weekender in the mile high city

Last weekend Joe and I made a quick trip out to Denver.  We apparently brought the North Carolina summer heat with us as it was HOT out.  Like mid-90's and sorta humid for Colorado.  We really only came prepared with summer clothes as we didn't know there would still be snow in the mountains as you will see us freezing our tails off later.

We only had one day to adventure in the mountains and in English fashion, we got up very early and headed over to the Red Rocks Amphitheater.  We had to waste a little time hiking around as every Saturday they have Yoga at the Rocks at the Amphitheater.  I will say, it would be a pretty cool place to see a concert.

At this point I was sadly out of breath - the thin air really does effect you.

Red Rock Amphitheater

Our next stop was to drive on the scenic byway up to Mount Evans.  The tallest paved highway in America.  We made it about 13 miles up and then had to turn around due to the loss of cell service.  We needed to check-in at the airport so we could get decent seats.  On our flight out, we didn't get to sit together and we were in the wayyyyy back.  So.... we didn't want that to happen on our return home!

You can see the snowcapped mountains in the photo above (hardly)

Sound of Music anyone?

We stopped at Echo Lake prior to driving up to the top of Mount Evans.  Beautiful lake!

Saturday, June 10th was National Go Outside Day so we didn't have to pay the entry fee in.  Woo hoo!  Once we started up to Mount Evans I think we both had a little 'anxiety' over the high altitude.  To everyone we mentioned about going up there was warning us of feeling sick, yadda yadda.  Fortunately, both of us felt mostly fine with the exception of me white knuckling it up almost the entire drive as there was NO guard rail and an immediate falloff with lots of switchbacks.

It was freezing at the top!  Literally I think my lips were blue and had goose bumps over my entire body...  BUT BOTH of us had to make a quick photo in the snow.

Thankfully there was another guy at the top of the mountain who felt comfortable using my camera as a tripod was NOT going to be an option up here due to the wind.  PLUS I was able to make his picture as well.

You can see the few people above hiking to the top-top.  Joe THANKFULLY didn't want to hike up there either as neither of us were dressed appropriately.

Sheep crossing

It was very odd that the sheep stopped in the middle of the road and then started licking the pavement.  I'm not sure if it was the water or maybe salt that they were interested in?  There was a lot of non-frozen water around.

We needed to find some lunch fast as we were both hungry.  We stopped in a cute little town called Idaho Springs to have lunch (Tommy Knockers - highly recommended).  We had to meet up with colleagues for dinner, so we didn't have enough time to adventure very far from here - so we walked around the shops to buy candies and ummm a souvenir flannel for Amanda.  Surprise surprise right?  Then we headed a little further on the byway towards the Rocky Mountain National Park (no intention of making it there).

That was some frigid water!  I had to go touch it.

I thought it was funny to hitch-hike

See ya next time Colorado!