Hello! I’m back today to chat about my recent rip to Colorado! If you’ve been reading my blog since the early days, you may remember that I used to spend every summer with my family in Colorado. Once I finished up grad school back in 2013, I leaped straight into my career and haven’t been able to make my way back to CO since — so I was incredible grateful when the opportunity arose for me to finally head back to a state I’ve always considered a second home. While Scott didn’t join me on this trip, I did have three of the best travel partners during my time in the Colorado Front Range — Jane of A Taste of Koko, Rachelle of The Travel Bite and Ana of Colorful Foodie. During our five days we traveled in and around six different cities — Boulder, Estes Park, Loveland, Greeley, Fort Collins, and Longmont! I plan on doing a few in-depth blog posts to share all about our time in each city, but here’s a few of my favorite highlights from each city!
Boulder: Lost Gulch Lookout & the Boulder Farmers Market
After arriving in Denver, we hightailed it to Boulder to take in the sights, sounds, yummy drinks and farmers market treats. I actually grew up going to this very park where the market is, so it was fun going to back to a place that I knew so well. Their selection of fresh produce was incredible, and they had the most delicious, locally made banana chocolate. After spending the night in Boulder, we made our way to the Lost Gulch Lookout as the sun was rising — breakfast and coffee in hand to enjoy while we took in that amazing view!
Estes Park: The Aerial Tramway & The Stanley Hotel
After wrapping up our time in Boulder on our first full day in Colorado, we headed to Estes Park for a full day adventuring! The Aerial Tramway was our first stop and we took the cutest red tram straight up to the summit of Prospect Mountain to take in the view (which was incredible). We spent a full and very much adventurous day and night in Estes Park, but we just couldn’t leave without making a quick stop at The Stanley Hotel — the hotel that is said to be Stephen King’s inspiration for The Shining! It was definitely spooky there, but I was super stoked that we got to stop in before we headed toward the city of Loveland!
Loveland: Sylvan Dale Ranch & Door 222
It may sound cheesy, but our time in Loveland was lovely! We kicked off our time in this beautiful city by going on a two-hour horseback ride, complete with an outdoor, campfire lunch in the middle of Alexander Mountain. This is by far one of my favorite memories from the whole trip, and I can’t wait to share more about my time back in the saddle with ya’ll soon. Until then, I’ll just tell you how amazing the tapas were at Door 222, a local restaurant in the heart of Loveland’s charming downtown area that we headed to after working up an appetite during our ride back down the mountain. The smoked salmon poutine they serve is out of this world, and their specially crafted mocktails were a table favorite! If you’re ever in the area, make sure Door 222 is on your list of places to visit!
Greeley: The Greeley Stampede & Barnstormer Restaurant
Once our time in Loveland came to an end, we made our way to Greeley — a town I actually spent a lot of time in growing up. While our time there was short and sweet, we did take in the sights and sounds of the famous Greeley Stampede — a local fair and festival that brings in visitors from all around the world. We enjoyed lots of yummy fair food, and took in that evenings’ big concert — Lady Antebellum (which was so much fun!). The next morning we woke up bright early to have breakfast at the cutest airport cafe you’ve ever seen, Barnstormer, before heading to the city of Fort Collins! While there, the sweetest man insisted that we take a photo with his plane — which was a quite a sight to see all of us crawl up onto the wing of this tiny plane, but it’s a fun memory that I’ll not soon forget.
Fort Collins: Nuance Chocolate and Bindle Coffee
Fort Collins is the local college city and an area that I was very excited to spend time exploring in! Among my favorites — Nuance Chocolate, a local chocolate shop that served the most delicious truffles, and Bindle Coffee — a local roaster who’s darling coffee shop quickly won me over! Ya’ll know I love iced coffee, and theirs definitely didn’t disappoint!
Longmont: Lucile’s Creole Café & Cheesemaking 101 with The Art of Cheese
Our last stop along our Colorado Front Range tour was the city of Longmont where we took in the local cuisine, attended a cheese making class and played with baby goats on the prettiest farm. Our time in Longmont felt like the perfect way to wrap up our time in Colorado! This trip was a whirlwind, but in all honesty — I wouldn’t have had it any other way! I’m incredibly thankful for the folks at the Colorado Front Range for having me, and couldn’t have asked for a more perfect group of ladies to experience all of the beauty, delicious food and never-ending belly laughs we had along the way.
I’ll be back soon with more photos and stories from my very adventurous time in Colorado! I hope ya’ll have a wonderful evening, and happy Friday!
-Chelsea xo
A huge thank you is in order to the Colorado Front Range for having me and for sponsoring this post!