Day 1 (evening) - Aspen Sleigh Ride

Next up, we met for an evening Aspen Sleigh Ride through the beautiful snowy woods on private land owned by Aspen Carriage & Sleigh.

Randy was our sleigh driver, and he was the best!

The group stopped in the middle of the woods to enjoy hot chocolate and give the horses some love; it was such a magical night and I felt honored to be a part of it with them.

Something about the sound of the sleigh bells, the laughter of the group, the snow coming down on us, the speed of the sleigh and Randy's awesome coat - it was an unforgettable moment and with Christmas only a few weeks away I think this really got us all into the Christmas spirit.

Randy told us about the bear, moose, elk and all of the frequent visitors they get; we were anxiously looking around to spot any wildlife and although we came up short, the excitement was real!

Day 2 - Maroon Bells Snowmobile Tour

The group went back to their rental home, and had a great night sleep- while the snow kept on falling here in Aspen.

We met again bright and early for our Maroon Bells Snowmobile Tour with T-Lazy Ranch.

The fresh snow on the trees, bright blue skies and sunshine made this day an unbelievably beautiful experience for all of us.

After we were all suited up with helmets and went over the rules, I jumped on the back of Gabe's (our stellar tour guide) snowmobile with my camera in one hand and hanging on for dear life with the other hand.

With great big smiles on everyone's faces - off we went!

The tour lasted about 2 hours, we went through gorgeous fields of snowy Aspen trees, along winding paths with mountain views for days; and finally made it all the way to a lookout of Maroon Bells.

Gabe told us an epic story about how Walt Disney tried to purchase the land (for obscene amounts of money) at Maroon Bells and had plans to create an amusement park. The owners of the land didn't have it, thank God.

Due to the icy conditions, we didn't walk closer to the Bells; but we didn't need to since the beauty was already right there and it was purely majestic.

For me, this was absolutely the highlight of the week!

Day 2 (evening) - Downtown Aspen Carriage Ride

It would be hard to top the beauty and adventurous spirit we all had already experienced that morning filled with snowmobiling, but this group planned it right- and after a few hours of rest we were off to experience a private Downtown Aspen Carriage ride!

I grabbed a quick Chai Tea Latte at Paradise Bakery, and waited for the group to arrive at our meeting spot. After a few minutes I heard sleigh bells, looked out into the street and here comes awesome Randy again (Aspen Carriage & Sleigh) steering his horse drawn carriage through the streets of Downtown Aspen.

The majestic beauty of the sleigh was drawing quite the crowd of onlookers, photo takers and I am sure tourists thinking how unbelievably cool this carriage was to see sitting right in the middle of beautiful downtown Aspen - with the snowy mountains as the backdrop, it was incredible.

After a quick group photo, we all jumped in - I got to ride up front with Randy and we were off to shop at Kemosabe, check out the infamous Carl's Pharmacy & to tour around and look at some of the beautiful historic Aspen homes. Randy pointed out Jack Nicholson's home to us and told of his personal stories with the incredible Kevin Costner (Yellowstone) who he has met many times and even worked with a few times. Randy also told us the horses that were pulling us were famous horses, both have been in quite a few movies.

It was a pretty cold Aspen evening for this brave group from LA, but they huddled under warm blankets, enjoyed the special time together and had smiles all night long.

Day 3 - Snowmass Mountain

We had all already had a couple of pretty long days exploring - days absolutely filled with all the fun, adventures and all the beauty that is Aspen.

But now it was time for our final day together and the group had Snowmass planned; admittedly Snowmass is my favorite little town here in the valley, and I was so excited to show them a little bit of why.

We met again at the base of the Snowmass Gondola, and once again the weather was on our side.

It was cold, but breathtakingly beautiful with more fresh snow and a bit of sunshine poking through.

By this point, seeing the smiles of the 6 lovely people I was blessed to be spending another full day with, felt like my own family walking up to greet me at the gondola- lots of quick happy hellos and off we went to see what the day was going to bring us!

The gondola ride up is an experience in itself, enclosed so you can enjoy the beauty without the freezing temperatures we climbed up to the top of Snowmass Mtn (11.675 ft elevation) and stepped off to see the sights. With the hustle and bustle of skiers and snowboarders all around us, the energy shifted once again and everyone was ready to rock and roll.

The group planned to ride the Alpine Coaster, something I had personally not done before. I was so excited for them, but even more exciting is when they asked me to join them on a ride - oh yay!

I held my camera again in one hand, and the other hand bracing myself for the speed, twists and turns of the coaster as we zipped through the beautiful snow covered forests on top of Snowmass Mountain.

It was SO fun, we all cheered at some point during the ride- and that exhilarating feeling I carried with me throughout the rest of the day.