I know I said I would get this up yesterday, I didn’t. I know, I’m fired. But, its better late than never, and now that I’m finally a little bit more caught up on my sleep, hydration and caffeine intake, I’m feeling much more like a real person who has the energy and mental capacity to do things that are productive.
I left for Denver early on Friday morning, 9/18. When I say early, I mean my flight was at 6 A.M., which called for a 3:15 A.M. wakeup call. Early mornings are not my forte, but I’ll do it for traveling. If you ever want to see people at their worst, I suggest going through airport security at 4:45 A.M. on a Friday.
I made it to Denver without any issues, and even found my hotel without issues. I’m directionally challenged, so this in itself is a huge win – I get lost a lot. But, I really only had two missions in mind on Friday: food and sleep. I found a Whole Foods near my hotel, got something to eat, drove around a bit more, and was in bed by 8:30 P.M. and asleep by 9:30.
Saturday, my friend Mat and I drove up to Boulder to check out the area and meet up with another friend of mine, Ana. Ana is a board certified holistic health practitioner through her business, Intuitively Wise Well-Being, and is one of the sweetest, most beautiful women I have ever had the pleasure of calling a friend. I met up with her and her dog, K2 (who I am in LOVE with) for lunch at Lyfe Kitchen on Pearl Street in Boulder.
After lunch, we went to a lookout point at Boulder Mountain Park. I had a hard time getting over how beautiful Colorado was the entire time I was there. Boulder is at the foothills of the mountains, and has an incredible view everywhere you look.
After the lookout, Ana took us down the mountain a bit to a waterfall. To say it was serene was a bit of an understatement.
California is in a horrible drought right now, so just seeing water at this capacity was really nice. (California is on fire. Seriously. The whole thing.)
This was where we parked to get to the waterfall. There were actually a number of people rock climbing on the nearby rock formations, which was really cool to see.
After saying goodbye to Ana (so sad!), it was time to head back to the area where the hotel was. I got a few photos from one of the trailheads along the main highway around Boulder. There are so many places to stop and hike/walk around!
I truly cannot get over how beautiful it is up there. I also can’t get over how many people are just out and about, walking around and enjoying where they live – people here are very active and really seem to take advantage of the fact that they live in such a beautiful area with so much to offer. It’s really nice to see that.
On Sunday, I headed down to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. The drive alone was beautiful enough, and although I (naturally) Googled the crap out of the park, I wasn’t really fully prepared for how amazing this place was going to be.
This was definitely a scenario where I wish I had a better camera than my iPhone. All things considered, I think things came out pretty well.
Monday, I headed into Denver with the mission of one thing: donuts. Voodoo Doughnuts has a Denver location, and I’ve heard enough about it to know that it was worth checking out.
Yeah, definitely worth it.
Neopolitan donut: Chocolate cake doughnut with vanilla frosting, strawberry dust and marshmallows.
Sprinkle donut
No Name Doughnut: Raised yeast doughnut with chocolate frosting, rice krispies and peanut butter. This one was ridiculous.
After donuts, I ventured out to the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison. This was a relatively short drive from Denver, and was so cool to see. The fact that they have concerts in there is so cool…it’s such an amazing venue in a beautiful, natural setting.
Outside the amphitheater were a few trails/lookout points.
Tuesday was another early flight, so I was awake at 4:45 A.M. to get everything together. I made it back to San Francisco without incident, napped for about an hour, then went to work.
Overall, it was a great trip. I will definitely be back to Colorado soon – it has a lot to offer and is absolutely gorgeous.
Reps for Becks 