Colorado
Garden of the Gods.
Shot on iPhone.
I spent a little less than a week in Colorado a few years ago. It was my favorite way to travel, because I was able to stay with a friend who showed me around her home state. I love getting the insider’s view on what to do and see, and having a cozy home to stay in never hurts either. Thank you to Christiana and her family for their hospitality!
This trip involved a bit more spreading out throughout the state to see sites and visit cities, so I will be focusing on multiple locations throughout the state. And the final location will be covered by my best friend, Lauren, who has been to Colorado multiple times and will give some advice of her own. We had plans to travel to Colorado with our partners this past summer – a global pandemic had different ideas, but we can’t wait to add this trip to our roster of places to visit once the world is back on its feet a bit. She is one of my favorite travel partners, and I am sure we will have a lot more advice to add after we make that trip happen!
Mile High City Disclaimer
I just have to throw this disclaimer out there – my visit to Denver also brought my first experience with altitude sickness. My friend, Christiana, had explained it to me, but I was still somehow taken aback when I experienced certain symptoms. Lauren also had a similar experience with an ongoing headache for the first 24 hours of her trip. I had a terrible headache and nausea by my second day there, and was able to overcome the symptoms by getting some solid sleep and drinking a lot of water. Similarly, Lauren just needed time to adjust. She made sure to stay hydrated to help ease that transition. She also has another interesting tip outlined in her section! Make sure you pay attention to how you are feeling when you visit somewhere with an altitude change like this, and take it easy if you do feel any of the effects as your body adjusts. This is definitely hard to do in a place like Colorado where you want to get outside and explore as soon as possible, but the rest will mean that you can be back on your feet and ready to do all of the things you want to!
Denver
We only spent a few hours in downtown Denver during my stay. The city sits at the very edge of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. We headed to Mellow Mushroom for a delicious pizza dinner. This is not a local spot, but rather a chain that can be found across the country (I’ve also visited their location in Savannah, Georgia). The pizza is fresh and inventive, and they also offer a very good gluten free option. We wandered around the Christmas market that was set up downtown. My visit was days before Thanksgiving, so it was a nice surprise to get a taste of Germany/Austria in downtown Denver. I loved wandering through the market and seeing everything that was offered, and we even spoke with one of the employees who was an expat from Germany. During my stay, we also visited Voodoo Doughnuts, which had been on my travel bucket list for a long time. The flavors are so fun and creative, and the donuts were very delicious.
One place that I can’t recommend more highly is Snooze. They have multiple locations in Denver, and we visited the one that was outside of downtown. There was a bit of a wait, but this place was one of the things on my to do list that I was not willing to sacrifice. When I traveled to San Diego five years before, we had visited the Snooze location there and I absolutely loved it. If you travel to a city with a Snooze location, I highly recommend you give it a try.
My friend was so sweet to think of me when she saw the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys. Yes, I am obsessed with all things miniature. And this place did not disappoint. Some of the displays that focused more on dolls were a little less appealing, but the tiny dollhouses and miniature set ups were so impressive. And the gift shop was….amazing. I managed to leave with only one small purchase.
Pearl Street in downtown Boulder.
Shot on iPhone.
Boulder
We took a day trip over to Boulder. They happened to have a farmer’s market set up on the day we visited, which included fresh produce, baked goods, a variety of cheeses, and a few food trucks. I can never resist exploring a farmer’s market, getting free samples, and leaving with a couple of unique finds. Boulder is a college town with a lot of great options for things to do, places to eat, and stores to shop in. Pearl Street is the main street downtown, with the iconic view of the mountains at the end of the long, straight street. We also visited Gelato Boy, because I can never resist trying an ice cream or gelato shop in whatever city I am visiting. I got a taro/sweet yam and marshmallow flavor that was super delicious.
A foggy view from Pike’s Peak.
Shot on iPhone.
Colorado Springs
We visited the Colorado Springs area to see Pike’s Peak & Garden of the Gods. We took the cog railway up to the top of Pike’s Peak. You can also drive to the top, but I really enjoyed taking the train. It offers the opportunity to sit back and relax (as much as one can while traveling up the side of a mountain), to admire the unique landscape of the mountain, and to get a dose of history and facts while making your way to the top. We saw a few goats on our way up as well. It was amazing how beautiful and clear the day was, but the minute we hit the summit it was completely foggy with low visibility!
Downtown Vail.
Shot on iPhone.
Vail
A must visit on my list for this trip was Vail. I had heard so many good things about it, including how much it felt like you were visiting a town in Germany or Austria. The drive to Vail from Denver was so gorgeous, as you wind through the mountains and pass tiny mountainside towns and goats hanging out next to the road. There was a little bit of snow, but we did not yet see any skiers (just a lot of slope tracks). I loved strolling through the main street in Vail, visiting the stores, admiring the mountains and the architecture. It really did feel as if I had stepped into a town in the Alps. We, of course, ate at an Austrian restaurant called Pepi’s Bar & Restaurant. I loved eating some food that tasted great and brought on some major nostalgia.
Lauren on Mount Quandary.
Shot on iPhone by Kevin.
Breckenridge
Hi! I’m Lauren, and I’ll be your guide through Breckenridge, CO today! Amy asked to be to be a guest writer on her blog this week and I am so honored! As a bit of background for you all, I met Amy while we were at Gordon College together (2010-2014). We wouldn’t say we became fast friends, or that it was friendship at first sight, but it was definitely friendship at first trip. I remember coming back from Christmas break in our sophomore year and asking everyone I knew, “Hey, my aunt and uncle have a house down in Georgia, who wants to road trip down there (approx. an 18-hour drive) for Spring Break?!” As you all know, Amy is always down for a trip, and so am I. Thus began a beautiful friendship.
Fast forward about a decade and here we are today. While Amy and I now live in different states (I’m in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), we still make time for our friendship and we are closer than ever, which in large part is attributable to our shared love of traveling. So, I am here today to share just a small piece of the joy I find in traveling with you.
View from the Marriott Residence Inn pool.
Shot on iPhone by Kevin.
I, like most Millennials, adore Colorado; so in July 2019, I took my now fiancé, Kevin, to Breckenridge for a long weekend to celebrate his birthday. Part of what excites me most about writing this post is that most people think of Breckenridge as a ski town (which it mainly is), but Breckenridge in the summer is well worth the trip. We flew into Denver and rented a car from there (highly recommend getting something with 4-wheel drive). We then drove about 2 hours through the mountains into Breckenridge (there is an airport closer but having a car in a must if you want to get the true feel of the mountains). We spent the weekend at the Marriott Residence Inn in Breckenridge. If you remember from the Costa Rica post, I am the friend with hotel points. Quick plug: if you love to travel, but more importantly if you travel for work, become loyal to one hotel chain. Get on the rewards program, use the credit card. It. Is. Worth. It. The hotel was perfect for us, if you know the Residence Inn’s, you will know that each room has a mini kitchen, so that was wonderful for keeping our snacks or leftovers in the big fridge, Breckenridge is a very active vacation, so having a good spot to recharge is important. But truly the best part of this hotel was the pool and hot tub (see picture above for the view from the pool). We spent a lot of time there, recharging our muscles after the long days of activities, and the view is unbeatable.
Kevin & Lauren at the Breckenridge Ski Resort.
Shot on GoPro.
On our first day there, we stayed local and went to the Breckenridge Ski Resort. We drove about a mile down the road, through town, to the BreckConnect Gondola. There are large parking lots there, which I’m sure during ski season get very packed, but we had no trouble in mid-July parking and hopping on the gondola, which then took us up the main mountain stretch. At the top, there are many activities to do. There is the lodge which has lots of food and drinks, and there are activities like an adventure park for kids and places to mountain bike. We chose to hike, we hiked up the mountain to the Overlook restaurant where we had a great, well earned, meal.
View from Mount Quandary.
Shot on iPhone by Kevin.
On day two, we took a drive out to Buena Vista for some white-water rafting. For any thrill seekers or lovers of beautiful scenery out there, this is a must do when in Colorado. We went with Browns Canyon Rafting and did the half day trip (4 hours of rafting, there is an option for a full day, where you bring lunch along, as well as overnight trips). They were amazing; each group gets put into a raft of about 6 people, not including the instructor. The instructor guides you through the entire trip and also steers the raft, telling you when to paddle and when not to. At the end, a bus picks you up and drives you back to your cars. When we went, the snow had been light that past winter (which is what drives the amount of water flowing through the rivers, and therefore the intensity of the rapids), so it was a very fun ride, although it didn’t inspire as much adrenaline as we may have hoped.
View from Mount Quandary.
Shot on iPhone by Kevin.
On our final day there, we decided it was time to conquer a fourteener. A fourteener is a mountain with a peak that has an elevation above 14,000 feet. Why this is something special is that within the United States, there are 96 peaks that qualify, 53 of which are located in Colorado. So, on our final day in Colorado, we hiked Mount Quandary (14,265 elevation and the closest fourteener to Breck). It was about 8 miles, a 4,000-foot elevation gain, and took us about 6 hours. While this isn’t just your leisurely Sunday stroll, it is well worth it to get the top of the mountain and have 360-degree views for miles and miles of beauty. If you want to do this someday, I highly recommend it and encourage it, as it is well worth it. However, I want to end with some tips for anyone who wants to hike a fourteener:
Start early. And when I mean early, I mean you want to try to be back below the tree line (about 10,000 feet) by noon. In the mountains, storms have a tendency to pop up and roll in unexpectedly in the afternoons, if you are above the tree line, you are a lovely target for lightening.
Bring too much water. I know, you are planning this hike and you’re thinking, “well I want to travel light so its less for me to carry!” Trust me on this one, over pack on the liquids. I have hiked two fourteeners now and I drank 2 liter of water each time; and each time I could have drank more. Not only are you exerting an extreme amount of energy, Colorado has a fairly dry climate, which means you don’t always realize just how much fluids you are losing. Bring. Too. Much. Water.
Pack layers! You will start this hike and it might be 90 degrees and sunny, but at the top of that mountain it could be snowing (this is what happened to me on my first fourteener, Mount Bierstadt).
Bring snacks, and probably bring a full meal. When you summit that mountain and sit down to enjoy the view, you will be hungry.
Invest in some good shoes. I would recommend some good hiking boots (with good grip and ankle support). Now, this one isn’t a must like my above recommendations; however, I will say that both my fiancé and I have hiking boots, and we live in Milwaukee, WI. It’s very flat here, we maybe have some hills, but there isn’t a ton of elevation gains. Still, we LOVE our hiking boots. Not only are they perfect for when we take trips to the mountains, we also use them often at home: if we go for a walk when it’s just rained and the ground is muddy, they keep the feet dry, if we go for a walk and it’s a bit cool out, they keep the feet warm. I’ve also had mine for a decade, and they are still in great shape.
Kevin on Mount Quandary.
Shot on GoPro.
We spent our days hiking and exploring the mountains, but we spent our nights walking around the town of Breckenridge and eating. Our hotel was in the perfect place, we could step out, walk about a block, and be right in the center of Breckenridge. Breckenridge has a lot to offer, and you could spend an entire day walking around town, shopping and eating. A few of our favorite places were:
Coffee Depot – this was a great spot to pick up some coffee or a quick breakfast on our way out of town. I also picked up some oxygen there (I struggled with altitude sickness for our first 24 hours and this helped a bit, lots of water and time helped as well, but everyone is different).
Michael’s Italian Restaurant – cute vibes, amazing food
Breckenridge Brewery and Pub – great outdoor seating and a solid variety
Downtown Breckenridge.
Shot on iPhone by Kevin.
I don’t know about you, but I am officially ready to go to Colorado. I hope you enjoyed my guest post, and I’m sure I’ll be back soon (whether as a writer or travel companion to Amy).
Your friend in wanderlust, Lauren.