Bike & Hike 2008--Day 2--Second Half

After the Stanley Hotel and a GREAT lunch at a little Chicago style deli (best gyros ev-er!), we headed into Rocky Mountain National Park. On the way in, we saw a herd of big horn sheep (but they were young so only had little horns). We saw some interesting birds you don't see in the Midwest, and tons of shaggy elk just growing back their antlers. The views were great but a little clouded over until late in the afternoon. We had planned on doing a hike at Bear Lake and drove all the way up to the trail head. As we were pulling in and looking around, we saw one couple with snowshoes on. And thought, oh that'd be fun to do someday. Then we saw another couple, then a whole group with snow gear, and we looked at the trail entrance. There were snow piles waist deep. Yeah, we decided our tennis shoes probably weren't going to do it for Bear Lake. We headed back down into the valley and found the Fern Lake trail. This was a very easy but fun trail and the perfect length for us. We walked next to the Thompson River and saw ducks and a beaver along the way. The scenery was great too!




After our hike, we headed back to the car and into Denver for the night. We checked into the Curtis Hotel which turned out to be an awesome kitschy place. Very retro with orange and brown, 70's style. Each floor had a different theme. We were on the Big Hair floor and Marge Simpson's voice invited you to enter the floor while leaving the elevator. If you're ever needing a place to stay in downtown Denver, I highly recommend this hotel. It's in a great location with a Starbuck's just around the corner and a great street (Larimer) just a couple blocks away with shops and restaurants. There seemed to be quite a bit of nightlife in the area as well. We walked to Larimer Square to find a place to eat for a late dinner. We settled on Cru, a wine bar and restaurant. We sampled some wines and had a delicious dinner and dessert. Then headed over to a martini bar called The Corner Office which was attached to our hotel. The girls were up into the wee hours of the morning sampling Denver's nightlife.



On Sunday, after sleeping in a bit and packing our stuff up, we headed to Sam's No. 3 for breakfast, a diner-style restaurant. We had an excellent meal and then headed to the airport where we said our good-byes. It was a quick but great trip and we're all looking forward to our get together next year already. Looks like we might be going to Bend, Oregon in 2009.