Over the last month, 2 of my brothers came to visit! We knew they’d love Boulder (albeit for very different reasons), so we tailored the trips for each of them and had a BLAST!
Mark
Right before Mark arrived, we got a good snow fall, so it was beautiful for his visit, but melted just enough to drive into the mountains. We started off at a local joint, The Flats, that has a fantastic view of the Flatirons. After the early lunch, we headed for a hike. Charles and I did this hike in the fall, (Green Mountain West) but it was definitely more challenging in the snow. We went prepared, fortunately, and it didn’t disappoint. It had a fantastic view over Boulder. We ended the night at the Jungle Tiki (the BEST fries ever) and License 1 (an aptly named speakeasy that holds the first liquor license in Colorado after the prohibition) and then went home, where we all slept well that night!
The next morning we headed over to Estes Park. We found a herd of Elk and visited the Stanley Hotel after walking around the cute town (and stocking up on Taffy!). We intended to go on a hike, but was far too windy to be enjoyable, so we skipped it. So we ate BBQ for lunch and then headed into into Rocky Mountain National Park to find the exact-ish location of Mark’s favorite picture by Rodney Lough! It was on his bucket list and I LoVe that we happen to live so close! We ended the night at Outworld Brewing, a very unique Sci-Fi themed brewery that was celebrating Mardi Gras – which meant that the band was playing New Orleans Jazz music. Mark was a very happy camper!
The following day, after church, we went over to Boulder Falls and then over to Nederland, another cute small mountain town. It was a beautifully snowy (and very windy) day! We ended with a music/light show here at CU-Boulder. Then, the next day came and Mark had to go back home. Sad. We went to the famous Left Hand Brewery before heading to the airport. It was such a fun time!
Jon
Almost 2 weeks later, Jon came to visit! We started off by stopping at a local coffee shop, Beleza. After work, we took him downtown to Next Door Street Bar, where a Michelin star chef created the menu, followed by a beer flight at Vision Quest! We woke up the next morning and headed into Estes Park, and stopped for some BBQ at Smokin’ Daves where we recreated a picture from our trip with Mark! After that, we went straight to the trailhead for Lily Mountain! While challenging (and made even more challenging by the “off-roading” Jon & Charles did), the view from the top is just spectacular, and on the way down, we even got to “slide” down the packed snow!
After church, we visited Nederland, ate some delicious pizza at Crosscut, and then headed back to Boulder where we went to Avery Brewing for some good beers and even better company. Jon and Charles picked up their rental gear for snowboarding/skiing for the next day. They ended the night with a night-hike up HogsRidge for a view of Boulder. The next morning they headed into Winter Park, CO for skiing/snowboarding and no one even broke anything (obviously I didn’t join!). We ended the night hanging out and playing video games and Jon headed out the next day. =( It was such a great time!
More Pictures
There were so many amazing pictures, so I’m going to leave you with a few more so you can feel like you joined in on the fun and make you feel like you want to come visit! Ben… I think it’s your turn!
[…] my brothers were here recently, Charles and I bought a National Park Pass since the Rocky Mountains are so close! Spring was […]