WANDERINGS - BOULDER - FINAL INSTALLMENT

Having been disracted by the "In my Neighbourhood" week I have finally got round to my last post about the joys of holidaying in Colorado! Which is really just as well because I have a slew of things I still want to post about - like the felt flower making class I took at Twist Fibre Craft just before I went on holiday and the weekend I have just spent in the Lake District and how my next post is my 100th and in true blogger tradition I want to ensure that I have a good "GIVEAWAY".

I had 5 days of holiday left, most of which were spent in Boulder just chilling out, hiking, biking, knitting in the garden (yes a small amount of woollie), eating, seeing Tracey's friends etc.

However, on Thursday I still had the car and Tracey and I hiked up Mount Sanitas before she went to work. The start of the hike is 9 blocks from Tracey's house. It is amazing to be able to walk to hiking trails from your house. After the hike I took the car to Fort Collins and visited the New Belgian Brewery - an eco-friendly brewery that Tracey wanted the details on for her green building course. I returned the hire car on my way back to Tracey's house and then we headed off to Planet Bluegrass for one of the concerts in their Wildflower Series - Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers the most exuberant and joyous band I have seen in a long time. It was a great concert and a great venue - an open sided barn with the moon rising large over the rocks behind the barn.



Friday I chilled out in Boulder, took Tracey's bike on the Boulder Creek Trail and then in the evening Tracey and I attended 4 different events - a birthday party at Purple Martini, a reception for Boulder Solar Week at the company Lumos, a salsa night at the St Julien Hotel and then a quick drink at Red Fish - all before 11pm! After our hectic social swirl accompanied by many of Tracey's friends (thanks for making me feel so welcome!!) we had a quiet Saturday - out walking and then for a beignet and lemon curd brunch at Brasserie Ten Ten (which I have to say is the most delectable brunch ever)! In the afternoon we rested before a birthday party!



Sunday was Solar Day - touring a wide range of eco/green homes around Boulder. My last day was Monday and I took a hike (alone) up to Royal Arch (making all the Coloradians I met laugh because I was worried about getting eaten by a bear or a mountain lion - I mean wouldn't you be worried if you kept seeing signs that said "recent bear activity, you may wish to consider an alternative route" or "recent mountain lion activity, you may wish to seek an alternate route". I am not used to hiking in places where you could get eaten!!!!!)



That night we went to a sports bar to see the Colorado Rockies win the one-off baseball game to get them into the play-offs. The game went to 13 innings and the Rockies were 2 down at the bottom of the 13th inning and apparently unlikely to come back from that - but hey, 3 runs were scored in the last inning and they were off to the playoffs! It was a fun night and a great way to end a fabulous holiday! Thanks Tracey for having me!!!