Getting to Steamboat Springs
Today was the day we started off on our two week adventure through Colorado. We had two flights, Harrisburg to Washington, and then Washington to Denver. The first flight was uneventful. It was a very small plane, so a bit cramped, but not bad. The actual flight was under an hour, so no big deal. Once we landed, we had to hustle over to our next flight to Denver. That plane was a proper airliner in which we lucked out and had a three seat row to ourselves… figures crossed for the way home. This flight was a little over three hours and was pretty uneventful again, although we soon found the snow on approach into Denver.
Getting through DIA was no problem either. Once we got out of the terminal to our rental car shuttle, we first felt the cold. It didn’t take too long to get our vehicle for the trip, a Bighorn Edition Hemi Ram 1500.
After getting on the road, we stopped in Idaho Springs for lunch at Beau Jo’s Pizza. They make mountain pizzas with a thick crust served with honey. I have to admit, the honey with the pizza crust was better than I was expecting. The Beau Jo’s pizza sauce was good and so was the Italian sausage. Beside the parking lot we used was an old train… just sitting there. This is where the snow started to pick up for our journey.
While we were eating the forecasted snow caught up to us. We were not dressed for the cold weather. I ran back to the truck which is harder than it sounds in this altitude and climbed in. The next hurdle to literally get over was the first mountain. James heroically took the wheel and we were off. It started out beautiful to see the snow but as we went higher it became a blizzard.
The temperature low was 16 degrees at which point we pulled off the road to scrape ice off the windshield. In case you were wondering, rentals do not come standard with an ice scraper (even in Colorado). We found some pamphlets in the glove box and hopped out into the cold. They worked better than expected and were on the way again!
It wasn’t too long after that we were to the bottom of the mountain with full viability. Getting there was slow going but James is an expert driver. From this point on the trek was less eventful but much more beautiful. I caught my first glimpse of the mountains and they are shockingly stunning. Up until we passed the snow the distance was covered in fog and clouds. With the new visibility, I ended up asking to pull over at every chance and running along the side of the road with my camera to take pictures, like that would surprise anyone.
The next few days will be mostly work for Kacie and solo adventuring for James. Luckily, the house is right around the corner and incredible. We can’t wait to try the local food, I hear the restaurant connected to our hotel is very good. We are going to give that a try tonight!
