saturday we got up, had coffee and breakfast (notice a trend?) at Good Neighbors Meeting House and read for awhile. (Side note: I read Bridge to Haven by Francine Rivers on the trip, and although it was heavy and really sad, it was a GREAT book.) We went to the pioneer museum for a few hours and then headed back to Denver for our flight. Outside the security area was an area with turf and games. We had time to kill, so we checked it out and found out they had corn hole, bocce ball, and badminton. We played several rounds of corn hole and unfortunately, I was not the victor. 😩We then headed through security (well, it was more of a slow crawl) and then hopped on a plane to come back home. Our trip was SO beautiful, fun, and relaxing, and Isaac and I are already planning when we can go back next with our family of 3! :-)

Did you all do anything fun for the 4th of July?

*GIVEAWAY*!!! How to make an iced latte with an aeropress

Although Aeropress is sponsoring this giveaway, I was not compensated for my time and all opinions are completely my own. 

If you've followed me for a hot second on instagram, you know that I love iced lattes. I can't think of a meal that an iced latte wouldn't make complete. Iced lattes all day, every day :-) However, at $5 a drink, it's not a habit I can afford to keep regular. I mean, Isaac only lets me allocate $40 a month for blow money #budgetprobs. So awhile back I started to experiment with making my own iced lattes. 

Then came a string of very disappointing iced drinks. I tried brewing strong coffee over ice, cooling brewed coffee and adding milk and ice, instant coffee with ice and milk, and even tried making espresso with a mokapot. All resulted in watered down coffee/milk (or a disgusting, bitter product with the mokapot) that I always poured down the drain. Wah wah.  Then an amazing thing happened. My husband bought me an aeropress (and burr grinder--fancy fancy) for our anniversary. Really, I think it was more of a gift for himself than for me (sorry, babe), but it turned out to be the best. gift. ever. After a few failed attempts, and reading multiple blogs and watching several youtube videos, I finally came up with a delicious drink that strongly resembles an iced latte made with espresso! 

Now, this can't be considered true espresso, because apparently there are strict guidelines for the temperature and pressure in order for it to be considered espresso, but this tastes pretty darn close. (in my opinion at least). The secret is to use freshly ground espresso beans, press the grounds tightly in the aeropress, and to add a filter on top of the beans (in addition to below the grounds). This increases the pressure needed to push the water through the aeropress, which I'm pretty sure allows it to extract more flavor. 

The aeropress can be used to make more than just espresso. I think it was originally intended to make regular coffee. It just happens to be the perfect tool for making espresso :-). The great thing about it is that it takes up barely any space, it's portable, it's super affordable, it makes great coffee/espresso, and all you need is boiling water and coffee grinds. Two thumbs up. 

So I wanted to share with you all, the how-to on making this perfect iced latte. Aaaand, the makers of the aeropress were generous enough to offer a free giveaway for one lucky reader!!! See below for how to enter!

The first step is to make ice cubes made from brewed coffee. This isn't absolutely necessary, but I think it's much better because I don't like watered down iced lattes. I bought the ice cube tray in my picture on clearance at target. Isn't it so cute??

Once you have coffee ice cubes prepared, you're ready to get started. Pour 2/3 cup of milk into your cup and add 2 tsp of flavored coffee syrup. I'm personally a fan of vanilla, but you choose whatever flavor is your favorite. Oh, and go with cow's milk if you can handle dairy. It is waaaay better. Why drink something you don't even really like?! (I'm looking at you almond milk)...Then add a few coffee ice cubes and a few regular ice cubes. Place your cup in the freezer (that way your milk gets niiiice and cold). 

Next, set-up your aeropress. Place a paper filter in the black filter basket and wet with water. Screw it onto the bottom of your aeropress. 

Grind your espresso beans finely with your coffee grinder. You'll need the equivalent of 4 cups, which is 1/4 cup finely ground espresso beans, or 16-17g. Place your grounds into the areopress.

The next step is to place another filter on top of the grounds and to press it down firmly. Be sure to shake the aeropress a little before you tamper it down so that the grounds are even. I use a spice bottle to press the filter and grounds down because it happens to be the perfect size in diameter and length. Now you're ready to make your espresso! (see picture above)

Boil 1/3 cup water and add to your aeropress. Place the plunger in and slowly press down until you reach the bottom. You will hear some hissing. I've read instructions that say to stop when you hear this, but I've had better luck pushing until I hit the bottom. I've been able to almost get a crema doing that. 

Congratulations! You have just made a shot of espresso!!! Add to your cold milk, stir, and enjoy!!! Just an FYI, if you want a hot latte, just heat and froth your milk before adding the espresso instead of chilling it. It's delicious that way too. :-)

Gosh, I just think the coffee is just so beautiful! Don't you agree??...I know, I'm ridiculous. As far as the giveaway is concerned, the drawing begins today and ends Sept 26 and you can enter two different ways. The first way is to comment below with your favorite coffee drink (make sure to put your first name and last name initial). The second is to find my instagram giveaway post and comment by tagging a friend! I will be drawing and contacting one lucky winner Sept 27, so keep an eye out.

Can't wait to hear what you think about the final product. I hope you love it as much as I do!  I'm sure your budget will  :-)

If you're interested in buying an aeropress yourself, click here. Their product page is here, and their facebook page is here.