Exploring the Best of Colorado with My Best Friend
Day 1
In June, I surprised my best friend Christen by flying up to Seattle to attend her college graduation. It was an exciting time in her life - turning 24 and finally graduating from college. Thinking back to when I graduated from college, there was really only one thing I regretted, and that was not taking more time to travel during that transition. I didn’t want Christen to have the same regret, so my graduation gift to her was a trip out to Colorado.
Honestly, flying her out to Colorado was just as much a gift for me as it was for her. August had been a rough month. A lot of things happened that changed my perspective on life and the recent dramatic changes I’ve made. There was a small part of me that was beginning to regret the decision I made to move out to Colorado. And because of that, I’ve been emotionally depressed for the month of August and haven’t been taking good care of myself. I really hoped having my best friend in Colorado would make this place feel a little more like home.
And I think it’s a good start. Emotional healing takes time, but my heart feels ready to begin.
She flew in on Friday evening. I finished up at work and at 5pm I hopped on the train to the airport to pick her up. We took the train to Downtown Denver and after showing her around my office, we grabbed a quick dinner at a Mexican restaurant/bar on 16th Street Mall. We started our trip on a happy note, catching up on all of the good news and funny stories first. We’ll save our heart-to-hearts for later. We wrapped up dinner and began our drive to Colorado Springs. Tomorrow’s first stop: Garden of the Gods.
Day 2
I’m getting pretty good at picking car camping spots via Google Maps. There are several things to look for and many things to be careful of. And I nailed it for this spot.
We woke up to the sight of over 30 hot air balloons over the Colorado Springs skyline. After getting ready for the day, we drove back down the bumpy dirt road into town to begin our adventure at the Garden of the Gods.
But first, coffee.
Such a basic millennial phrase, but an epic understatement. We found an incredibly aesthetic coffee shop in Colorado Springs and enjoyed our morning sipping coffee and modeling our cute outfits in the artfully curated space.
Venturing into the park, Christen and I circled around the tiny three-row parking lot a couple times and were lucky enough to score a parking spot pretty quickly. A short walk down the path led us into the heart of the fiery orange towers. Last time I was in this park, I got to climb with some friends, but didn’t have the opportunity to walk around and explore the rest of the park. Christen and I walked the entire park, pointing out the interesting shapes in the rock and laughing about what the some of the formations resembled.
It was noon and we had places to be. So off we were, heading south toward our next destination: The Great Sand Dunes National Park.
This was the longest leg of the drive, no better time to catch up on life….except Christen was quick to fall asleep in the passenger seat. We had a total of 10 hours of driving in the three days Christen was here, so I figured I’d let her sleep while she had the chance.
We approached the seemingly small and unimpressive pile of sand in the mountains but as we approached, the dunes began to show its true size. The sunbeams peaked through the overcast sky to illuminate the delicate ridge lines we would soon be walking.
We scanned the skyline and scouted out our spot. Once we reached the top of the hill, the wind brought a painful shower of sand our way. We quickly snapped a couple artsy photos, took a couple minutes to enjoy the strange concept of sand in the middle of the mountains, and were soon running down the sandy plains to the safety of my car.
Leaving the Great Sand Dunes National Park, I turned to Christen and asked the question I ask myself every time I leave a really unique and interesting place - “Do you think you’re ever going to come back to this place?”
It’s a feeling I have a hard time describing. A sentimental feeling of missing a place you barely even know. A feeling of homesickness of a place you don’t call home. I believe the human heart was meant to be in harmony with nature. Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve lived synchronously with the flora and fauna around them. So it only makes sense that the experience we have in nature feels ethereal, because it’s as close to perfection as we’re going to get in this broken world. Our hearts are filled with a desire to be home, and home was intended to be with God and in nature. So as we feed our longing to be adventurers of the natural world, our image of perfection becomes clearer and we begin to daydream about one day returning home.
We stopped by an abandoned house on the way to our next camping spot. We approached the house but neither of us could build up the courage to go inside.
We had a 2.5 hour drive to get to the car camping spot I had picked out right outside of Twin Lakes. Our conversation about our faith journey and the challenges we’re currently facing were scattered with funny anecdotes and comments about comedic roadside images.
Driving through the mountains at night is one of my favorite experiences. After hours of planning and driving for a mountain adventure, the darkness steals away our sense of sight, and challenges us to use our other senses to appreciate the environment around us. It’s the sky’s way of teasing us - taking away all natural light and making us rely on our streetlights and headlights, and reminding us of our futility in comparison to the power of the sun to show the grandness of the mountains looming over us.
Soon we arrived at our camping spot and were quickly asleep after our long day of adventure. Tomorrow we would wake up and see the beautiful mountains around us, and with this anticipation in my heart, I fell asleep.
Day 3
After admiring the mountain backdrop at twin lakes, we started toward Independence Pass. At 12,000 feet, It was very cold and the air was thin. We snapped a couple pictures and rushed back to my car and desperately off to Aspen for some coffee.
I warned Christen that this was going to be the most scenic leg of our drive around Colorado and that she should keep her eyes open for this. The Aspens were just beginning to turn yellow in preparation for their fall debut. The mountain-side was spotted with pockets of yellow but Christen and I were overly excited about the occasional red patch, and called it out to make sure the other got a chance to see it.
On the way to the town of Aspen, we saw a pullout with a lot of cars, so out of curiosity, we pulled over to see what was worth seeing. Good thing too, because we happened to stumble upon a famous site called “The Devil’s Punchbowl”.
After watching a couple braving a jump into the freezing cold pool, we were back on the road. Throughout the morning, our desperation for coffee and breakfast was growing at an exponential rate and we had reached our threshold. A direct drive to Aspen landed us in a cute coffee shop called Spring Cafe. Here, we ordered our caffeinated drink of choice, a naked breakfast burrito, and an acai smoothie to share - the beginning of our bougie time in Aspen.
We walked around the town, and stopped into a couple of boutiques, only to realize Aspen was an incredibly high-class town, and that we probably couldn’t even afford a pair of socks if we joined our savings.
We stumbled upon a cool looking building with a sandwich board sign advertising an Art Museum. Curious, we walked in. To Christen’s surprise, the architect that designed the building was someone she had studied in her design program. Her excitement for the architecture surpassed the excitement she had for the contemporary art pieces in the gallery, but we were glad we stopped in to see what Aspen Art Gallery had to offer.
And here we go, from one unique body of water to the next. I’ve driven through Glenwood Canyon several times now and have always been curious about Hanging Lake. I tend to prefer long-distance hikes that aren’t heavily populated, so I haven’t gotten the motivation to hike this one until now. I figured having Christen in town was a great opportunity to check this hike off my list, and we were not disappointed.
Hiking up to Hanging Lake, I was reminded once again of something we so regularly take for granted - my ability to walk. Earlier this month, I found out that a good friend of mine from Seattle was in a serious climbing accident and lost his ability to walk. Ever since then, I’ve thought pretty heavily about the gift of mobility that the Lord has granted me. I strive to live a life taking full advantage of the gifts God has granted me because that gift can be taken away at any given moment without warning. I don’t ever want to regret not doing the things I love while I had the chance, so I’ll continue to fight the battle of time and continue to travel and explore the world in preparation for the day I no longer will be able to.
Our legs were tired and we hadn’t showered in two days, so what a better way to close out the day then a relaxing time at a hot springs, and what a better place to soak up the natural minerals then Glenwood Springs, a Colorado town known for their hot springs.
As we were walking through the parking lot to the front desk of the Iron Mountain Hot Springs Resort, we were stopped by a man and his wife putting their bags away in their car. He looked left and right as if he were about to do something he wasn’t supposed to, and called out to Christen and I. “Hey, I just overheard the lady up front saying they weren’t letting anyone else in, and that they were only letting people in who had receipts from earlier in the day. We’re headed out, do you two ladies want to take our receipt and get yourselves in?”. Um, absolutely!
We walked right on in, and soon enough, we were bathing in the warm mineral waters. Christen and I talked about relationships and how life has led us to the place we are now surrounded by the people we so love.
The resort was closing soon, and we had an AirBnb in Denver to get to, so we packed up our belongings and soon were headed back into the big city.
Day 4
I was really excited about spending a good portion of a day to explore Denver with Christen. I’m not much of a city girl, so I don’t usually choose to spend too much time in big cities. But I’ve wanted to go to cute coffee shops, eat good food, and immerse myself in the Denver culture, and what a better way to explore it than with someone from out of town that loves all things city.
Camera in hand, we set out for River North Art District - RiNo. We saw that there was an event going on in town called “Crush Walls” where artists were going around the town repainting the murals to give Denver a fresh new look.
Christen called up her childhood friend who was currently living in Denver, and before long, there were three. We hung out at Denver Central Market for a couple of hours, and chatted about each of our lives over a free pizza given to us by Mariel’s friend who owned one of the restaurants in the market.
We wandered the streets a little bit more, stopping by to check out some murals, and were on our way to Boulder before the sun went down.
I took Christen up to the most important places in Boulder - Pearl Street Mall, Chautauqua Park, Flagstaff Mountain, Lost Gulch Lookout. After having a mini photoshoot in Chautauqua park, scrambling up some rocks on Flagstaff to get a view of Boulder, and window shopping at Pearl Street Mall, it was getting dark so we began our journey up Boulder Canyon to stake out a place to sleep.
Our trip was coming to an end, but there was still so many more places I wanted to take Christen. Throughout the trip, we casually mentioned all of the places we’d go to next time she was in town. Who knows if Christen will ever be back in Colorado to explore - I would definitely see her several times in Seattle before she ever returned here, but I’m happy. I feel like having my best friend here with me makes Colorado feel a little bit more like home. Even though she’s gone back to Seattle, she’s made her mark, and I will hold those memories (and photos) close to my heart.