Trying to catch up before the end of the year! Back in October, we took a short vacation to Colorado to visit friends that live in Fort Collins. These are the same friends we visited last year when they lived in Seattle. It seems we follow them around to use their free lodging.
We took the first flight out of Milwaukee and with the time change we were getting off our plane in Denver at 7:30 AM. It was like we didn't even travel! Except for waking up at 3:30 AM to make our flight...
Arriving that early, we decided to drive into Boulder for some breakfast at a place Rob recommended from his college days there (
Luciles). After some good food, we cruised some shops on Pearl Street and then headed up to
Rocky Mountain National Park. The main road across the park was closed for the season, so we drove to the Sprague Lake trail head, which is an easy flat trail around a lake. Perfect for the first day at altitude with a pregnant wife! After that walk, Diana took a nap while I did some exploring in the woods. We caught the end of the fall foliage on the aspens, but most of the leaves had already fallen off and the snow was starting to fly.
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Sprague Lake |
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Rocky Mountain National Park |
After a day in the park we continued our drive northeast to Fort Collins. The drive out of the mountains was very impressive through the canyons. Once in Fort Collins, we were greeted by Karl, the always energetic dog. Diana and I hit some sights while our friends worked, including
Odell's Brewing Co and
New Belgium. We also did some hiking in the foothills along the
Horsetooth Reservoir.
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Karl! |
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Bike Rack at Odells |
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Hiking in Fort Collins |
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Horsetooth Reservoir |
On Saturday, with our friends off of work, we went into the Rockies to do a nice fall hike. In the mountains, a nice fall hike means a foot of snow. Winter was already setting in. We hiked
Montgomery Pass, which is a relatively short 2.6 mile round trip hike up to 11,000 ft. Overall, the hike was very nice on a beautiful blue sky day. It was just a little slower going with the snow. The next day we were headed back to Milwaukee. Fort Collins is worth the visit if you are into outdoor activities. It is not very close to ski resorts, so it is a good summer or fall destination.
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Montgomery Pass |