Colorado: Where Nature Reminds Us Who's In Charge

On Thursday, after my great hike in Canyonlands, I started my 6 hour drive to Denver to pick up my friend, Susan, at the airport and start our Colorado weekend. It really didn't occur to me how long a trip it really was going to be until I was about halfway through and thinking, damn, I'm still driving. A lot of the trip was quite beautiful. The Rockies, of course, are gorgeous, and I-70 is weirdly beautiful, especially east of Grand Junction where it goes along the Colorado River. Everything was going swimmingly; I was on time to pick Susan up, when Colorado's summer construction season stopped everything. Literally 5 minutes east of Vail, the worst traffic jam I think I've ever been in, including LA!, began. It took me one hour to drive 10 miles. The problem was that at the Vail pass, literally at the actual pass, they were paving the road, so we had to merge into one lane. Now that would have caused problems obviously, but we also were on a steep incline to 11,000 feet, and so many semis and RVs were stalling, that we were constantly being forced to merge into different lanes. It was un-freaking-believable. I was in such a great mood up to that point, and then boom! I was over the pass at about the same time that Susan landed, and we decided that she would supershuttle to the hotel.

We stayed at the Magnolia Hotel in downtown Denver. The hotel was great; I recommend it to anyone who's going to be traveling in Denver. The rooms have a western brothel feel, with floor length velvet carpets, but everything was really well-appointed, the staff were great, and you get a free hot breakfast.

Downtown Denver, on the other hand, was a little creepy. Maybe it was because I had just come from rural Utah, but I found the grungy, drugged-out denizens of 16th Street a little too much to handle. Luckily, Susan and I came upon a yummy Italian restaurant in a hotel very near our own. It's called Panzanos, and it was really good.

The next morning, we woke up, ate our free breakfast, and started the drive to Mt. Evans. Mt. Evans is one of two 14,000 feet mountains to which you can drive to the peak, the other being Pike's Peak. There's also a bristlecone pine forest up there that Susan wanted to see, plus some hiking, and we thought this would be a good outing for the day. At the entrance, we went to the Forest Service ranger station to get advice, and the really nice ranger suggested some hikes, and suggested we drive to the top first, and then do the hikes. Big mistake.

I've heard of altitude sickness before. When I went to Quito, my host family had warned me about it, and given me lots of precautions. But never have I experienced such a debilitating effect. It started about 10,000 feet, when Susan said that she was feeling a little light-headed. At Summit Lake, which is about 12,000 feet, I thought to myself, we better turn around. I was starting to get light-headed and a little queazy. But I pressed on. At about 13,000, I completely lost it. I said to Susan, "You better drive," and I stopped the car in the middle of the road, and realize that this was a very small road, and we switched, and she drove the rest of the way.

The top was spectacular. Unfortunately, I was trying to keep myself from either puking, fainting, or both. We got some good pics of mountain goats, and one of the Susan at the top, but then we had to go down. I really didn't think I could last.

What killed me were all the cyclists who were cycling to the top!!! That's going up a mountain to 14,000 feet! I felt like such a wimp, although the ranger said there's really no rhyme or reason to who's going to get sick.

The other big, and completely stupid, issue was that I had no gas in my car, so I think I was panicking a little. We went down to about 11,000 feet to a ranger station, so Susan could walk around the bristlecone pine forest and take some pictures. The ranger really kindly called to get gas sent up to me. And I just sat in the station, freezing, and counting the seconds that we could get down lower.

We tried a few hikes, but I was pretty wiped out. We did get some great pics at Echo Lake. But basically the day was over for me. We ate lunch in Idaho Springs, then we drove back to Denver, where I passed out on my bed. Later, we drove to a great bookstore, The Tattered Cover, and ate dinner at this yummy restaurant in the Highland neighborhood, called Stella's. But then I went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

The next day, I felt a ton better, and we drove through to Boulder and then on to Rocky Mountain National Park. The lower edges of the park are at 8,000 feet, so I didn't think I'd have problems, and the Ranger gave us great advice. This park is amazing. It's filled with wildlife: was saw mule deer, elk, pica, and tons of other types of rodents. But the scenery itself is spectacular. We took a short hike at first to see how I did, then after lunch we took a fantastic hike to Cub Lake. When we arrived at the lake, Susan was not impressed, and we heard the glorious sound of thunder. Thundershowers had been predicted, but we hadn't really thought anything of it. About 10 minutes into the hike back, it started to thunder and lightening, and then hailing. I'm not a big fan of the lightening thing, so I was a little freaked out. But after that part ended, we walked the rest of the way back in the rain. I had a rain coat, so I did okay, but Susan was freezing at the end. I was amazingly exhilirated by the whole thing; I was a little manic to tell you the truth.

We then drove to our fantastic hotel in Boulder called, wait for it, Hotel Boulderado. It dates from 1909, and it's really a fantastic hotel. They have a great restaurant called Q's, and we had a fantastic meal there in honor of Susan's birthday which is next week. I had a fantastic steak, that was incredibly tender even while being well-done. Susan had yummy scallops.

The next morning, we only had a few hours before we had to leave to get Susan to the airport. After breakfast, we walked around Pearl Street which was getting ready for an international festival. Then we walked up a beautiful walking/biking path on Boulder Creek. I could live in Boulder, I think. It was a great town.

After dropping Susan off, I then had to take the 5 hour drive to Taos, NM. I have to say, I'm getting sick of driving, and I still have to drive all the way back to Long Beach. Sigh. This trip had two interesting highlights. First, I stopped in Colorado Springs, and ate at this completely place I chose by random called Nosh. I had the best, and most beautiful, beet salad there. I've attached a picture. Then, I drove through San Luis, Colorado, the oldest city in Colorado. It actually looked like a ghost town, but it was Sunday and Father's Day, so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

I got to Taos at about 6:30. I'm staying at this beautiful B & B called La Posada de Taos, really near the Plaza, and I'm happy so far. I ate dinner at my favorite restaurant in Taos, Byzantium, and had Green Chile Chicken Parmesan. Very interesting. It's super quiet here, so I'm thinking I'll sleep well. And tomorrow, I'm going to hike in the morning, and read in the afternoon. I can't wait.