For those of you who don't want to read the entire synopsis (ahem-Erin) , I have provided a video below...
Untitled from Courtney Fleming on Vimeo.
Untitled from Courtney Fleming on Vimeo.
For those of you that do, here is a day by day account of our 4 year wedding anniversary trip.
On Wednesday, May 25, Jeff and I left for Colorado for our 4 year anniversary celebration. This is a tradition we started on year one and I hope to take a mini reprieve every year from here on out. Our flights from Richmond to Atlanta and ATL to Denver were uneventful in the best way possible and we arrived in Denver right on time. We were both so tired already that we slept on the plane which is pretty unheard of for me. After arriving at the airport, we picked up our rental car, plugged in Penelope (our GPS) and programmed in Jenn and Carter Sigmon's address. They were so kind to let us stay in their house on the front and back end of our trip. The Sigmons were married on the exact same day, same year we were so they were out of town on their anniversary trip to Costa Rica.
We crashed that night and woke up early the next morning to set out for our first destination: Colorado Springs. We drove into town and went straight to the Garden of the Gods which is basically a mini Sedona. We did the Siamese Twin hike and took some pics with our new tripod. Then it was on to Pikes Peak. First we made a quick stop at a local bar in Manitoa Springs and then a convenience store for some crackers, cheese and waters for lunch with plans to eat that on our drive up to Pikes Peak. When we got to the ranger station at the entrance to the drive, the ranger informed us that the peak was closed due to high winds and that we could drive up to a certain distance but really wouldn't see any great views. COMPLETE FAIL. We really went to Colorado Springs to go up to Pikes Peak and it was closed. Typical. So we turned around, went to Trinity Brewery and then to Roosters barber so Jeff could get a haircut. Not really typical replacement activities but whatev.
After the brewery, we drove to the Olympic Training Center for a quick tour there that was somewhat informative but really more anticlimactic than anything. Afterwards we checked into our hotel, Hotel San Ayre, which was a old motor lodge turned into boutique hotel. The owner was super nice and had some great information. After freshening up, we set off to explore more of the town. We decided to head downtown so we arrived, parked the car and started walking. We thought maybe a brewery or some other cool, local downtown place. On the way, we were stopped by a young, hipster (that makes me sound so old) granola kid who asked us, "Excuse me, do you have 60 seconds for the planet?" This was my favorite sentence all week. He was with Greenpeace and wanted us to join. We politely listened and told him we would join online. We then quickly discovered that downtown Colorado Springs is shite and got back in the car.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for some fried okra and beers at Front Range Barbeque and then it was back to our hotel for a walk across the street to our anniversary dinner at a small, local Mexican joint. The hotel owner told us it was authentic Mexican food which honestly we wouldn't know an authentic, homemade tortilla if someone slapped us across the face with one. But the food was good and we were out of there in 30...which is not what we wanted but something told us authentic Mexican food would mean a longer dinner. Word to the wise: it doesn't. So, because we are so classy, we walked next door to the safeway, bought some groceries and a 12-pack, went back to our motor lodge and drank beers while sitting on the bench outside our room and planned our next day's activities.
Colorado Springs: Garden of the Gods was cool, we are told Pike's Peak is too but high winds kept us from seeing for ourselves, and other than that-we would pass on visiting again.
After a good night's sleep in the San Ayre, we were up bright and early for the next day's excursion to Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park and Boulder. We wore what we thought was proper hiking gear: shorts, socks, sturdy shoes, a sweatshirt, etc. Our trip into Estes Park was so gorgeous and we were excited for the Deer Mountain hike we had picked out online the night before. As we approached the town, it started to rain. F*%#! But we maintained a positive attitude and went to the visitors center where I had ample time to consult with the volunteers about whether the hike we picked out would be appropriate for the day, ample time because the authentic Mexican food we had the night before was playing la cucaracha with Jeff's stomach. When he was ready, we set out for our trail. We parked, loaded some snacks and waters into our pack and set off for our 6 mile hike to an elevation of 10,400 feet. The volunteer ladies told me there would be no snow but boy were they wrong. About 5 minutes in, it started to snow and 45 minutes in, we started to walk on snow. It was so cool and we loved every second. We especially liked the fact that we passed some pansy hikers from Kansas who couldn't take it and turned back and the fact that we passed many hikers with really expensive hiking outfits and hiking poles while I was in running shoes, running shorts and using sticks we found on the side of the trail.
The view from the top was glorious so we took some time to admire it, eat some snacks, make friends with a little chipmunk and have some german hiker runners take our pic. We then turned back for the trip down the mountain. The hike was one of my most favorite parts of our entire trip and I have a feeling you could spend a lifetime exploring Rocky Mountain National Park and never get bored.
As we left Estes Park we did a scenic driveby of the haunted Stanley Hotel and I flashed my evil eye bracelet at that bad boy. Thanks Ed. Then we drove on out of Estes Park and back through Lyons, Colorado-home of Oskar Blues Brewery which makes my dad's fave Dale's Pale Ale. I immediately bought him a hat because anyone named Dale needs a Dale's Pale Ale hat. We each had a beer while trying to tune out the world's loudest waitress and then got back on the road again.
Now, I was in charge of the lodging for this trip and I am a total cheap skate. I was so proud to secure all lodging at $100 or under per night. I however was not proud of the fact that I forgot to check in with all my vrbo contacts before leaving on the trip. I am a meeting planner but I sometimes forget very important details in my personal life. So as we are on the way to Boulder, Jeff asks me what time we can check into our next lodging-the cheapest and definitely shadiest of the group. I realized then that I hard not heard a word from the woman I reserved through since I made the reservation. I called and no answer so I left a message. She finally calls back and said we couldn't check in until 6 because she was at work. What? Since I am nice, I said ok and Jeff and I took off to explore a bit of Boulder. After a walk down half of the mall and a beer at the Mountain Sun Brewery, it was 4 and we wanted to get into our room NOW. So we called Grace back and told her if we couldn't get in now, we would cancel and find somewhere else to stay. Our scare tactics worked and we were able to check in 30 minutes later. This accommodation was the second story of Grace's house where we had a room and then shared a bathroom with another vacationer who looked like she had a glass eye. The place smelled so weird, I was scared of the bathroom and we had a weird neighbor. Jeff was ready to escape. But I am the product of parent's who brought us to Yugoslavia when we were quite little with no accommodation reserved and we ended up staying at an old Yugoslav woman's house who made Dad take shots of Vodka with her every morning. I convinced Jeff to stay.
We took the world''s shortest shower, got ready as fast as possible and found safety again on the streets of Boulder where we continued to explore, checked out the Colorado at Boulder campus, the ginormous DG house, a drink at the famous Sink (their TOTS), got a fantastic pizza dinner, then some Ben & Jerry'r for dessert, watched some street performers. When we were so tired, we couldn't keep our eyes open, we went back to our scary accommodations, slept and then woke up at 6am and got the hell out of there.
We pulled out of Boulder early but it turned out to be a great thing. As I was on the computer researching Fort Collins, our next stop, I realized Wyoming was just 30 minutes past Fort Collins. What do you do when you are set to arrive at your next destination by 6:30am? You drive to Wyoming. We had the best time stopping at the state sign, checking out the sleeper town that is Cheyenne and taking our pic with a giant cowboy boot. We then got back on the rode and pulled into Fort Collins around 9:30. I called our next lodging contact and she said her kids were cleaning the place but that we could go over and get the key. This place was the complete opposite from the night before. It was a small apartment in the basement of a wellness business so it smelled like lavender, seemed to be brand new and was just lovely. We picked up the key, asked for some dining recommendations and then set off for the center of town to pick up the free bikes we had reserved from the bike library. We stuffed them in the trunk of our super sweet HHR and drove them back to the apartment. I was a nervous nelly that those bikes were going to fly out the trunk considering we couldn't shut it at all with them in there so I held on tight while Jeff laughed at my ridiculousness (this is a usual thing). The apt was not quite ready so we took off for the first stop of the bicycle tour of the Fort Collins breweries.
First stop: Fort Collins Brewery. We sampled a flight and then enjoyed a super tasty all local and organic lunch at the bar. Afterwards we cycled back to our apartment, took a quick shower and headed back out to hit the rest of the breweries. We stopped at New Belgium which was by far the most crowded, sampled some brews, sent some free postcards, made some new "friends" and then got back on our bikes to head to Funkworks brewery. Funkworks specializes in Saisons and their apricot saison was to die for. Then we loaded back up and pedaled over to O'Dell Brewery for their Small Batch Revival Festival. They had live music, food that smelled good and lots of beers. We stayed there for a long time taking in the local scene and then got accosted by our "friends" from New Belgium. They were a soldier and his new wife and he was one week away from going to Afghanistan for one year. They talked to us for so long until we pried ourselves away. I think I drank to pretend that we weren't accosted because by the time we left, I was feeling a little tipsy. But I drove my bike anyway and concentrated very hard. I did just fine until I fell off right in the middle of town. OOPS. It was starting to rain at that point so we pedaled fast back to the apartment and then set off for dinner at a restaurant the wellness company owner recommended.
The restaurant was all vegetarian food but we thought we should embrace it. I don't know if it was the beers or how serious our waitress was about the veggie food, but we didn't stop laughing through the entire dinner. Our food was really good and we were glad we stayed for it. Then it was off to a sweet frog type yogurt place for dessert. Baby Mama was on the TV there so I continued to laugh through my dessert. That movie is funny but way more funny when you are intoxicated. We then returned to our lavender scented paradise for some alcohol induced sleep.
We were up on Sunday morning a little later than usual and ready to depart. We drove straight into Denver and made our first stop at Red Rocks. The scenery was gorgeous and it must be a great place to see a concert. We then drove into town, had some lunch and explored all the pertinent parts of the city. Then we texted Jenn and Carter who had just returned from Costa Rica and we met up with them at their house for a lazy afternoon of catching up, walking through the park and dinner dining at a neighborhood restaurant called Shells and Sauce where I feasted on some giant, delicious meatballs.
We went to bed early in preparation for our early departure the next morning and flew out back to Virginia at the crack of dawn. This was another great anniversary trip with memories that will last a lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment