Colorado - Aug 2023

On our way back from WY, we stayed four nights in CO again before we headed to NM to help out Graham.  We did this as there were a few more friends we wanted to see and Keith and Phoebe were going to be in town from NC to participate in an ultimate frisbee tournament.  We all stayed at Elizabeth and Joe's beautiful home in the University Park neighborhood of Denver. 

We arrived on Friday around 5pm and after a long drive, we went for a walk for an hour to stretch our legs.  A friend of Elizabeth joined us as she was hanging out with us for the evening since it was her birthday.  Back at the house, we snacked on cheese and crackers and guacamole and then had dinner of salmon, chicken and tomato salad (some of the ingredients were fresh from their garden).  Keith and Phoebe arrived late - around 9:30 PM as their earlier flight had been canceled.  Once they arrived, they had dinner as well.  

Dinner at Joe and Elizabeth's house

On Saturday, Keith and Phoebe went off to the sports complex where Phoebe competed in two games while the rest of us went for a great hike in Evergreen in the Three Sisters Park.  Another friend of Elizabeth and Joe also joined us for this hike which was a little over 7 miles, 1.2K elevation and took 3 hours.  After the hike, we had a lovely lunch at a winery in Evergreen - Creekside Cellars - where we enjoyed a salad, sandwich and their rose and chardonnay.  While at lunch, Shawna and Joe wanted gelato so we drove to a place that Joe had found that had great reviews - Smith+Canon.  While it was in a mall, it was probably some of the best ice cream we ever had.  Keith patiently waited while the rest of us tried several of the flavors before landing on our chosen scoop.  

Hike in Evergreen

Back at the house, we cleaned up, napped and then went to dinner downtown to The Woods, a rooftop restaurant in RiNo.  We had a few beers and shared a pizza.  The views were cool.  Some of us were hankering for ice cream (yay, a two ice cream day) so we ubered over to Bonnie Brae Ice Cream which had quite a line - but thankfully the line went fast.

Dinner at The Woods

On Sunday, we all went for a walk/run in Wash Park and then picked up a sampling of pastries/desserts from Devil's Food which we ate back at the house.  That afternoon, we watched Phoebe in one of the games and had intended on staying for the second game but gave up after the second mandatory delay due to lightening.  On our way home, we stopped at Whole Foods to pick up fixings for homemade pizza which Joe made for us back at the house - it was so yummy!

Phoebe's Team - Kitty Hawks

On Monday, Keith went to DTC to have breakfast with Keith (his old boss from Aimco) while Shawna caught up on personal items.  We then met up with Clayton, Keith's godson who lives in the area, for a hike - Mount Falcon Castle Trail Loop - 7.5 miles, 1.7K elevation, 3 hours and 20 min.  We had done this hike once before and really liked it - nice views, some shade, some open.  After the hike, we took him out to an early dinner at Hungry Goat (used to be known as Best de Arte) in Morrison which we had been to a few times - really nice courtyard.  We shared the mussels and quinoa salad which were both great.  Back at the house, we cleaned up, chatted for a bit and then went to bed.

Hike in Morrison

On Tuesday, we left early to drive to NM to start our 'stage' in Grahams' place.  It was so great to spend more time in one of our favorite places and of course, to spend more time with dear friends.

Wyoming - Aug 2023

Continuing on from CO, we drove to Wilson, WY (a few miles outside of Jackson) to spend a few days with Jodi and Tim.  The drive took 8 hours through beautiful countryside.  We arrived at their house around 4pm on Tuesday, getting a tour of their new home that they moved into just a few months prior.  The house is a lovely A-Frame with stunning views of the valley below.  We also met their adorable dog, Nell, who is a mini-Australian shepherd with a great temperament - we joked (maybe too many times) that we would take her with us!  That evening, we stayed in - they made us a wonderful meal of grilled chicken, corn and salad followed by a berry crisp for dessert.  We sat outside enjoying the views.

View from Tim and Jodi's house

Jodi had to work the next morning so we caught up on some personal items and had breakfast at Persephone Cafe West where we had a yummy yogurt bowl, egg and salmon bowl and kale and cauliflower hash.  We rested a bit at the house while we waited for the rain to die down and then went on a 6 mile, 1.4K elevation gain walk up a paved path near their house.  That evening, we had a fabulous dinner at King Sushi in Driggs, Idaho (just over the pass from Wilson) where we shared many yummy dishes for the table. 

Hike near Jodi's house

The next day we did a wonderful hike - Coal Creek Meadows - 6 miles, 2K feet elevation gain - which had beautiful flowers and views of the surrounding mountains.  Nell was a trooper on this hike as she enjoyed running after the squirrels! We had lunch at Persephone Cafe - this time sharing a sandwich and salad and another hash! That afternoon, we met up with a few of Jodi's friends to do some huckleberry picking- it was raining and we didn't get many berries - but we enjoyed still getting out!  That evening, we had dinner at Streetfood at the Stage Coach where we had a couple of Mexican/Cuban bowls with beer.  Back at the house, we had a bottle of wine while doing a load of laundry.

Coal Creek Meadows Hike

We left on Friday morning for our 8 hour drive back to Denver! Such a great visit!

Colorado - July 2023

Kicking off our first long term trip in retirement, we decided to spend a couple of weeks in Colorado to visit friends before we headed to Graham's place to help.  Keith had pre-arranged our itinerary so that we could see everyone and also stay for free!!

Edwards

Our first stop was two nights at Sarah's beautiful condo in Edwards, near Beaver Creek.  We arrived around 5pm, got settled in and then had dinner with Sarah - she cooked a great dinner of stir fry beef, vegetables and coconut rice - yum! 

The next morning, she left early to head back to Denver while we went to the local coffee shop, Yeti's Grind, for a quick breakfast and then we did a beautiful 4.5 hour, 11 mile, 2K elevation gain hike at Meadow Mountain.  The hike was mostly open so you could see the views everywhere and had a nice gentle uphill climb all the way.  Since it had rained quite a bit the few weeks before, everything was very green with beautiful wild flowers.  Back at Sarah's place, we cleaned up and had an early dinner at Craftsman Brew which was walking distance - we shared a really good kale salad and Philly dip sandwich.

Meadow Mountain Hike

For our last morning, we did laundry, cleaned the place and packed up and then headed out on our two hour drive to Steamboat with gorgeous scenery along the way!

Steamboat Springs

Our next stop was Steamboat where we stayed one night at Ralph and Kelly's house.  We arrived around noon and met Ralph at Winona's for a quick lunch where we had a great Cobb salad and greek salad.  We then went to their house to unload our stuff and then headed out for an afternoon of activity and fun - their daughter Becca joined us as well.  We first biked along the river for about an hour and then we tubed down the river for another hour.  Tubing was fun as we tried to navigate the rocks!  We were quite wet from this but didn't let that stop us from rushing over to E3 Chophouse to quickly put in an order for dinner to take advantage of the happy hour pricing.  We sat outside with a nice view of the river and ordered one of everything on the menu along with a couple of beers.  The food was very tasty - in particular the brisket.  Back at the house, we played a few rounds of Dutch blitz with the family where we definitely came in last place!

Tubing in Steamboat

The next morning, we went for a 1.5 hour, 4 mile hike up Spring Creek Trail - we didn't do the entire trail as we had to get back to the house by a certain time to pack up.  We left around 8:30am to drive 3.5 hours to Boulder.

Spring Creek Hike

Boulder

Our next stop was Boulder where we stayed one night with Dawn and Stuart and another night with Craig and Rita.  We arrived at Dawn's house in Superior (which is about 15 min south of Boulder) around noon and caught up with her while we waited on Stuart to come home.  Dawn prepared a nice light lunch - a couscous salad with chicken.  After eating, we did a two hour, 4.5 mile hike in the foothills.  It rained quite a bit so we cut the hike short by a couple of miles.  Their adorable border collie, Mac, also joined us for the hike.  

Foothills Hike

We got back to their house with enough time to clean up and have one beer before ubering to dinner.  Graham had bought us a gift certificate to Frasca for our birthday so we decided to go there and share the gift certificate with Dawn and Stuart. We opted for the four course menu where we each chose two starters, an entree and dessert.  Everything was delicious!  We had one more beer at their house before crashing for the night!

Dinner at Frasca

The next morning, we had breakfast together at their local diner, PJ's, where we had avocado toast and oatmeal - trying to be somewhat good after the large dinner from the night before.  We then went on an hour walk with Dawn and Mac before packing up to head over to Craig's house.  

We arrived at their beautiful home around noon and had a quick bite of yummy parathas that Rita made.  We then went on a 2 hour walk on Green Mountain where we saw nice views of Boulder below followed by drinking a couple of beers at a rooftop bar in town.  Back at their house, we cleaned up and hung out that evening while Craig grilled steaks along with veggies for dinner.  We also spent a little time with their two kids who were there for the summer.

Green Mountain Hike

The following morning we went for a one hour walk in the foothills behind their house and then showered and drove to Longmont to meet with Guy and Carol for lunch.  We first went to their house and caught up for a while and also saw Amber and Savannah for a few minutes.  We then drover over to Sushi Hana where we had a couple of rolls for lunch.

Hike in Boulder foothills

Lunch at Sushi Hana

Denver

We arrived at Sarah's house around 4pm and got settled in - we stayed here for 10 days so it was nice to finally stay put for a while.  Shawna cooked a meatball tagine for dinner for the three of us and we hung out for the evening and did a short walk in City Park to let our food settle.

City Park

While in Denver, we went on walks/hikes every day and met up with a friend each day as well, mostly for dinner.  We had intended on doing longer hikes each day but Shawna had developed some pretty bad blisters on both feet so some of the time was walking around parks (Wash Park, Cheesman Park, City Park) in flip flops!  

Wash Park Walk

Some of the hikes we did were:

• Mt Galbraith Loop via Cedar Gulch Trail - a 4 miles trail with 928 feet elevation located near Golden.  We had intended on going further on the Nightbird Trail to make it a 7 mile hike but we had started later in the day and it got too hot. The hike was OK - nice views on the backside but it was very exposed so not great for heat and views of the front was just of Golden.

Mt Galbraith Hike

• Bear Peak Canyon Loop - Keith and Kim did this hike in Boulder while Shawna stayed home to rest her feet from all the blisters.  The hike was a 5 hour, 9 mile and 3k elevation gain hike.  They both really enjoyed it.

Bear Peak Hike

Our main purpose for this part of the trip was catching up with friends and we had such a blast meeting up with everyone:

• Cara & Chad - We met them for dinner at Uchi where we shared quite a few dishes for the table.  Everything was very tasty. 

• Athena & Chris - We met them for dinner at Wildflower where we also had yummy food and cocktails.  

Dinner at Wildflower

• Ali - We met her for a walk around the Denver Botanic Gardens and Cheesman park and then had lunch at Flower Child where we shared a salad - great place for salads/bowls.

Botanic Gardens

• Terry - We met him for dinner at Ocean Prime where we shared a great credo and fish dish.  

• Kristina & Sarah - We had dinner with them at Perdida in our old hood in Wash Park where we shared ceviche, salad and a salmon dish.

Dinner at Perdida

• Stacie and Shannon - After dinner with Kristina and Sarah, we went down to the Marriott Tech Center to have a few drinks with Shawna's colleagues from Cigna who were in town for a meeting.

Drinks at Marriott

• Kelly & Danny - We met them at their house so that we could meet their adorable daughter and then had dinner at Cafe Mercato where we split a few appetizers for the table and then shared a fish for entree - food was tasty. After dinner, we had a couple of beers at the Lowry Beer Garden.

Lowry Beer Garden

• Kim & Kaley - Kim and Kaley planned a last minute trip to CO for the weekend to do some hiking so we met up with Kim to do a walk around Wash Park and then had lunch with them both at Hapa Sushi.  Keith also did another hike with Kim in Boulder (see above) followed by a late lunch at T/aco in Boulder.

Walk and lunch with Kim and Kaley

• Martin & Michelle - We met them at their house in the afternoon and went for a walk along a canal for about 1.5 hours.  We then cleaned up and had dinner at Palenque Covina y Agaveria where we had yummy margaritas and carnitas.  We went back to their place and sat outside while having some wine and then crashed there for the night.  The next morning we sat outside drinking coffee with them and then headed back to Sarah's.

Dinner at Palenque

• Sarah & Shikes - We went to jazz in the park (City Park), enjoying a picnic dinner and drinks while half listening to the music! We also cooked them dinner on our last night at their house - Shawna made yummy Indian!

Jazz in the Park

Since we were spending so much time with others, we did earmark one day for just the two of us - we went for a walk in City Park.  After we cleaned up, we did Barbiheimer - seeing both Oppenheimer and Barbie movies which were great.  Oppenheimer is quite long with the first half being choppy but the second half was quite good.  And of course, Barbie was very cute!  Between the two movies, we had dinner at one of our favorite Denver restaurants - Root Down - where we shared a salad, scallops and rockfish along with a bottle of wine - this place never disappoints!

Dinner at Root Down

We had an amazing time enjoying the great outdoors of CO and catching up with so many friends!