This is in the little town of Estes Park, near Rocky Mountain National Park. The colors were so beautiful! I even saw bushes that were bright fuscia (those are on my phone).
What is it about leaves on the ground that bring out the kid in us? They're so fun to kick around...
And, even toss into the air...
We happened to visit Estes Park during the Elk Festival. So, the little town was pretty busy. We enjoyed looking in the little shops, listening to live music, and seeing wolves! There was a wolf rescue there to educate visitors about these amazing animals. I got to touch one of them and his fur was so thick and course. Just as I was touching him, he noticed another wolf in a nearby pen and started to growl. Everyone quickly backed away as it was pretty scarry and unlike any growl we've ever heard! They definitely are NOT dogs! Here's the pretty little girl that he noticed...
She had been beaten with pipes and her legs broken. Poor girl! But, luckily, she was rescued and seems to be healing up nicely. Her eyes are amazing!
Later that day, on our drive back to Fort Collins, we got to see five big horn sheep! Here are two of them...Wow!...
A highlight of our trip was a visit to the New Belgium Brewery! They're the makers of Fat Tire Ale. This was a place we had planned to visit but didn't realize you had to reserve a spot for a tour. All the spots were filled for the week but they are soooo nice there and gave us a private mini-tour. Our tour guide even gave us each a glass of beer (of our choice) to enjoy during the tour. This brewery is so impressive with it's cutting edge technology that saves energy and produces a lot of their own, and uses only three barrels of water to brew a barrel of beer instead of the normal 12. Breweries from around the world (even some of the biggest names) visit to learn from them.
After the tour, we learned a LOT at the tasting counter. She poured so many tastes for us and spent a lot time with us. All around, this was an amazing visit! We bought souvenirs and a whole growler/jug of their current, seasonal beer, "Lips of Faith", to enjoy over the weekend in our hotel suite (we had a kitchen with a full size fridge!). Yummmmm! I could go on and on but the best way to understand how much fun we had there is to visit it yourself. So, if you're ever in Fort Collins, don't miss it!
On our way from the airport to Fort Collins, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for lunner (lunch/dinner) and...WOW!...was it good! It was so good that we decided we'd stop there again on the way back to the airport the next weekend. But, we couldn't wait and went back a couple of days later. I had chicken and dumplings that day. It was heaven on a plate! Soooo delicious! And, everything that went with it was great too! We still stopped there again on our way back to the airport on Sunday and enjoyed, yet another, delicious meal! I love this place!!! We've seen it on our travels to Texas but had never tried it. I'm so glad we did this time! And, I got to sit in one of the famous rockers on their porch...
What's traveling without visiting every yarn shop I can find?!! I visited six of them! In Fort Collins I visited "Lambspun of Colorado" which shares an old house with a little restaurant (yummy lattes!). It was fun with lots of rooms filled with inspiration... including weaving and spinning. I also visited "My Sister Knits". Wow! This place was awesome! It's in an old neighborhood (of gorgeous old homes and huge tree lined streets), in the carriage house in back. It's two stories of soooo many gorgeous yarns, books, tools, and inspiration! I grabbed up so many gorgeous yarns and had quite a pile of yarns that I wanted. But, when it came time to narrowing it down to an affordable purchase, I became overwhelmed and bought nothing. :-(
But, I also visited two stores in Boulder, "Spindles, Shuttles and Skeins" (it was really big...with lots of weaving and spinning equipment, tools and yarn). I also stopped in at "Gypsy Wools". All the yarn and roving is hand dyed by the owner, except for the cotton which is dyed by a friend. Beautiful colors and some of the finest yarns I've ever seen...but I had to hurry as Boulder was super crowded and there wasn't any parking (even if there were, it was all pay parking and we didn't have any change)...so, hubby dropped me off and drove around the block...I rushed in for a quick look and we were off again. We weren't crazy about Boulder. It has grown way too much and is too crowded!
When I visited my friends in Wheat Ridge, we went to "Knit Knack" in Arvada where I bought this lovely hank of "Bonnie's Bamboo". It's kettle dyed and the colorway is "Desert Bloom". It's so pretty, I couldn't resist! I even found time to give my friend a knit lesson. :-)
In Loveland, I visited "Woolen Treasures", where I bought this gorgeous hank of "Pagewood Farm", hand dyed, Willow Creek, lace weight yarn in the color "Army Girl" (cute name). I love the greens and pinks...so pretty! It's funny that I went to Colorado and bought this yarn from California (where I live)...but I've never seen it before.
I'm still dreaming of some of the gorgeous yarns I saw...especially at "My Sister Knits"...but the budget can only afford so much, and I can only knit so fast.
What a wonderful trip! It was so great to get away for a while, spend time with my wonderful hubby...pre-celebrating our upcoming 20 year anniversary...relaxing, and exploring. We loved this area so much that we talked about the possibility of living there. Not sure if we'll ever do that, but we definitely plan to visit again.
3 comments:
What a great trip. My dream is to travel the world visiting yarn shops. That reminds me, I need to do research to see if the Virgin Islands have any yarn shops. If not maybe I need to move there and open one.
Lambspun is a real store? Did you know that it is pretty prominent in the Maggie Sefton mystery books set in Fort Collins? Cool!
Oh my goodness I just love it when you go on trips - your travelogs are so much fun to read!
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