DTR

Friday started out as a lazy day. We decided to sleep in, have a late brunch and simplify things a bit. We decided against both a hard nature hike and the more "suburban" Beaver Valley hikes. Going to Leadville had been on our list of things to do earlier in the week, so we revisited that idea and made the one-hour trip south. Leadville was the center of Colorado mining ages ago, and has a scenic narrow gauge train ride that follows a former route to a mining camp. Leadville also hosts the two highest mountain peaks in the U.S., Mt. Elbert and Mt. Massive, both over 14,000 feet in elevation. Leadville is a VERY different place from the resort towns 40 miles north - clearly a town that was once more prosperous, but still very ... read more

Today was really two different days for us. The first half was waiting for the steady rain to ease up. Some shopping in Vail, some reading, getting a haircut - waiting for the day to begin. The second half was more like it. Rain eased up around 2:30 and we decided it was too wet to do some of the hiking we had planned, so we walked and bused to the nearby Beaver Creek center to learn more about the hiking trails there. Before long we had decided to embark on some hiking anyway, and more than three hours, seven trails and about 10-12 miles later we had a remarkable day. The first few trails were hard, and uphill. The fresh rain gave the whole area a wonderful fresh smell of spruce, but footing was tricky ... read more

We had planned to hike today but decided I needed some specialized camera filters. No camera stores nearby but we found one in Breckenridge and drove there. It was a scenic drive and we LOVED the small town of Frisco on the way there. Breckenridge is VERY upscale and has a cool factor, but it is too much. We had lunch in Breckenridge just as the daily afternoon thunderstorm came. It spoiled my chance for good pictures - although I took several, the lighting was poor and they needed a lot of editing. Copper Mountain on the way back was very impressive. We stopped and had dinner in Vail at Garfinkels right at the bottom of the ski lifts. We tried to catch a concert but by the time we found out where it was, it ... read more