I'm Back!
Oct 24, 2012I know, it has been forever since I've done a blog post... right after I said I would post twice a week. Obviously, that didn't work out! It's been almost 3 weeks since I posted. Oops! Since my last post, William and I (and Sammie!) have traveled to Bozeman, MT and back, and then we did a trip around Colorado. We first went to Denver, then Colorado Springs, and finally to Summit County (Breckenridge/Vail area.)
I'm really glad we decided to do the trip that we did. It was much less road time, less expensive, and still allowed us to see some amazing parts of the country that we had never seen before. One of the main reasons we moved to Jackson in the first place was to experience a different part of the country, and I think we have definitely accomplished that. We have seen so much that many Americans never see! Even in just the Jackson area, there is so much natural beauty to see. The west is so much different than any place I've ever been. I also have to say that seeing so much of the country has made me appreciate where I am from. After seeing lots of little towns and cities throughout, it has actually made me like Columbia a lot more than I did last time I lived there.
Anyways, on to the trip. Honestly, I did not take many pictures in Bozeman. The weather was pretty gray and gloomy, which doesn't make for great pictures. The town was pretty cute, though! The main street area was nice, and the surrounding area was great. Lots of cool bungalows and some different architecture than what I'm used to. The landscape was pretty similar to that around Jackson, without the dramatic Tetons. There was some snow on the ground in the National Forest, which was very exciting for Sammie.
After Bozeman, we headed back down to Jackson for a couple of days, and then headed down to Denver for 3 nights. Denver was pretty cool! There are so many great urban parks in Denver, which were a lot of fun to walk around. The surrounding neighborhoods were also fun to see. Denver is considerably warmer than Jackson, so that was nice, too! Denver was definitely a bigger city than I'm used to. It's amazing how living in Jackson will completely alter your perception of how big towns and cities are. Denver felt huge! There are so many restaurants and bars, and of course, a great beer scene. It seemed like there was a brew pub on every corner. One of the best places we went was Great Divide Brewery. It's right in downtown, and it's a cool concept. It's (obviously) a brewery, but also has a bar that was really busy! The atmosphere was really fun, and there was a food truck outside, which is always cool. One of the coolest parts was that there was a bar area and seating area, and you could also go walk around the actual brewery! As you can see, people were hanging out everywhere. Denver was super busy for the Great American Beer Fest.
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| William at the Great Divide Brewery |
One of the days we were in Denver, we headed to Boulder. We drove around the University area, then walked around downtown. Unfortunately, pets were not allowed on the pedestrian mall area! This was really disappointing! While traveling throughout the west, I have found that some things are surprisingly not pet friendly. There is a different culture out here regarding dogs. I think that since so many people here walk their dogs off-leash, cities feel that they have to restrict dogs from certain areas. Dogs are not allowed in most city parks in Jackson, they weren't allowed in some parks in Bozeman, and then they weren't allowed in a pedestrian area of Bozeman. This can be really annoying when you have a well-behaved, leashed dog! It is a catch 22, though, because it is really nice to be able to let your dog off leash in so many areas. Anyways, downtown Boulder was still very cute. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be! It definitely had the feel of being its own city, not a suburb of Denver. We also ventured outside of downtown to a trail with some cool rock formations.
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| Boulder, CO |
The other big activity we did in Denver was, of course, the Great American Beer Fest (GABF.) This was a crazy event. The line was really long, even when we got there almost an hour early! Luckily, it went by really fast when the event began, and the weather was nice. There were tons of people at the event, but the Denver Convention Center was so big that it wasn't too crowded. It was a little overwhelming because there was SO much to choose from! There were some really interesting flavors, which was fun. I had a really delicious peanut butter beer that I think was from a South Carolina brewery! This event is definitely something that all craft beer enthusiasts have on their checklist, so I'm glad we got to experience it.
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| Some extremely enthusiastic volunteers at GABF |
One of the most fun parts was going to a little presentation by Lexington Avenue Brewery of Asheville. It was about pairing beer with lowcountry food! (Luckily, they almost immediately admitted that Asheville is not in the lowcountry, and made sure to mention that the food was inspired by SC.) We had oysters, shrimp and grits, and chocolate truffles, all paired with their own beers. It was so cool to see the southern influence at a huge event in Denver. I'm telling you, Southern food is the new thing.
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| Lexington Avenue Brewery presentation on Lowcountry food |
After Denver, we headed to Colorado Springs for a short visit. The town was nothing amazing, but the scenery around it was unlike anything I've ever seen. We did a long hike around Garden of the Gods, which is a big attraction there.
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| View from the main parking area at Garden of the Gods |
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| Sammie at Garden of the Gods, overlooking Pike's Peak |
One of the other main attractions in CO Springs is Pike's Peak, which you can see in the picture above. It's definitely not the most dramatic peak I've ever seen, but it was a cool thing to have overlooking the whole city. You can actually drive all the way up to the top!
Next up, we headed to Breckenridge, CO. As soon as we hit downtown, we loved it! It is an adorable ski town. We met some extremely nice people and got to hear about living in the area. It sounds like an awesome place to live. Breckenridge, Frisco, Dillon, and Vail are all pretty close together and there are several ski areas throughout. I really liked this area. Unlike Jackson, which is in a valley, these towns are really right in the mountains. There are also so many ski areas, it would be hard to get bored! We did a great hike in Vail to Booth Creek Falls. I will definitely consider these areas for future vacation spots...
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| Aspens along the trail |
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| Booth Falls in Vail, CO |
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| View of Vail ski area from Booth Falls |
After 2 nights in this area, we headed back to Jackson. Not too much has been going on here, but it has snowed a little bit! I can definitely see why October is off season. It has been pretty gloomy, cold, and a little snowy, but not enough to do snow sports. Oh well, it's still a nice break from having tons of tourists plow through.
That's it for now! It looks like we will be headed "back East" next week. I'm looking forward to my last bit of warm, sunny weather for a few months!
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