Colorado Retreat

I realized yesterday I've been home from Colorado about a week and a couple things had been left undone - namely, unpacking and writing this blog post.

"But Katie," you ask, "why would you wait so long to unpack?! That's just odd, bordering on the worrisome." 

Good question. In my defense, I did unpack my laundry the day after I got back, which resulted in washing 3 loads (including items that did not accompany me on the trip). The rest I glanced at in passing, but lacked the motivation to deal with it. I finally self-imposed yesterday as my deadline for unpacking and returning my luggage to the basement...and I'm happy to report tiny mission has been accomplished. 😊 I did start working on this post yesterday, but ended up chatting with friends via Discord and therefore became distracted. 

Returning life to normal is far less enjoyable than taking a short break from it. Don't get me wrong, I typically function best when following a routine, but there are times when I definitely need a break. I frequently stated my goal for this trip was to "rest and interact with as few humans as possible" while taking a hiatus from life, responsibility and stress...and other than some moments of poor time management, I did pretty well. 😎

Other than traveling, Thursday was a pretty lazy day. After picking up my rental car, I made a grocery run (technically two, because I forgot plates and utensils at my first stop, lol) and then parked in my hotel room reading and binge watching Netflix the rest of the evening. 

Evergreen Lake, CO

Friday I spent the morning hanging around the hotel, mostly reading. This was when my time management became an issue, though I also blame Google. My plan for the afternoon was to leave by noon and drive up to Evergreen Lake (about an hour outside of Denver). There I'd grab lunch and read lakeside for a while before heading to the Tallgrass Spa outside of town, where I had a 3:30pm appointment for a massage and facial. I didn't leave Denver until sometime after 1pm and then ended up taking the long way to the lake because Google thought it would be funny to take me off the highway and via a two lane road through the mountains. This route took about 15-20 minutes longer, which allowed me literally 5 minutes at the lake before I needed to head to Tallgrass. My departure was then hindered by the endless stream of cars, which prevented me from making a left turn. I swear I spent more time waiting for a break in traffic than I did at the lake! 😑  

As I was leaving the lake I noticed a bird (double-crested cormorant?) I swear was posing for pictures. 😆

My directions rerouted me once again, taking me a different way through the mountains which caused me to be about 10 minutes late to Tallgrass. I called to let them know I was on my way and they were very nice about it. I wish I hadn't had to rush so I could have appreciated the drive more. The valley where Tallgrass's located was peaceful and serene. It also didn't have any cell coverage, which made driving back down the mountain a little interesting. I had to pray I was heading in the right direction for about 10 minutes before I got coverage, at which point I pulled over at the first safe spot and plotted a (correct) map back to town.  

Said drive back to Denver was further complicated by the fact that I was meeting a friend for dinner and so needed to make it back to town lickety-split. Rumor has it that while winding my way down the mountain the car was occasionally going 80 in a 55...I can neither confirm or deny this report...but it's worth pointing out that the entire time I was in Colorado, the flow of traffic was at least 10 mph over the speed limit. So there's that. 😁

Saturday morning I was up early...way too early...like, ready to hit the road at 8:30am too early. Saturdays aren't supposed to have mornings. 😴 But if you're heading up to Breckenridge and aren't the driver, you can't really complain, now can you? 😊🌲

The aforementioned friend hosted/curated a lovely day trip up to Breckenridge. We took a scenic route up, which was just beautiful. I should have taken pictures. The ones below are a little hazy because I took them from inside a gondola...they certainly don't do justice to the view. There's also photographic evidence that I played giant outdoor chess, which I won to the astonishment of all (including myself). 

We grabbed lunch at The Motherloaded Tavern, where we had a very nice waitress who was super excited her boyfriend was taking her to her first Broncos game. Near the end of the meal she changed into a really cute daytime date dress (bubble sleeve skater dress with cherries on it, similar to this), which was adorable but wholly inappropriate for an outdoor football game. 😆🍒

Breckenridge, CO

Breckenridge, CO

Breckenridge, CO

Sunday was pretty lowkey and restful. I attended Mass at Our Lady of Loreto (a gorgeous church in Aurora), wandered a bookstore (2nd and Charles), read and binge watched some more tv. I found out later that Mrs. Winter's uncle (Uncle? I think it was an uncle) helped build the church and a lot of family members attend Mass there, which is really funny. Such a small world. ⛪

Spending time at the Botanic Garden is always a priority when I'm in Denver. It's so diverse, colorful & peaceful. Since the high on Monday was 93°, I went in the morning, walked around, took some pictures and then found a shady bench and read for a few hours. The only reason I left was because I needed to switch rooms, which was its own thing (see below). 

Is this not the coolest lily pad you've ever seen?!

One of the other guest said they'd seen ducklings hop on the lily pads when they got tired of swimming.

So, for some reason the AC in my hotel room hated me. Every evening it pooped out and I had to call down to the front desk for them to reset it, which took about 30-40 minutes. This started happening earlier and earlier until Monday morning when I woke it wasn't working and the temp in the room was already starting to get uncomfortable. The night before the clerk had mentioned the possibility of moving me to another room, so before leaving for the botanic garden I packed up everything so I'd be ready to go (a bit annoying the day before I'm leaving, lol). I stopped by the front desk to let them know the AC wasn't working yet again and they asked if they could try working on it while I was gone and, if they still couldn't fix it, if I'd be ok with moving to another room. I said yes to both and then came back before that guy got off work, so I didn't have to explain it all to the new person. I ended up moving a couple doors down for the last night and the AC performed beautifully. 

Tuesday I didn't leave the hotel before heading to the airport. As I recall I watched an episode of Hell's Kitchen with breakfast and then read Offer from a Gentleman, the 3rd book of the Bridgerton series. I finished that installment at the airport, accomplishing my goal of reading two books while on the trip (I'd already finished book #2, Viscount Who Loved Me). I will say each one is soapier than the last, which is unfortunate. I've since read Romancing Mr. Briderton (#4) and plan to stop after the next one, To Sir Philip with Love, persevering through that one only because it follows one of my favorite characters. 

Lastly - one of the shows I binge watched over the course of the trip was Ted Lasso. Crude language/comments aside, it's witty, well written and creates endearing characters that develop over the two seasons. My personal favorite is Roy Kent. He's wonderfully terrifying. Freaking love that guy. 😎😆

If you're a Roy Kent fan, this was a fun interview.
'Ted Lasso' Star Brett Goldstein on Being An Emmy Nominee

I'm hoping to be back in Denver the end of October, but it will depend on how things are going Covid-wise. I have tickets to see J.P. Saxe perform at a small venue one night and then plan on attending the Immersive Van Gogh Experience the next night. I'm half expecting one or both events to get canceled, so we'll see how it goes. 😬

~ Katie Q. 🐧