The Zog Blog

For the first time during this road trip, Jon and I looked at one another today and said “Yeah, I could live here.” Boulder is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. We took three walks and a drive today! We just couldn’t stay inside. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera during most of the walks so no pictures of the town itself, but suffice it to say that as a town, Boulder seems to have it all. It’s small enough at 100,000 people that you can get a handle on it, but large enough as a tourist attraction to have all of the shopping and amenities you could wish for. And over everything, the mountains loom, majestic and wild.

It seems to be a very activity-friendly place. We saw literally dozens of bicyclists, hikers, rock climbers, runners, and dog-walkers. (I cannot imagine biking the Rockies. These people are fit.)

This afternoon, Jacob was getting cranky so we bended the shabbat rules a little and took a drive around the foothills to the mountains. I don’t think we ever broke 9,000 feet, like we surely will tomorrow. Boulder itself is around 5,000 feet, which isn’t very high (it’s at the base of the actual mountains) but the East of Colorado is so flat that you can see for miles:

You fairly quickly start seeing some tall rocks, though.

It was really neat to realize that after the first set of mountains you see, the Rockies just keep on going. You’re constantly seeing craggy outlines in the mist and mountain tops jutting out of the tree line.

After Jacob woke up from his nap we pulled off at a few scenic lookouts to let him stretch his legs and to get some better pictures. It’s quite cool up in the mountains, and less sunny than down below.

I think we’re at about 8,500 feet here.

Raar! Jacob is as fierce as the mountain!

Here’s another neat cliff we saw on the drive back down to Boulder.

At one of the places we stopped, near a stream, we saw a rock-climber. I don’t have many fears in this world, but I’m pretty sure there’s no way (physically or mentally) that I could do what this person is doing:

Later on in the afternoon, we took a walk to the Nature Conservatory’s campus, which is near our hotel and had a nice little playground for young kids. The grounds drew us in, they were so pretty:

…and here’s Jacob and Jonathan enjoying the playground.

Tonight, we ate at this wonderful little pub recommended by our friend Beth, who grew up here. In addition to tasty food and beer for us, the waitress brought Jacob a plate of fresh watermelon wedges. It’s the most food I’ve ever seen him devour at one sitting–three full quarter-wedges and half of a fourth. He literally gobbled them down, a huge grin on his face, the juice running down his arms in streams. (My steak sandwich smothered in onions, mushrooms, and peppers was damn good too.)

Tomorrow morning, we head from here through the Rockies to Moab, Utah. I’m looking forward to this last push to Pebble Beach, but I’ll definitely be a little sad to leave Boulder. We only got a taste of this fantastic place, and I’d love to come back on a longer vacation and actually get to do some hiking. Anyone interested in making a larger family and/or friends vacation here?

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