My Trip to Colorado

Now with pictures!!

Hey Guys! So, If you read my last post you know that I just got back from Colorado yesterday and let me tell you, I almost didn’t come home! I love Colorado. To be fair, this was far from my first trip out there. In fact, one of the first things I did when I was 18, two weeks after graduating high school, I had my bags pack and moved across the country by myself to live in Colorado. I loved living there but had to move back for family reasons. Needless to say I couldn’t wait for this trip, I wanted to do all the touristy things that I didn’t do when I was living there.

First, here’s a little back story. As you may know from my last post me and my boyfriend just got an apartment but unfortunately we can’t move into it until 3 weeks after our previous leases ended. So, we’re homeless right now. Instead of freaking out over trying to find a place to stay for almost a whole month, we decided to take a vacation for some of it and headed out to Colorado. That’s the reason for the impromptu trip, way to turn a negative into a positive, right? Anyway, back to the good stuff.

First off, I love Colorado, it is definitely my favorite state and I would love to move out there again, though there seems to be a rush of people moving there lately unfortunately so it’s become more industrialized than I remember. Anyway, I had a whole list of stuff that I wanted to do and luckily we got to do almost all of it. Here’s some highlights of my trip, not in any particular order:

 

1) Rocky Mountain National Park! / Estes, CO.

I love rocky mountain national park, If you ever get a chance to go you should definitely check out some of the trails. We went up to Bear Lake and hiked around the lake, an easy trail with very scenic views, and took a hike from Bear Lake to Bierstadt Lake. I would rate it as a medium/easy hike and the view at the end is definitely worth it! We saw snow caps at the end of July! After hiking, it’s definitely worth it to check the town of Estes,Co where there’s some cool shopping opportunities, DipNDots! (haven’t seen those in forever), and some of the best ice cream and toffee that I’ve ever had. Also, there’s a cute little hidden coffee shop by a little park behind some outdoorsy store with amazing coffee and the nicest baristas, also they provide paper and pens for people to just sit there and draw/write while enjoying the incredible view of being surrounded by mountains.

 

2) Red Rocks Amphitheater! / Morrison, CO.

We didn’t see a show here unfortunately but we did get to explore it during the day which was still pretty cool. During the day the amphitheater becomes a natural gym for some very dedicated fitness enthusiasts. It must have been 90 degrees the day we went and there were still so many people in the amphitheater running up and down the stairs and working out. I got my own workout in in the form of hopping the guard rail and climbing the rocks around the amphitheater because sometimes I like to pretend that I’m a badass and break the rules. Like I said, this is an honest account. I stopped before I got in too much trouble though. Also, I just wanted to add a little note in here saying that I didn’t break into any dangerous climbing zones or attempted any climb that I wasn’t sure I could do, safety first kiddos, don’t be stupid.

 

3) Coors Brewery! / Golden, CO.

Golden is definitely my favorite city in Colorado but you’ll find out why in the next section. The Coors brewery is really cool. My boyfriend is a brewer so we couldn’t go to Colorado and not make a stop at Coors. We went on the tour which was really interesting and fun. My boyfriend enjoyed seeing all of the processes at the brewery and how they were different or similar to what he used in his brewery. I enjoyed the free beer tastings during the tour and at the end. The tour is free and I highly recommend it to anyone over 21, but if you’re not 21 don’t worry, you can still enjoy the tour. The tour covers some of the history of Coors, the processes involved in making their beer, and you even get some cool pictures (for a fee) and can shop at their gift shop at the end.

 

4) Chavez Trail!/Beaver Brook Trail! / Golden, CO.

Not going to lie, I had us going on a mountain hike nearly every day while we were in Colorado. That being said this trail in particular was my absolute favorite! It was also the most challenging that we did during this trip so I would not recommend it to any inexperienced solo hikers. However if you’re an experienced hiker or going with a friend I would recommend this trail more than any other for a good hike that is more on the difficult side. We went for the waterfall at the end but there is so much to see and experience on this trail. There are wild elk all around, moose, bears, bison, which are all very cool to witness but keep your distance because they are dangerous. There is a bison lookout at the trial head that’s really cool. The trail follows a brook through the mountains, you start off near the highway but soon are completely immersed in the mountains, there are so many cool views from the trail, I took more pictures here than anywhere else. Also, there is a ledge about a quarter of the way in that juts out over this ravine, a 400 ft drop off, of course I had to hike out to the very edge take a picture. Let me tell you, when you feel like you’re standing on the edge of the world, completely immersed in nature, give a shout out to the mountains as loud as you can and hear it echo back, it’s the most freeing experience I’ve ever felt. That being said, the trail starts downhill and you have to return by hiking back up, the path is very narrow with drop offs for most of it and becomes unclear sometimes, we almost got lost by taking the wrong fork in the path coming back up. There is no phone signal in the mountains so always let someone know what trail you’re taking and how long you expect to take just in case anything happens like getting lost or hurt. Though this path was more dangerous it was also the most rewarding and beautiful hike I’ve ever taken.

 

5) Downtown Denver, CO.

Fun fact, I never actually went into Denver when I was living in Colorado, let alone taking a whole day to explore downtown so that is exactly what we did one of the days we were there. We took the light-rail which was new for my boyfriend and a cool way to see a lot of Colorado quickly. We spent most of our time enjoying 16th street mall. I was surprised by just how much there was to do there besides shopping. There is only one vehicle allowed to drive down 16th street mall and that the free bus that takes people to different stops along the street so the bulk of the street is filled with cool artsy stuff for people to explore, there are these cool things that you can sit in and tilt/spins in circles, pianos are set up for anyone to just walk up to and start playing, street performers are everywhere, there’s a botanical garden in the middle of the street that you can walk through, cool places to sit and just people watch from the middle of the street, and a little area where people set up booths full of little oddities that I really enjoyed, and of course amazing food and shopping. I even got 4 free Starbucks drinks that day because people are just that awesome. We explored like true tourists and even went to the capitol. And of course because it’s Colorado we had to stop at a dispensary. After that we went to see Atomic Blonde in a theater that serves actual dinner meals and has cushy reclining leather seats. We finished the night with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory because it’s my favorite. At the end of the night we got a ride back to the light-rail from this amazing guy who was riding a bike with a rickshaw attached to the back. He was rose with us through downtown while serenading us with ‘a whole new world’ and ‘careless whispers’ blasting through some speakers on his bike. It was definitely my favorite part of the night, my only regret is that i didn’t get it on video.

 

So, that is some of the highlight from Colorado. I’ll include pictures as soon as they get uploaded to my computer. I took so many pictures that I filled up all the space on both my phone and my boyfriends phone.

 

Well if you made it this far then you are a beautiful person and thanks for reading. Like this post and comment below, What is your favorite memory from a vacation or favorite thing that you’ve done in a new city, mine is the rickshaw thing. Or comment whatever you want 🙂

If you’re new then I’d like to know what your favorite color is and why, comment below. 🙂

Thanks for reading! 🙂

Bonus pics for the delay:

 

My Trip to Colorado

Now with pictures!!

Hey Guys! So, If you read my last post you know that I just got back from Colorado yesterday and let me tell you, I almost didn’t come home! I love Colorado. To be fair, this was far from my first trip out there. In fact, one of the first things I did when I was 18, two weeks after graduating high school, I had my bags pack and moved across the country by myself to live in Colorado. I loved living there but had to move back for family reasons. Needless to say I couldn’t wait for this trip, I wanted to do all the touristy things that I didn’t do when I was living there.

First, here’s a little back story. As you may know from my last post me and my boyfriend just got an apartment but unfortunately we can’t move into it until 3 weeks after our previous leases ended. So, we’re homeless right now. Instead of freaking out over trying to find a place to stay for almost a whole month, we decided to take a vacation for some of it and headed out to Colorado. That’s the reason for the impromptu trip, way to turn a negative into a positive, right? Anyway, back to the good stuff.

First off, I love Colorado, it is definitely my favorite state and I would love to move out there again, though there seems to be a rush of people moving there lately unfortunately so it’s become more industrialized than I remember. Anyway, I had a whole list of stuff that I wanted to do and luckily we got to do almost all of it. Here’s some highlights of my trip, not in any particular order:

 

1) Rocky Mountain National Park! / Estes, CO.

I love rocky mountain national park, If you ever get a chance to go you should definitely check out some of the trails. We went up to Bear Lake and hiked around the lake, an easy trail with very scenic views, and took a hike from Bear Lake to Bierstadt Lake. I would rate it as a medium/easy hike and the view at the end is definitely worth it! We saw snow caps at the end of July! After hiking, it’s definitely worth it to check the town of Estes,Co where there’s some cool shopping opportunities, DipNDots! (haven’t seen those in forever), and some of the best ice cream and toffee that I’ve ever had. Also, there’s a cute little hidden coffee shop by a little park behind some outdoorsy store with amazing coffee and the nicest baristas, also they provide paper and pens for people to just sit there and draw/write while enjoying the incredible view of being surrounded by mountains.

 

2) Red Rocks Amphitheater! / Morrison, CO.

We didn’t see a show here unfortunately but we did get to explore it during the day which was still pretty cool. During the day the amphitheater becomes a natural gym for some very dedicated fitness enthusiasts. It must have been 90 degrees the day we went and there were still so many people in the amphitheater running up and down the stairs and working out. I got my own workout in in the form of hopping the guard rail and climbing the rocks around the amphitheater because sometimes I like to pretend that I’m a badass and break the rules. Like I said, this is an honest account. I stopped before I got in too much trouble though. Also, I just wanted to add a little note in here saying that I didn’t break into any dangerous climbing zones or attempted any climb that I wasn’t sure I could do, safety first kiddos, don’t be stupid.

 

3) Coors Brewery! / Golden, CO.

Golden is definitely my favorite city in Colorado but you’ll find out why in the next section. The Coors brewery is really cool. My boyfriend is a brewer so we couldn’t go to Colorado and not make a stop at Coors. We went on the tour which was really interesting and fun. My boyfriend enjoyed seeing all of the processes at the brewery and how they were different or similar to what he used in his brewery. I enjoyed the free beer tastings during the tour and at the end. The tour is free and I highly recommend it to anyone over 21, but if you’re not 21 don’t worry, you can still enjoy the tour. The tour covers some of the history of Coors, the processes involved in making their beer, and you even get some cool pictures (for a fee) and can shop at their gift shop at the end.

 

4) Chavez Trail!/Beaver Brook Trail! / Golden, CO.

Not going to lie, I had us going on a mountain hike nearly every day while we were in Colorado. That being said this trail in particular was my absolute favorite! It was also the most challenging that we did during this trip so I would not recommend it to any inexperienced solo hikers. However if you’re an experienced hiker or going with a friend I would recommend this trail more than any other for a good hike that is more on the difficult side. We went for the waterfall at the end but there is so much to see and experience on this trail. There are wild elk all around, moose, bears, bison, which are all very cool to witness but keep your distance because they are dangerous. There is a bison lookout at the trial head that’s really cool. The trail follows a brook through the mountains, you start off near the highway but soon are completely immersed in the mountains, there are so many cool views from the trail, I took more pictures here than anywhere else. Also, there is a ledge about a quarter of the way in that juts out over this ravine, a 400 ft drop off, of course I had to hike out to the very edge take a picture. Let me tell you, when you feel like you’re standing on the edge of the world, completely immersed in nature, give a shout out to the mountains as loud as you can and hear it echo back, it’s the most freeing experience I’ve ever felt. That being said, the trail starts downhill and you have to return by hiking back up, the path is very narrow with drop offs for most of it and becomes unclear sometimes, we almost got lost by taking the wrong fork in the path coming back up. There is no phone signal in the mountains so always let someone know what trail you’re taking and how long you expect to take just in case anything happens like getting lost or hurt. Though this path was more dangerous it was also the most rewarding and beautiful hike I’ve ever taken.

 

5) Downtown Denver, CO.

Fun fact, I never actually went into Denver when I was living in Colorado, let alone taking a whole day to explore downtown so that is exactly what we did one of the days we were there. We took the light-rail which was new for my boyfriend and a cool way to see a lot of Colorado quickly. We spent most of our time enjoying 16th street mall. I was surprised by just how much there was to do there besides shopping. There is only one vehicle allowed to drive down 16th street mall and that the free bus that takes people to different stops along the street so the bulk of the street is filled with cool artsy stuff for people to explore, there are these cool things that you can sit in and tilt/spins in circles, pianos are set up for anyone to just walk up to and start playing, street performers are everywhere, there’s a botanical garden in the middle of the street that you can walk through, cool places to sit and just people watch from the middle of the street, and a little area where people set up booths full of little oddities that I really enjoyed, and of course amazing food and shopping. I even got 4 free Starbucks drinks that day because people are just that awesome. We explored like true tourists and even went to the capitol. And of course because it’s Colorado we had to stop at a dispensary. After that we went to see Atomic Blonde in a theater that serves actual dinner meals and has cushy reclining leather seats. We finished the night with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory because it’s my favorite. At the end of the night we got a ride back to the light-rail from this amazing guy who was riding a bike with a rickshaw attached to the back. He was rose with us through downtown while serenading us with ‘a whole new world’ and ‘careless whispers’ blasting through some speakers on his bike. It was definitely my favorite part of the night, my only regret is that i didn’t get it on video.

 

So, that is some of the highlight from Colorado. I’ll include pictures as soon as they get uploaded to my computer. I took so many pictures that I filled up all the space on both my phone and my boyfriends phone.

 

Well if you made it this far then you are a beautiful person and thanks for reading. Like this post and comment below, What is your favorite memory from a vacation or favorite thing that you’ve done in a new city, mine is the rickshaw thing. Or comment whatever you want 🙂

If you’re new then I’d like to know what your favorite color is and why, comment below. 🙂

Thanks for reading! 🙂

Bonus pics for the delay: