Grand Lake, Rocky Mountains

Our last night in Denver was spent at the Thirsty Lion – a recommendation from Denver Dan. It was great food and tasty beer although I have never had an orange slice served on the glass with a beer – Blue Moon wheat beer originated in Colorado. And the tuna poke stack was amazing.

So this morning we picked up the Nissan Rogue – a small SUV – and very easy to drive. I was a little nervous about driving out of Denver but Bert successfully navigated us onto the right road and we set off on our 1,200 mile journey, first stop Boulder. Boulder was a great place – lots of walking shops – so managed to get a bit of retail therapy in and we had brunch at Snooze! My burrito was enough for four people and was delicious.

Fully spent and fed, we headed up to the Rocky Mountains. As our first day, we took it easy but managed to glimpse a few elk and some snowy deposits. It rained a bit and then the sun came out. We had a pitstop at Allenspark in a mountain cafe and some delicious pie.

Arriving at The Gateway Inn at Grand Lake, we sought out the hot tub and sauna. Sadly, the hot tub looked a bit closed and the sauna wasn’t turned up but they turned it on and we sat shivering for about 10 minutes before the heat began to build. 10 minutes later we called it a day and had hot showers to warm up.

A lovely evening stroll to a BBQ restaurant where we shared a pitcher of beer and ate the best beef brisket I have ever eaten (so tender and smoky) with buffalo sausage and cornbread. First greens of the trip too – broccoli!