Day going to Boulder

Yesterday was a LONG day. We got off to a pretty early start and headed on up I-25 towards Denver and then off to Boulder. Martina was in awe as we drove towards the mountains.

We found a parking garage near Pearl Street and got out to walk around. Chad really like the feel of this town. Annika liked this bear. :P

There were an amazing amount of little restaurants, art stores, book stores, smelly hippy wannabes... All kinds of stuff there. Here's some pictures of the city.

Chad and Martina went into this tea store. They were really impressed with it. These pictures are pretty cool! It was called Ku Cha, Boulder's Premium Tea Shop.

I'll add some more about Longmont (man, I'm glad I didn't take the job there. Martina hated the look and feel of that area) and Estes Park soon. Annika wants me to go get in the hot tub!

Trip to see Denver

Yeah, yeah, it's not as awesome as the mountains and other stuff, but still, we wanted to see it. We got up early, had breakfast and started up I-25.  Everyone was just blown away by the mountains on the left and just the scenery in general.

We went to Confluence Park in Denver and parked near Elitch Gardens. We walked around and saw these cool bikes you could rent and peddle around at this REI near there. We went across a stream and down a few blocks, back across and then up near what I think is a section called LoHi. We parked the bikes and found this really cool Ice Cream place. They had ice cream, gelato and sorbet. I had salty caramel, peanut butter, chocolate ice cream. Martina had a lemon basil sorbet. Chad had banana gelato and Annika had chocolate malt ice cream. This place has all you can eat pancakes and ice cream on the weekends!

After that, we walked a good ways back to our car and then drove to the 16th Street Mall area. We found a Tilted Kilt and decided to stop there. Annika was afraid she wasn't allowed in. lol. Martina had a pretty good flat bread pizza. My burger was way over cooked.

After that, we met Martina's new friends at the Balistreri Winery.  They have a huge selection of wines for tasting. Martina even liked the white wines! She loved their zinfandel. It wasn't like a typical one. I didn't care for the dessert wines. Especially the cherry one. 

Here we are sitting outside the winery with Jutta and Pat Scarry enjoying some wine!

After that, we went back to the Scarry's place and had a fun evening hanging out and enjoying the view from their back deck/porch. It was a great start to the vacation!

The day arrived for us to leave!

Sorry about the late post. We had a busy day when we arrived and got sidetracked. :)

We got up at 2:45AM, said goodbye to our kitties and took off for the Pittsburgh airport. That drive sure does seem longer that early in the morning.

We got there at around 5:15AM. I had to go to the kiosk upstairs to get our boarding passes, they put is in the middle seat in very widely spaced rows. Annika was NOT happy.

After getting through the security checkpoint and finally arriving at the gate, Martina went to ask if they could rearrange the seating. They said they couldn't because it was a full flight. Luckily this guy agreed to switch so Annika could sit with Martina.

The layover in Dallas was 3 hours, but it seemed to go by fast. It was a good thing we were inside! It was over 80 degrees already at 8:30AM. Unlike at Pittsburgh, they were able to put us all sitting together this time!

Martina was so excited when she saw the mountains in Colorado Springs. She took a bunch of pictures with her phone. Here's one of the mountains from our hotel though.

After we got to our hotel and went for a quick swim, we met Jutta and Patrick Scarry for dinner. They took us to a 5 star resort (The Broadmoor) for dinner. We ate at the Golden Bee. It was alright, but Chad got sick that night. It might've been the pot pie he had. 

Here's a picture from behind The Broadmoor. It's pretty sweet place.

I'll add some more tomorrow. 

Tomorrow is the big day!

Tomorrow is the big day. We all have to get up early. The TSA line should be short at the airport that early in the morning (I hope!).

I checked our tickets and they didn't assign us seats on the way out, but put us together on the way back. No idea what is up with that. I guess they can fix that at the gate.

Once we get there, get settled in the room, Jutta and her husband are supposed to get us and we will go for dinner at The Broadmoor. It sure looks like a nice place. :)

http://www.broadmoor.com/

Car is reserved

Car is reserved. It's just a few weeks until we go! Everyone is super excited and ready to go.

Martina has been sending me ideas for places to go to while we are there. This pizzeria looks pretty awesome!

Pizzeria Locale

This brewery looks cool, but I think we may have to reverse our Vail and Boulder days. They aren't giving tastings/tours on Monday. Plus, you can't get a walking tour of Boulder on Monday either.

Upslope Brewing

Planning out our week in Colorado

Just finished booking the hotel in Colorado Springs, Co! It is at the Resident Inn in Colorado Springs Central. It has a an outdoor pool and should be a great spot to start each days adventures from.

I've already booked the flight and got us tickets on the Cog Railway. That will be a lot of fun. That's not until July 31st though. Need time to get used to the altitude. lol