Rocky Mountain Memories

Our next destination was Colorado and we're both excited to see some real mountains! To break up our trip to Denver/Fort Collins we decided to stop in Grand Junction for a night.  Sara has family friends currently living there -  Sarah and Amanda Andrews - the daughters of Pat and Mary Andrews; Pat performed our wedding ceremony.  The two sisters have been living in Colorado for the past three years and Sarah was able meet us downtown on short notice and play tour guide.  It didn't take long to walk up and down Main Street, so we popped into a local brewery so the girls could catch up. We missed a good photo opportunity but are grateful for her kindness - she even bought a round of drinks!

Wednesday morning we hit the road heading east to Denver. The drive was beautiful! Our poor car who has earned the moniker "Bessy," coughed and sweated up and down the passes that wind through the majestic Rocky Mountains. I had been to Colorado once before on a family ski trip many years ago, but I had never seen the area in the summer. Lush greenery and spruce pines towering along the roadway, I gripped the wheel tightly; this Florida boy had to get used to mountain driving real fast! As we passed Vail, Breckinridge, and Beaver Creek, they all looked so different in the summer sunshine with the Colorado River thundering along beside us.

When we arrived in Denver we met up with Sara's cousin Kim, who joined us for lunch on 16th street. It was great catching up with Kim, who also met us on short notice, welcomed us and showed us around happily. We are so blessed to have people in our lives who will overlook our lack of scheduling and it makes traveling even more exciting when we get to see friendly faces in strange places. After lunch with Kim, Sara and I explored downtown Denver. Initially we had planned on staying the night and making the short trip to Fort Collins in the morning, but finding a reasonably priced hotel proved harder than we had planned. Being the nomads that we have become, we decided to return to the car and drive to Fort Collins that afternoon, saving some money along the way.

In a short hour and a half we had arrived in Fort Collins; we'd decided to hit the campground again as it definitely was the best value. A short drive from downtown, we made camp.

Why Fort Collins you might ask? I have had several friends attend Colorado State University who raved about the town so Sara had booked us a whitewater rafting adventure on the nearby Poudre River.  Downtown Fort Collins was awesome! I have never seen so many independent restaurants in a compact area in my life, each one unique. No matter what you were in the mood for you could find here, usually with a innovative modern twist. Our first night we ate at The Blind Pig which I highly recommend, the beer list alone was loaded with a variety of locally-brewed options. We spent the remainder of the evening walking through the plaza, sightseeing and enjoying the weather - it never went over 75 the whole time we were there!

Thursday morning, after breakfast at The Egg and I, Sara and I were driving around when we noticed a huge display of colorful flowers. It turned out after further investigation that annually CSU holds the Annual Flower Trials to allow students, researchers, and other groups to display, test and evaluate different types of plants and flowers in the unique environmental conditions of the Rocky Mountain/High Plains region.  The colors and variety were amazing!

With some time before our rafting reservation we hit the New Belgium Brewery, home of Fat Tire Ale and numerous other micro-brewed delicacies. It was such a cool environment! Dozens of people mulled around tasting and learning about the exceptional brews. You had the option to order tasters for just $1.50, allowing you to truly experience all the different combinations and creations this growing brewery has to offer. They also offer guided tours to walk and talk you through their process.  We were excited to learn they will be distributing in Florida later this year!

Next, whitewater rafting. Sara booked our trip with A Wanderlust Adventure. They are one of four companies who are permitted to raft down the Poudre River. We came to find out that the water we were rafting on was completely snow melt! Our guide was amazing and we had a great time meeting the people in our group and mostly, riding some rapids!

Tired from our adventure we were craving some BBQ! We ate at Nordy's BBQ which boasted six homemade creative BBQ sauces. I was impressed again with the quality of the food and friendliness of the staff. I would definitely place Fort Collins at the top of my list of food experiences thus far on this trip. Fat and happy, we headed back to camp just in time to find the remnants of a beautiful sunset, a perfect culmination to our stay in Colorado. Sara and I both agreed that we would return, it is truly is one of the most beautiful states we have encountered.