Last Week in Colorado

A covered bridge and restaurant patio in quaint Nederland, CO with mountains in the background

We left Breckenridge last Tuesday afternoon and headed to the Boulder area, which was about two hours away. The drive was all windy mountain roads, which usually would scare me, but I was just amazed by the scenery (and there were guard rails). We drove through a cool little place called Central City that’s filled with casinos, but most of them are in these old 1800s mining town looking buildings. I wanted to stop, but we were trying to get to a campsite before dark.

Boulder Canyon Drive, a winding highway with mountains jutting up on either side

The closest place we could find a camping spot was in Nederland, CO, another quirky little mountain town. We drove down a dirt road for a while and checked out a few different sites. We settled on one that wasn’t too rocky or rooty, though it was still a very bumpy road. It was on a pretty pond, which we were psyched about until we saw all the trash at the site. We would have practiced the “leave it better than you found it” motto, had we had room to pack out the trash, but our car is literally packed to the brim with all of our stuff. We decided to still stay because the area was pretty level for the trailer and we had decent cell service. It makes a big difference when we can just wake up in a spot and get on with our day, rather than having to leave first thing in the morning to get to a coffee shop with service.

Aspen trees changing their colors with hues of yellow and orange

 On Wednesday we decided to head into Boulder to check it out, which was supposed to be a thirty minute drive. Well, it ended up being a bit longer than that… There was a sign that said “mountain pass closed for road work,” so when we ignored the sign and continued to drive, we eventually got stopped and were told to turn around. So we looked at the map and saw there was a road called Magnolia Rd. that seemed to go around and connect to the road to Boulder—we were hoping past the road work. So we took this road that was beautiful, but mostly dirt, and were on it for a good half hour. When we got back to the main road, it was still blocked off. We played dumb, and the flagger lady let us through, but warned us we might get turned around further down. Well, we did, but luckily the next flagger gave us directions to go up and around on Sunshine Dr. to get to Boulder. This took us another half hour or so, and this road is NUTS—like, crazy hairpin turns.

We finally got to Boulder about an hour and a half later, starving and having to pee. Corey and my motto before this adventure was “life takes time,” which has been a very important phrase to repeat to each other recently. We walked around, visited our friend at work, and checked out the farmers market. People are very friendly in Boulder, which was jarring at first for Bostonians, but we’ve come to really like it. We ran into the guy that served us lunch earlier in the day and he remembered our order and tried to get us to buy Ashwagandha honey. It was all really funny, and by the end of the day we felt like we knew everyone in Boulder’s backstory.

By the time we drove home, the mountain pass road was open. As we were driving we saw piles and piles of rocks and boulders on the side of the road. We were like, WTF, did those fall from the mountains around us? We had a half hour of driving on this road, where you’re literally driving through a mountain with stacks of boulders on either side of you, and at some points boulders jutting out OVER your car. Remember my last post about being worried some scree would slide down onto us? That was nothing in comparison.

Opal with the Garden of the Gods in the background

We left Nederland, CO, on Saturday morning and headed to Colorado Springs. We went to the Garden of the Gods, which was an unbelievable landscape of rock formations emerging from the ground. We only had about an hour to walk around, but in that time we found the giant boulders that people go rock climbing on (it’s called bouldering when you don’t use ropes and it’s not super high off the ground)—we could tell by the fresh chalk marks. Corey went around the back of one to check out the holds, and before I knew it he was on top of the boulder. Probably best that I didn’t see him climb it because we had no chalk and no crash pads and I probably would have yelled at him to get down. We found an easier boulder that we could pretty much just walk up, and we stood on it for a bit to watch rock climbers in the distance. After seeing a guy stuck in the same place for a long time, (he had ropes, but still looked like he was struggling) I confirmed that I would not try outdoor climbing for a while. We have, however, enjoyed checking out some bouldering gyms in the Denver/Boulder area. We went to the first bouldering gym in America—in Boulder of course!

Corey looking small on top of a large boulder

After exploring Garden of the Gods, we went to my cousin Stephen’s new house in Colorado Springs, where my Aunt Marie was visiting. We had a lovely dinner where we got to meet Stephen’s fiancé, Sam, her sister and parents, and their adorable new puppy, Moose. We had planned on camping near Colorado Springs, but all of the campsites on Free Roam were saying the weather was conducive to fires. Instead, we went back to Denver to stay with friends and play one more game of Cataan.

Me posing mid hike in front of one of the large rock formations in Garden of the Gods

Large, rounded, terracotta colored rock formations in Garden of the Gods

The next morning we headed to Longmont, CO to get our fall fix of cute farm and cider donuts. Apparently in Colorado you have to make a reservation to pick apples, so we just bought some from the farm store. I’m definitely missing my favorite season in New England, and vowing to be around for it next year, but the beauty we’re experiencing out here is something else!

Me in overalls enjoying a cider donut in front of a vintage green farm truck