The Mile High City
Denver is an interesting city full of good food, active people and countless outdoor activities. Denver offers a fast pace city vibe that is close enough to enjoy the slower pace, beauty of the Rocky Mountains. My first day in Denver was the Colorado Rockies home opener. The city was full with spirit and every bar around the baseball stadium was full with people. Denver threw a block party to celebrate the return of baseball, so celebrate we did! It was such a wild experience to have snowflakes fall into my beer as we waited for the game to start. Although we didn’t have tickets to the game, we enjoyed our seats at the bar. The energy around the city sparked our excitement for the rest of the weekend.
Exploring the Rockies
The next day was spent on the outskirts of Denver, Eddy and I rented a truck and head out for the rocky mountains. We headed towards the Flat Iron mountain trail to do some hiking. The freshly fallen snow set a beautiful scene for our hike. The thin air caught up to us pretty quickly but the steady pace of other hikers kept up going. We didn’t reach the top but stopped at some pretty amazing lookout points. One in particular, was a beautiful view of the edge of the rockies that stretched for miles. A view like that really makes a person feel small.
After the flat iron hike we decided to check out Red Rock Amphitheater. Red Rock was quite a drive away from flatiron but the scenic view on the drive there make time fly. The snow on the side of the highway turned from white to a red color as we got closer to the venue. As we pulled up to the amphitheater, you finally get a sense of how huge the venue is. The bench seating on the side of the mounting is wedge between 2 natural walls that direct the sound waves back towards the crowd. The view from the seats overlooked the rolling hills of the desert that set an incredible backdrop behind the stage.
Hitting the Slopes
The final day of my trip was spent at the Keystone Ski Resort. I met up with my buddy Jason from college who works out in Denver. We met at the slope basin and geared up for my first time on a snow board. Snowboarding wasn’t as difficult as I had been told and I was starting to get the hang of it after a couple times down the mountain. This confidence went to my head as I got a little more comfortable than I should have been. I tried to keep up with Jason and before I knew it, I was going faster than I could handle. Without knowing how to stop I figured out the hard way how to stop. I rolled head over heals down the mountain a few times which reminded me that this was my first time. Sore and tired from my day on the slopes, I headed to the airport for my red eye home.
