Into the state of John Galt

When we started thinking of where to go for vacation, what to do, I did not want it to be our usual National Park trip. And yet I did not want to go a city, and I did not want to go a wanna-be cultural place either. I am really thrilled that Colorado gave me just what I wanted, a mix of unmatched natural beauty and yet very amusing pretty towns that offer curious stories of their own.

We had a slightly rocky start. We realized we had no camera about an hour after leaving home :( but even a dslr might not have done justice, or so we consoled ourselves. Nevertheless we bought a shady camera at Denver before we headed off to Vail. The whole landscape is amazingly pretty, the drive is superb. Vail itself would be very pretty during winter, with the snow resorts and skiing, right now I would call it the modern side of the mountain Colorado we saw.
We happened to chat with a British lady working there and she told us where the local ppl working in Vail stay. She called it a bedroom community of Avon and Edwards, two towns a little way from Vail. We passed these towns along the way...it amuses me to think about what these people's every day must be like. She told us to stop in a place called Gypsum. The town apparently got its name from the mineral Gypsum that was abundantly mined there. Totally gave me a feel of Atlas Shrugged and the Colorado that Ayn Rand depicts in it. In general I kinda get where she must come from when she located her Atlantis in Colorado. It is a breathtaking country side.

From Gypsum we headed to Glenwood springs, a city that came up around a hot spring resource. The hot springs have been converted to a proper hot pool and commercialized. I dint enjoy that really. But the highlight for me was the Glenwood canyons along the way there. A not much talked of sight, a hidden gem like Rajnish called it. The drive from Glenwood to Aspen is also very scenic. Around every corner there are surprises, a snow clad rocky mountain peak suddenly highlights the plain landscape when you least expect it. We decided we would do a scenic byway drive the next day when we had more leisure time. We made it to Aspen with just enough day light to spare. Aspen itself like Vail would probably be prettier and more lit up in the winter.

The first stop was Maroon bells the next day. A stunning vista very close to Aspen. A hike around would definitely have made our day. We started off on one too, but we encountered two snakes within 5 minutes and both Rajnish and I turned back :) We decided to just spend more time on the scenic byway instead and headed back.
I have really come to believe that Colorado has to be driven around to experience its essence. It couldn't just be about the Rocky mountain national park. Am so glad we did these 'off-the-beaten-path' things this time around. It kinda made it a pilot trip, I call it 'get a feel for the place' trip. Rocky mountain national park and its peaks deserve a whole dedicated trip all over again.

That evening was very special. I met an old friend after a decade literally! A lot had changed and yet not really. It was a very relaxed evening spent just catching up and enjoying at a local micro brewery and diner in Boulder.
Boulder has a complete university town feel and yet its so close to a National Park, its hard to believe. I couldn't have studied at all had I gone to UC Boulder!

The next day was technically our stipulated National Park day. But the weather was going to be nasty. There was icy rain and thunderstorms predicted. So we decided to ditch the NP and venture elsewhere all together. There is this small town called Nederlands just about forty minutes from Boulder up in the mountains. Nederlands turned out to be the best decision we made. It was snowing lightly and whole place made me travel thousands of miles back to the Himalayan villages. It was so shocking to actually find Nepalese people there! We lunched at a restaurant 'Kathmandu', run by a Nepalese lady called Rasham. She told us how she ended up there. She used to be a cook in Nepal with the Western hikers who visited the Himalayas on expeditions. One such lady in an expedition had sponsored Rasham to come over to Colorado. She came to Nederlands 15 years back and initially stared working in supermarkets / gas stations and slowly made a base in this western village which oddly made her feel at home. And I can see why, the weather, the feel is soo Himalayan! She now has some ten odd members of her family slowly settled here as well and she runs her own Nepalese restaurant. I always feel very curious about the lives of these mountain people, they must have a whole different perspective on life. I think a good alternate profession would be a reporter for the hillbillies :)

The final day of the trip saw warm sunny weather again, so we made a splash and dash visit to the National Park, drove on the peak-peak highway, a beautiful drive through the park and visited Bear Lakes area for a while. But no, a trip does not qualify as a NP trip unless you have lived withinside the mountains and not just looked at them from far.

Am super thrilled with our trip, with Colorado, with Rockies, so much so that I almost feel disloyal for having liked them better than the Sierras. But well Sierras are home, they have their special place safe.