Vacation - It's good for the soul

 Our Colorado vacation was in many ways our celebration of the end of summer.  Once we returned, we began the back-to-school frenzy that we enjoy each year because of our careers in education.

We began with a very challenging climb at the Manitau Incline.  After we pushed ourselves, we spent the rest of the trip at a more relaxed pace.  Thank goodness!

We enjoyed some memorable sights, dining, and shopping.

On the drive through eastern Colorado, we saw an strange sight on the interstate ahead of us.  We thought it might be some antlers installed on the top of a vehicle, but as we drew closer, we realized that someone was hauling some gigantic wildlife statues.

 

 We had a good laugh at this unusual highway sighting.

 

I am sure that we were not the only motorists to pull alongside for a photo.

 We discovered some really great finds at each stop!  A few of our favorites were:

MainLine in Old Town Fort Collins.   We enjoyed some amazing food (Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Waffles), discovered a new favorite beer (Agave Wheat), and indulged in Bacon Bread Pudding (made with Captain Crunch). The restaurant atmosphere was super cool and our server was very friendly and had great recommendations.  We would go back here in a heartbeat.

The Lyric Cinema Café was showing Ghosts of the West.  We were debating how to spend our last evening in Colorado and thought it would be fun to go to The Lyric, a small two theatre venue that shows independent films.  We ordered a small snack and a couple of beers from the counter and took in the show.  We felt really smart and hip for seeing an indie film about ghost towns and hearing a short Q&A session with the filmmaker. And, my husband won a DVD in the drawing.  Seriously.  He's super lucky.

We scored with vintage shopping in Fort Collins.  We found The Flamingo almost right away.  The store was having a close out sale because the owners were combining inventory for a store in a new location.  We bought so much stuff!

We already had acquired several small furniture pieces that we found in Manitau Springs.  Our vehicle was so full by the time we were ready to head to our hotel.  I actually prayed out loud that the hotel didn't have valet parking.  I might have died of embarrassment at the state of our car.

We loved Walnut Creek and Kansas City Kitty and lots and lots of other places in Fort Collins.  We also survived a hail storm with a quick scramble to the city parking garage.

We even spent some time on the Colorado State campus.  We discovered their Flower Trial Garden, an amazing collection of all types of flowers in many, many beautiful colors.

Earlier in our trip, we took in our favorite antique store in Denver and found some great pieces to refinish at a small store in Manitau Springs.  This was one of those vacations where you really dread unloading the car.

Manitau Incline

We are sorting through photos from this summer and realized that we haven't blogged about our trip to Colorado.  We put together a quick trip west before the back to school frenzy.  We had some hotel gift certificates that we had to use and a work event, which explains our Colorado Springs to Denver to Fort Collins route.  Everything fit together nicely, even with the moving from place to place.

Our first day in Colorado was spent around Colorado Springs.  My husband found a trail that he thought would be fun to hike.  I agreed without getting any details.

On the drive, he began to share information from various websites.

Me:  What trail are we hiking again?
Him:  The Manitau Incline.  It is only a mile up.  It used to be an old rail line.
Me:  Sounds cool.
Him:  It's classified as a "difficult" trail.  I think that is because it gains 2,000 feet of vertical with 2,800 railroad ties. 
Me:  (Gulp.)  What the heck?  I am not feeling very confident.

I didn't get any reassurance from the first impression.

 

This photo is from the beginning of the trail where you tell yourself that you can do this.  The little kids coming down the mountain with their parents are proof that this is climbable.  I was also not yet sweaty, thirsty, sun-baked, hungry, and sore.  I was full of optimism and hope.

 Some sections were a little rough.  I had to take several breaks during the two hour climb.  In retrospect, I needed more than one granola bar for the trip and maybe some lunch to fuel my body.  We thought ahead to bring water at least.

 The view from the top was really cool.  I am so glad that I didn't quit, though there were moments when I thought my husband was going to have to pick me up on the way back down.

 We took the four mile Barr Trail back to the base.  It started to rain and thunder a bit, so we hustled.

 It was so nice to have some cloud cover and the beautiful views.

I am not sure who took this photo or when it was taken.  It was sent to us by people who had been on the trail recently.  As if the climb wasn't difficult enough, a bear might just wonder through.  No big deal.

If you are looking for a physical challenge, and want to earn some great views, check out the Incline Trail.

Mountain views

 Here is another post about my recent travels.

I just can't help myself on this one.  While I am a prairie girl through and through, I also love myself some mountains.  This trip was for work and I was so fortunate that I had the chance to travel to Aspen - a place I had never been and most certainly want to see again.

The trip started out a little chaotic.  It was a terrible time.  It was at the start of a three city, eight day swing. Things were in upheaval at work and I was fighting every instinct to cancel and stay home to try to "fix" things when I knew in my heart of hearts that things couldn't be fixed.  And, I did what I always do - booked an early morning flight.  It always sounds like a good idea to be on the 6:30 a.m. flight until you set your alarm for 4:00 a.m. the night before.  A car had stalled in road construction on the way to the airport and we sat for several minutes - long enough for me to get anxious about cutting it too close to make my flight.  I also forgot my GPS in my car and had to buy one at the DFW airport from a vending machine.  I had always wondered who bought their electronics from vending machines in an airport.  Now, I know.  It was also snowing in Denver when I arrived.  Geez.

After a hard sell from the rental car lady about how I needed to upgrade my car to keep from going in the ditch, I finally got my car.  Once I escaped the counter and got to the lot, I got an accidental upgrade when all of the compact cars were gone.  The attendant gave me a midsize and things were starting to look up.

Once I got on the road and drove out of Denver traffic and the spitting snow, things really started to look up.  I put the address of my hotel into my brand new GPS and followed it's every direction.

 It took me via the Independence Pass.  I was being a bit naive and should have done a little more research.  More on that later.  

My GPS did take me by Idaho Springs, a cute town with a classic little diner that served breakfast all day.  A veggie omelet with the best biscuits I have eaten in some time were just what I needed.    

The drive was beautiful!  At least what I could see of it when I dared to let my eyes leave the road.  This drive was a narrow and winding road, up and down mountains.  I am guessing the "independence" part of the name was because only strong-willed and determined people forged this road in the beginning.  Wow.  White knuckles and prayers of thanksgiving that it wasn't snowing were the theme for the trip.

When I got to a certain point in the drive, I noticed several pull-off locations along the road and saw that there was quite a crowd of leaf peepers and photographers.  Their presence made me feel safe enough to stop and I needed to relax my tense muscles.  Remember, I had a tight grip on the wheel.

The aspens were turning a beautiful, vibrant yellow.  I could only think of my mom who has a lifetime goal to see the aspens and to hear the moose bugle.  I didn't hear any bugling, but I did see lots and lots of trees and I couldn't help but think of her and wish she were there.

Once I arrived in Aspen, I was blown away by the colors of the trees, the nice people and the quaint "village" feel.  After checking in at the hotel and with someone for the college fair, I was advised to run a couple of blocks to the gondola and take a ride up the mountain.  I was torn - stay at the hotel and unpack and try to relax or run two blocks.  The views were promised to be spectacular...so, I went.  I barely made it for the last ride up the mountain.

One of the gondola operators told me to take a red car because these had music.  I loved listening to their staff playlist - everything from Johnny Cash to newer artists that I am not hip enough to know.

All was going well until the gondola stopped.  I was maybe a third of the way up the mountain and started to have a bit of a panic.  This was the last ride up the mountain and what if they forgot I had gotten on and were closing down for the afternoon.  Rescue scenarios started to play out in my mind.  At the top of the list was calling my husband back in Kansas to have him look up the gondola company and calmly call them and tell them to help his wife in one of the red gondolas.  Then, I remembered seeing some flowers and other items going down the mountain in gondolas on the other side.  I talked myself into believing that they needed to stop the gondola to unload everything from an event.  I guess this was the cause because things started back up again.  Whew.

 At the top of the mountain, the views were spectacular.  It was such a gift to be able to have this experience and I am so thankful for the urging of the kind lady back at the hotel.

 I made a pledge to bring my mom to Colorado to see the aspens.  She would love, love, love the experience and I would be thrilled to travel that way again.