Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Mountain Vacation 2011: Drive Day and Day Uno

Warning: There are a LOT of pictures below.

I returned from a lacrosse tournament in New York only to sleep five hours and get on the road for Colorado. We woke up, got some ice for the cooler, stopped by Dunkin Donuts and were on the road by 6:30. The drive went amazingly well. We only stopped three times the whole way to fill gas and switch drivers. The only downfall was the 25-50 mph winds (no exaggeration here, I checked the weather) through all of Kansas. We were dodging tumbleweeds and even had one stuck to the grill when we arrived.
Windmill Farm in Kansas
Our first view of the mountains complete with bugs splattered on the windshield
We arrived a couple hours before we had planned. We were just hoping to be in the mountains before sundown and we even had time to go to the grocery store before the sun set.
This is the view from our condo.

Tuesday morning we woke up early... on accident. We got coffee at the coffee shop outside our condo and made a lovely breakfast. Then we headed out for a hike near Breckenridge, stopping for some pictures on the way. We kept noting how much snow was on the mountains. It even snowed as we drove in, but today was 70 and sunny and perfect.
Buffalo Mountain over Lake Dillon

Tom by Lake Dillon
Me by Lake Dillon


When we arrived at our hike we had to park the car 2 miles from the trailhead because the road was completely covered by snow. When I say completely covered I mean there was about 6-10 feet of snow the WHOLE way up the road. I am slightly embarrassed to say we never even made it to the trailhead. We hiked for a while (may have missed the trailhead completely?) and took pictures. We sunk up to our hips in the snow at times. It was crazy.

Tom hiking the road

We may have been hiking a road but it was beautiful
We had a hard time fitting us and the mountains in the frame

These were the views when we finally decided to turn around
This was pretty typical. Buried to my shorts in snow. The other person would have to come over and lend a hand to pull you out. Quite an adventure.


We're dorks and were totally impressed by the reflections in our sunglasses.





After the hike we went back into Breckenridge to walk around and enjoy a beer at the Breckenridge Brewery. We sat on the patio and it was absolutely gorgeous. The ski slopes were behind us. We just talked, ate some loaded fries and enjoyed the view.


When we returned home we were exhausted. We didn't realize we were getting fried by the sun so when we returned we were red and completely worn out. After a short nap we went to Mexican for dinner and then were asleep by 9:00 pm. Hopefully today's trail will be a bit less snow packed...cross your fingers!

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