Hiking/Trekking

'26 - Parks and Weddings

As it happened, we had two weddings show up on our calendar for October, 2026. Only a few weeks apart in Florida and Colorado, it seemed like a great opportunity to plan some vacation time AND snag a few of the National Parks along the way!

While the Florida wedding was in the panhandle, extended family in Fort Myers gave us a great waypoint in a plan to visit the three national parks in south Florida - Everglades, Dry Tortugas, and Biscayne. Sure in all, a bit of a drive, but that's what retirement is for!

And in Colorado, we were just outside of Denver - a short hour or so away from the many trailheads in Rocky Mountain National Park.

In all made for a great trip - two weddings and some Parks. Perfect - unfortunately, the weather didn't quite get the memo, so we had some challenges along the way.

Read on!

Browse the blogs below to read about our adventures in Parks and Weddings.

Florida National Parks

As the first part of our Weddings and Parks vacation adventure, our first stop was the Florida wedding in Destin, FL. We’d been watching a tropical storm brewing in the Gulf – early projections having it make a turn northward toward Alabama and the western part of the Florida, though with uncertain intensity. Sadly, the weather gods had plans for that wedding. As the date approached, all eyes were on the forecasts as the storm strengthened into a category 1

Rocky Mountain National Park

The second part of our Weddings and Parks adventure was a full week in Colorado – giving us ample time to explore trails around our accommodations near Boulder and in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). And explore we did! Read more about the hikes near Boulder (South Mesa, Royal Arch, Beaver Brook, and Red Rocks/Anemone trails) and in RMNP. South Mesa Trail Plane travel is always a challenge, but even so, after grabbing our rental car and making our way