The Magestic Mountain Views That Were Nearly Missed

After leaving Fort Collins we were planning on heading south through Albuquerque, NM toward Mesa, AZ to pick up our new home. However after talking with a friend of mine that just traveled through Colorado a few months ago, he suggested we travel west across Colorado through the mountains. I am so glad I listened to him or we would have missed some of the most beautiful views. So our route was to head south toward Denver, then take I-70 west across the state toward Utah. We visited my brother in Fort Collins and had visited Rocky Mountain National Park, however this was the first time we drove through the mountains like this. I had no idea what kind of a treat we were in for.

Over the last 3 1/2 months there have been some rough times through this process. We never questioned if we were making the correct decision to embark on this journey, but there have been a number of emotional upsets. Ok truth be told these upsets all came from me, Colleen has taken it all in stride. Numerous times I did question if this was worth it. However experiencing the mountains was the first time I realized that these are the kind of wonders that we will have the opportunity to experience across our beautiful country.

We stayed in Boulder overnight so we could get a fresh start the following day hitting the mountains. Our plan was to drive when it was light out so we didn’t miss anything when it got dark. So the first night we drove from Boulder to Glenwood Springs. It was just a spectacular sunny day. Even as we drove through the Eisenhower Tunnel at over 11,000 feet it was still 25 degrees F. I believe we pulled off at almost every scenic overlook. It was around this time that I saw Colleens face light up as well. I knew she was getting excited because she was pulling out her phone to take pictures. We took a little detour south to drive through Leadville. Leadville is where every year in August, “The race across the sky” is held. This is a 100 mile race that starts at 9,200 feet and peaks at 12,620 feet.” When I started running ultramarathons, this became a bucket list race for me. Since we were so close, I had to see it. I probably should get acclimated to the air by walking there before I attempt to run 100 miles in it.

Due to our detour it did get dark around Vail and Breckenridge so we were not sure what the area looked like when we stopped. The next morning I got up to go for a walk and just soaked in the view before we left. The beautiful weather continued as we started our next days journey.

The terrain started to change as we approached the Utah border. We observed the massive mountain terrain turn to smaller rock formations. Utah was going to surprise us with more natural beauty.