Day 7 - Grand Lake - Colorado Springs, CO

We said goodbye to our faithful cabin this morning.  It served us well and we'll definitely be back, but it was time to make the turn towards home.  We stopped at a few of the shops along the main street in Grand Lake and then we headed south to Granby and a City Market/Kroger to refuel and replenish.  It was oddly comforting to be back in a real, live grocery store with good lighting, tile floors, and plentiful options.  Fraser, Winter Park, and Empire were soon behind us as we made our way back to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  I called earlier and learned it would close to visitors at 1:30 today so our arrival at 12:30 was perfect.  I was the only one in our group that had visited here before so it was neat to see the others react to it.  Music was being pumped through all the speakers (a sound check, I guess), folks were running laps and jumping up the stairs, and the temperature was about 95:  quite a change from our short visit on Sunday.  The CCC constructed the amphitheatre and it was dedicated in 1941.  The sandstone ledges that make up the "walls" date back to the Jurassic period, or 160 million years ago.  Besides the beauty of the environment, I was struck by the geometric design the seats made when viewed from a certain angle.

A quick bite to eat and off we headed to Colorado Springs.  Our hotel is on the east side of town as that was all I could find for a reasonable price, but we made good time and arrived mid-afternoon.  It's Caroline's 40th birthday today and we decided to celebrate by taking her to an early dinner at The Melting Pot in downtown.  Even though we were slightly underdressed, we had an amazing meal.  We often do fondue for dessert at home, but even the kiddos thought it was fun to experience fondue for an entire meal.  Cheese to start, then entrees, then dessert.  Everything we had was a hit (the teriyaki steak was so-so) and we left content and full!  We hadn't yet played miniature golf on this trip so we decided to head to one tonight.  Laughs abounded as we putted our way through "wonders of the world" and we were even treated to an amazingly colorful sunset.  Happy birthday, Caroline!  I hope this was one of your best yet.

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.