Day 3 - Westminster (Denver) - Grand Lake, CO

Even though we had a late night due to arriving back at the hotel a little after 11:00 following the Rockies game, we were up bright and early this morning.  Our first stop was the Pearl Street Mall in downtown Boulder where we arrived a little early for a Sunday as we had to wait for the stores to open.  Pearl Street was the main drag in old Boulder and the buildings have been restored and repurposed in a great way.  It's now a pedestrian mall with brick surfaces, benches, artwork, and great stores.  We spent about 3 hours in the area and walked away with some great buys.  It was chilly in Boulder today so sweatshirts (believe it or not) were a must!  We also stumbled upon the Boulder Theater which was hosting a free live stream of the World Cup final between France and Croatia.  Not only was the building itself amazing (in its current art deco form since 1936), but the coolness of sharing an event with totally random strangers, all having fun and cheering on both teams was an experience.  I'll always remember where I was when France beat Croatia.

On our way out of Boulder, we grabbed some sandwiches at a great lunch stop:  Snarf's Sandwiches.  We seriously need one of these in Conway.  The clouds had obscured the mountain tops for most of the morning, but as we arrived at the Red Rock Amphitheater, the clouds lifted a bit and the rain stopped long enough for us to get some views of our first wildlife (deer) and some of the famous red rocks.  Unfortunately Seal and the Colorado Symphony were having a concert that night and had already begun to set up, so we were unable to get into the amphitheater itself.  We, of course, still had fun!

Even though the weather was taking a turn in the wrong direction, Mt. Evans was along our drive so we decided to head up.  After passing the ticket booth and getting to the Mt. Goliath Natural Area, the fog/clouds were so thick it really wasn't safe to continue up, plus the view from the top would be of nothing.  On our way back down the mountain, we stopped at a nice waterfall (I'm a sucker for waterfalls) and got some great photos.  We also met a family (husband, wife, parents) of whom I offered to take photos.  The husband shared with me that his wife had recently had 2 lobes in her lungs removed due to cancer, but she was determined to make this trip.  Let me tell you, she was bounding up the trail by the waterfall better than most!  I was thrilled to be able to snap a photo or two of them, without the husband having to sprint into the photo in time to beat the timer.

Our next stop was our cabin for the next 4 days in Grand Lake.  From I-70, we took Highway 40 north through Winter Park and Granby before making one final turn toward the Rocky Mountain National Park.  After climbing one side of the Rockies and coasting down the other, we found another waterfall (easily photographed from the car).  The valley soon opened up and Lake Granby was soon in view.  Plus, the sun re-appeared as there was little to no rain on this side of the mountain range.  Our cabin is named the Alder Cabin and it's quite perfect.  A screened porch (where I'm currently typing this) overlooks the woods with a creek flowing nearby.  The temperature is currently 55 and going down to 48 tonight.  Ah...mountain life.  We enjoyed a great dinner in the quaint downtown Grand Lake followed up with a walk down to the shoreline at sunset.  We'll be exploring this area until Thursday and "Moose Sighting 2018" is now in full effect.  Cheers to our friends that are still sweltering in the summertime heat.  I'm enjoying this spot on your behalf.