Colorado Hiking and Fun Summer 2017, part 1

Danny reminded me I haven't blogged in a while so...here goes our first summer living in CO!

We had an amazing summer with lots of visits from friends and family, hiking and fun with a new K9 family member, and a mountain biking trip. All in all it felt like we got in the "goodness" we were looking for here in CO both with being a vacation destination for people we love, as well as getting to do what we loved! We are very lucky people.

In early June Robin's mom and dad visited. They stayed with us for the weekend and then in Estes Park during the week. Over the weekend, we visited Eldorado Canyon, which has a lovely non-strenuous hike called Fowler Trail which still offers really breathtaking views of the canyons:

During the week, Danny and I worked and mom and Dad enjoyed some time in Estes Park. We headed up to visit on the 13 to celebrate our anniversary and went to 1929 Tavern which was gorgeous and had decent food. Our last night here we visited Colterra near home which had EXCELLENT (if expensive food). 

After mom and dad left our good friends Heather and her husband Brent visited. Heather and Robin have been friends for almost 20 years and were also probably separated at birth in another life, and true to form, Danny and Brent are pretty much brothers from another mother as well, so having them there was like having family here but even better. Just kidding family! We crammed about as much into 5 days as we could.

Hiking near Chataqua

which, given our recent rains, looked more like the english countryside than the Colorado mountains:

Whitewater rafting at clear creek

which helped us learn two things: 1) beginner trips are just fine and incredibly fun for us and we need nothing more challenging than that and 2) never underestimate how cold it can be in the mountains of CO in early summer (we rafted in 47 degree weather). Our Dallasites were thrilled for the cooler temperatures and no one got hypothermia, so all in all the trip was a success and the gear was super cool. 

More Hiking in Eldorado Canyon

We loved Eldorado Canyon so much the first time and Heather and Brent were all in for it, so we decided to undertake something a little more challenging this time, the Eldorado Canyon trail itself. And how. As you can see, the fit among us really were not interested in waiting for anyone.

It was a beautiful hike and definitely clocked in as one of our favorites. The first 1/2 mile was a little crowded but once you got past the people in flip flops (yes) it was awesome.

To prep for our last day's hike we visited the famous Lucille's, a Boulder and Longmont mainstay, and caught a beautiful moment of Heather actually holding up a tree.

Hike: Red Rocks Trail

Second weekend hiking in CO; third here we did Red Rocks trail. Last weekend we did Caribou trail and there was SNOW!

The fire in Boulder recently swept through this area so there is a lot of damage to the trees and landscape.  It even still smelled of ash while we were there, and some of the trail boundaries were damaged. Still the trail is very pretty and an awesome weekend day hike. All trails has it listed as an easy but we felt it was more like a moderate given the steep incline climb at the start.

We didn't do the whole loop, the trail is kind of oddly marked for its vantage point so close in. Still it was a great hike; we took the dogs over the crest past the rocks, down the other side, and then turned back. Poppy and Missy both did great but were clearly very tired by the end of the trip.

It appeared to threaten rain briefly but the weather was perfect. Note that people are climbing to the top of red rocks without protection. Not sure I'd be doing that!



Afterward we had lunch at the Alpine Cafe just at the base of the Flatirons and then we bought Robin a mountain bike.

Telluride

Telluride was last year, but better to do this while my memory is fresh instead of when I'm 90.

If I won the lottery I'd probably buy a house in this town. It is perhaps the most amazing place I've been in the US. Nestled in a Box Canyon, it is simultaneously comforting and terrifying: feeling cradled by, and potentially trapped by (only one way out) mountains. Home to people who have more money than I can imagine, its dotted with amazing restaurants, cute Victorian homes, and what has to be the world's coolest Gondola.

There are loads of restaurants there...many more expensive than necessary but the best we found was the new Sheridan: impeccably cooked steak, amazingly selected wines...all the things that make a meal worth it. Brown Dog was also awesome and recently won some international pizza competition! Best gluten free pizza ever. There was interesting but too into itself. Ate at some other Sushi place I didn't review and don't remember.

Biked the Jurassic Trail. Hiked part of the Jed Wiebe trail. Went to Orvis hot springs (old weird dudes lots of nudity you don't want to see), rented bikes and did all sorts of land trails.

South Padre Island

SPI

As the locals call it.

Its tempting to think of SPIs as just a trashy spring break place, and it is that, but thankfully spring break is only a few short weeks out of the year.

OK, its still a little trashy but they clean it up pretty regularly. Seriously, like every day. But someone is paid to do this, and this is good.
This was another trip for Quincy. We took her along because we were reminded, as we were three years ago, that she was getting old but she is STILL going strong.


Really strong.

Yea, I was too tired for that. So clearly, Quincy at the equivalent of about 80 in dog years is besting mom at 40 human years. Maybe I should give up pizza and start eating their kibble.

Quincy loved the beach but her favorite part was the seaweed. Eating the seaweed, rolling in the seaweed, smelling the seaweed, climbing on the giant piles of seaweed raked up against the dunes.

In addition to taking quincy to beaches and
restaurants, we visited the South Padre Island Birding center.

This is how you know you are getting old: you vastly prefer the birding center to the bar next door to your condo. We're ok with this. It really was cool. SPI has an amazing role in the lives of birds in the western hemisphere during their annual migrations from the southern americas to the northern americas; it is only one of nine worldwide locations that has a unique World Birding Center.

We also visited the turtle rescue center (both the turtle center and the birding rescue center were across the street from our lovely condo).


Turtles! They have a really rough life. Seriously, like .03% of them survive...some don't even make it to the water, so make sure to recycle everything so they don't eat it and turn your lights off at night when you stay on a barrier island because once it gets into the ocean they might think its dinner.

We ate at some cool places but I save that stuff for yelp. Read about it there!

Summer in Colorado 2012- Day 1

This post is so overdue...we went to Colorado last summer and never blogged about it.

Arrival was a nightmare. We got into Denver at 4 and had about 4-5 hours to kill before we picked Ed (Robin's brother) up at the airport. We got a cab into Denver and grabbed dinner at Dazzle, which was a really cool place in SW downtown Denver. They were doing HH when we got there, but knowing better than to drink during the first 48 at altitude, we skipped booze and instead got a few entrees (steak: apparently a bad idea) and some coffee (also bad idea). Then we went to see Prometheus, which was weird and not worth recounting.

Danny got altitude sickness from the rather heavy dinner. I had no appetite, and hadn't eaten, so was fine, but Danny could barely walk by the time we left. A kind pedicab took sympathy on us and drove us all the way from the entertainment district (I know it has a name but I don't know what it is) to our car 20 blocks away. We headed toward the airport with plans to pick up water on the way.

Well, not only were there no gas stations apparent from I-70, but the road was closed down except for 1 lane for at least 70% of the way. Danny was progressively sicker, Robin was in irritation due to being late picking Ed up and at the horrendous traffic...it was generally a bad experience. We got lost once at the airport because the DIA is the Suckiest Airport Ever.

We finally got Ed and headed on to Boulder. Luckily things picked up immensely there! Robin and Ed got to catch up in the car, Ed explained to science-tard Robin why altitude is colder, and we made it to our rental easily. 

We were all exhausted but super-excited to be in Boulder....

Final days of Asheville

End of the Asheville Trip. This is sure to be boring for onlookers.

So...Tuesday we went downtown. Brunch at Carmels (best bloody mary ever!) and an afternoon at the Gallery district- dog friendly of course. Visited one amazing painter who was inspring (Jose Girard). Had coffee. Quincy got bath in clawfoot tub at an interesting dog wash. Went home and had dinner at Tupelo Honey. Wednesday went hiking at the major falls in Dupont State Forest. Came home and mom made brunch. Got the call about Angel. Thursday went ziplining and Angel was put down at 12. He said goodbye in the clouds at 5:00 that afternoon.

Walked downtown with Quincy- went to the Mast General Store. Quincy was in heaven- is that candy for ME??!!

Cold front! Went to a place that had an outdoor patio and had the best tomato soup ever. Met a beautiful dane wearing a thundershirt, and also met his family. It was darn chilly. From Pittsburgh. Who knew?

Took Quincy home and had dinner at Curate for our last night.

Friday drove to Charlotte. Surprisingly cute city. Had a great time. Went for some walks:

Ate hot buttered fried corn on the cob. that's right!

Had way too much fried food for dinner. Then walked next to the rail.

Then went home. Last day went to the festival and had crummy Thai food. MMMM. Thai. Am hungry.

Ducks!

Not birds. The boats. On Monday we went rafting with quite possibly the coolest rafting company on earth, Blue Heron Whitewater. Here's how cool they were. We were the only people on our tour, and somehow showed up at the entirely wrong time for our trip, but they came to the shop and took us out anyway. Then they upgraded us to ducks since we are semi-"skilled" rafters. Ducks are the tiny boats you see the real kayaker types head downstream in. Like this.

Ok, perhaps they don't get caught on rocks. But their boats are like this. Anyway, they upgraded us to ducks which I am sure most rafting companies charge extra for but they did not. Quincy did not come along but apparently dogs sometimes do. One of the guides came down behind us just this day with their dog.

Our guide, Fritz, was awesome. They apparently filmed a purina commercial on this river. Guest was a filmmaker at purina...and well, you can imagine how that goes. There were FOUR rafting dogs in the boat.

This was tiring, so it was pretty much the entire Monday of our trip. Quincy stayed at the house with gramma and grampa.  Here we are looking more rafterly.






Larry made us an excellent local, free range steak for dinner that night. It was delicious. On to Tuesday!