Colorado

Colorado 

The change in scenery between NY and Denver could not be more dramatic.  NY with its endless man-made vista’s and Denver surrounded by flat desert, and back-drop of high mountains. 

The weather was fine when we drove North in our rental car, a Ford (con) Fusion.  The crappiest car we’ve had yet, but bigger and more suited to the long distances between Colorado’s towns.

The mountains were clear of both cloud and snow around Estes Park, in the Rocky Mountain National Park.  We woke the next morning to find about 14 inches (40cm in real measurements) of new snow on the car in the motel car-park.  It was several degrees below zero. Definitely a day to stay around town, and so we explored the laundromat, hardware store, and found an indoor climbing wall.  With Dara belaying me for the first time in about 15 years, I found out how out of shape you become after 2 months travelling and eating.  It was fun though, and I had sore muscles for a couple of days.

That evening we had dinner at the imposing, and reputedly haunted, Stanley Hotel, where Steven King gained inspiration to write “The Shining”.  It was very old-fashioned and kind of creepy. 

A day later, and with 18 inches of snow in the mountains near town we hired snow shoes and headed to Bear Lake.  There were herds of wild elk on the side of the road, with the stags bearing impressive sets of antlers. Despite having only 2 wheel drive we made it up the ice-covered road and set off in cold mid-morning watery sunlight.  My new $9.99 gloves fell to bits in the first 10 minutes. In the immortal words of Mike Brewer, “pay bollocks, get bollocks”.

After about 4 hours of trail-breaking with the snow shoes, the drifts were thigh-deep.  It was about 11,500 feet, windy and the altitude was having an effect, so we turned back without reaching the summit of Flat-Top Mountain.  Fantastic views though.

Following another great hamburger at the local diner we turned up back at the motel to find the lock was jammed.  Dara phoned the owner and he came round to check it out, but he couldn’t open it either. The neighbouring unit was empty so he let us in there to keep warm while he went home to get a ladder, thinking he might get through the man-hole in the ceiling and get through the attic space to the man-hole in our unit.  When he was gone I climbed over the balcony (we were 1 story up), along the window ledge, removed the fly-screen, found the window unlocked, slid it open and got in. We moved our stuff to the new unit and were given a free night as compensation!

Our next stop was Glenwood Springs, on the other side of the Rocky’s.  Getting there involved a drive through Boulder, then West through the heart of the mountains and ski areas.  The new snow made for spectacular views and there were lots of back-country skiers and boarders scoring runs off the 12,000 foot Loveland Pass.  We stopped at Vail for lunch but everything was shut and it was desolate.

Glenwood Springs was a pleasant surprise and we had a couple of excellent short walks while we were there.  The hot springs looked a bit tacky but they were packed with bathers.  The town centre was vibrant and we had no trouble finding good food and drink. 

Heading out of town on route to Utah, we made a small detour to pay homage at the grave of one of the USA’s most infamous gun-slinging gamblers and outlaws, Doc Holliday. For all you dentists out there, he was the original badass dentist To see the full bad ass of the week details click here   .

Aspen and Snowmass ski areas are only a few miles away, but weren’t on our agenda this trip.  Next time maybe........

The quest to find new Meindl leather boots for Dara ended in Grand Junction, where the newest and biggest Cabelas store had just opened.  “The World’s Foremost Outfitter”. This hunting and outdoor megastore stocked absolutely everything from machine guns to fudge.  The huge display cases of hand guns was fascinating and just a little scary.  Dara particularly liked the woman’s handbag called the “Gun-tote'n mama”, with concealed internal holster. They had the right boots though and what had been a mission impossible was sorted.

Click here to see photos of Rocky Mountain National Park