Instead of going on a marathon road trip where we see the sights, get very little sleep and try to cram a ton of activities, sights and experiences into one little three day weekend, we took a liesurely drive to Glenwood Springs and spend most of the weekend there.
It takes beween 2.5 and three hours to get to Glenwood, but the drive is very scenic and easy as it is all on I-70.
We decided to take Dave's new/used car for this trip for a few reasons. First, it was our first time being able to take out the Frau (what we have named her) out on a trip that lasts more than 30 minues as well as the fact that we didn't need to take the Explorer as we weren't planning on heading into mountainous territory (ok, we were in the mountains, but we weren't off-roading). There's also that little fact about gas mileage...but you know, just a mere trifle in today's economy =)
Here's a pic of The Frau in case I didn't share one before...
Since we waited until the last minute to plan this anniversary trip, we were torn as to where we should go. There were discussions of heading back down to Mexico for a long weekend or even heading over to San Francisco to see the sights, but after buying a new/used car, something local and relaxing seemed to be just what we needed.
Due to the last minute planning, we didn't get much of a choice in our lodgings, but we ended up staying at a fairly high rated (thanks trip advisor), yet budget friendly lodge. They had an indoor and an outdoor pool, along with a hot tub and sauna, plus a nice breakfast bar in the mornings which was nice when not overrun with the other clientele.
The first day was travel and then taking in the sights of the town. We stopped in Vail for lunch after getting lost in the maze of luxury condos and resorts. We arrived in Glenwood in the early afternoon and decided to walk the downtown area, check out the shops, and stop in at the local brewery. Dave and I love visiting local breweries. Its something we try to do when we visit a new town. My favorite thing to do is to get a flight or sampler of the different beers they brew...I also do this at vineyards/wineries when available.
The restaurant is in the basement of this building...
Some nice gentleman decided he would take our anniversary picture
After that, a dip in the pool and hot tub, our night was complete. The next day we decided that we would try to go to Hanging Lake. Unfortunately just about everyone in a 100 mile radius decided that they wanted to do the same thing, so we ended up turning around and heading back into town. Luckily for us though, we saw another trailhead and decided to stop and go on a nice hike. We ended up hiking for about three hours at the Grizzly Creek trail. It was beautiful, challenging and hot, but I'm so thankful that we decided to stop and partake in the fresh air. We could have gone farther, but lunchtime had come and gone, so we decided to take a break in the freezing cold mountain stream and head back down the trail.
(As always, you can click on any of the images in this blog and it will enlarge the image for you)
After a semi-quick lunch at Vicco's Charcoal Burger Stand (which was good, but overpriced and you had to wait while they slaughtered the cow and grew the potatoes), we ended up at the Yampah Vapor Caves. I have to say that the caves are a wonderful way to spend your afternoon/evening. Its a natural sauna heated with the hotsprings water. We spent at least three and a half hours going from cave to solarium (so we could cool off), stretching our sore muscles after our long hike and just in general having a nice relaxing afternoon. We decided that since we spent so long in the Vapor Caves, we were going to put off going to the hot springs pools for another time since it was ridiculously crowded and pretty much just your standard pool, except that it is heated naturally.
Here's Dave at the Charcoal Burger Stand
The next day we decided that since we were only an hour away from Aspen, and since visiting there is on my Colorado To-Do list, we would meander that way and have a nice lunch. Well, we drove there and tried to find somewhere to park and then somewhere to eat. Both of those things were pretty much impossible to do. Aspen is not really what I thought it would be. I thought that it would be a high class mountain town, similar to Steamboat Springs, but it was kind of like being in a Denver suburb, only in the mountains. We ended up skipping lunch and headed to the Maroon Bells, which we ended up turning around at because the road up was full of bikers and tour busses.
So we headed back to Glenwood, which was fine with me, and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon before heading to dinner. I do wish that we had visited the Hunter S. Thompson Memorial, but we realized that we missed visiting that when we were almost back to our hotel and we didn't feel like turning back around.
Once we reached town, Dave wanted to see the house where their longtime friends of the family used to live. He spent quite a bit of time up in Glenwood when he was younger, but the friends have since sold their house and moved down to the metro-area. He remembered how to get there and was flooded with childhood memories. These were people who knew Dave's parents before his mom went crazy and his dad, well, his dad has always been his dad...so ?
After that we went to a nice, romantic dinner on the river at a place called, aptly enough, Rivers.
It was a nice end to our relaxing anniversary trip. There were other things we could have done while we were there, other sights to be seen, but in the end, we have been running at full tilt for the entire summer and we just wanted to rest and relax. Coming home was nice...and I maintain that there is seriously nothing better than climbing into your own bed after a few days at a hotel.
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