The View from the Top

For those of you who don't know, I had a long weekend in the Mile High City this past weekend. My friend and I went to Denver to visit her cousin, see the sites, and go to a concert at Red Rocks Ampitheatre. It was a fantastic trip. Denver is a lot of fun, the mountains are spectacular, and Red Rocks was breathtaking. Lots of laughs and lots of fun, despite the stress of flying stand-by and spending the night at the Denver airport. It's all good.

We flew into Colorado Springs on Thursday night, and I was a little disappointed I couldn't see much of anything upon arrival - but more than made up for it later in the trip. Our host had to work Friday morning, so Lori and I walked all around downtown taking in the sites of the museums, shops, people, etc. Very interesting place. Friday afternoon we headed to nearby Golden (Mom's old stomping grounds) to tour the Coors Brewery. It was a lot of fun, and surprisingly Coors is pretty good beer when it comes straight from the tap at a cool 36 degrees. My friend who lives in Vail drove down to go out with us Friday night, and we had a good time taking in the local scene. Saturday morning we had breakfast with drag queens, and then headed to Morrison CO in the early afternoon, where Red Rocks is. Morrison is a tiny (and I mean very tiny) little town whose claim to fame is the Red Rocks Park and Ampitheatre. Which, I have to say, may be the best concert venue ever. We were there to hear a band called Leftover Salmon (Colorado natives who are no longer touring together) and moe. The show was fantastic, certainly everything we expected it to be. Sunday, our last day in Colorado, we headed to the old mining town of Central City. It really did look like something out of a movie. The hour or so drive there and back was definitely worth it. The mountains are spectacular. We were traveling on a state route that followed the path of a creek where people all along the way were rafting, fishing, and swimming in the shadows of the Rockies. It was extremly "Colorado-ish". We made it back to Atlanta Monday evening after spending a long night in the Denver airport. But I can honestly say, it was totally worth it. We are already planning next year's trip to see another show and go rafting! Sorry, the pictures are not in chronological order, but I think you can figure it out. Wow, one would think I'd never seen mountains before...