Forgive me for the bazillion photos in this post (even though I apologize about all the things I didn’t photograph). There wasn’t a great way to break it up, so we’re just going with it. Grab a cup of coffee, because you might be here for awhile. Missed the first part of our anniversary trip? Catch up here!
If days one and two of our trip were music and entertainment days, then days three and four were definitely the adventure portion of our trip. When we started planning this trip, I told Josh that I wanted to spend as much time outside as possible. It helped that both our concert and baseball game (obvi) were already at outdoor venues, so we just needed to fill two more days with outdoor activities. It’s not that we don’t already spend the majority of our time outside anyway (we do), but on trips we are often sight seeing as opposed to being more active. Does that even make sense?!
On Friday, we headed to Idaho Springs, about thirty-five minutes outside of Denver. We planned to get into town an hour before our scheduled activities began, so that we could eat breakfast and explore a bit. That hour turned into almost two, so we had plenty of time before the day really got started. We found ourselves at Two Brothers Deli (and Yoga Room!) for breakfast and it was seriously delicious. I’ll admit to being underwhelmed when we walked in and then when almost every item was a breakfast sandwich, I got even more concerned. Josh ordered a massive breakfast burrito that looked so good and I settled on Panini French Toast… because, French Toast. Let’s just say this meal set the tone for our entire day!
After driving around downtown for a bit, we drove over to the outpost just to know where we needed to report back later in the morning. We had about forty-five minutes to spare, so we aimlessly drove in one direction to see what we could find. Josh laughed when I made him pull over on the side of the road here, but that creek was begging for me to get in!
I should have prefaced this entire post by saying that we grossly underestimated the weather. For weeks, we watched Denver’s temperatures to gauge what we needed to pack, but we failed to consider that our Friday/Saturday activities were all in the high country and the temperatures varied thirty-ish degrees. Yep, we packed shorts and no sleeves and found ourselves enjoying 53* day! Fortunately, I had a long sleeved tee and capris in my bag and decided to make those my outfit for Friday. Not the most attractive ensemble, but definitely warmer than Plan A!
Not far past the cutest creek ever, was the Arapaho National Forest. This was such a beautiful area, with gorgeous views of the Rocky Mountains.
We stopped at a pullover, multiple times, to grab pictures of the view AND of ourselves.
We were supposed to check in at 8:45 for our Zip Lining Tour, so we headed back down the mountain after a short drive. We used Arkansas Valley Adventures (AVA) to guide us for a morning and afternoon excursion and they were so much fun to work and hang out with! After signing in at the outpost, we geared up for a few hours of zip lining right in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. Obviously, I couldn’t carry my camera on our trip, but I did zip my phone into my windbreaker to grab a few candid shots. It was only after I was completely harnessed that I realized my pocket was inaccessible. The photos provided to us by the guides were decent enough, but I hate I don’t have more photographs of our morning!
There was only one line where the photographer took action photos, so these are all at the very first drop. We were in a group with four other people (two pairs) and really enjoying chatting and hanging out all morning. Our guides — Sunshine and Emily — clearly loved what they do for a living and took such great care of us. Most of the other people in our group were timid about trying anything optional and almost always wanted to go last. That meant Josh and I were jumping off the platform firm, almost every time, and were the only ones to enjoy the optional adventures. Our favorite was a thirty foot free fall in lieu of a longer zip. It was set up like a bungee jump, but was significantly shorter and instead of bouncing up and down, you’re weight pulled you straight down onto a mat.
I hate that I let Josh wear his hat, because I can’t see his face in the only photo of us together! In case you can’t tell, every helmet had a hastily scribbled nickname on the front. It seemed only fitting that ours said Diva and Crash Test Dummy!
We finished up just in time for lunch and our guides helped to point us in the right direction. I had actually gotten an Instagram recommendation for Beau Jo’s Colorado Style Pizza, so we were glad it got a vote of confidence from Sunshine, too.
The pizza crust is thick and fluffy and you’re intended to save it for dessert! We ate all of the cheesy portion of our pizza first and then drizzled the crust with local honey for a sweet treat after our meal. It was so much better than I expected! Did I mention our fountain drinks were served in mason jars and the salad bar was a claw foot tub full of ice?! The interior of the restaurant was adorable.
Idaho Springs is an old mining town — the first place gold was found in Colorado after the California Gold Rush — and filled with streets full of old buildings. We parked the car and did some walking, since we had plenty of time to kill before our afternoon tour.
The town is pretty small and Sunshine had offered a few other suggestions for local attractions, so we tried to fit in as many sites as we could before reporting back that afternoon. We drove back through the National Forest, towards Echo Lake and on towards Mt. Evans.
There was a great place to pullover near the lake, full of scenic walking trails and picnic areas. We didn’t have a lot of time left by this point, so we couldn’t stay nearly as long as I wanted to.
Not only is Mt. Evans 14k above sea level, but the road that takes you there is the highest paved road in North America. If you followed along with my Instagram Stories during our trip, this was the drive where I completely lost it in the car. I hate that those videos made it look like we were traveling through rolling hills, because that was not the case. Many times, there were no guard rails on the highway and the only thing you could see was the edge of the pavement and clouds. There were no trees or rocks or anything to act as a buffer between you and the creek, many miles below. Josh made so much fun of me for almost hyperventilating during the drive, but I couldn’t help it. I was fine as long as we were walking — I could climb or stand next to the edge or whatever, but being in the car made me feel completely out of control and I hated it. The drive was gorgeous and I did enjoy it, there were just many laughs and freak outs along the way.
We didn’t have time to make it all the way to the top, since we had to allow for travel time back to the outpost, but the views we did see were beautiful. It was 41* at the top of the mountain, so my tank top and Chacos weren’t very much help. We couldn’t believe the extreme temperature difference as we changed elevation.
Our afternoon plans were to raft the Upper Clear Creek and we used AVA to guide us again. You could book separate trips, through various outfitters, but we loved being able to book an entire day’s trip with plenty of time built in for meals and exploration. Again, there wasn’t any way to take pictures and while I regret not having someone snap a few of us in our wetsuits either before or after our trip, it was pretty nice to just enjoy the day without worrying about photo ops and how my hair was looking (not good).
The rafting company provided sleeveless, full body wetsuits and we were super thankful. While the temperatures made it near 80* during the middle of the day, the sun was hiding for most of our trip and we were back down into the mid-sixties. With water temperatures in the low forties, we spent the entire boat ride soaking wet and freezing!
Despite the weather and water, we had the best time. We’ve both river rafted in the South before, but it had been a really long time and was a completely different experience from shallow creek rafting. Our guide, Max, was fantastic — this was his first season to guide in Colorado, but he had spent several years guiding in Australia before relocating. Not only did he talk us through the rapids and around other boats, but he kept us all from falling out and offered plenty of funny stories along the way.
This is us coming through the narrowest part of the first rapid and he warned us it would be the most dangerous of our trip. We didn’t flip and no one left the boat, but I did fly into the air and Josh and I knocked helmets pretty hard.
We joked later that our raft mates were not the most athletic of adventurers. The guy behind me had the hardest time paddling in time and was always going forward when the guide yelled Back! and vice versa. I was so glad that Josh and I were in the front, but I can’t tell you how many times the guy apologized for smacking me with his knee or paddle.
We’re in the back boat in the photo below, but I included it because our guide made us high-five with our paddles any time we successfully navigated something difficult. I’m not usually one for cheesy camaraderie, but he did a great job of making us all feel like rock stars and we willingly participated in anything he asked.
My only complaint about the entire day is with regard to photography. We bought the photo package for our full trip — to the tune of $86 — and you’re looking at it. There were twice this many photos, but nothing up close and no option to grab a group shot before or after the trip. I was a little bummed about what we got for our money, but I couldn’t not buy them. Right?
We were starving and freezing by the time we got to our car and the cold, leftover pizza was devoured before we even found the interstate. The neighborhood where we were staying was an art district and the first Friday night of every month, they host an art walk. All of the galleries were open and there was food (and people) everywhere, by the time we got home. So many, in fact, that we had to pay to park really far away from our AirBnB and walk home that night. We had plans to take a short nap and then set out in search of a food truck and a fun piece of art, but neither of us ever woke up!
Instead of wasting any time in a restaurant the next morning, we grabbed Chick-fil-A (Sweet Tea!) for breakfast on our way out of Denver. Again, there are so many places that I regret not having Josh pull over for adventures and photos (and Art & Antiques Mart in the middle of nowhere), but we had so much fun just driving and chatting. We headed through Boulder, towards the Rocky Mountain National Park, with plans to hike and explore for much of the day.
I’ll admit, this was where I made my one huge navigation error of our trip. RoMo Park is shaped like a horseshoe and I meant to go in on the left-side and come out on the right, in Estes Park. It wasn’t until an hour into our trip that I realized I went backwards and we would have to cut our day of exploration short. This meant we could only drive to the halfway point and then turn around, because Estes Park was where we needed to end up for the second half of our day. I was so bummed that we missed out on Grand Lake, but let’s talk about everything we did see.
We came in through the Beaver Meadows Visitor’s Center and drove along Trail Ridge Road. The views were crazy gorgeous and Josh stopped almost every place we could. I didn’t take a ton of photos, but we loved walking around and the weather was much more tolerable than the previous day. We dipped down into the upper 50s at our highest elevation, but it stayed in the mid 70s for most of our day.
This is the view from Many Parks Curve.
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This was probably my favorite of all the stops we made along the drive — Rainbow Curve. We spent the most time here, since there was a huge area to walk and you could see in several different directions. Thank goodness for little rock walls that made for the perfect self-timed photograph!
We left Rainbow Curve and continued to climb toward the Alpine Visitor’s Center. Somewhere between the two, you enter the Alpine Tundra and are no longer allowed to leave the trails because of the fragile ecosystem. Please note where I’m standing in the photo below. This is near the Tundra Communications Trailhead, where I completely forgot the rules. I asked Josh to take a photo of me in front of this gorgeous view and then started running through the tundra. He yelled at me and laughed so hard when I realized what I had done! He snagged the photo — since I was already there — but said that I was getting all the nasty side eyes from rule followers around us. I was mortified!
We were starving at this point and with at least an hour drive back down the mountains, we grabbed snacks at the visitor’s center to hold us over.
That caramel corn was life and I resorted to eating the chocolate bar, too, once we realized we wouldn’t be stopping for lunch. Our plans were to explore Estes Park and find a great place to have lunch, but by the time we got back down the mountain, there was an event in full swing and nowhere to park. We circled the downtown area a few times before abandoning those plans altogether. So, no photos or lunch recommendations for Estes Park. Instead, we ate the rest of the caramel corn on our way to WYOMING!
This was literally the most beautiful part of our drive and I have zero photographs. We traveled along a river bed, deep in the mountains, and there were so many beautiful things to see. I took plenty of pictures in my head, so you’ll have to trust that every vintage hotel sign and string of fishing cabins were just adorable!
We didn’t really have a destination in mind for Wyoming, but neither of us had been there before and we figured since it wasn’t but an hour from Estes Park, we should at least check it off of our list. We headed towards Cheyenne and encountered the hardest rain either of us had ever experienced. You can see so far in either direction because the land is so flat, so we could see where the storm ended on either side of us. The rain was torrential and I was so sad that we couldn’t stop for a photo op at the Welcome to Wyoming sign (above) on our way through. I snagged a photo on the other side, but it isn’t the same.
I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, but there is nothing to do in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Nothing. This train depot was adorable and there was some sort of skate boarding event going on downtown, but we couldn’t find anything interesting to do and not even anywhere fun to eat. We walked around for a bit, before heading back towards Denver — almost three hours away, at this point!
Guess what we did when we got back to our apartment? We napped! After a quick minute to recover and change clothes, we headed back towards Larimer Square in downtown Denver, which we had spotted earlier in the week. It was all lit up for the evening, so we set out for some window shopping and a place to eat dinner.
I had no idea that Ted’s was a chain — neither of us had ever heard of it before — since we typically try to eat local when we travel. But since we don’t have one of these near us, it was still fun to explore a new to us restaurant in such a fun area of the city.
You’ll have to settle for iPhone shots of our meal, but trust me when I tell you that everything we had was incredible. I had a chicken sandwich with some kind of berry jam, cheese, bacon and onion straws and Josh had a bison filet. The parmesan broccoli was so good, but the real stars of the show were the homemade chips and onion dip (HOLY COW!) and that Huckleberry Margarita you can just barely see.
We had a super early morning of travel the next day, so we headed back to our apartment to pack and get ready to see our girls. It was a short trip, but we managed to fill it with so many fun memories and adventures and I hate that I can’t share them all. We’re still talking about all of our favorite moments and already planning something just as fun for next year!
