51 Hours in Colorado

51 Hours in Colorado
September 28-30, 2012

Lisa is my partner in shenanigans.  We manage to get ourselves into wacky predicaments that are nothing less than totally random and highly hysterical.  Her move to Colorado didn’t change that- Denver is just one non-stop flight away out of Akron Canton Regional Airport (CAK) on Frontier, the cutest of all the airlines.  I left on a Friday morning around 6:30am and arrived at the Denver International Airport (DEN) around 7:30am, the difference in time zones making a 3-hour flight seem like a mere hour- it is like I traveled in time.  Or maybe time traveled with me?  Anyway, Lisa and her girls Skylar, Tierney and Justice drove up cheering and whisked me away on what was to become one of the most non-stop, whirlwind weekend trips of my entire life. 

I could see the mountains in the distance and took in the landscape in the morning light but really, the very first Colorado sight I saw was a giant field full of prairie dogs.  Hundreds of prairie dogs.  And one rabbit.  The peculiar thing about this was that the field was really more of an undeveloped lot between a movie theater and retail shops in a busy commercial part of town.  The prairie dogs had just made it their own, peaking their little heads out of their holes or boldly standing up on end with an air of claim over the plot.

After we dropped the kids off at school, Lisa and I headed toward Denver.   Lisa said she wanted me to see a Denver traffic jam- I was kind of ambivalent about this plan.  I mean, you see one traffic jam, you’ve seen them all.  It was a lot of traffic.  We detoured onto side streets and were soon involved in a haphazard high speed tour of the city.  We zoomed past the US Mint, the Art Museum, Mile High Stadium and an amusement park right in the middle of the city (that’s pretty cool).  

 

Lisa offered up several options for afternoon activities.  We chose Red Rocks Park based on its close proximity to Denver- it turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip.  We started the excursion by climbing 386 steps to the very top of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  We toured the museum, made souvenir pennies and, bound to get into some sort of hijinks, did the chicken dance to the cheers of roadies setting up the stage for a show that night.  From there we set out to do a little hiking.  I was instantly enchanted by the vista of rock formations, wind torn trees, cacti and other desert foliage.  Lisa and I climbed up the trail stopping to scope out secluded spots with great views.  On our way out of the park we stopped at the Trading Post to take in even more totally spectacular views and shop for little things.
 

By the time we were done exploring Red Rocks we were famished and headed into the laidback little town of Morrison, CO to find a place to eat.  We chose the Blue Cow Eatery based on the quirky sign and the 100% buffalo burgers on the menu.  We relaxed on the covered back patio and enjoyed our juicy burgers.  After lunch we browsed a few of the shops in the area.

After picking up the kids and going to the grocery store, we headed back into the city to enjoy a little night picnic with Lisa’s friend Nicole and her family on the bank of the South Platte River in Commons Park.  We walked around the busy restaurant and nightlife district of the Highland neighborhood, then crossed the Denver Millennium Bridge pretending that we were playing a real life game of Frogger as we mimicked dodging the cars passing below.  We rode free public transit into the downtown area to explore a little more.  It was in the late night/early morning hours before we made it back to the hotel to crash.

Just a few hours later we were up for another whirlwind day of adventure.  After breakfast we packed up the car and headed north toward Estes Park in the Rocky Mountain National Park.  We were on a mission to see elk.  Lisa and I had talked about the elk many times while planning our trip.  If nothing else was planned, we knew we wanted to see elk.  It was a must!  We kept our eyes peeled as we drove along the mountain road winding higher into the mountains.  Alas we saw no elk on our drive up.

Estes Park is nestled in between towering mountains.  It has a rural, intimate village feel but with the restaurants, shops, arts and culture of a larger community.  We’d just happened to pick the weekend the Annual Elk Festival was going on but we had something else on our agenda first.  Being the end of September and nearing what I like to call ‘haunted season’, I was pretty stoked to hear that Lisa had planned for her two older girls and me to take a tour of the Stanley Hotel, the very place that inspired Steven King’s horror novel ‘The Shining.'  

We had a little while to wait before our tour started so I enjoyed one of my favorite pastimes, having a drink at the hotel bar.  There’s just something about a fancy hotel bar and the Stanley Hotel’s was especially grand with carved dark wood, a selection of fine spirits displayed on lighted shelves and a 37-foot stone top bar.  I had an amaretto sour at the bar and a second taking in the vast mountain views from the large front porch of the hotel.  The Stanley Hotel tour combined the history of the area and the buildings with the fabled stories of ghosts that inspired a book and movie for a tour that was just a little bit spooky.  Little things that might usually go unnoticed like orbs in a photograph or candy dropped in a stairwell may be a message from the afterlife in this historic landmark. 

We recharged with a picnic on the hotel grounds, then walked into downtown to explore the Elk Fest.  Elk Fest was pretty awesome!  I mean, it’s the Wild West out there- we got to check out teepees, chomp on jerky and watch Native American dances.  We explored the town shops and galleries to wind down the day. 

We still hadn’t seen any elk which was kind of an issue so we drove around the area, up and down mountain roads just hoping we’d come upon some meandering along.  We had a few false sightings- as it turns out, Colorado deer are way bigger than Ohio deer.  Lisa and I made our way toward a rushing stream to see if we could catch a glimpse of anything.  We did not see any elk- however, we did spot some mighty big, very clawy paw prints.  As the light dimmed, our chances of seeing elk diminished.  We were pretty bummed as we drove out of Estes Park.  The car was quiet.  I was beat. 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement in a field to my right.  I looked over to see three elk frolicking through a meadow.  I start to scream, Lisa starts to scream, we both pretty much start flipping out at the sight of these giant creatures running through the grass.  We cheered and tried our best to get at least one decent photograph.  Alas, the light was bad, the distance far- still, I got a blurry image and an absolutely amazing memory of my first elk sighting.  That’s all we needed to energize for the final leg of our evening- enjoying a delicious curry chicken & rice dish prepared by Nicole’s husband Jon.  It was a great way to wrap up our day!

We ate breakfast at the airport on Sunday morning before saying our goodbyes.  We’d packed so much into the short time we’d spent together and were already planning another visit as we munched on mini hash browns.  It was a crazy couple of days and we made the most of every minute.  We hiked rugged mountain paths and downtown streets.  We toured a music venue that’s hosted many historic concerts and a historic hotel that hosts many spirits.  We shopped and picnicked and saw wild animals.  The one thing we didn’t do was sleep.