Our Summer Vacation
June 2006 - Keystone, CO
In June 2006, Abbey and I headed to Keystone, CO for a brief summer vacation with our cousins Ryan and Leah. We flew into Denver and drove to Boulder to grab some lunch and check out the scene where we spent three or so days on our honeymoon, back in 2001. Once we were done with lunch we started to drive to the mountains, we took the scenic route and stopped by Boulder Falls on our way out of Boulder.
Image Set: Boulder Falls
Since we were arriving in the early summer, there was still plenty of snow melt and run-off from the high country, additionally, there were rain showers intermittently throughout our vacation. They were having a pretty typical early summer, sun, rain, sun, rain.
We continued up into the high country and enjoyed a leisurely pace through areas neither Abbey nor I had been through before. Lots of lush green evergreens and small mountain towns. Good looking places. As we approached our stop at Keystone, we took the Loveland Pass and stopped along the way to enjoy what we typically don't see, due to snow cover.
Image Set: Loveland Pass
As our drive took us to higher elevations, the air turned crisp and the new spring growth was underway. We had a good deal of fun in the rental car, a Jeep Wrangler. It did well up the pass and we did get to take the top down (after a little bit of a crisis situation) and enjoyed the air whipping through our hair and letting us be a little closer to nature.
On Friday we rolled into Breckenridge and had a great time walking around in one of our favorite places.
Image Set: Breckenridge
While we were in Breckenridge, we picked up a new lens for our camera. We took advantage of some really great sun/lighting to get some of these shots.
Later that night we took the top on the Jeep down and went to Frisco, CO to partake in some BBQ. The city was having it's annual BBQ Cook-Off and we sampled some fine entries, brisket, baby-back ribs, short ribs, pulled pork, and much more. Beers were on tap and the food was excellent.
Image Set: Frisco
Personally, after eating the various offerings from the competitors, I think I make a pretty mean brisket myself. However, they still have it over me, some of the rigs they use are massive.
On Saturday Abbey and I took a long walk around Keystone. We went to the Mountain House Base area and spent some time looking around all the areas that you don't really notice when you are there in the winter. We also marvelled at the absence of life around the base area, during the summer, this area shuts down. Doors are chained, lifts are abandoned, and things look pretty desolate, but come November, activity will begin again and it slowly begins to look like a ski resort.
Image Set: Keystone Base Area and Walk
The scenery in the summer is almost as breathtaking as in the winter with pristine white snow all around. Now it's all green with new growth and plant life working for it's share of the sun.
We stayed in the mountains until Monday, on Sunday we took a lengthy but enjoyable bike ride from the River Run base area to the Dillon Dam. It was a hump, but we made it and weren't sore on Monday. We took no pictures, as we were focused more on the ride and enjoying each other's company.
On Monday we set off from Keystone and stayed the night in Denver. While we were there we visited the Denver Zoo, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and saw Body Worlds 2, and ate dinner at Sushi Den.
Image Set: Denver Zoo
Here are a few of our favorite animals.