The Ramblin' Bauers: Colorado Weeks 3 & 4

“Take it easy. Take it easy. Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy…” After fun, full, and exhausting weekend, it was time to take it easy. In fact, we didn’t even leave the apartment, besides work, until Wednesday evening of our third week in Colorado. That evening, our stomachs led us to the Mediterranean Cafe in Colorado Springs. Bilbo had the classic gyro and I had the sampler platter, with items that I had never even heard of before. The best part was a lasagna-like casserole called moussaka.

The adventure of the day was to drive to the top of Pike’s Peak, the second most visited mountain in the world. Also known as America’s mountain, Pike’s is named after the first mountaineer to lead an expedition to its peak—even though he didn’t make it to the top. Standing at 14,115 feet, it is counted among Colorado’s 54 “fourteeners” (mountains with a peak at or above 14,000 feet above sea level) and its popularity is second only to Mt. Fiji, in Japan. An important bit of information about Pike’s Peak is that it is closed during inclement weather and, as you can see below, the skies in Colorado Springs weren’t very clear that evening.

By the time we reached Manitou Springs, the town which Pike’s Peak calls home, the skies were even darker and the rain beginning to fall. Never the less, we plunged on to the gate and (I’m sure you aren’t surprised) the ranger told us that the mountain was closing.

Our parade was not rained out, though, because we had noticed a wine shop on the way to the entrance gate. We just turned around and found our way back to The Wines of Colorado. They have a collection of Colorado’s best wines AND free tastings! We enjoyed the experience, found our favorite, and bought a nice semi-dry red called “Touch of Red”. We also bought a wild card apple wine from The Abbey, a winery near Pueblo that we plan to visit in the upcoming weeks. It was a nice teaser and we are looking forward to trying more.

Thursday went into the books as another lazy evening at home, after a rained out attempt at a climbing trip, during which we realized that our new board game, “Here I Stand”, is going to take a bit of learning before we are ready to play a real game. It’s a card driven war game, much like “Washington’s War”, based on the reformation of the church. We have only read half of the rule book thus far…

Another evening in left us refreshed and ready to hit the town with Mr. Cooper on Friday night. The first item on the docket was dinner at Southern Sun. They have your basic American foods—burgers, fried fish, fries—along with organic, vegetarian, vegan, and hippy options. Bilbo went standard with the fish and chips and I tried the organic sandwich of they day. The best part of the meal was meeting some more of Mr. Cooper’s friends, who offered great conversation.

Since our arrival in Colorado, our buddy has been excited to take us out for an evening on Pearl Street, in Boulder. By day it is a “hipster”, as Mr. C would say, shopping area where you can get a bite to eat at a nice restaurant or try out a fad store. By night, it a carnival-like atmosphere with street performers on every corner, bikes made out of picnic tables and other odd items, and the proverbial nighttime freaks. Here’s a “bike” we saw. It’s a table surrounded by people peddling on stools. Not only do they have to keep peddling to make the “bike” run, but their beer tap won’t work without it. I’m not sure how this is legal…

Our attention was caught by a juggler, not because of his skill but because of the comedic relief that made up for his lack of skill. All was well and good when he began. After all, a rogue juggling ball never killed anyone. Then he announced that he was going to juggle fire…FIRE after he already dropped every other ball he through up. Now, I want you to know that the RB’s and Mr. Cooper were watching from a safe distance; however, a large crowd of what must have been crazy people stayed right by our juggler. Just has we had hoped wouldn’t happen, the juggler through the fire stick into the crowd. Somehow, nobody was hurt but I would think this would be a clear sign that one should stop the show. Not for this guy, though! No, his show must go on! His next announcement was that he would have a member of the audience throw butcher knives at him; which he would catch with his bare hands. We couldn’t bear to watch this, so I cannot tell you the results. Let’s all pray that he still has four limbs, twenty digits, and one head…amen.

That night on Pearl Street, these old farts quickly found out exactly how old they are. At around 11pm, Mr. Cooper’s college friends were ready to go hang out some more, watch some more street performers, and be all collegie. Bilbo and I were dead on our feet and bid our ado’s for the night. Poor Mr. Cooper had to call it a night, too, because we were staying at his house.

Much more rested than anyone in the house, we woke up early enough on Saturday to go for a nice breakfast at the Buff and make it back as everyone else was getting out of bed. Though we had enjoyed the saddle bags last time (pancakes stuffed with meat) we both decided to go for a lighter option. I had an egg sandwich and Bilbo had the corned beef hash. My sandwich was exactly what I had expected and very good…Bilbo’s hash was a bowl full of nothing but corned beef. Not quit so lite! He enjoyed it, but is over corned beef for a while.

After breakfast, we told Mr. Cooper goodbye and headed off to what we expected to be a day in Denver. We started with a trip to the flagship REI. It was enormous with a bike track around the outside and a park complete with stream and bridge.

Next up we had planned to take a tour of the US Mint. Unfortunately, they are only open for tours the fifth Wednesday of the first full moon occurring in the winter solstice during the rein of King Henry VIII or Nelson Mandela…and we were not there on that day.

Also against us was the Great Urban Race, which caused a majority of major roads to be closed that day, so our tour of Denver seemed to be dying quickly and we decided to come back another day. We did get to see Coors Field and the Colorado State Capital, as well as a bunch of runners in tutus.

Our Saturday was still wide open for fun—it wasn’t even noon yet—so we changed course for the Rocky Mt Nation Park. If you remember, our last trip to Rocky Mountain was rained out, so we were looking forward to the chance to do some hiking. We first stopped at Lily Lake and walked the paved loop to get used to the altitude. I never believed people when they said that altitude would have a major affect on your endurance. I believed that it would make physical activity harder, but assumed one could just muscle through it. Well, I’ll admit that I was wrong! On our first weekend in Colorado, we walked up a small talus field of maybe 300 feet and were panting like Frodo at the top of Mount Doom. Fortunately, we are becoming acclimated to higher altitudes and were able to enjoy our little frolic at beautiful Lily Lake.

With a warm-up under our belts, it was time to take a hike to the 9,789 ft above sea level summit of Lily Mountain. The distance to the summit is only two miles, so we just knew it would be a shoe in. However, the thunder began to roll after about a mile up and, no matter how quickly we walked, we knew that the lightening may beat us to the top. So, in order to avoid a shocking experience, we booked it back to the trailhead.

The most quickly changing weekend trip ever next led us to the town of Lyons. It is snuggled cozily in the mountains between booming Boulder and picturesque Rocky Mountain National Park. Lyons is one of those small towns with a cute, old fashioned downtown, a pinball arcade, and friendly citizens. If I were ever to live in Colorado, I would choose Lyons for my homestead. On the main street of this sweet little town is Oskar Blues, another of Colorado’s microbreweries. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that this state has a lot of microbreweries. Mr. Cooper told us that it is like the Napa Valley of beer. Of course, Bilbo was interested in a quick stop by for a sample and he loved the Old Chub brew. You all are aware of my low beer aptitude, so I really can’t tell you much else.

From Lyons we set the GPS back to Pueblo. Sunday we attended one of the four churches beside our apartment complex, King of Kings Lutheran. The people were all very kind and they even gave us a mug with candy to welcome us. From church, we went to Cheyenne Park, near Colorado Springs, for a few hours of rock climbing. The rock there is very sharp and crumbly which makes one prone to falls while walking about. On the to the climbing area, I tripped, ripped my pants, and had to wear a pair of Bilbo’s extra shorts. So stylish. Luckily, I got a much nicer pair of hiking pants out of the deal.

For dinner, we tried a semi-fast food oriental restaurant called Pei Wei and then drove home. Thus, our random weekend came to a close.

The next week brought a couple of second round trips which were more successful than their predecessors. First was a trip to Shelf Road for hiking and rock climbing. This time we didn’t see any snakes nor did we get rained out. We were also less affected by the altitude this time round!

The next second chance trip was back up to Pike’s Peak, and again it was a success! Look at how much brighter the skies were in Manitou Springs that day!

There are three ways to reach the top of Pike’s Peak: take the train, drive, or hike. Initially, we had hoped to hike to the summit; however, it takes three days to make it up and back and we already have plans for our only three day weekend in Colorado. The drive up is still a rewarding experience. As you make your way up the narrow winding road, you begin to feel a bit like Mickey Mouse driving up the narrow road in “Mickey’s Mountain”( Watch the cartoon here. ). Thank goodness, Pike’s Peak has side rails and a two lane road!

Which ever way you look, you see breathtaking scenery with mountains, lakes, clouds…

When you reach the summit, it’s like being on top of the world! The horizon is open for miles in each direction, the air is chilled, and it feels lonely—the good kind of lonely. Because of the chilly air, we didn’t spend much time at the summit, but we did go into the gift shop for a magnet!