Hot Hot Colorado Vacation 2012 Pt. 3: A Tale of Two Hikes

Much of our Colorado vacation was spent laying around my parent's house, reading books, entertaining the kids (or leaving them to be entertained by the grandparents), playing board games late into the night, and generally being quite sedentary. However, we also had our moments of activity. We went on two separate hikes, in two very different parts of the state. Both were beautiful, and both fun.

Hike #1: Castlewood Canyon, June 28th

We went on this hike just a day after arriving in town. I figured, after all the driving we'd done for two days, that it would be a great relief to get out in the open and stretch our legs. We decided to go to Castlewood Canyon State Park, which is about an hour southeast of Denver. You might think there aren't a lot of mountains east of Denver, but this canyon does indeed exist there! I'd also hiked Castlewood a few years before with some of my extended family, and thought it would be fun to repeat the experience with my whole family (Nathan and Aurora weren't present last time).

The hike was invigorating, and we got to see some beautiful scenery, but we were pretty wiped out by the end...even though it was only about a mile long! It was pretty hot and sunny the day we went hiking (mid 90s, with significant humidity; I suspect the wildfires were adding additional heat into the air). There also isn't a lot of shade on the hike, so we spent the walk getting a little sizzled. However, the kids were able to wade through Cherry Creek, which runs shallowly but briskly through the canyon, so they ultimately enjoyed themselves.

We ended our hike by climbing up the old Castlewood Dam, which penned in Cherry Creek last century. During a flood in 1933, however, the dam burst and remains in disrepair to this day. Walking through it gave me the feeling of being in one of Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings films, in that I was marching over the crumbled remnants of a society long gone. Only, you know, I was in CO on a family vacation, not in Middle Earth. Yes, I am a dork.

The kids atop the dam

Hike #2: Breckenridge Ski Resort, July 2nd

 This hike was Nathan's idea, but we all happily went along with it. Nathan skied a lot with his family while he was growing up; he misses it a lot sometimes. His one big wish for our Colorado vacation this year was to travel into the Rocky Mountains, visit one of the bigger ski resorts, and take a ride on a chair lift. Even if there was no snow, we figured there would still be plenty of beautiful alpine scenery. We looked around at a few different locations, and finally settled on Breckenridge because of its beauty and its free gondola ride up the mountain to the main resort area. We thought the kids would love that.

And love it they did! They'd never traveled by gondola before, and were squealing with delight for much of the trip. I admit to having a fear of heights, which did make the trip a little nerve-racking for me, but I loved the view! However, the gondola did get a little hot with the sunlight reflecting off all the glass. That probably isn't an issue for the skiers, though.

Once we reached the top of the resort, we bought tickets for the chairlift, which would take us further up the mountain by another few thousand feet. We were a little tempted to stay at the resort; apparently, during the summer, Breckenridge opens a Summer Fun Park, with lots of rides and activities to attract day-trippers during the slow summer season. They had an alpine slide, a maze, gold panning, pony rides, bungee rides, miniature golf, a mini roller coaster, and more. However, on this trip, we decided to eschew the rest and stick to our original plan: the chair lift.

And what a trip it was!

The view was spectacular; the cool breeze blowing through our hair, equally spectacular. When we reached the top, the view was the most spectacular thing we'd seen all day! It was the perfect place for a scenic hike.

The hike itself was a short one, but it was heavily sloped (ski, resort, duh), and the thin air left us a tad breathless at times. But it was cool and moist; we kept feeling droplets of rain, and our feet kept sinking into the deep spongy earth. It was a very different kind of hike than the ones we take on the dusty Arizona trails!

This is pretty much the sweetest picture ever

Snow! In July! It was totally gross, dirty snow, but it still made Lorelai excited to climb around on it!

After we finished the hike, we reluctantly descended the hill in the chair lift. A sudden, intensely cool breeze smacked us in the face on the way down; it was a sign that a storm was on the way!

 

In retrospect, we probably should have heeded this warning and gone all the way down the hill; but the kids wanted to ride the gondola again! Unfortunately, due to visible lightning, the gondola and the chair lifts both closed for the day, and we were "stranded" at the Fun Park. We had to wait about half an hour for a company bus to climb the hill and shuttle us down.

We managed to do some sightseeing down in town as well; after a quick outdoor lunch, we walked up and down Main Street in Breckenridge (the "Old Town" are with all the touristy shops). The girls loved it; we were able to duck into a small toy store and buy some candy there, and we got to see lots of neat old buildings. We also saw this:

The whole trip had us dreaming of a return to Breckenridge someday; perhaps for an overnight stay, and then a day or so partying at the Summer Fun Park. Or better yet (for Nate, anyway!), we could come during the Season, and we could hit the ski slopes! Disclaimer: I am not a skier. However, I would do it for my family! Maybe I'd go cross-country somewhere...

 We decided to take a more out-of-the-way route back to Denver: we went over Loveland Pass, the highest in the area. Nate's family took this narrow, steep, winding road many times on the way to their ski getaways, and we wanted to say we'd breached treeline on this trip! We got to see several hidden towns in the mountains that were breathtaking in their beauty. And the view from the top was awesome; we felt like we were on top of the world.

 As you can imagine, our legs were pretty tuckered out by the end of this day, what with all the traipsing around in a thinner atmosphere than we're used to. However, we wouldn't have traded this day in Breckenridge for anything. As much as we've come to love Arizona, there is a part of Nathan and myself that still loves Colorado, and sorely misses it at times. These cool, green memories will sustain us while we sweat through the rest of our long summer in Sahuarita.

Hot Hot Colorado Vacation 2012: Pt. 2 -- Pigging Out As The Brazilians Do

One nice part of visiting Colorado is that my parents kindly offer to watch our kids while we have a "temple date." The Denver Colorado LDS Temple is much more conveniently located than our "home" temple (the one in Mesa, AZ) for a short getaway. To get to Mesa, we usually have to drive upwards of two hours...with our kids. The Denver Temple is about 25 minutes from my parent's front door (20 if the traffic is good!). You do the math.

Anyway, we had a lovely time at the temple. It was nice to sit and commune quietly with the Lord for a little while. I was able to both thank Him for the help I've received over the last year, and ask His help in dealing with my trials and setbacks. I was filled with a somewhat new feeling...a feeling that it's okay to feel sorrowful about some things, so long as we have faith in the Lord to support us through those feelings and do our best to overcome them on our own.

And now (not to change the mood too drastically), it's time for the "shameless plug" portion of this blog, wherein I rave about another place that cheered me up on our date: Rodizio Grill, the Brazilian steakhouse we had lunch at following our trip to the temple. At one point there were many of these restaurants around the Denver area, but this one is actually the last remaining, and it's located in Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo to the natives).

If you haven't ever been to a churrascaria (pronounced "sho-has-ka-REE-ah"), I highly recommend it! Brazilian-style steakhouses (at least in my limited experience) are well worth the trip, though they may put a slight strain on your checkbook and a considerable strain on your waistline. Most of these steakhouses have just one option: all-you-can-eat salad bar and meat. It's called "The Full Rodizio" at this particular restaurant. There are usually a dozen or so meat choices, all of which are roasted on a large flaming rotisserie-style grill thingy. As you can tell by my scientific explanation, that means these roasted meats come off the grill hot, sizzling, and dripping. The unique aspect of these restaurants is that the meat skewers are brought straight from the flames to your table, carted by several helpful (and always male!) waiters (the website calls them "gauchos," but I seriously doubt any of these guys ever actually herded cattle):

They bring along a small cutting board and a huge ol' knife. The restaurant provides every guest with their own set of tongs, the better to grab the slices of meat as the guy's slicing it off for your gustatory pleasure.

Mmmmmm....here's a picture of some of the meat I ate. Each "gaucho" brings over a different kind (the wait staff is organized by what meat they serve, not by which tables they wait upon), so there were about ten to twelve guys who brought it all over in shifts. Several cuts of sirloin were offered, as were linguica (a mild sausage), tangy marinated chicken, and (our favorite) turkey breast wrapped in bacon. Also off the grill were an assortment of grilled vegetables, and fresh glazed and grilled pineapple. Soo delicious!

These "gauchos" will drop by your table every 3 to 5 minutes or so, as long as you can keep up with the flood of food. This little wooden toggle sits on every table, and you can pause for a break simply by turning the red side facing up. Once you're ready for more meat, you flip the toggle back over to green. Simple!

But there's a lot more to eat here than just meat (lovely as that may sound! Before starting the Protein Procession, the restaurant gives you a small basket of appetizers. These include fried bananas (yum!), fried cheese cubes (double yum), and these little babies (yummiest of all!):

 They're called Pao de Queijo; they're little bread "puffs" made from yucca flour and cheese. They're light, airy, slightly crisp on the outside and slightly gooey on the inside from the cheese. So. Delicious. A must-have.

Beyond the appetizers is a huge gleaming salad bar that, no kidding, is the rival of any salad bar I've ever had...anywhere:

Sure, it's got a lot of the usual trappings (a green salad, tuna salad, potato salad, fruit salad, etc.). But it quickly takes a more exotic turn the further around the table you go...you'll also find salads made exclusively of marinated mushrooms; marinated quail's eggs(!); hearts of palm; pickled beets; grilled pork; soybeans and corn; cheese and spinach; crab; fresh mozzarella and herbs; and so on.

My mouth is watering just recounting all these delicious salads!!

 Besides the main circular salad bar pictured above, there are also a bunch of hot plates just adjoining, with a whole other array of warm delights, including whipped potatoes, beef stroganoff, rice, and the most traditional Brazilian dish of all...feijoada. It's a simple but tasty dish: a black-bean and meat stew, served over rice, and served with sauteed collard greens and sprinkled with farofa (grains of yucca flour, with a consistency similar to grated Parmesan cheese). I've made a simplified version at home a few times myself, but it was wonderful to have a more "authentic" version here:

 Also in the above picture: some grilled vegetables, mashed potatoes, beef stroganoff, and, in the bowl to the left, some cold strawberry soup--an excellent palate-cleanser!

As you have probably surmised by the many pictures of plates filled with food, Nathan and I packed quite a bit away during our visit. At a traditional churrascaria, people can stay for hours, eating at a leisurely pace. Unfortunately, we had babysitters and couldn't linger for too long, so we had to eat at Rodizio Grill the American way...by stuffing our faces and keeping the conversation to a minimum. Our stomachs were pretty distended for the rest of the day afterwards, but we didn't regret it one bit!!

The meal was definitely not cheap ($19 just for lunch!!). However, I still think it's TOTALLY worth it, if only for a rare, special occasion. We'll definitely head for Rodizio Grill again...someday. When we've recovered. If you, gentle readers, get the chance, you should try it out for yourselves!

Our Hot Hot Colorado Vacation 2012 Pt. 1

Greetings, gentle readers! I come to you again at last, after a 13-day trip to my homeland--Denver, Colorado. We go there most summers, mostly because: A. My parents still live there and we can crash at their place; B. All of Nathan's brothers and his sister still live in the area; and C. There's a lot of fun stuff to do in Colorado, as you will see over the next several blog posts!

Oh, and also: D. It's Colorado in June; it can't be as hot as Tucson, right? Unfortunately, this year, it actually was. In fact, our Fourth of July was in the high 90s, with humidity in the teens or so. By contrast, Tucson's Fourth of July 2012 was in the low 80s and rainy!! Unbelievable. I blame our family for bringing the heat with us this year.

But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Our drive to Colorado was fairly uneventful; we stopped at our usual "halfway city," Albuquerque, and spent the night on vaguely uncomfortable beds but at least got some sleep. However, just an hour from our final destination, we were treated to a pretty scary view out our car window:

Yes, these pictures were taken through our bug-splattered windshield. Sorry.

These aren't rainclouds or fog...this is smoke from a massive wildfire that was burning in Waldo Canyon, just west of Colorado Springs. Colorado is not normally a state known for its summer wildfires, but there were about eight or nine fires blazing in the state as we arrived...including the Waldo Canyon fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes, and forced an evacuation of 300,000 people or so. Yikes.

We were never in any danger during our drive, but it was still an unnerving experience. We stopped for a brief potty break, and just stepping out of the car we were almost blown over by hot, choking wind. The whole city smelled like a campfire and burned our lungs. We were relieved to finally arrive in the relative safety of the Denver metro area, but we were sad to see the natural beauty of our home state suffering.

On a happier note, things soon settled down when we made it to Grandma Nash's house. We had lots of fun day-trips & activities on this vacation, and I'll blog about them all over the next few days. For me (and Nathan), this vacation was a needed break from routine. We welcomed an opportunity to "get away from it all," and even though we were still keeping the girls entertained much of the time, we found lots of spare moments to read, nap, relax, attend the temple, and generally unwind in a way we haven't had all year long.

But don't think the kids were bored! They had lots of fun; and, since it was hotter than usual in Colorado this summer, we took a few (ie., many) opportunities to get wet:

Whether it was the Slip 'N Slide in Grandma's backyard...

 ...a lunch with cousins at the Cherry Creek reservoir (we didn't take the girls swimming, but they did get a bunch of sand between their toes)

...a splash pad in east Aurora...

...or a new playground/water park in south Aurora on the Fourth of July (more on this in a later post)...the girls spent much of this vacation getting refreshed.

Okay, this is a short, sweet blog post; I hope to do several of these over the next few days, as a series of small "photo albums" from our trip. I may not have much clever or witty to say; however, vacation doesn't need much explanation, does it? We went, we relaxed, we had fun, all was good! See you tomorrow.