The company Sean works for has a small office in Colorado, so we stopped moving for a week while he caught up on things at work. Around Sean's work commitments, we managed to discover some of what Boulder had to offer... and it did not disappoint!
Chautauqua Park
Numerous people recommended Chautauqua Park as something you must do in Boulder! We are still unsure if we are pronouncing the name correctly though....
Chautauqua was an adult education movement popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is the 'most American thing in America' according to Theodore Roosevelt. In this Chautauqua (there are quite a few apparently) there was a collection of shared accommodation buildings, halls, concert and meeting venues all surrounded by immaculately manicured lawns and gardens. Today, the park is a popular location for parties, work conferences and summer camps. I can imagine it would be an awesome place for something like this!
Accessed via the main parking lot at Chautauqua are 40 miles of hiking trails that lead right up to the famous Flatirons. The Flatirons are massive sheets of rock, perched in a row across the mountain face. Sean, Sam (Sean's workmate from New Zealand who happened to be in town at the same time as us), and I spent a drizzly afternoon exploring these trails. We hiked up the hill and we saw some impressive views of Boulder. The city is incredibly flat, framed by Rocky Mountain National Park to the west and was sitting in a kind of smokey haze caused by wildfires nearby. As we hiked, many of the trails were covered in red, rocky, rubble which we carefully clambered over. The park is also popular for rock climbing, bouldering and scrambling.
Red Rocks Ampitheatre
Red Rocks Amphitheatre is an iconic music venue in America, and has seen many noteworthy performances. There are lots of "xxxx live at the Red Rocks Ampitheatre" albums!
There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind the stage, a huge vertical rock angled outwards from stage right, several large outcrops angled outwards from stage left and a seating area for up to 9,525 people in between. At its height, the amphitheatre sits at 6,450 feet, and the surrounding Red Rocks Park covers 868 acres.
We bought tickets to Rodrigo y Gabriella, a Spanish guitar duo who were performing for one night only. The forecast was for lightening/thunder and flash flooding, so we made sure to pack ponchos with our picnic.
The music, the venue, the atmosphere.... the entire experience was incredible!
Settlers Park
Literally a 5 minute walk from Sean's work we discovered another network of hiking trails called Settlers Park; one of these longer trails lead up to Mt Sanitas - a route we would have liked to explore if we had more time!
Throughout Settlers Park are these impressive rock formations which we climbed over and around, and had a great view of the city! The colour of the rocks against the setting sun was beautiful! We even spotted a lady with a small easel and paint palette, painting the landscape.
Boulder Creek
The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse
The Teahouse was a gift from Boulder's sister city in Tajikistan. It was completely hand built in Dushanbe, dismantled, sent to boulder an reassembled. It is a symbol of friendship and cultural exploration.
The tea menu was impressive and the food was delicious! However, it was the delicate, complex tiled walls and ceiling which were most memorable.
Eldorado Canyon
On our final day in Boulder, we drove for about 45 minutes out of town to the Eldorado Canyon. Sean and I were again and again amazed with how red all the rocks were! It felt like something from the set of The Flintstones!
Incredible scenery. We took lots of photos while we explored some of the trails in the park.
Our next stop is South Dakota!