Breckenridge, CO

Well, I’m starting to consider renaming the blog. Obviously, we’ve traveled a lot since last April. Instead of limiting the blog to adventures in New Mexico, I’m thinking “Adventures of the Southwest” would be more appropriate. Please feel free to comment with any suggestions/opinions. In the meantime, I will try to detail our most recent adventure.

Over Labor Day, we decided to just go somewhere since we both had Monday off. Given the long weekend, we wanted to choose a destination that was far enough to need 3 days, but not TOO far. So naturally, Colorado was the optimal choice! We settled on Breckenridge, which is known for it’s skiing, but has plenty of outdoor activities during the summer as well. After a little trouble with finding a boarding location for Belle (due to her seizures), we finally got her settled in Friday afternoon and took off about 5:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The drive up was beautiful. We crossed various terrains, starting with the deserts of central New Mexico to the rocks/mesas/trees of northern New Mexico. We found out a few days in advance that the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado was relatively on our way, and made plans to stop on the way to Breckenridge. I’m glad we did, as it was one of the most incredible natural sights I’ve ever seen. The park consists of multiple square miles of HUGE sand dunes, formed right in front of the Rocky Mountains. We took quite a few pictures and attempted to hike to the top of a few of the higher ridges. The hiking portion turned out to be quite a bit more difficult that we thought. Taking one step in the sand and then sliding back half a step didn’t help the fatigue factor. We didn’t go as high as we wanted, but still hiked a little over a mile (some points climbing sand dunes at a 60 degree angle). The views were incredible and it was definitely rewarding. After lunch at a local restaurant, we were worn out, but back on the road!

The remainder of the drive was, again, beautiful. After a significant amount of plains, we were finally in the mountains, weaving around 10 mph turns and hitting elevations of over 13,000 feet. We arrived in Breckenridge on Saturday afternoon and instantly fell in love. It’s a cute, quaint town with shops and people (tourists?) everywhere, and it felt like a “ski town.” We checked into our hotel, the Skiway Lodge, and again, fell in love. It used to be a Bed and Breakfast, but has since been turned into an Inn. About 2 blocks from the main street, it’s convenient and cozy. We highly recommend it for anyone making a trip to the area.

The following day was hiking day! We found a nice sounding hike online that we decided to try and tackle. There were a couple points where we could hike to and then turn around, so we went for it and just decided to see how long we could go. We ended up trekking to Lower Mohawk Lake, which was 3 miles from the trailhead. Most of the hike was pretty easy and relaxing, but the end was very difficult, especially for being around 11,000 feet. Overall, we hiked for about 5 hours, including 6 miles and 2,000 + feet elevation gain. The views were breathtaking…please check out Facebook for pictures. We were too tired to do anything else, so we had a late lunch/early dinner, walked around an art festival in downtown Breckenridge, and went back to the lodge to relax for the evening.

Departure day already. We got up fairly early, packed, and drove to Sapphire Point in Dillon, CO (about 10 miles north of Breckenridge). Luckily, this only involved driving, not hiking. The point overlooks Dillon Reservoir, which is HUGE. We took some pictures, enjoyed the great views of the mountains and perfectly blue water, and piled back in the car. After a quick exploration of Dillon, we headed to Denver (about 70 miles east of our current location). We found out the day prior that the Taste of Colorado (a large crafts and food festival) was happening over Labor Day in Denver, so we decided to check it out. It would be a little longer trip home, but it was worth it, as we’d never seen Denver. The city seemed nice, and the Taste was great. We enjoyed some fabulous food (BBQ, pizza, mac & cheese, deserts, etc) amongst an EXTREMELY crowded downtown. After experiencing what Denver had to offer, we hopped back in the car and got on the Interstate and headed back!

Overall, it was an incredible trip. Colorado is pretty much the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen and has so much to see and experience. We enjoyed getting away from everyday life and spending time in the great outdoors that our Lord so graciously provided for us to explore. Hope everyone is doing well…keep checking back for updates!!