Colorado

Jun 29-Jul 1

UA437 IAH-DEN, UA1767 DEN-DCA, UA1927 IAD-IAH

We love our time in the mountains, and took advantage of some very favourable fares from Houston to Denver (thanks Frontier!).  There was some rain in the area, but the weather was nicer west of Denver, so we headed towards Vail with a quick stop at Golden along the way.  We took advantage of the lifts to get up on the mountain for some nice hiking.  It didn’t make us want to take up skiing, but we enjoyed the infrastructure nonetheless.

June 30

After checking out the forecast, we headed west and started the day in Golden Colorado, the home of Coors Brewery. The Brewery was a focal point of the town, but the old west downtown was also worth a quick tour.

Main Street, Golden

The Golden bars were open alarmingly early

“Golden Touch” in Golden

Continuing the tour, “The Monarch”

Clear Creek, cutting through Golden

“Newsboy”, our last stop before driving on

Exploring Vail Village and grabbing some lunch before we head up the mountain

Wooden bridge over Gore Creek in the centre of Vail

Vail is built for the skiers, as memorialized in “The Edge”, a 2008 sculpture.

After riding the gondola, we have a good view of the village below

Chair lift

Deer share the sky hills with the hikers

Some of the mountaintop summer distractions

Slightly less adventurous options

Barker Reservoir, near Nederland, CO

Middle Boulder Creek, from the edge of Boulder Canyon Road

More of Middle Boulder Creek, as we head towards Boulder, CO

After a full day of driving, we checked into our hotel and headed out for dinner.

Jul 1

After a nice rest in the morning, we headed to Denver for our flights home.