Thursday/Friday in Breckenridge

Well, we've learned a bit about how Sat Nav operates in North America. Our recently acquired handheld unit has the latest software, so there could be no confusion over new roads etc.

My plan was to do a loop of Lake Dillon with a stop on the way there - or back - to do one of the half hourly tours round Breckenridge Distillery. Of course, I thought I knew better and ignored Sat Nav's instructions coming out from our resort, thinking that it'll soon re-calculate anyway and re-direct us no matter which way we went. Certainly, the European software is not slow to tell you to turn around at the earliest opportunity if you're heading in the wrong direction.

We climbed out of Breckenridge on Highway 9 (S) and I did notice that the forecast time for reaching our programmed destination (Dillon) seemed to be getting later and later. Sat Nav didn't speak to us and the map showed that we should carry on the road we were on. We were in no hurry anyway and the drive was interesting.

Eventually we got to the top of the Hoosier Pass - 11,500 feet, marking the Continental Divide (https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Continental_Divide_of_the_Americas):

The scenery around us was spectacular and we thought we might go for a short stroll up one of the trails. We didn't get far before the heavy breathing started - the trail wasn't that steep but we were another 2,000 feet up from Breckenridge and it was hard work - especially after yesterday's relatively strenuous walk in the sun. I looked round at Jo and took pity on her - privately I was quite happy to quit too. Time for a few photos first:

Carrying on H9(S), we drove through Alma -  the highest incorporated municipality in US - and to Fairplay. We had now driven over 20 miles in the wrong direction and Sat Nav hadn't said a word - until now. We were asked to take a left, then a right, then another right. Yes, back on the same road! Did Sat Nav think there was no safe place to turn until now?

Back we went - straight through Breckenridge, this time in the right direction - north. We drove through Frisco and crossed the dam at Dillon. What a quiet town - but we found a brewpub - Pug Ryan's:

We had lunch there and then walked down to the lakeside:

On the way back, we finally found the Distillery and did the tour there:

Back in our resort, I went back to the pool. Jo hasn't been in yet, but she's getting closer - twice she's come down in her costume, but she still hasn't taken the plunge. It's a large pool enclosed by glass surrounds, giving a great view of the snow-capped mountains. This shot doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea:

We are surrounded by wonderful walking and cycling trails, beautiful mountains and loads of bike rental stores. I was champing at the bit, but I knew I couldn't head off on my own, and my attempts to persuade Jo to try cycling met with resistance - until I came up with a creative compromise. It's all downhill from Breckenridge to Frisco - a distance just short of 10 miles - and I found a store willing to do one way hire, dropping the bike off in Frisco and then getting the (free) bus back. What's more we could do it on a tandem!

So this morning (Friday) we got up and picked up our helmets and the tandem, after a brief lesson from the shop. It's not as simple as it looks - co-ordination of both riders is essential and communication is key. The bike itself is big, long and heavy and takes a bit of manoeuvring. Our first few rotations were a bit wobbly - I could feel this weight behind me, swinging from side to side - it was all I could do to keep us upright, but soon we were off and running and all was well.

Further down the trail we posed for a photo:

We had been warned that there was a small uphill section as we approached Frisco, but we weren't quite ready when we hit it and we struggled up the slope. Jo was "peching" hard and so we stopped for a rest:

We made it safely in the end, although I don't have eyes in the back of my head, so I'm not quite sure how even the distribution of work was. The iced coffees at Abbey's were very welcome and we then wandered over to the marina and then up Main St, where it was a bit of a party day, with BBQ competitions going on:

The museum had some old school desks in it, just like we had back in the day:

You'll not be surprised that we found yet another brewpub - Back Country Brewery - where we had a lovely lunch on their upstairs decking, after which we jumped on the bus back to Breckenridge. I went back to the pool, but Jo decided on a bath instead.

Tonight we had pizza delivered as we slouched in our jammies.

Tuesday/Wednesday in Breckenridge

The morning of our first full day in Breckenridge was spent shoe shopping for Jo. Her feet were still sore after Sunday's mammoth hike round Denver.

Breckenridge is a lovely little town/village, with lots of beautiful shops. Many of them are outdoor themed of course, but there's plenty to admire. Comparisons with our own Aviemore are definitely odious.

It took some time but we got there in the end - Jo got a nice pair of trainers/running shoes and she gave them a really good work out this morning (Wednesday).

There's a creek runs right through the centre of the town and there's a nice little walkway parallels it. Along the way there are chalkboards and you are encouraged to add your comments to "I Love Breckenridge Because". The first one we saw displayed:

As if to emphasise the point, there's even an establishment that goes by the name of:

The distinct smell of cannabis is certainly prevalent throughout the town.

The whole area is geared up as a year round resort. When the main ski-ing season stops, mountain biking and hill-walking etc are soon in full swing. There are trails everywhere:

The sun was blazing down by mid-morning and we found a lovely little coffee shop that had tables out on its back lawn so we could sit there and admire the snow-topped mountains that surround the village:

After coffee and a short walk, it was nearly lunchtime and, after trudging round the shops, the least I deserved was a beer or two so we headed to the Breckenridge Brewery - just across the road from our resort. Initially seated on the outdoor patio, we had to scurry for cover when a big storm suddenly broke. Thunder, lightning, torrential rain and hailstones, but by the time we had finished lunch, the sun was out again and I spent some time at the pool in the afternoon.

Today (Wednesday) we decided to take advantage of at least one of the many trails. Our resort had organised a trip to the Sallie Barber Mine yesterday but we weren't in a position to join them, as Jo didn't have any decent walking shoes, so we decided to do it ourselves today.

It wasn't a long walk - just 2.7 miles up and back, with an elevation change of only 400 feet or so. It was a beautiful day and the walk was very pleasant:

We got to the defunct mine at the top in good time:

Beyond the old mine works there was a steep drop and we were both amazed to see a whole family clambering up what seemed like a vertical slope. They were collecting stuff and I asked them what it was? "Can't you see?" Sure enough, just looking round at the ground all around us, it was sparkling in the sun. Yes, there is still gold in them thar hills!

Of course, it's mostly in tiny little specks:

but the family found large chunks, rather, we imagine, as the miners would have found them originally in the late 1800's:

You'll have to take my word for it that there were loads of little specks of gold in this rock.

We decided that the walk was fairly short and it was an up and down one, rather than a loop. On the way up we had met a lady mountain biker who joined our trail at an intersection labelled Turk's Trail. We asked her if this led back to the main French Gulf Road and she confirmed yes - about 2 miles from this point. It seemed like a good idea at the time to take this loop back - and it was an interesting trail, but it wasn't long before we realised it was heading back in the general direction of Breckenridge - a long way from where our car was parked on the other side of the creek.

Eventually, we met another trail - the B & B one - and this seemed to be heading more downhill towards the creek - and we needed to find a way to get across this and back on the main road, so we diverted again here.

Soon we came to a lookout point over an old dredging station:

We met a family coming the other way and asked them to reassure us that the trail we were now on would eventually lead us back to the main road - and this they did confirm as they marched on towards the dredging station we had just passed.

We had travelled downhill for miles but got back safely to the main road after a couple of hours. Now the problem was that we had to walk back up the road to where our car was - at least a couple of miles uphill.

I charged ahead of Jo and got back to the car in about 40 minutes - dry as a bone (orally) and sweating from the backpack I was carrying. On the way I met the family we had passed earlier and they had crossed the creek over a bridge we never saw. If only we had known, we could have saved ourselves a couple of miles.

When I got back to the car park, I immediately jumped in the car and hurried back down the hill to pick up Jo to head back to our resort. It had been an interesting adventure - a bit longer than initially planned at 3 hours and over 11 kms, but good exercise and some interesting walking scenery.

This afternoon was lazing by the pool then back to the apartment for a jacuzzi bath before dinner. G & T's first of course!

Breckenridge

We picked up our hire car at Denver airport - I should say that Hertz service for their Gold Club members is superb - you just turn up and find out where they have left your car and drive off - the keys are in the ignition. No paperwork - that's the way it should be.

So we drove back WSW towards the mountains along the I-70 and climbed up Lookout Mountain and noticed a sign for "Buffalo Bill's Graveyard and Museum", so we turned off and drove a few miles before reaching it. For those of us of a certain vintage, there is a magic that mostly came through the cinema of the 50's and early 60's when "Cowboys and Indians" Western films were all the rage. Magical names like Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers etc all conjured up a world we in Britain could only imagine - and here it was brought to life!

Another tourist kindly offered to take this photo of us at the top of Lookout Mountain:

The museum was very good and we learned a lot about Buffalo Bill's very progressive attitude for the time towards "Indians" and Women. Sitting Bull's magnificent feathered headdress was there as were lots of images of the great showman himself:

Of course, there were the silly touristy things too, like these, which were meant for kids - well, we were re-living our childhood, weren't we?:

We knew that Buffalo Bill had taken his Wild West Show, which could command crowds exceeding 80,000, over to Europe at the start of the 20th Century, but what we hadn't appreciated was that he took it round the small towns, including, of all places, Fraserburgh!:

We had lunch there too - Jo had the Buffalo Burger and I had the Buffalo Dog.

Re-joining the I-70, we came across 12 miles of virtually static traffic, due to roadworks, but we eventually made it to our apartment in Breckenridge about 3 pm. The first thing to do was to stock up with groceries - and booze of course. We have to be a little careful up here because of the effects of altitude. There's lots of warnings about altitude sickness and what to do - lots of water being the main one. It can cause breathlessness too - and the air is very dry, so we have two humidifiers running in the apartment just now.

The snow-capped mountains around us are spectacular - must get some photos later - but the priority today will be to try and get a decent pair of walking shoes for Jo.

To close, here's our car - a Toyota Camry:

Denver

The journey was fine - all went to plan. The holiday always starts with G & T's on the big flight - Jo had Tanqueray but I stuck to Gordon's - although I did have a can of my favourite London Pride as well.

For a change, there were a number of films that I would be happy to watch - American Sniper, which I started but then fell asleep; Eddie Remayne's interpretation of Stephen Hawkins' early life; Foxcatcher; Birdman; Kingsman; Selma; Still Alice and Unbroken. Hightly unusual to have such a decent selection - some of them films we had wanted to go and see in Australia, but never quite got round to. In the end, all I saw was the first episode of Better Call Saul - the Breaking Bad spin-off.

We were upstairs in Business Class and were amongst the first to get off the plane. They have a new Cusotms procedure at Denver - as well as scanning your passport, you have to do your fingerprints and retina photographs yourself on a machine, as well as answer a few questions. You eventually get a confirmation slip which you take down to the Customs Officers and they simply wave you through. Our luggage was amongst the first off too and before we knew it we were in the arrivals hall and ready to head to our hotel.

There was a storm brewing and it transpired that we were the last plane allowed to land - the rest were all diverted to other airports. The roads were a bit wet - we got a big SUV private limo to take us in - but most of the electrical activity seemed to be in the surrounding mountains.

We have a mini suite at Marriott Town Place Suites and after checking in, we walked to the local brewpub - Lowdown - and had a bite to eat and a few beers before heading to bed at what must have been 5 am in the morning body clock time.

Slept soundly and awoke after what I thought was a good night's sleep only to discover that it was only 2 am local time. Rolled over and eventually went down for breakfast.

We had decided we needed to shake the jetlag out of our systems and walk a fair bit today. A target was City Park where there is a Mile High walk round the park. On the way we were passing the Botanic Gardens and decided to pop in. What a good decision - it's absolutely beautiful, with lots of little nooks and crannies and interesting little walkways and ponds. There's a horse sculpture thing going on as well:

We walked on to City Park and eventually found the Mile High trail:

 No - I'm not giving birth. The trail wasn't very well signposted and there was a myriad of other trails and we lost the one we were trying to walk and ended up at the Science Museum. After refreshments there, we mapped the way to downtown - and one of the many brewpubs. Should add that there's plenty of good, free wi-fi everywhere here.

It was a fair walk to the Great Divide and we were ready for beer by the time we got there. It was now 7 hours or so since we left our hotel and the walking mileage was increasing. Jo was still wearing her compression stockings which apparently meant she could only wear a small pair of flatties and her feet were now suffering. Eventually she took her stockings off, and further on, the shoes too and she was now barefoot walking the sidewalks.

We took a short ride down to Larimer Square to have some dinner, and from there we walked back to our hotel along the nice Cherry Creek walkway as dusk began:

It had been a 24kms walk in the heat of the day - surely enough for us to sleep through the day? No such luck - we awoke at 2 am again.

It's now Monday morning and we've just had breakfast and are about to pack. Our SUV limo is picking us up at 9:30 am to take us back to the airport to pick up our hire car and we will then drive to Breckenridge.