Our niece Louise flew in from the UK to join us for our last week of vacation in Colorado. She’s at the unfortunate age of 20, meaning it’s been perfectly legal for her to drink in the UK for over two years – but in the US, where the legal drinking age is 21, not a chance. This is the country where just about anyone can get ID’d at the supermarket buying alcohol. Even Judith, at the ripe old age of – let’s just say over 50 – got refused alcohol because she didn’t have her ID on her to prove her age. Luckily, we’d saved some fun stuff to do with Louise that didn’t involve drinking.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The absolute best introduction to Summit County, CO is the Dillon Lake rec path round robin. Darren, Louise and I did the 26 mile initiation route and gave Wayne and Judith a well earned break. I’m really not that much tinier than Louise, I was stood on a sloping bank. Honestly!Keystone was kicking and the beers were flowing at the Bluegrass & Brews festival (sorry Louise!). The girls were getting into the spirit of it as Judith tried to master a box cross step, ably demonstrated by her daughter. Louise was also chuffed to find the Summit Rugby stall representing the local women’s team, as she’s ’big into that’ back home. (Kind of an understatement, her role as rugby captain consumes much of her life.)A moth the size of a hummingbird was also enjoying the festivitiesAn early start the next day for a hike up Rabbit Ears pass. Turns out hiking is not J&L’s favorite thing.The fireweed was on fire, perfectly offsetting the yellow groundsel and daisies. Soooo pretty!No one was quite convinced that the large boulders at the top of the pass looked remotely like rabbit earsNot quite so bowled over by the views as I, the girls returned to the truck for a few impromptu games of Uno (yes, they came prepared). Unperturbed, I continued on the hike with the boys.Right up there in terms of wildflower hikesFloating down the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs was much more in Louise’s wheelhouse. Unfortunately, not so much mine and Judith’s. We bobbed around uncontrollably, getting ourselves stuck in the rocks and stranded. Our frantic paddling did nothing by way of pointing us in the right direction and Judith at one point found herself defying the laws of nature and floating upstream. Cue our river angel, Louise, to the rescue. We quit the ineffectual flailing and instead gripped on tight to her tube as she expertly propelled us to safety, nothing more to show for our drama than wet bums.Meanwhile, Darren and Wayne gleefully looked on from a distance in their own tubes. Aware that if at any point things started to look remotely hairy, all we had to do was stand up in what was actually very shallow water.We took ourselves up Loveland Pass for an impromptu wine and crisps sunset party. Bring on the woolly hat!We came prepared, with our Broken Compass rug to sit onCheers!Gotta love a Colorado sunsetAnother bike day for the American Hamiltons, while the British Hamiltons did their own thing (which I seem to recall involved some well-earned chilling by the pool time)And we all know that all that exercise is really just an excuse to stuff our faces with good food and drinkSome fun evenings were had in our extended back garden, putting the world to rights over a drink or twoAnd pizza or two…Next up, a bit of white water rafting down the Arkansas river near Buena VistaThe calm before the storm…The Storm!Actually a really enjoyable morning, those class 3 rapids were so much fun!Passing through South Park on the way back to Keystone… had to be doneLouise tried her hand at kneel down / stand up paddleboarding back at our local Dillon lakeIt wasn’t all go, go, go. When we weren’t on the bikes or the river, you would often find us just chilling out in the garden with a glass of something cold and refreshing.Taking the cable car at Breckenridge, where the ladies that brunch would do just that, along with a game or two of cornhole. Meanwhile, Wayne was off exploring on the mountain bike, while Darren and I set off to walk to Frisco.The hike from Breckenridge to Frisco took it out of me and Darren, with the heat. Luckily, the end of the walk was at Evo, where Aaron was on hand with a cold refreshing beer.“Let’s go climbing”, he said. “It’ll be fun”, he said. Hmmm. Judith wisely sat this one out, while the four of us took the chairlift up A Basin to try our luck at the Via Ferrata.The only other time I’ve tried this was seven years ago. Enough time to forget how terrifying it is. Climbing up a sheer rock face, high up on a mountainside, with let’s face it, not enough iron step things to stand on or grab hold of if you’re a short arse like me. A short arse with not the best sense of balance, not a flexible, agile bone in my body, and a fear of falling. Let’s just say I’ll not be doing this again.Cool views tho!And we did get to see some really cool, shaggy, mountain goatsAnd that’s about as much fun and games as we could squeeze into our Colorado trip. Time to jam those four bikes and all our other junk back into the truck for the long road trip home.And with the return to SoCal comes the return to work. Very much refreshed, with so many great memories, and maybe just a wee bit of a hangover!
