When our two week holiday in Colorado was over (boo!), we returned to Frisco for a week. Bit of a cheeky maneuver with the blog in that I combined our two weeks in Frisco into one post.
Next stop: Steamboat Springs. Actually, before that, we had a weekend to play with, starting with a diversion to Boulder. Reason being, the last time we were in Boulder on the vacation section of the trip, Avery Brewing wasn’t yet open. Whereas now they’d had a bit more time to get their act together and it seemed such a shame to be so close and not pay them a visit.
For the Brits out there or any non-beer aficionados, Avery does really good beer. Standout favorites include their Maharaja imperial IPA, and some stonking barrel-aged dark stuff. Definitely worth going back for.
Taking this route to Steamboat Springs also meant we got to drive through Rocky Mountain National Park, having only scratched the surface with a couple of hikes first time round. Unfortunately, RMNP is not what you’d call trailer friendly. It was an impressive scenic drive, but sorry no pics as there was nowhere for us to stop.
Nearby Estes Park on the other hand, was chock full of photo opportunities. Little town, big lake, blue skies, mountain backdrop.
As I’m still religiously doing my One Second Everyday video, I’m constantly on the lookout for video opportunities. Darren is totally over posing for videos that I take just in case I might need a video of the day (but which in fact generally get usurped by a different video later in the day).
This was one such example where I’d had Darren posing on his SUP on the lake. Video in the bag, I continued on my run, heading for another lake. Squinting into the sunlight, I saw splashing up ahead, which I gradually realized was elk. Not just one of them either, a whole herd of maybe 20 elk made a break from the bushes on the shoreline into the water. Once there, they were like kids at a water park, joyfully frolicking around, splishing and a splashing, teasing and chasing each other. Such a delight to watch.
It wasn’t long before they bolted from the exposed water to the relative safety of dry land, crossing the bike path I was on and startling a couple of cyclists. So I’m sure my One Second video doesn’t do this sighting justice (kind of too short and too far away), but sorry Darren, the video of your SUPing is relegated to the sidelines yet again.
Cyclists on the left, on the bike path.
not making the 1SE cut
Steamboat Springs
Given the current situation, we are deliberately avoiding cities, instead centering our road trip around towns that are smaller, more compact, and more at one with their surroundings. Hopefully less risk of coronavirus (but obv no guarantees). Generally places you’ve never heard of. Steamboat Springs seemed to fit the bill: a small town positioned along the banks of the Yampa river in Northwest Colorado.
Our co-working space for the week, the Ski Locker, was particularly well situated between a donut shop and a brewery, Mountain Tap, that excelled in pizza. They claim their “pizzas bake to perfection in 90 seconds in the wood-fired oven heated to 700 degrees”. Sounds suspiciously like our uuni pizza oven. OK, so their oven’s a bit bigger than ours. Likewise, their pizza was bigger, rounder and more consistent than ours. However. It tasted just like ours, oh how we miss you uuni!
We lasted all the way to Friday with just daily coffee from the donut shop before finally caving into the donut craving on our last day. Ooh so light and fluffy, totally hit the spot.
Taxes, boo. I’m not sure which bright spark extended the tax deadline to 15th July, but they didn’t take into account that’s my birthday. And doing taxes is not how I want to spend my birthday thank you very much. Hence, doing taxes put paid to two days worth of valuable time right before my birthday that could otherwise have been spent recreating. (Recreating seems to be a new word. Is it even a word? Possibly an American word).
All done and dusted by my birthday though – treated myself to a long hot shower, some cocktails and a bbq 🙂
We still managed to fit in some hiking before work, or maybe you’d call it walking, certainly nothing too strenuous here. And running (alongside the nice flat paved Yampa river path). And mountain biking (for D obviously, not for me). And just as we were out doing our stuff in the morning, like clockwork so was the Steamboat Springs hot air balloon.
And the ‘blob’ in the otherwise blue sky is the SS hot air balloon
Actually we did do more of a proper hike at the weekend at nearby Rabbit Ears pass, just west of Steamboat Springs. We hiked up to the top of Rabbit Ears Peak. Now whoever named this peak and this pass has a very vivid imagination.
you see the rocks which give the pass its name.
Ears aside, it was actually very pretty, meadows littered with wildflowers – lilac lupines, cow parsley and fiery red indian paintbrushes (get me, like a walking wildflower encyclopedia – with a bit of help from Google).
Dry slope ski jumping seems to be a thing in Steamboat Springs. What on earth is that all about? For a start, these people are kitted out like Michelin man with a big plastic suit which is no doubt essential but must be ridiculously hot in the sun. I’m sure it must hurt if you fall in the snow… but falling when there’s NO snow, must surely be worse. Ouch just even thinking about it. Never mind Michelin man, I’d need a Mr Blobby suit to attempt that.
Tubing. This seemed more up my alley. I’d watched people on the river throughout the week, floating down the Yampa in huge inflatable tubes. It looked tame enough – while I heard a few shrieks and wahoos, this seemed to be more exuberance than terror. I mean, there were young kids doing it. (Note to self: Not a good measure. The amount of gumption most young kids have in their little finger is generally more than I have in my whole body. And kids are resilient: they bounce.)
However, I needn’t have worried. The most difficult part is admitting that you don’t have any control whatsoever over where you are in the river, which rocks you’re gonna hit or which direction you’re going to be facing as you hit a particular ‘rapid’.
What I did get for my trouble is a wet bum. I mean it’s literally dangling in the river the whole time, like experiencing nature’s bidet. Good job it was a warm sunny day.
But hey, this is what I subject myself to for you guys, just so I’ve got something different to write about for a change. You’re welcome!!!
Super-cool swallows nests wedged all along the underside.
