I got to spend a week in Colorado. I am so in love with the state, but I was told to come back when it snows. Apparently, black ice is a dangerous thing.
We flew into Denver, and that was fantastic. We got to see the Red Rocks Amphitheater. Emory saw a few shows there in his teenage years. We also got to see Golden, which is a super cute little spot. That night, we got to do a Boozy Ghost Tour, and the other people on that tour really made it a blast! The teachers were so welcoming and funny, and there was one who was after my beating heart! We could totally be friends. We heard a ghost story, and I said, "Ohhh, creepy," and she said, "That's so awesome!" I just knew when we locked eyes that we were kindred spirits. She's getting married on Halloween. She stays in all the haunted hotels. All of those teachers made our ghost tour fun as heck! And the tour guide was very interactive, asking us stories.
We drove to Boulder next. I had the brilliant idea to do an ebike tour. I have no idea why when go-karts scare the vegan marshmallows out of me! This was way worse because of the turns and the steep inclines and oncoming traffic.... but the views were fantastic! I got to see so many sites that were on my list for Boulder! I got to see Pearl Street and Dushanbe Teahouse! We visited a few parks that were so fabulous! We should have done a little hiking, but timing is everything, and we didn't leave much room for extras. My heart is still slamming at the thought of that ebike tour! The guide was fantastic, and he took such great photos of all of us. I did run into the grass a few times, and once I almost hit a fence. Emory says I should have had a little more trust in myself, but I panicked.
Estes Park! We did the Rocky Alpine tour!!! Our guide answered every single question we had and even the ones we didn't know we had. She was an expert in nature. We were going to walk up the stairway, but the air was so thin, and I took a few steps up the path and noped out. The earth was so sensitive that if you stepped off the path, the bottoms of your shoes could ruin the whole ecosystem. We ended up in the gift shop for a hot second.
We stayed in the Stanley Hotel and had drinks at the wine bar. We walked the maze, which was pretty small, but still really neat. We saw elk! At first, I had no idea what we were looking at, but we took pictures, and guests said this was the rutting season. They were all very well behaved in front of us. We did a Stephen King Tour for The Shining. That was a creepy good time. We ended up going to another bar. No scary bumps in the night. I do sleep pretty darn hard, so maybe there was something I slept through it but nothing spooky.
Glenwood Springs!! We climbed up to Hanging Lake. We had to get passes to do it, and I have never been so tired in my life. I cried when we got to the top. I have a favorite poem, but reaching the top really gave me a new perspective on the words, "when you reach a destination you thought you couldn't make." I'm not kidding. I really did cry. The view was spectacular BUT the climb!!! Wow! I couldn't catch my breath. My legs were jerking, and the muscles were completely strained. It was SO HIGH UP!!! The stairs were all rock slabs.
We rewarded ourselves at the Ironwood Hot Springs. Funny thing was, it kept drizzling. We didn't get out of the water until it started to hail, but even the thunder and lightning didn't keep people out of the water, so we climbed back in. There were so many pools, and Emory was silly enough to try to cold plunge which was 55 degrees. Too cold for me. I think it was too cold for him, too, because he couldn't catch his breath. We stayed a long time there, but the sun was going down, and it got really cold really fast.
I will continue this story on the next post. This is getting so long.
Writing update:
None.... but deeply inspired.