We loved Breckenridge. We turned up and headed to the high street where we found a lovely bar / restaurant to sit outside and enjoy the mountain air. There seemed to be so much to do in Breckenridge, the high street went on and on filled with so many different shops, bars and restaurants. We loved the river that cuts through the town and imagine in the winter it must be really pretty with icicles. We picked up a ski map and were impressed with the number of runs and how a number of them come all the way down the mountain and into the town, we are not fans of walking in our ski boots! The only downside is that there are more blue runs than black diamond, maybe its more of a warm up resort before heading off to another resort for a leg burning session?!
After spending a couple of hours in Breckenridge and even driving up towards some of the ski lifts and mountainside resorts, we headed back on the road and picked up Interstate 70.
Normally interstates are boring roads which we try to avoid but 70 is the most scenic Interstate in the country, the views are breathtaking and it is the first (and probably the last) Interstate we truly enjoyed driving along.
We stopped off at Georgetown for a break and to swap drivers. Georgetown is a lovely historic town with a small town feel. The first thing we noticed coming into the town was the old fashioned steam railway that runs between Georgetown and Silver Plume. We walked up and down the main street, stopping off in a brewery so that Lee could sample some of the local beers and then we had an ice cream.
We then headed on State Highway 119 towards our final destination for the night, Estes Park. Before reaching our destination, we had one more stop off at Brainard Recreation Area. Our National Parks Pass gave us free entry although paying for entry still would have been worth it. This park is set in a glacially-carved valley with stunning lakes that are easily accessible, exactly what we needed after a long days driving. We did the short hike to Long Lake down a really easy trail, I was wearing flip-flops rather than hiking boots, that's how easy it was! The difficulty was getting to the waters edge which did require climbing over some rocks. We then drove to Brainard Lake where we could park right next to the edge of the lake and easily walk to the waters edge. Both lakes were really quiet and aside from us two, there were only a couple of other hikers, most of whom where doing much more strenuous hikes all the way around the lake rather than the easy ones we had chosen to do.
We stayed the night at Estes Park Campground at Mary's Lake, a lovely campground with good showers, swimming pool, campstore and laundry facilities. The campsite was packed, every single site was taken and the overflow area was crammed! We had a really nice spot close to the toilets and showers but not too close to any other people. You'll see in the video that we had some guests visit our campsite, one even stayed for dinner. But maybe we were the ones intruding on their home!
A great day and journey, a very alpine feel to things and odd to see ski resorts with all the greenery and no snow apart from a few patches up the mountains.
ReplyDeleteA great drive and some lovely picturesque views and photos, some great tunnels too - I like a tunnel almost as much as a dam! The towns looked great and well worth a winter visit, bet the whole area is transformed.
Nice beers and cool craft beer mat as well - have you collected a few nik/nacs, souvenirs or tut like beers mats on your way of too worried about filling Fin up even more?!
I liked the trip to the river and the lake was impressive too
Lee had a bit too much glee at Sam's injury, well being able to make use of the medi-kit.
Visitors were cool although I laughed at the tracking skills when zoomed in, trying to locate the babies and adult that close must have been tricky. Amazing that the male just made his way right through your pitch, letting you know who owns the area and that you are just passing through :-)
Very picturesque in the Summer but must look and have such a different feel to it in the winter. I have never seen mountains where you can see the ski runs so clearly as in that picture.
ReplyDeleteVery romantic seeing that Steam Train going through the tall pine trees and over the bridges. Reminded me very much of old Western films where trains always got blown up on bridges like that .
The other Stonehenge Lee ;-) :-)
So glad you never have trouble locating the Brewery’s and sampling the produce ;-)
Good log walking and great balance kept you two :-)
The camp site looked nice and you had a bit of Wildlife entertainment. Beautiful Stag with very impressive antlers and a nicely marked back side :-)
So glad Sam’s injury did not need stitching and a band aid did the trick :-) ps have you a sewing kit and has Lee ever done any stitching?:-)
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We have a little sewing kit although we haven't needed to use it yet. When we do, I'll let Lee do some stitching and I will let you know how he gets on :)
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