The Kings of Huntsville

Colorado 2006

Almost a month ago now Rick and I took a trip to Colorado. We finally got our pictures up in the gallery! I’m going to put a few highlights in this post, but there are many, many more in the gallery! I tried to leave a caption on most of them there too, so be sure to check them out!

Our first stop was a quick trip to Ft. Collins. While there I visited a wonderful yarn shop, Lambspun, at the recommendation of Amy. I loved, loved, loved this yarn shop. They had some beautiful hand-dyed yarns! I picked up a few goodies for myself and Amy. Rick also liked this store. Too bad we don’t have one like that around here!

Otherwise in Ft. Collins, we visited the New Belgium brewery. New Belgium is the maker of the great Fat Tire beer. We sampled 8 out of their 10 beers they had available for tasting. We also toured the brewery, which was great fun. In another life I don’t think I’d mind working for these guys. Really!

Moving along, we spent that first night in Estes Park which is a charming town right on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. Can anyone guess what we had for dinner that night?
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Mine is on the left and Rick’s is on the right.

The next morning we got up bright and early to do a quick hike in RMNP. We hiked to Nymph Lake, which is about a half mile hike one way.
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We were also able to see Bear Lake.
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Next stop…. Denver! This is a view of the Denver skyline from our hotel.
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We rushed from RMNP to make it to Denver in order to see the U.S. Mint. That was pretty neat. However, we were on the 3:00 tour. Apparently they have a shift change at that time, so if you go that time you may not get to see any money being minted. We fell into that… so we didn’t see the money actually being minted. But we did get a free quarter! Also we got to see the blanks they use to stamp the images onto the coins. That was still pretty neat.

Denver also has a really cool shopping area at the 16th St. Mall. This “mall” is several city blocks of 16th street closed off to traffic full of shops. Unfortunately such shops are the same type shops we have around here and everywhere else in the country. It was still definitely a neat setup.

Apparently Colorado also has their own wine country! We went to the Balistreri winery in Denver. We tasted much of their selection and ended up coming home with quite a bit. It was a learning experience! We normally do not like reds, but we did at this place! Unfortunately, we only had time to visit the one winery, but it was most excellent!

Toward the end of our trip we decided to drive down to Colorado Springs to ride the Cog Railway to the top of Pike’s Peak. The problem with this plan… it was raining on the ground, meaning snow on the mountain and likely not being able to see anything. We decided the opportunity to play in the snow was reason enough to do it, so we did! We were on the last train of the day. And… we saw….
SNOW!!

Now, we had to stop at a Kohl’s on the way to Colorado Springs to get us some long underwear and me some gloves. See, we were not prepared for this stuff called SNOW! It was actually quite warm when you weren’t at the top of Pike’s Peak! But the snow was great fun and there are many, many more pictures of the snow in the gallery.

Also, no trip to CO is complete without seeing the local wildlife and trees.

We got up close to some Elk in RMNP (we did not exit our car). You should have heard the noises they were making too!
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Also, here is the only shot of the Aspen trees I managed. Though I did see more, just didn’t get a photograph. Aspen trees are really cool! If you touch their bark you end up with a white powdery substance on your hands! This substance is a natural sunblock with an SPF of about 4. It is also a natural analgesic similar to aspirin. According to the guide dude on our train up Pike’s Peak Elk have been seen chewing on the bark of the Aspen after giving birth! Isn’t that amazing?

Oh and now, Misty can show Eli what an Aspen looks like.
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Ok, really, I only scratched the surface with these highlight photos. There are many more in our gallery, so go take a look and comment as you please!