I looked out the window, and lo and behold, there are mountains out there in Keystone Colorado ! It really makes a person feel so small. We are staying at a pet friendly resort here in which is, creatively, called the Keystone Inn. We actually got a pretty sweet deal thanks to a friend of ours, who coincidentally is really the reason we chose Keystone as opposed to anywhere else in Colorado for out road trip. Turns out Keystone isn’t just a place to ski in.
Sarah, our Colorado companion, is actually someone we have only recently met. She is one of the people that came into our lives by chance and we will keep her as a forever friend. Sarah was one of the main inspirations for us starting this 30 day journey. She is one of the few people at I know at believes in dreams and follows her own wherever they take her. Fearless!
Well, Kenin and I started the day by going out for a walk in the fresh air around the resort and village. While it is hard to breathe at this elevation, the air that hits your lungs is so clean and fresh. The scenery is absolutely breath taking. While walking, you hear the birds chirping and rivers running. It is so peaceful. It’s one of the first places we visited on this trip that had that elusive sense of “place” to it. While I don’t think we could live here forever it seems like a place we could stay for a season or two. The people are so amazing and everyone has a dog of their own!
Sarah had to work while we were visiting, so she hooked us up with one of her friend’s, John, for the day. It felt pretty sweet to have our own personal tour guide. John got us passes to ride the ski lift to the top of the mountain. It’s the first time we’ve done that! We went up to almost 12,000 ft. and saw some left over snow. Snow in July! Is is just plain craziness to a Floridian. We were allowed to walk up to the top of the ski lodge (even though it was closed) and took some amazing photos of a storm rolling in.
It is always better to see a city with a local. They can show you things and places you would not normally see by yourself. They know the town’s secrets. I couldn’t get over how beautiful it was up there, it felt like you could see the whole world.
When we returned to the village, we decided to take advantage of all this great mountain air. We went for an impromptu bike ride. I never learned to ride a bikers a child (lame, I know), so this was a huge accomplishment for me. Not only did I learn to ride a bike in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, but I didn’t fall and bust my butt, not once!
As a reward for conquering that goal, we decided to settle down at a local bar and have a beer. I had a 90 Shilling, which was new to me and Kenin had a Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, which is one of his favorites.
Kenin and I were signed up to do a wagon ride through the backcountry of Keystone as part of our resort package. While waiting for the crew to get ready I decided to stop and feed the ducks on the lake. I love ducks, and I am quackers for ducklings. We finally boarded the wagon and the driver told us some cool facts about Keystone wildlife while we wheeled through the countryside.
The drivers had a dog that ran alongside us the entire trip. She was a rescue dog that one of the wagon driver’s had saved. She happily runs the whole trip unless their are coyotes out, then she quickly jumps into the wagon and hides. It was comforting to see her out there running freely after finding this out.
We wrapped up our day seeing Sarah for dinner. She took us to an Irish pub for delicious shepherd’s pie and a Guinness. We spoke about our future travel plans, and how much we loved Colorado. We also found out that she ended up living here simply by vacationing one season and then deciding she never wanted to leave! It was awesome to be able to connect with such a kindred spirit and the perfect way to end such a fun packed day!
Your transparency throughout your trip is inspiring. I’m so glad you and Ken had this tip of the sword experience. Can’t wait to hear about what’s to come as you charge towards new dreams. Love you guys! Always will :))
Such great pics, thanks for sharing! I’m a new (Coloradan) fan of your blog… I’ll be back. :)
Thanks Tami! It was great to connect on twitter too :-)
Thanks for commenting. I’m sorry my response is so delayed. We were having an error with our comment system and we just found a bunch of older comments that were marked as spam :-(