Monday, August 8, 2011

Summit County - 2

Alright, Round #2 of Colorado (round #1 here)

Wednesday, July 27th:
Post rafting, we decided to take it easy on Wednesday.  We slept in a bit, H went for a run but knowing how long I take to get ready, I opted for primping over physical activity.  We had breakfast at Sunshine Café in Dillon before heading to Breckenridge. We bounced around the main strip looking in different touristy stores and a few boutiques.  Surprisingly, I didn’t find anything to buy!  In one shop I overheard the clerk mention that the gondola was free, so we hopped on the gondola and rode up to the base of the mountain.  For summer, there sure is a lot of stuff going on up there!  Of course it’s all pretty touristy, rides, putt-putt, etc.  We considered doing one of the sled trails (kind of like a skateboard you sit on and ride down the hill on a water-slide like path), but once we realized the price ($18/person) we opted not to.

We ate dinner at the Quandry Grille, which had an excellent happy hour of $3 drafts, wine and well drinks plus ½ off apps and played several rounds of bags on the patio.  Poor SIL, I think she played over 10 games and didn’t win once.

Thursday, July 28th:
The big day!  FIL, BIL, SIL, H and I left the condo around 5:30am to hike Quandry Peak.  It’s 14,265 ft and considered an “easy” trail.  We’d heard that it’s crowded on the weekends so we opted for Thursday for less traffic.  Surprisingly, we did come across a lot of people. However, more surprisingly, I absolutely loved the hiking!  It was absolutely gorgeous and although we had to stop several times (aka, “ooo, look at that great photo opp”), we made it to the top.  H and I kind of lost the rest of the gang and made it up to the peak in ~3hrs.  After reuniting with everyone at the top, we went back down, which was surprisingly more difficult than I anticipated.  Luckily, once we hit the treeline and got out of the rocks, it was much easier.  H and I even ended up running a large portion of the trail, which felt great. 3 hours to get up, and 2 hours to get down; which included a 30+min break to watch the mountain goats along the trail.

Part two of the conquers for the day was our victory meal at Eric’s in Breck and the 24” Gigantor Pizza.  It was uhhhmazing!  And although I thought it sounded strange at first, the recommendation from H to put honey on the pizza crusty was tasty.
The Gigantor


Friday, July 29th:
Eek, I’ve already forgotten what we did this day.  I’m pretty sure it was the day that MIL, SIL and I went out to Beaver Creek and then Edwards for some shopping.  We ended up back in Breck for dinner at Mi Casa, yep you guessed it, Mexican, which was really good and really filling.

Saturday, July 30th:
Our last full day :O(  The guys went mountain biking and us girls had a low key morning.  We had breakfast in Frisco at a little café and then walked along the main street.  In the afternoon we visited the local art fair in Breck and then meet the guys for lunch at Breckenridge Brewery (Brewery #5 of the trip).  Post lunch we decided to go back to one of the boutiques, Big City Blues, since we’d driven by and seen a sign that summer items were up to 50% off.  I had joked that if the Trina Turk dressed I liked was an additional half off, I’d buy it in a heartbeat…and lucky for me it was!  I got a few things, but I think by far my favorite is this dress (it's hard to tell from the pic, but the sleeve detailing is gorgeous!):


Sunday, July 31st:
Back to Chicago.  We left the condo by 6am, FIL/MIL dropped H and I at the airport and we were on our way back.  It was an amazing vacation and I’m definitely looking forward to more trips in the future.

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