Chatfield State Park

We arrived at Chatfield State Park yesterday and were so happy with the campground...lots of space between campers, milder temperatures, beautiful views and paths near the mountains. We are in Littleton, just a little south and west of Denver. The plan has been to explore this area but we may end up just relaxing and enjoying the scenery instead.

Today we explored Morrison and the Evergreen area which I loved! It was my fantasy mountain town, unfortunately the budget probably doesn't fit housing.

We will be here for over a week before our hiking buddies, Kathy and Harry, Tom and Wilma arrive so I hope we may the most of this area. It is impressive.

Below are just a few shots taken from the campground:

 

 

 

 

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Nice view while sipping our morning coffee

 

 

 

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Gut says north of Boulder

We had a fantastic time with some friends we met on a hiking trail last year in Lake City. They live in Longmont now and showed us all around Longmont and the outlying areas like Berthud and S. Loveland.

We love the area as it is relatively close to all the places important to us. Now the tough part is what is our minimum sq. footage and acreage. Certainly would be fun to live near Adele and Steve who also love to hike and travel!

Today we went to Golden which we also love. Josh Pollock (Sylvia and Lee's son) also gave us great advice and added more towns and issues to consider. We shall be so educated when this is over, no matter what decision is made...Believe it or not we may even consider a town house!

 

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Loving Longmont

We spent quite the day yesterday traveling here and there...some disappointments as our budget doesn't go as far as we thought! We have eliminated several towns after seeing them, including Fort Collins. We would love to live in the mts but the practicality, distance and cost rules some of those towns out too.

So far we are loving Longmont. 1/2 hour out of Boulder, 45 minutes from the airport, close to all the mt towns and more reasonable. The old section has a good community feel, as we briefly went to an outdoor concert there. It is hot here but within an hour you can be at Nederland and have it significantly cooler. (Nederland below). Now we just have to face the fact that buying here will mean a much smaller house with less space".hmmmm, the idea was to scale down, right? ...this might force us to really do so:)

 

 

 

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Sunset in Longmont

 

 

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North of Denver

We made it to Longmont, about 1/2 hour east of Boulder. What a drive it was through Denver..heavy traffic even though it was only around11am. Don't think we will be living too close to the city! Thank God Don loves to drive, because I would have been a wreck. As it was, at one point the road split due to construction and a car wouldn't let us in the right lane, so we were forced into a bunch of plastic lane dividers. Luckily neither the RV or car we are towing got damaged.

It is hot here in Longmont but the views of the mts are great. After settling in we drove around Boulder looking at the neat homes and then we drove up rt. 119 to a lovely mountain town called Nederland. We had been there before and loved it and may go up there again Sat. am for an art festival. On Saturday night we are visiting some friends we met in Lake City last summer . They live here in Longmont and will show us around the town. Can't wait. Tomorrow we are driving to the Fort Collins area for the day.

Views from campsite...and a bunny I met on a walk around the pond

 

 

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Colorado Springs

So we started our journey of questioning where we will live in the future..I adore Eaton, but I love the opening process of exploring other opportunities even if we end up with no changes in our lives. We toured many communities in this area, met with 2 wonderful real estate agents who showed us 4 homes, knowing that we may never live here. We ruled out most of the area due to traffic and over development, but a town 10 miles north of CO Springs called Monument, got us to begin to fantasize. There is an older neighborhood that offers privacy, views and proximity to the historic old town with its small shops and activities...only about 1 hr and 15 minutes from the airport yet not far from the city, Pikes Peak, and lots of trails and mt. towns. The process has helped Don and me each begin to figure out what is important and where we could compromise. It has also gotten me to think about what really makes me happy. ( I am also reading a centering book called The Happiness Project, that has made me ponder a lot) .

So other highlights include stops to a local microbrewery and Mexican restaurant, picnic in the middle of nowhere, an hour's hike on a lovely trail within the AirForce grounds, seeing many hawks, and today a fun ride through the mountain towns of Cripple Creek, FairPlay, Bailey, and Conifer, we saw buffalo and pronghorns.

Now on to the St. Vrains State Park in Longmont , north of Denver, in the am.

View of the Pikes Peak Range from our campground:

On the road by Manitou Springs:

Cripple Creek:

 

Fairplay where they had the best Jack Daniels chocolate chip ice cream!

Mountain scenes along the way:

 

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