Back in the beginning of August I had a work trip to Boulder Colorado for a 4 day software workshop. Since Joe and I hadn't really been on a trip by ourselves without the kids, we decided this would be the perfect time for him to come along. Plus, he loves Colorado and served his 2 year mission for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Denver North mission.
We arrived on a Sunday morning and dropped our belongings off at the hotel. Then we explored Boulder on foot. Monday we rented a car for the day and took off to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. While it was pricey to get in ($20 for a 7 day pass - but for us it was just one day), it was amazing. I even got to see my first real wild elk! As we drove in the mountains just outside of Boulder we stopped to see a waterfall. I forget the name, but it was just a short hike from the road.
Then we drove to Estes Park and from there to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We decided to take the Old Fall River Road and drive along the narrow dirt road along the side of the mountain. It gave us some amazing views. It was also scary at times, because there was literally only a foot on either side of the car (one side dropping off and the other side rock cliff straight up).
I just love this picture and have it as the background on my laptop and my mac at work.
We saw a couple areas were avalanches in the mid 1980's and early 1990's completely wiped out sides of the mountain. All that is there currently is rock; nothing growing at all.
I believe these were called chimney formations.
For it being the beginning of August, I was surprised at the amount of snow that was still present. In fact we were told that the mountain roads (both the Old Fall River Road we were on and the Trail Ridge Road) usually open Memorial Day weekend, but they were still closed as of July 4th due to the large amounts of snow that fell last winter. There was one area where the snow drift that covered the road was still about 7 feet high on the one side of the road (that was some really nasty, dirty looking snow let me tell you). The temperature change was drastic from Boulder to the Alpine Visitor Center; in Boulder it was 80F and at the Alpine Visitor Center it was about 42F and very windy.
It was neat to see the snow melt form waterfalls down the side of the mountain.
I would love to have a house built in this meadow...
We crossed the continental divide at one point and then reached the Alpine Visitor Center. At this point we got out and walked around the gift store. The high altitude was making our heads feel funny (over 13,000 ft at this point, Boulder is around 5,500-6,000ft). We drove west further and saw some beautiful lakes in some valleys. Then, we headed back towards Boulder and got us some delish pizza at Beau Joe's Pizza.
We had done a lot of research on places to eat, so we ate pretty well and I think we were happy with all our choices. I made sure that our hotel had a good breakfast that came with the room as well, so that helped us get a good start to the day. We also ate at the Rib House, Foolish Craig's Cafe, Agave Mexican Bistro, and Snarf's Sub Shop.
Overall we enjoyed our trip (and my workshop was good too). The time always goes by fast though...
