The Story of My Life

We visited Colorado on our family vacation for 2008 and it was one of the best trips ever. As I researched for my blog posts AFTER my trip, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a really neat, creative guy from Colorado that I have since become a huge fan of.... Steve, the Colorado Guy. "My name is Steve and I live in Buena Vista, Colorado. This web site started as an itty -bitty little web site in 2000, and slowly but surely it grew in traffic and became a massive hobby of mine. This web site is my excuse to explore the mountains , photograph Colorado scenery and visit new places as much as possible." If you have not checked him out thus far in your time in blogosphere , please do. I am sure you will become a fan and regular visitor to his many sites of interest as well. Whether it be to read about his: Biking Across America , (AN AMAZING FEAT and story.....) Quest for ALL the High Points in the US , Altitude Snob list , Dunkin donuts page, BEAUTIFUL pictures of fourt...

You know that if there is a Chicago pizza place to be found, my husband will find it; and we did....in even in Vail, Colorado! The chef and owner of Vail’s LaTour , a five-star French restaurant, Chef Ferzacca decided to return to his Chicago pizza kitchen roots and open a "red sauce joint" in Vail. Before Ferzacca became a classically trained chef he worked in the steamy kitchens of Chicago’s most famous pizzerias. He worked tirelessly slicing mountains of pepperoni and tomatoes, preparing him to open his own pizza joint high in the mountains of Colorado. With ZaccaZa !, Paul is returning to his roots and his love of Chicago-style pizza. This Red Sauce Joint specializes in family-style pastas original Chicago style deep-dish pizza, authentic Napolitano thin crust pizza, steaks and seafood. ZaccaZa ! Only uses the finest meats, fresh cheeses and San Marzano tomatoes. ZaccaZa ’s deep dish and thin crust pies are unique, as the sauce is on top. This is not stylistic gimmi...

Our last night in Colorado, we went to Hooters, my kids favorite restaurant.....in Westminster Colorado. The kids got to spend one last evening with their big brother. We told our waitress that it was almost my son's birthday and they gave him a birthday treat. His face was really red....he acted embarrassed but I know he loved it. Afterwards, my babies were completely worn out from our week of adventure..... We caught a plane the next morning and headed back to Sweet Home. What a wonderful vacation!

Hidden between the Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak, America’s most famous mountain, lies the magical town of Manitou Springs. " Manitou ," a Native American word for "spirit," describes this beautiful mountain community. Nine named mineral springs throughout town are fed by the snows of Pikes Peak. Long before white men traveled here, the Ute, Cheyenne and many other natives considered this area sacred This was my favorite little town of the trip. Trendy, historic, beautiful, relaxing ....good food, good view. Antique shops, art galleries..... Long before bottled water was the thing, this little town bottled its mineral water from nine springs in the 1800's. Each spring boasts water that taste different because of the various minerals it passes through to the surface. By the mid 1870s, the bottling industry had begun producing bottled mineral water for the public benefit. Manitou Table Water, (recharged with natural gas), and Ute Chief Mineral Water were a ...

Garden of the Gods is a public park located in Colorado Springs at the foot of Pikes Peak. The impressive geologic features of the park are the ancient sedimentary beds of red and white sandstones and limestone that were deposited horizontally, but have now been tilted verti cally and faulted by the immense mountain building forces caused by the uplift of Pikes Peak. The impressive Garden of the Gods Trading Post has been around since 1900 and has some amazing gifts, like the hand-carved wolf sling shot my son tried out many times on our visit. I got a beautiful necklace for myself here as well. Little Man with the Balancing Rock formation can be seen here. Evidence of past ages, ancient seas, eroded remains of ancestral mountain ranges, sandy beaches and great sand dune fields can be read in the rocks. The name Colorado is said to come from the color of the sandstone- from the Spanish word meaning reddish or ruddy. There are many fossils to be seen including marine forms, plant fossil...

The purple line above reveals the next leg of our travels in Colorado. We left Vail and traveled a beautiful mountain road that wound through peaks, passes and SNOW. Who know there were World War training camps and memorials, a place called Tennessee Pass and collegiate peaks of Harvard, Princeton and Yale to be explored in Colorado wilderness!!! From Vail to Buena Vista, where we lunched, was 92 miles and took half the day as the first leg of our travels to Colorado Springs area. Usually not good car trippers, we were never bored and always inspired and in awe of the views we passed by. Even my son, who is THE WORST car rider in the world, never complained once throughout the whole day of riding and exploring. Ft. Hale as it appeared in 1942. When the War Department decided to establish a unit of mountain troops trained in skiing and winter warfare in 1942, the Tennessee Pass area of Colorado was chosen and Fort Hale was created. If you are interested in more of this historic tale...

The drive from Denver to Vail has to be the prettiest drive that we saw....well, that is a hard decision.... but just the pure, clear crisp air and the panoramic majesty of the mountains was awesome. Just pass the road at the base of Breckenridge Mountain was a scenic overlook to stop for pictures and I have to say it almost made me cry it was so amazing. It was very cool in the mountains and came a storm the day before these shots. Anything above 9,000 feet got snow! So we went from 80 degrees in Denver to a low of 25 degrees in Vail. The ski slopes closed late April, so this was the off season. We had the quiet little town to ourselves. We had lunch at the famous Red Lion Bar and Grill in Vail Village and enjoyed looking at the pictures of the stars through the years that had been there. There were many unique shops to browse- although some were quite expensive-- a pirate ship playground and free transportation between all the lodges and the shopping and eating areas. We stayed at t...

Driving Northeast from Denver over the hill on highway 36 into Boulder, it’s easy to see why this intriguing town has been dubbed “the city nestled between the mountains and reality.” At 5,430 feet above sea level, acres of vast open space roll into Boulder’s quaint cityscape tucked into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The city of Boulder is 27.8 square miles. with a population of 103,673 residents, including 29,000 students at the University of Colorado (seen here-) Weather in Boulder is four distinct seasons and over 300 sunny days a year... (More than San Diego or Miami!) BUT Averaging 83.3 inches of snowfall a year. Boulder Falls, a torrent of icy cold water dropping 66 feet, is just off CO-119 about 11 miles west of the City of Boulder and is breathtaking! We took a small hike and played in the icy waters a bit. The rocky high hike made me a bit nervous and Ally's Crocs did not bode well for hiking, but all in all, it was a great place to take in the beauty that is the...

Our Route of Travel in Colorado First Stop....... DENVER Our Colorado exploration began with a flight to Denver. We had an early morning flight and a short layover in Chicago- long enough for my Chicago husband to eat a Corned Beef sandwich for breakfast! And by the way, did you ever notice how the land looks from in a plane? Lots of patterns and shapes- Why is that? My husband says because of the way the land is irrigated. Can anyone confirm that, because I never believe him???? My daughter sat with me on the first leg of the flight. Let me just say that I really do not like to fly.... and she ALWAYS gets the safety card from the seat pocket and looks at it- which is really not comforting. She ask me how we are getting off the plane and I said, walking, just like we got on the plane. She said, " No, Mama, we get to SLIDE!" And just in case you are thinking of taking a remote control car on the plane, please note that they are not allowed. We flew into the Denver Internation...