Good friends allow us to see the best qualities of ourselves reflected in their eyes, and its friendship more than anything else that pushes me to be a better person day in and day out. I’ve been fortunate over these past few weeks, as I hopped from one adventure to another between cities and a new life in Portland, to feel what friendship really is. The culmination took place in Aspen, hovering around 10,000 feet. Though there was precious little oxygen there was plenty of love and friendship, not only between myself and my close friends, but between the 200+ people who attended the wedding of my friends Lynn and Lance.

we were welcomed to aspen by lynn and lance’s family and friends at a cocktail party at the sky hotel… despite the sting of the red sox loss we had a wonderful night.

the day of the wedding my friend sayre drove up from denver and took kaitlyn, andrew and i on a hike to maroon bells.

prior to our hike we checked out the hoffman’s observatory and ate breakfast at the main street cafe. while we were eating our blueberry pancakes and huevos rancheros we spied a black bear sleeping in a nearby colorado blue spruce.

by 5 o’clock we were hanging above aspen in a gondola on our way to the wedding on top of aspen mountain. words can’t describe how amazing this wedding was, but i’ve never seen so many smiles on so many people’s faces. after a starlit ride down in the gondola we danced the night away at the caribou club.

our final day in aspen got a bit rained out (no hikes, bikes or tennis games), but we entertained ourselves with football, baseball and shopping… so really how bad could it be! and you should see my new cowboy boots!