Colorado, the end

After leaving the company of married people and other Boston folk, the Man and I journeyed on to Estes Park, home of Rocky Mountain National Park. We got there around sunset, and after eating a lot and driving on ridiculously curvy roads, we mostly felt like sitting around and having a drink rather than exploring. So, we went to the hotel bar at The Stanley Hotel (the one that inspired Stephen King to write The Shining) and got some drinks and took them to the porch near our room. We saw the few lights on in Estes Park and planned some outdoorsy fun for the next two days.

Sadly, when we woke up on Monday, it was drizzly and chilly. The nerve!
Instead of reeling in despair, we decided to go to Egg & I to get some giant breakfasts. The plates were huge, and they were piled high with eggs, bacon, and corned beef hash.
When we left the breakfast place it was still wet and icky so we took a drive instead of going hiking. We went the wrong way on our way to Rocky Mountain National Park and ended up in a teeny tiny town called Glen Haven, which I recommend getting to only if you have a helicopter because the roads - they were twisty. As we maneuvered around sharp rocks and turns the weather improved and we found the park and a little hiking trail that was a little over a mile long on Bear Mountain. Here's the lake at the base. It was completely flat and clear and beautiful. Oh, national park system - you're so good!
This is one of the views from below the one mile hike. I took some pictures while we were hiking but I was too busy trying to trap enough oxygen in my lungs to worry about those pictures being good... The air was so thin that almost immediately upon beginning to climb I needed to breathe heavily out of my mouth. Luckily my Man is fast and persistent and I hate looking like a wimp, so I just kept on going as long as possible between short breaks. The views were unbelievable. Once we were almost to the top the weather threatened to turn worse again (with thunder and lightning) so we made out descent back to the lake and out of the park.

We bought a bottle of wine at the Safeway near The Stanley and also some olives and cheese and crackers so the wine wouldn't get lonely. We consumed it while chatting and staring at mountains and laughing and planning our next day. It was an extremely lovely moment in time: sitting with my Man, having no responsibilities other than to enjoy each other and the mountains around us.
All that enjoyment tuckered us out so we went back to our rooms for showers and naps and some tv before dinner. We decided that dinner in the hotel was the way to go so we dressed up and walked about 300 feet to the restaurant. The Man had the "big game" meatloaf, and I gobbled down the rack of elk. Everything was delicious and went beautifully with the bottle of wine we split. We were fairly exhausted by the end of it and so it felt quite rewarding to get to bed and sleep.

Tuesday morning was glorious and sunny and cool. We got an early start and decided to hike near Milner's Pass, the highest available hiking point in the park. The hike would have been about four miles if we'd done it, but we didn't. By the time we drove the extremely treacherous nine miles to the starting point, we'd gotten so high that it was simply too cold to hike in the meager clothes we wore. I'm very happy that we planned to do it, however, because the drive and the views and the almost dying were AWESOME. Well, ok, the almost dying part was a bit nerve-wracking. When you're in a Jeep and the road is the width of one Jeep + approximately 2 inches and there are crazy turns and steep sloping rocks on either side of you, you have the right to be a nervous pee-er, that's all I'm saying.

This is my Man and me on our way down from the Milner's Pass area. The drive back down was about 15-18 miles and curvy but far less scary because the roads were all two way and paved. Everywhere we stopped there was something new to take a picture of. Like these two good-looking people.
And this is just one of a thousand views that I couldn't get over.
We neared the edge of the park and found a good hike that wouldn't be sure to give us hypothermia. Also, the weather had gotten a little warmer while we were driving back down the mountians. We stopped at Deer Mountain, which was a completely manageable hike at three miles up and three back down (not vertical miles, of course, the mountain path had tons of turns and switch-backs). I stopped frequently for Gatorade and to take pictures and eat a mini-snickers. Mostly it was because I couldn't get over what I was seeing and how far up we were. The trip down was better than the trip up because a) I could breathe fairly normally and b) despite having to look down so that I wouldn't break an ankle I was able to look directly out on the other mountains almost the whole time. When I spotted our car from the top of the mountain I was really pretty proud of having made it all that way.

Deer Mountain conquered behind us we left the park and headed back to the Safeway for wine and cheese and fruit and the comfort of "our porch". We discussed everything and anything and that takes awile, so when we found our first bottle of wine empty, we simply got another one, realizing that it would likely preclude the possibility of us actually going anywhere for dinner. But it was just too nice, sitting together and being outside far from home. Of course, drinking a bottle of wine each can be a bad thing, and after a rather tense conversation about our potential future I went back into the room alone and ordered a Caesar salad from the room service menu. He returned and we went to sleep less than happy.
In the morning, however, we got over any hard feelings and decided to have a great last day. We had some breakfast and walked along a river. We checked out of The Stanley and met the lovely bride and groom in Boulder for another delicious lunch, and we drove to the airport, making it in plenty of time to return the car and have a couple of beers before the flight.

All in all, it was a terrific trip/vacation. I got to be with old friends, welcome new ones, and spend time in a place completely different from what I'm used to. I loved it.