We just finished the two day drive from Los Angeles to Boulder, with 3 cats and a dog in my hatchback. It was an exhausting but beautiful journey, especially the Virgin River gorge and pretty much all of Utah. It was a shame it was dark by the time we drove from Grand Junction to Vail, we could tell it must be a wild ride by the way they'd had to build the freeway! Luckily we have one more trip to make that we'll try to time better.

The day after we arrived, the snow started to fall, leaving Boulder looking Christmas-card perfect. One of our big worries has been how our dog Thor will cope with the cold, he's not quite a Beverley Hills Chihuahua but he's definitely grown up used to the southern California weather.

At first he was a bit freaked out by the white stuff that kept landing on his nose, but once he discovered the deer, squirrels and foxes that kept crossing our path while we walked, he had a wonderful time.

This is a fantastic start to our Colorado adventure, thanks to everyone who helped arrange this unseasonal snow. I'm also thankful we weren't trying to make it over the Vail Pass on I70 yesterday!