Colorado Part 2

Let me just start this entry by apologizing for the delay. I was hoping to have finished all three blog entries I have planned about our trip before now, but am just getting to #2. We've had a roller coaster of emotions this week in regards to the adoption that I will save for another post. We will share it with you though.

On Monday, 8/17 we headed over to Golden and toured the Coors Brewery - the largest single site brewery in the United States. Let's just say that we made the 40 minute tour last 2 hours with all of our excitement and picture taking.

Jeff was trying to make it look like I drank a lot of beer when really I had 1/2 a non-alcoholic beer and 2 diet cokes. Silly guy!

Here Jeff is enjoying his beer sample. Jeff's photo that he used on E-Harmony was taken at the Coors Brewery so we re-created it for posterity's sake.

After the tour we went to lunch in down town Golden.

The restaurant where we had lunch "The Capitol Grill" was the original meeting place of the Colorado legislators. We sat under that first umbrella there on the patio. I had some awesome fish and chips and Jeff had a buffalo burger. My man loves wild game!

We then took the Peak-to-Peak highway from Golden, CO to Estes Park where we would spend the night. We enjoyed many fantastic mountain views along the way.

After arriving in Estes Park, Colorado we looked at the shops and enjoyed the views. Here's a photo of the Downtown Waterwheel.

We had dinner at the Historic "Stanley Hotel" - the supposedly haunted hotel that inspired "The Shining". Stephen King stayed in this hotel in a room overlooking the mountains while writing the book. It opened in 1909, making this the 100 year anniversary of the hotel.

We had an awesome dinner at the Stanley Hotel. I ate meatloaf made out of elk, bison, and pork. I was so proud of myself for trying new foods and it was actually very tasty! Jeff had a scrumptious Buffalo Steak. Here we are with dessert.

On Tuesday, 8/18 we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park and then to our new hotel for the next couple of days in Beaver Creek. We headed into the park for a great day of enjoying nature and a ton of wild animals! It was Jeff's 5th trip to the park, but my first.

A picture of us in the National Park about to gain altitude majorly.

This is either a ground squirrel or a chipmunk. We saw both but for us it was sometimes hard to tell the difference. A chipmunk is a little smaller than a ground squirrel. The animals are so used to people, they just walk right up to you. We were starting to think this was the biggest animal we'd see all day, but boy were we wrong!

See how much closer we are getting to the mountains! We went all the way to the top of most of them on some very winding and sometimes scary roads!

Scenic View- check out the bird enjoying the view too from his little perch (bottom center of the photo)!

Our first elk sighting - a herd near the top of the Rockies. We saw at least 100 or more elk on this day and several herds along the road. We drove along the "Trail Ridge Road" - the highest continuous paved highway in the United States, which takes you up higher than 12,000 feet in elevation.

It was snowing at the "Top of the Rockies" like real snow, not Texas snow! Giant flakes!

Here we are freezing at the top of the mountain, while all our friends in Houston are sweating!

Jeff captured this great shot of a marmot! He practically walked up to us and said "cheese"!

Here is a closer picture of one of the elk herds we saw.

This giant elk was so close he stopped traffic! He and his friend got right out in the road with NO fear!

We crossed the Continental Divide several times on this trip, but here's the picture we got of us the first time we crossed it. It was taken by a nice group of motor cyclist.

We had dinner at the Blue Spruce Inn in Historic Frisco, CO after a long day at the park. Jeff had visited this restaurant on a previous trip, and thought it would be nice to go back to. At the end of the meal the waiter gave me a wonderful rose that we used to decorate our room for the next three nights in Avon, CO. Avon, CO is close to the "Beaver Creek Resort" and to the city of Vail, CO.

Tuesday night we checked into our home for the next three days - The Westin Riverfront Mountain Villas in Avon, CO. WOW - it was time for nap.