No Reservations

Well, actually, there are some reservations. But, very few. And what better excuse to use the title of one of my favorite shows. (I don't know, something about a travel show hosted by a very cynical old chef who hates vegetarians is very entertaining to me.) So it's that time of year: our, what has become, yearly trip to Colorado.

We arrived two days ago. The first night, we hung out in Ft. Collins a bit and then headed over to Rocky Mtn. National Park and spent the night at the trailhead of Long's Peak. We got there at about 10 PM. Arie got up and left to climb Long's at about 2AM. I remember sitting up, half asleep (we made a bed out of the back of the xterra) and looking around at that dark parking lot filled with bunches of people getting all their gear on guided solely by the light of their head lamps. I remember thinking, "these people, including my husband, are INSANE."

Arie made it up to the summit in an insanely short amount of time (4.5 hrs). I woke up at 7:15 and hit the (same) trail by 7:45. I was thinking all along that I would hike up part of the mountain and then run down. It became clear quite early on that there was no way I would be running down the mountain. The trail was very rocky and twisting an ankle was pretty much a sure thing. To my surprise, I felt great hiking up. A VERY different experience from the last time I was on that trail. I felt so good I ended up hiking up 4 miles to the Chasm Lake overlook. It was a very natural spot to wait for Arie, who would have been coming down around that same time. I hung out there for a bit and actually met 5 people from Iowa! It was so exciting seeing Arie come down that trail. I was SO happy to see him. He had strained a muscle in his thigh and was in need of some TLC and some cheerleading. Which I was happy to provide.

From there we headed to Boulder where we spent the night. We had a nice dinner out at a local microbrewery and then crashed at a (very luxurious compared to the xterra) hotel. This morning we we had breakfast at our favorite cafe in Boulder and indulged in my once a year breakfast: lox cheesecake. Yes, cheesecake. I mean, think about it...they took all the best parts of a lox bagel (smoked salmon, capers, tomatoes, onion) and put it in a cheesecake made of...cream cheese! Absolutely brilliant. But definitely a once a year treat.

Today we hung out in the very rough around the edges, but very cool, town of Leadville. At 10, 152 ft., it's the highest town in America. A big mining town at the turn of the century, it now is a very interesting mix of abandoned mines, shacks, a cute downtown and stunning views of 14,000 ft. mountains. Think of Vail, now think of the polar opposite, and you have Leadville. I like it. Tonight we watched the sun set at Turqoise lake, absolutely gorgeous. And then had the best Mexican food I've ever had. Leadville has an extremely high population of Mexicans, which was evident in the food. My intuition told me to order a margarita, which was definitely an inspired idea. It was the best margarita, no, the best drink I've ever had. Words cannot describe the perfection of this margarita. It's definitely now on my death row menu. (If you watch No Reservations, you'll know what I'm talking about.)

We're spending the night at the Leadville hostel. Ranked as one of the best in the nation, I can totally see why. It's very clean and cozy. Run by Wild Bill and Cathy, it feels more like you're staying with your sweet aunt and uncle (and a bunch of hyperactive, thrill-seeking cousins) than what I imagined a hostel to be. It's even dog friendly! There are 2 other pups staying here tonight besides Kharie. AND they have WiFi, which you, reader, are reaping the benefits of.

Tomorrow, we're headed to Aspen. We'll be camping there tomorrow night. And then we'll make our way back to Leadville to camp and wake up the next morning to climb Mt. Elbert, the highest 14er in CO. Arie, Khairie and I will all be climbing. Should be fun!

I will update our travel again when I can. And pictures to come...I promise!