I turn my head to the East, I see mountains. I turn my head to the North, I see mountains. The misty contours of those mountains in the background romanticize the landscape even more. Every house is adorned with a column of evergreens in the front yard. This would make an instant Winter Wonderland during Christmas.

There is no shortage of authentic Vietnamese cuisine. The best pho by far is Pho 95. It’s much better than Pho Bang, comparable to pho Danh of Houston, but not as good as Pho Pasteur of Arlington.

The weather was very sporadic, with intermittent showers throughout the day. This was the very reason why we couldn’t explore more sites.

The Garden of the Gods was our first stop. The sheer size of those red rocks made me feel miniature.

Walking up and down the trail gets very tiring very quickly.

On tap was full body message and the Seven Falls, but again, the rain had other plans for us.

I got to satisfy my appetite for photography at the Botanic Garden. Though the flowers weren’t as plentiful as I had imagined, the garden is a great place for e-sessions and wedding photography.

Unfortunately, I left my 1.8 mm at home. So I couldn’t get a nice bokeh on these.

Hats off to these fine newlyweds. They’re terrific hosts. Despite being dead tired, they still have time and energy to take us around.

We were preparing for Colorado Springs, downtown Denver, and Elitch Garden when, once again, it started raining.

A second trip to Colorado is warranted, especially in the winter. I can’t wait to go back.

Our hotel is about a 4-minute walk from the River Walk, and the view is refreshing.

The River Walk is quite romantic, stretches out pretty far, and is very clean. It’s just a bit too crowded for me. We took the boat tour that took us down the entire river, which is surrounded by sky scrappers and tall trees.

The River Walk was even better at night. The crowd doubled in size, the music doubled in decibel, and the cool breeze finally came. It was incredibly romantic.

The next day, we made a quick stop by the Alamo before heading home. I wrote a 10-page history report on the Alamo in high school, so it was nice seeing the actual building.

View from the back.

The condo looks ancient and decrepit. It has 3 floors and no elevator. That’s right, no elevator. It smells like dirty underwear. The balcony overlooking the beach catches not a single breeze. Oh, and it houses this little fella.

Yep! I paid almost $200 a night for a freaking roach. And the internet costs $3 an hour.

Disappointed and pissed off, I took a stroll on the beach and was instantly charmed by the view.

The water was so clear that I was able to see the crabs hiding underneath. Being a manly man that I am, I decided to hunt for dinner, with my own bare hands. Bad idea. I got 3 crabs and 2 cut fingers.

Hurt, hungry, and still pissed off, I drove around looking for a good seafood restaurant. Unfortunately, everything was closed. So I came back home and ate noodles. We drove 5 hours and paid almost $200 a night, only to smell dirty underwear, kill roaches, get bitten by crabs, and eat noodles. Day 1 did not go well to say the least.

The next 3 days were a dream, however. We bathed in the ocean, tanned in the sun, went jet skiing, and skinny dipped in the heated pool.

To see all that Destin has to offer, we rented 2 scooters and drove around town. These little bad boys could go as fast as 60 mph.

I would love to retire in one of these houses.

Destin was fun, but I’ve seen everything there is to see. My next trip would probably be Europe or perhaps Vietnam.