In the middle of September, Mary Ann and I made a short trip to Colorado to visit her brother and his wife in Boulder where they live and work. I had never been to Boulder before so it was a chance to see a new part of the country. We flew from Sacramento to Denver on an early morning flight through a very busy Sacramento airport and on a completely full Southwest flight. While we might have been feeling a little anxious about traveling in such close quarters with so many other people, we did wear masks all the time and so did most everyone else. Unless we want to completely isolate that’s what we have to contend with these days.There is a frequent bus service from Denver airport to Boulder and it only takes about an hour. Boulder lies close to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. On the western side of the town is bordered by some impressive slabs of sandstone called the Flatirons so while the majority of Boulder is on the flat plain the Flatirons make for a dramatic backdrop to the city.
We did a short walk around Chuck and Mary’s house on our first evening there just to get a feel for the place. Boulder is a nice place to live being a university town and being in such close proximity to the mountains. Like everywhere else these days the price of housing has gone through the roof and modest homes were going for a ridiculous price - perhaps more expensive than Sacramento.
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| Sanitas Valley Trail |
Next morning while Chuck, Alan and Mary Ann went to the gym, I went for a run in the Flatirons behind the house. It was a steep climb up to the ridge on something called the Goat Trail but then a nice run along the Sanitas Valley Trail south to the People’s Crossing. I returned back through the Red Rocks area and then on the Dakota Ridge Trail back to the house. The city or perhaps the county do take care of their trails out there. They were perfectly maintained.
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The Brock Family Unit
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| Our Hiking Trail west of Estes Park |
In the afternoon we went on a trip into the Rocky Mountain National Park. We hiked on a trail just west of Estes Park. Then we drove higher into the park up Highway 34 to admire some impressive views of the mountains. The Rockies look much more dramatic and majestic than our Sierras back in California.  |
Rocky Mountain National Park
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Rocky Mountain National Park
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The next day we rented electric bicycles and made a bicycle tour of Boulder. We toured the old neighborhoods and the University before ending up downtown at the farmer’s market. Boulder certainly is a very nice place to live.
That evening we had one of the best meals I have ever had at Frasca’s. It was a true gourmet experience, a treat paid for by Mary Ann’s brother Alan who is quite the connoisseur of food and wine, particularly the wine. Following the dinner Mary Ann and I went to see Ricky Lee Jones at the Boulder Theater. I was really surprised at the strength of her voice after all these years. It was a great show.
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Ricky Lee Jones
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The Boulder Theater
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On Sunday we went for another hike in Rocky Mountains National Park. We were looking for some nice autumnal shades of the Aspens. While there were the odd patches of color here and there, we were just a bit too early for the more expansive displays of autumnal colors. The trail we walked on was out of a trailhead near the old town of Hessie.
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Outside of Hessie
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Aspens in the process of turning
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That evening, our last one in Boulder, we rode our electric bikes into town and dined at an Israeli restaurant. It wasn’t the best meal and to be fair nothing could have compared to the prior night’s meal.
The next morning we took the early morning bus to a very busy Denver Airport and our, again full, flight back to Sacramento.
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