Colorado is one of King and I’s favorite travel locations. Since we are both originally Florida boys, snow has a very special place in our hearts. I had only seen snow a few times as a child and decided King should experience it as soon as we could! In October of 2019, our friend Zoe was moving from Florida back home to Vail, and I had some time off from work. When both of our calendars opened up, we hopped into the Jeep and drove straight out to Colorado, marking King’s first extended trip in a car without a lot of detours, which initially worried me. After the first day, he was already accustomed to the drive. He was either passed out or with his head out the window.
King: Have you ever sat on your porch and witnessed a get together across the street? You can can hear the music, laughter, and hollers of people enjoying their time with one another. Maybe there is a BBQ going on too, and the smell of ribs or briquet wafts over to you, almost calling to you by your first name… “Kiiiiinggg…” Mmm. This is what it's like to drive cross country with no time to get out of the car. There were so many smells and sites I wanted to see! Dad mentioned something about us “hitting all 50 before long”, but there were WAY more than 50 intriguing smells! I detected about 100 before we hit the unique aroma of spicy seafood! If you are going to be trapped in the car for a long, long, long time, take it from me… DO NOT ROLL DOWN THE WINDOW!!!
Once arriving in Denver, CO, we travelled deep into the mountains where we settled into Frisco, Colorado, a small town on the southwest side of the Dillion Reservoir. As soon as we arrived, the night was quickly upon us and a snow flurry began like it was a cliche Christmas movie, so Zoe and I quickly raced to get King’s sweater followed by our own.
King: “Something new” was an understatement when it came to rushing out for a late night walk to find a completely white floor. I was transported from the hot and dry world I knew to a mysterious cold and beautiful one. Dad kept trying to get me excited with this new type of ball that did not bounce like my toys at home. They didn't smell like anything I knew and, frankly, I didn't know what he expected me to do with it...
It was the beginning of the season and a few of the mountains had opened up. It was the perfect amount of warming sun on your face to fresh powder below your feet. Our days were filled with touring around the small mountain towns, catching up with Zoe’s local friends and making sure that King, who generally runs a little hot in Florida, has as much playtime as possible in the snow as possible. With the open mountains being populated by skiers, we decided to take King to a nearby residential slope that wasn't open yet so that he would have a large enough area to roam freely and really experience the snow! This was certainly a proud-parent moment for me seeing my furry kid experience something new and fascinating. Quickly overtaken by joy, King instantly got the zoomies and ran circles around us, beckoning us to come deeper and deeper into the snow with him. He would run for a few moments and then flop his body down, staring at us and pawing the snow between his toes.
King: It's like cold sand! It squishes under your toes and and flies all around like the beaches back home. I don't know which one I like more... the cold white snow or the warm sand. On one paw, I love to do a swim, but it gets so hot sitting on the spicy sand, while on the other paw, the snow is so fun to play with but Dad keeps having to pull ice out of my toes. Is there a place that has both of them? Somewhere I can go to the beach and see the snow... Inquiring canines need to know!
One day, we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park to hike around the area and try to catch some of the roaming bighorn sheep. The snow would start melting and freezing over again to form large ice chunks. King already had a love for ice cubes as though they were flavorless popsicles and would quickly pick up any piece he could find to carry on our hike. King had only recently gotten into playing fetch, so we attempted to translate this with the use of snowballs, of which he finally got the hang of catching.
King: I think I had my first snowball fight!
While on our little frozen getaway, the sunglasses company Torch which I had been working for remotely had launched a new product line and wanted to capture content for the ski and snowboard community, and I was meeting up with my Denver friend Jena who models regularly. Talk about right time, right place! As we drove through the state, hitting small towns from Telluride to Breckenridge, you quickly realize how prominent dogs are to the mountain culture. King, my other go-to model with the incentives of treats, happily starred in a few of the photos for Torch’s new campaign! Jena hadn’t seen King since he was six weeks old and was so happy to get to spend some time with him since he had certainly grown up during their time apart. I was able to grab some personal photos of the two of them before we had to jump over to exclusively torch content!
King: Jena said she knew me but I wasn't sure. Maybe I was too young to remember or she could be one of my insta-fans trying to get a selfie… but after playing with each other in the snow, I recognized her scent from when I was just a pup and I even got a Starbucks drink out of it (it’s a thing we models drink you may not know about it!). My cup was a lot smaller than Jena's I quickly realized and I'm definitely bigger than her, so not sure how that math worked out. I'm going to have to talk to my manager/Dad about this!
As our vacation came to an end, it was a bit sad to have to take King out of his new winter wonderland. I knew that he would soon miss it as we returned back to the Florida heat. Since then I have been planning a second trip to the area and finally have one scheduled for the middle of January 2021. If you are from the area, have been there or know a place that King and I should, visit please reach out and let us know! We are always on the look out for new and exciting places to travel to for brand new adventures!
King: Water is delicious, but frozen water is now my new favorite thing. The cool feeling of it on my coat while I run in the trees is something I definitely don’t get enough of back home. Dad says we will come back again, but hopefully that’s true unlike the strange toys that melt in my mouth out here… I have decided I'm a cool weather pup!
Overall snow and pets most of the time make a perfect match! I believe just like people you and your pet should experience all types of weather and places together! If you live in the southern states take a trip up north or if your used to the beach visit the mountains! Traveling is so important to your health and your fury friends enjoyment. King and I encourage you to get out there and experience something new! Remember to subscribe you can stay up to date on all our new posts and places we have visited!
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