Colorado Explorations

So, I've been in Colorado for 6 days. It snowed on two of them, I had three busy days of work, and I'm rockin' a serious head cold. Compromised respiratory system at 10k feet, it's not nearly as fun as it sounds.

I haven't had a ton of time to do much, but I've seen some lovely places. I've traveled around Summit County seeing Silverthorne, Dillon, Frisco, Keystone, and Breckenridge. Friday afternoon I tooled around Denver for a bit.

Today, the sun was shining so I plugged in the TomTom and hit the road while the weather was good. I started in Vail. Vail became popular as ski destination in the 60s after the highway was extended further west. It is modeled after European ski towns. I've not been to any European ski towns, but it reminded me of Epcot's Alps exhibit, so it must be spot on, right? I imagine it must be packed with skiers and apres-skiers during the season. You can park you car when you get there, then ski, walk to dinner, walk back to your ski rental. Very convenient.




Does AE have a connection to Vail??

I then headed to Glenwood Springs. It was a gorgeous drive through the Glenwood Canyon. No scenic stops on the highway for photos, unfortunately, but here are some good ones. It was really amazing. Glenwood Springs is a really cute (seriously, need to get to thesaurus.com) town. It's famous due to its hot springs. I had planned to spend the afternoon at the hot springs, but it was bedlam there, totally packed with people. As I was feeling crappy, my tolerance for crowds was pretty low. Another time.

Since it was still early, I decided to head to Aspen. Passed many lovely towns on the way. I think this was in Carbondale. Quite a bit different than Carbondale, Illinois.

Why do they put the scenic stops on the wrong side of the power lines?

Aspen is great. It was much bigger than I thought it would be, based on other towns I've seen. I totally get why it's so popular with the rich and famous. For 10 seconds I was convinced I was looking at Sharon Stone, but not so. I'd live there in a minute, once I find that sugar daddy.

I then planned to continue heading back east to Leadville, then a short drive back to Breckenridge, making a nice loop. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the highway to Leadville was closed due snow. Snow closing roads in May. Ugh. There are no parallel roads in that area, so I had to back track my entire route. The upside was I got to see Glenwood Canyon again, and the lovely mountains and valleys. But an extra two hours in the car, ooftah.