Day 16: Colorado Fun Continues (16 Aug 14)

For our last MTB Ride in Colorado, we headed up to the Air Force Academy (USAFA) to ride the 13-mile Falcon Trail on the base.  Despite the 1361 ft of elevation gain, it was fun, fast, and beautiful.  The trail took us up to ledges with beautiful views, through Meadows dotted with wildflowers, and over several stream crossings.  We rode a ledge high above the football stadium (no game going on, though), and had a great view of the famous spires of the chapel and barracks. It was absolutely beautiful.  At the end of the ride, Jen said she could ride that "all day" and asked if we could stay another day so we could ride it "again and again and again" . Doug was not amused and whimpered something incomprehensible. 

Saturday evening, we made plans to meet up with an Army friend of Jen's (at a brewery of course).  We had just enough time to visit one other brewery,  the Smiling Toad, before we had to head downtown. The only good thing about this brewery was the brewery dog, a very friendly yellow lab named Ella, who clearly owned the place. The beer wasn't anything to blog about, unfortunately.  Then it was off to downtown to the Phantom Canyon brewery, the oldest brewery in Colorado (according to their menu anyway).  We never did meet up with the Army friend Jen had planned to meet, but we did get to have dinner and beers with a different Army friend who's also currently stationed in Colorado Springs. It was a fun night of Army stories, gossip about JAG corps legends, and catching up.  Unfortunately, we were so caught up in socializing that we forgot to take a picture of us all together. 😯

Day 15: More Colorado MTB & beer (15 Aug 14)

Rode in town at Red Rock Open Space this morning.  It was an easy ride compared to the last few here in Colorado.  The scenery reminded us of Sedona, but with a lot more grass.  Lots of people out on the trails, too, mostly hikers. Great views of Pikes Peak and down into the city of Colorado Springs.

After the ride, we cleaned up and took the pups to an off-leash dog park in town. Almost as nice as the one in Durango, it had a few different trails and a stream running through the middle.  Finn had a good time herding Sunday, and Sunday chased her ball and romped in the water. If every town could do something like this, so many dogs (and humans) would be so happy.

Conveniently, just down the street from the dog park was a brewery with a dog-friendly patio. Doug enjoyed a few IPAs on Nitro and they brought a dog bowl of crackers made from spent mash, which the pups chowed down on. The brewery was in an old remodeled elementary school, and shared a space with an organic bakery and local farm products company. Jen went into "gatherer mode" and dinner tonight is going to be fresh tomatoes, organic bread, and local bison sausages.

Say it again with us:  yeah, we could live here. 

Day 14: Riding "the" mountain (14 Aug 14)

Back in the saddle today for another high-elevation mountain ride.  Rode up and around Cheyenne Mountain, a/k/a/ "the mountain", famous for housing NORAD headquarters from deep within the mountain.  The ride started with a gradual incline among beautiful wildflowers and prairie dogs running around.  That lasted less than a half-mile... then it went straight up, and up, and up, and up.  The only down was when Jen had an epic crash into a pile of rocks - gravity was not her friend that time. All in all, we gained and lost 1500 ft over almost 10 miles, all at 6500 ft elevation. Exhausting, but beautiful.  Oh, and these trails are literally outside the gate of Ft. Carson.

Our very important rehydration ritual took place at Rocky Mountain Brewery, where we had some really yummy local beers. Have you ever had "apple caramel pie" beer?  We have... and it was really good.

Days 12 & 13: Journey to Colorado Springs (12-13 Aug 14)

Day 12:  begrudgingly departed Durango, headed east to Alameda, CO. Drive was beautiful, up and over a 10,000+ ft pass (hauling a 19,000 pound RV... yeah, let's not talk about gas mileage).  Not much to do in Alameda, but we did manage to find a brewery (imagine that!!).  Hey, we're all about supporting local businesses. :)

Day 13:  made our way up to Colorado Springs, over another beautiful mountain pass.  Spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and doing some recon for the rest of the week here.  Our campground is across the highway from Ft Carson.  Damn, if I knew this was an option, I would have stayed in the Army!

Day 11: Durango MTB & brewery redux (11 Aug 14)

Last day in Durango; had to knock out one last epic trail and brewery.  Glad we saved this ride for last - our legs are toast after today!  Beautiful scenery, lots of smooth sweet singletrack, and lots of up and down through canyons, and riding along rims. Great riding day.

Also took pups back to the best dog park EVER, where they swam in the river and rolled in the mud. Finally, had to check off the last brewery, Ska Brewing, which had a great little biergarden where the pups could hang with us. They had also turned a repurposed shipping container into a kitchen, where they served the most awesome pizzas and sandwiches. Good stuff.

Off tomorrow to somewhere in the middle of nowhere, half way between here and our next MTB/brewery mecca, Colorado Springs.

Day 10: Dog Days in Durango (10 Aug 14)

Today, we decided to focus our attention on our furry kids, since they've been spending lots of time alone in the RV while we're out having human adventures. First, we took them to the best dog park EVER, right here in Durango.  It's a giant off-leash fenced area that runs for 3/4 of a mile along the river, and up into the base of the mountains. The pups ran and played with other dogs, went swimming in the river, chased balls, herded, and even made friends with a pack of 4 other Border Collies.  After that, we took them on a 5-mile hike in the mountains, where they chased lizards and harassed mountain bikers.  To top it all off, we stopped at the creek in our campground so they could swim and cool off. Safe to say, they were ready to pass out when they returned to the RV. 

Of course, we didn't want to disturb their afternoon nap, so we left them in peace while we went into town to check out the remaining breweries. First one had a great little patio with the "biggest bike ever" (or so said the sign) and a fantastic Amber and a creamy Nitro IPA for Doug.  They even had a veggie sandwich, which made Jen extra happy. The next brewery was a little disappointing, and then we went back to the one we liked Friday night.  Great town - good beer, healthy food in all the restaurants, and no fewer than 75% of all cars on the road have mtn bikes on their roofs. Yeah, we could live here.