Fall foliage right here at home in CO!

We had hoped to do a fall foliage train tour in the northeast, but Amtrak has retired the Dome cars from service.  One exception, the Adirondacks picking up in New York City and delivering in Toronto.  But we couldn't make the trip work with our businesses.  So today, we drove an hour and 15 minutes from home and saw some of the best fall foliage in the country, the quaking aspens right here in Colorado!  We picked up a dear friend and headed out at 9AM this morning and we were home by 3.  It was an awesome fall day, just cool enough at 9200 feet of elevation to require a fleece or a sweater.

Fall is my favorite time of year!  Crunchy leafs smelling of earth, and the warmth of pumpkin, cider, fires and the beautiful rainbow display nature puts on.  It's everything I like rolled up into one season, missing the ocean, but all the rest is there!  We went to Eldora ski resort, still locked up but we managed to find the Wundervu Inn to stop and have a late breakfast, located near the town of Nederland, which hosts the annual Frozen Dead Guy Day celebration each year, I kid you not.  http://frozendeadguydays.org/aboutfdgd  Nederland was packed with tourists as was the road up to Eldora.  Everyone was up in the mountains this weekend from the looks of things on Facebook!

The Wundervu is a little southwestern restaurant that also happens to sell amazing chocolate candies and their very own delicious hot fudge sauce with ingredients you can read.  Like cream, butter, cocoa, and powdered sugar.  So good.  And we highly recommend it to you should you pass through on your way to Frozen Dead Guy Day:)

Hope you're getting into the fall spirit!  We're looking forward to "Apple Cider Mimosas with Brown Sugar Rims" for our next Sci Fi bookclub:)

Summer Fun in Colorado

We did some travel within CO this past year, and I neglected to write about any of it!  The hubs had the brilliant idea of a stay-cation in Colorado Springs earlier this year, as he had a Friday morning mediation down there  So we booked a single night in a lovely downtown hotel and drove down together. You must ALWAYS go visit Garden of the Gods city park when going to Colorado Springs.  A vision of Sedona-like red rocks poking up from the ground to amazing heights.

After he completed his day we went up to Pikes Peak on the funicular.  It was a balmy day at the bottom, but up at 14,000 plus feet, it gets a tad chilly!  Drink water at elevation, but not too fast, it's a long ride and there are no bathrooms on the way up.  We arrived at the top to a massive microburst thunder and hail storm and a very rushed de-training to get out of the metal boxes and into the less lightening strike prone visitors center.

We ended up trapped in the center for over 30 minutes, but we were able to rush outside and have this lovely picture taken right before we went back down.

The next day we hung out at the Broadmoor and did the drive to Garden of the Gods.  Lunch at the Broadmoor was exceptional, and then we walked around their little lake, stopping on a bench to enjoy the lovely view.  It's an extraordinary hotel and resort.  We made a few work calls from inside in several empty seating areas while we were there and finished up on the opposite side of the lake in the lakeside lounge for a quick cocktail before driving back to Denver.  

I love our state!

Later in the summer we did our "guest tour" for my hubs brother, girlfriend and a friend of ours who recently moved back to Denver from Switzerland.  First we head to the Stanley Hotel where "The Shining" was filmed.  The Jack Nicholson version.  Their porch looks out at the Rocky Mountain National Park vista and it's an incredible view from Estes Park.  Then we go into the RMNP and drive the jeep trail road up to the top, coming down into Grand Lake Lodge for dinner.  Spectacular views along the way, a short waterfall trail and then a scrumptious dinner with the largest fireplace I have ever seen.  They have a new chef and the food was equal to the views this time.  Our friend bookmarked it as a great place for her husband to come whenever he is homesick for Switzerland.  It's just that pretty of a valley.  

Lastly, we managed to eek out a few camping days at our friends land in Park County, essentially you gaze out over the back side of Breckenridge.  Beautiful panoramas of valleys and mountains, even the rain didn't stop us from having a great time.  We set up a popup gazebo and were able to get a campfire going for those s'mores!  Two of my favorite smells, campfires and pine trees.   Ok, three if you count the s'mores, and we put peanut butter in the cracker first!

Hope you had an enjoyable summer as well:)