Matt James & Rachel Kirkconnell from The Bachelor

US Magazine: Inside Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell’s Romantic Summer Getaway to Aspen

Love is in the mountain air! Following a tumultuous journey on The Bachelor, Matt James and girlfriend Rachael Kirkconnell soaked up plenty of quality time during the romantic summer vacation last month.

The pair jetted off to Aspen, Colorado, on June 29 for a short getaway. An eyewitness caught the couple relaxing at the Little Nell, a five-star and five-diamond hotel near Aspen Mountain and Aspen Snowmass Ski Resort.

“Rachael was excited to experience Aspen for the first time,” the insider exclusively tells Us Weekly. “They toured the gardens and pool courtyard at the hotel, sipped champagne, and celebrated with a toast.”

They were later spotted getting cozy at The Nell’s new wine bar, where James, 29, “leaned in affectionately” toward Kirkconnell, 24. “This was only a glimpse of the affection they’ve been giving each other the entire time,” the onlooker says. “And they certainly weren’t hiding it.”

The couple also dined on the outdoor patio of Ajax Tavern, The Nell’s mountainside restaurant, and even posed for a photo on a chairlift decorated with blooming wildflowers.

“They snuggled next to each other, and he was very endearing towards her,” the insider tells Us, adding that the “big foodies” later “indulged” on an impressive lunch spread, including truffle fries, the double wagyu burger, bolognese, ricotta tartine, and cauliflower gratin.


On day two of their trip, the ABC Food Tours founder joined Kirkconnell on Snowmass Mountain in the Lost Forest. The pair rode up the Elk Camp Gondola, “canoodling” the entire time. At the top, they completed the Treeline Trial Challenge Course, attempting rappelling, zipline, and bridge-and-ladder ropes course challenges throughout the day. The real estate agent is an “adventure seeker,” the source notes, and his fearlessness “has rubbed off on Rachael.”

The off-on Bachelor couple were in good spirits during their vacation, despite their rocky history. “[Their] Aspen getaway was very romantic,” the source reveals. “Both were bright-eyed, easygoing, and in a very joyous mood. It’s very obvious to onlookers that they are definitely headed in the direction of an engagement. … They were very close and acted as if they had been dating for years.”

The former Bachelor and the graphic designer met during season 25 of the ABC reality series, which premiered in January. The duo briefly split in February when her past racially insensitive photos resurfaced on social media. The former football player reconciled with the Georgia native in April, and one month later, he described the effort they both put in to heal their relationship.

“It was honestly a commitment that we made to each other that we were going to work on the relationship,” James said on the “Pomp” podcast at the time. “There came a point in time where it was evident that my working on the relationship looked different than Rachael’s because I wasn’t really honoring that commitment that I made to working on the relationship.”

 

Rachael and Matt attend the 2021 ESPY Awards at Rooftop @ Pier 17 on July 10, 2021, in N.Y.C.

 

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That's a great find. I'm glad the interviewer kept the conversation lighthearted and didn't ask any cringy Bachelor-related questions.
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The 2021 Sports Humanitarian Awards on July 12, 2021, in New York City.

 

NOT the jail/gangsta pose!

 

I'm glad things are working out between them. Although, I'd want to specifically see what happens when we have a Morris Chestnut or Mike Coulter looking dude walk through the door.

 

The more I see of these two the more I keep thinking that their "break up" was just another part of the storyline. The producers saw what was going on at the time in the nation and they saw a juicy storyline and maybe they could flip the narrative. I mean wasn't the time of the break up also coincidentally also the time under which they could not see each other. Then like a month after the whole controversy erupts(which coincidently happened right around the time the of the finale) these two are seen "hanging out" then it turns into matt pursing a relationship, then back together really quickly. I am just thinking that the two of them never actually broke up it was all just part of the show. They clearly are into one another.

 

That's likely as well. Although I think they probably talked without the media or outsiders involvement and came to a conclusion without outside interference. It's really a lesson underneath this of how you can deal with someone who has a shady past doing something like she has done. Because in a world where people aren't allowed to grow due to the media and trolls on social media who are not close to neither one of them forever condemning folks with a past to a life sentence of accountability this displays of how that growth is capable of happening when outside hypocrites aren't involved.