Alissa's 6 day Coloradaganza

My first visitor always seems to be Alissa in my new home towns (...well, at least she's 2 for 2 with Austin and Boulder, if you can call that "always"). Here's a recap of her visit.

1. Martes 24th Julio - Flew in late and went to bed early. It rained.
   
2. Mittwoch 25th Juli - I went to work for my last day. Afterwards we went to an Italian place in the Pearl Street mall that left a bit to be desired. We did, however, catch some kind of weird Celtic dancing during our meal from some very Boulder Boulderites. I think it was very appropriate she saw them. Dinner was followed up by a smashing Harry Potter film. It rained.
   
3. Jeudi 26th Juillet - Spent the day in Boulder, including a driving tour, lunch on the West End Tavern rooftop, a walk along the Pearl Street mall, a hike in the Flatirons, and a visit to REI. We also met Ryan for a late dinner/happy hour (seriously, the Highlands Ranch C.B Potts does happy hour from 9 - 12!). It rained.
4. Friday 28th July - Vail! Oh, how I love thee Vail. (Too bad condos are $1300 a square foot... unbe-freaking-lievable but not a joke. Here's proof.) My front yard (year-round) if I win the lottery: We got rained on, but she bought a rain jacket and I replaced my lost sunglasses. We had lunch at Vendetta's Italian Restaurant. The strawberry-chicken-currant-raspberry and habanero dressing-etc salad was really great (yet unexpected at an Italian restaurant) but gave me incredible heartburn (did not see that coming even with the habanero in the dressing... thank you Vail Sports for carrying Tums... I didn't see that coming either). I also learned that downhill season (bikes, not skis) in Vail lasts until September 3rd. Here I come before Labor Day! It rained a lot.
5. Zaterdag 29th Juli - Rafting with AVA on Clear Creek outside of Idaho Springs! (Pictures coming soon.) Steve-O from West Virginia was our guide. The creek was running really high and fast from all the rain. Ryan get ejected into the water during Beaver II but took it like a pro. One guy in the boat behind us also got tossed. A girl in a third raft fell out and allegedly shattered her kneecap. (I hope she's ok. The ambulance came fairly quick so I assume she was taken care of pretty well.) We then had lunch at the Tommyknocker Brewery. I almost forgot my brand new sunglasses. (The busboy was nice enough not to take them.) After lunch we went up Mt. Evans. Visibility was about 9 feet, so that was a bit of a buzzkill, but we didn't drive off a cliff so we called it a half-success. It rained.
   
6. Domingo 30th Julio - Went to church then headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park. The clouds were pretty cool as we descended into Estes Park. We hiked up Glacier Gorge to Mills Lake and saw elk enjoying the lake (fresh bear scat too). Here's a view like the Colorado quarter photo with Longs Peak on the left. We camped at Glacier Basin and the view of the Continental Divide was great. Peaks right to left below are Flattop, Hallett, Otis, Taylor, and Storm (tallest because closest but not on divide). It was pretty hard to start the campfire. It rained a bit.
   
7. Montag 31st Juli - Drove up Trail Ridge Road but saw no elk. On our way down we saw a coyote hunting prairie dogs near Sheep Lakes. We also stopped by the Lawn Lake flood alluvial fan. It didn't rain.

All in all it was a great (yet wet) adventure. Who else is up for a visit?