For our last full day in Colorado, I made no plans, but budgeted for another “large” activity. Our tentative plan was to raft again, but on Clear Creek. After calling the local outfitters, they confirmed our fears that the snowmelt was low, therefore it was running at nearly a 1/3 of its normal rate. This makes the river more challenging and dangerous due to exposed rocks. After brainstorming our options, we decided to head to Vail to do some river tubing. So we headed west. Once we arrived in Vail, we talked to the tubing company and learned that the run was only an hour and a half, so back to the drawing board. To think things over we headed to Moe’s Original BBQ in Vail. They were affordable and had some really great BBQ sandwiches. Also, strangely they offered sweet tea.
One of my favorite towns in America; Breckenridge, Colorado
During our last visit to Summit County, we didn’t allocate enough time to spend in Breckenridge. So I planned a full day there this time. After breakfast in our condo, we headed down to the River Run Square, where the Yellow Designs BMX Stunt Team was putting on a show. It was impressive, but the one that wow’d me was the dude who did a full front flip off the ramp. I KNOW how much harder that is than a back flip. And while it didn’t quite land it, just getting all the way around was amazing. A couple of their riders have been on America’s Got Talent. We headed to Chimayo Mexican Grill before heading to Breckenridge. It is a lot like Chipotle in both menu and price. We were not impressed.
Biking Downhill in the Mountains. Now this I can get used to!
Yet another day to thank Groupon for our activity; downhill biking from Vail Pass to Frisco. After breakfast in our condo, we headed off to Pioneer Sports in Frisco. Here we picked out our bikes and boarded the shuttle bus that would take us west to the top of Vail Pass on interstate 70. Vail Pass is the highest point on I-70, coast to coast, at 10,662. There is a 7-8% slope from here down both sides of the pass, which makes for very easy and fast biking.
An easy vacation day in Keystone
Today was a scheduled “easy day”. All activities were scheduled for the late afternoon, right on property in the Keystone Resort. Jennifer woke up with bad chest pains, that lasted well over 1 1/2 hrs, so she took it easy the whole day. After lunch in our condo, we explored and shopped around River Run Village, while we waited for the “Friday Afternoon Club” free time on the gondola at 3PM. At other times the gondola costs $15. On Jennifer’s list of favorite things, I think gondolas and chairlifts rank right around….bottom. She hates them. So after laughing at her suffering through it, we arrived at the peak of Dercum Mountain.
Full Day of Rafting and Rescues in Brown’s Canyon
Our activity today was an all day rafting trip on the the Arkansas River, though Brown’s Canyon. It turns out that the outfitter that we used (River Runners) is the sister company of the one we used in 2008 in Utah, Adrift Adventures. We began the day at 6AM, as we had a two hour drive from Keystone to Buena Vista. We were on the river by 10:30AM heading toward the canyon. Before lunch, we stopped at a rock ledge to jump off into the river. Both Jennifer and Brandon were a little apprehensive about it at first, but in the end everyone jumped. Trevor was the first one in the whole group to do a flip, although he did land on his face.