We happily arrived in Colorful Colorado after our 6 months of traveling through the Midwest and then Northwest US. I was looking forward to our first stop in Fort Collins where I attended Colorado State University. I hardly recognized the town which has grown from a population of 90,000 to almost 350,000 (of course… it has been 36 years!).
Fort Collins, Colorado:
It was fun to walk around the college and see the growth and changes—there’s even a new football stadium right on campus. In my day we had to go about 5 miles off campus to see a game. We stopped by the Alumni Center and then the Bookstore, where I got to restock my CSU t-shirts. My youngest daughter, Caitlyn, appropriated my old comfy one a few years ago.😏
We visited the CSU Annual Flower Trial Gardens, a public campus garden devoted to horticultural research and featuring over 1,000 annual flower varieties. This lovely garden has grown larger and was moved to its new location in 2000.
It was nice to see that not everything had changed, though. I took Mike up to see the beautiful Horsetooth Reservoir area in the foothills just west of town. We enjoyed biking along the Poudre Trail where we could go all the way to Vern’s Place for their amazing cinnamon rolls. I was happily surprised that this little diner was still going strong. Two other delicious discoveries were Nuance Chocolates and the Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop.
Estes Park, Colorado:
From Fort Collins, we made the very twisty and windy journey up to Estes Park (cue the GPS to say “sharp curve ahead” like 100 times!). We enjoyed a local craft fair and some shopping before stopping by the historic Stanley Hotel for a tour and a drink. I had to try the Redrum Punch and Mike sampled the Redrum Ale as we sat on the front porch overlooking the mountains. A friendly elk just sauntered by as we were sitting there!
Rocky Mountain National Park:
On our quest to visit all the national parks, Colorado brings us to number 22. We visited Rocky Mountain National Park which is one of the highest national parks in the nation. The park has 60 mountain peaks over 12,000 feet high and beautiful scenery everywhere you look. Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuously paved road in the US at 12,183 feet and runs east west through the park and over the Continental Divide.
We were able to experience the three different ecosystems that can be found in Rocky Mountain National Parks’ 415 square miles. The Montane ecosystem is found at 5,600-9,500 feet and contains a wide array of plant and animal life, open meadows, and wildflowers. The Beaver Meadows and Moraine Park areas are examples of this type of environment.
The Subalpine ecosystem is found at 9,000-11,000 feet and consists of evergreen forests and mountain lakes just below the tree line. Many of the park’s moose, deer, sheep, and elk frequent these areas. We were lucky to spot some on the beginning part of our hike up to Mount Ida.
The Alpine Tundra ecosystem is found above 11,000 feet and is known for having strong winds and cold temperatures. Above the tree line, plant life is limited to those ground hugging plants that can stand the exposure. Both our hikes to Mount Ida and Flat Top Mountain took us above the tree line and into the windy and cold Alpine area. We had to hold onto our hats as the cold wind was really blowing up at 12,000 feet!
Colorado Springs, Colorado:
Our ultimate destination was Colorado Springs where we spent the month of September visiting with family and preparing for the wedding of our youngest daughter. We enjoyed lots of shopping, golf, and eating out. We especially liked our tea at Miramount Castle, dinner at the Cliff House, and breakfast at both La Tartine Bistro and Coyote Café (in Penrose). Our timing was perfect to see the annual Labor Day balloon festival too.
It was fun to experience a BBQ cookoff in Denver with all the family. We met Sweetie who made the best pulled pork sandwiches we’ve ever eaten. He even gave us some of his spices and his recipe. There was no website on his business card, but look him up if you are ever in Natchitoches, Louisiana (Sweetie’s Bar-B-Q).
We were blessed with amazing weather in Woodland Park, Colorado, for the outdoor wedding of Caitlyn and Adam. Ron at Pikes Peak Paradise Bed & Breakfast did an awesome job coordinating all of the wedding plans. Both sides of the family enjoyed the special day and we feel it all went perfectly…well except when the bride forgot the bouquet, but that was quickly remedied and will be a funny story for them to share down the road.
After our time in Colorado we headed south to Texas. We spent the last few months of the year volunteering again at Northeast Texas Community College. We will be spending January and February in Florida to start off 2022. Look for my next posts from there soon!
Beautiful pics especially of Caitlyn. She stunning!!! Love all the pics of RMNP!! It’s my heaven on earth. Fort Fun certainly is different than when we went to school there. Safe travels on your next adventure. P.s …. Priceless pics of your family in Colorado Springs. Everyone looks fabulous !! 🥰
Thanks so much, Jane! We loved all of our Colorado experiences this fall. I can’t believe I had never been to RMNP–it was very beautiful there. Yes, CSU and Fort Collins have definitely changed but I have good memories of our time there together.😊 Loved the pics of Mary K’s wedding as well–stunning!
I think this has to be one of my favorite post from you. The flowers in that garden are spectacular and Estes Park offers some very cool stuff. Those cinnamon rolls look amazing and so does all that chocolate. Happy belated anniversary! The views from Twin Owls Steakhouse are stunning and your dinner looked good too. I really want to attend a balloon fest someday as well. Those wedding pictures and venue are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing from the fabulous state of COLORADO ! 🙂
So glad you liked the Colorado post. Of course, it was one of my favorites too because of the time we spent with family. We did luck out with the wedding venue and the weather being spectacular…and the bride! We want to go to the balloon fest in Albuquerque one day–it is supposed to be amazing.
Wow, reading your posts and seeing the photos is almost like being there. We love Colorado. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks David & Carol!
Hi Robin, I’ll have to spend more time reviewing all of your posts but it was funny that I landed on your Fort Collins / CSU posting first:) So glad that you both are still having so much fun exploring our country! Let me know if you’re even in So Cal:)
Hi Deb! I’m glad you found my travel blog–it is funny that you landed on the Fort Collins post.😊 I really enjoyed going back after so many years and seeing how great CSU looks. Fort Collins has really grown from the 70,000 people that lived there when we were in school! We are still enjoying our travels and had hoped to be your way at one point, but then the pandemic hit. I will be sure to let you know if we are able to come to southern California in the future. Enjoyed hearing all your news in the Christmas card. Happy 2023 to you and yours!