Day 13 - Manitou Springs, CO to Estes Park, CO

Today was a short ride, just 180 miles, to our main destination of Rocky Mountain National Park. This park does not have lodging in the park, so we are staying in Estes Park which abuts it. 

We reluctantly said goodbye to our apartment this morning in Manitou Springs. It was so roomy and comfortable, quiet, and had all the amenities we needed. We will consider more places such as these in the future if we are staying more than one night somewhere. This is our house, 42 Park Avenue, and our apartment was on the other side on the second floor with the shared long balcony. It's much prettier in person and under sunny skies.

Since lunch was only an hour and a half away in Idaho Springs, we got the bike packed and ate breakfast without rushing around. We started suiting up around 9:45am and were out the door at 10am.

This is the hitch of the bike, as close as Rob had to get the bike maneuvered so the trailer could fit under the portico. He had just an inch to spare before the hitch assembly hit the bike! Notice how the hitch is at an almost 90 degree angle to the bike. 

Temps were cool at 61 degrees with heavy clouds when we left. Michele put on her heated jacket and layers knowing it wouldn't get too much warmer today.

Our route took us on I25 North out of Colorado Springs towards Denver. The mountain views were obscured by the clouds. We got on to 470 West, the beltway around Denver. It was 70 degrees in Denver, and Michele was a bit warm in all her layers, but we knew we'd increase elevation. 

View of the cloudy mountains in Denver.

The weather improved slightly as we approached our lunch location.

We picked up I70 West up to Idaho Springs, CO, steadily going up from 5,500 feet to 8,500 feet.

Rob planned lunch at Westbound and Down Brewing Company. On weekends Idaho Springs apparently closes off a few blocks of town where all the shops and restaurants are. 

The parking lot he planned to park in was full. We lucked out and got a parallel street spot at the end. Rob prefers not to parallel park for fear some moron will back into the trailer since it is so low. We paid for 2 hours of parking on the app and walked over to lunch. The restaurant had outdoor seating but we had to order take-out to make it work. We found a table out front and enjoyed watching people and their dogs go by. The sun came out so it was really enjoyable. A man sitting at the table behind us had a fluffy young Australian Shepherd that was a bit excitable and barky. The man told it "Stop it! Do you want a bath? Do you want a bath?" Michele was laughing hard. The town also had three people dressed up in Western costumes: one "sheriff" with a rifle and real boot spurs, a deputy with a revolver and spurs, and a lady in a traditional dress. People took photos with them. Sadly we did not get photos of them!

After lunch we got on 119 North to 72 North into Nederland. About 15 minutes after lunch, the weather was cloudy and sprinkling. We rode through Central City, and nearby Black Hawk, both of which appeared to be towns focused solely on casinos and squished into the hills.

Rob decided to pull into a Shell station just after Central City and we put on our rain jackets. 

Continuing on to Nederland, Michele wanted to visit a small shop that sold all manner of alpaca items, The Alpaca Store and More. After Rob parked the bike a man came over and asked about the Goldwing and the new models that look very different. He and Rob chatted a bit. After shopping (Michele was on the hunt for alpaca socks), we continued on Highway 72, and picked up Highway 7 into Estes. 

The sky started to look bad. 

The last 30 minutes of our route towards Estes rained hard. Michele regretted not putting on her rain pants. Luckily she had the seat heat and her heated jacket under the rain jacket so she wasn't cold even though water seeped into her pants once again. Rob said he thinks this trip has had the most number of rain events of all our trips. 

Traffic in Estes was busy and it was still sprinkling a bit when we arrived. Our hotel, the Maxwell Inn, was ready for us. Our room is in the annex, a new building across the street right next to the river. The water was raging and is really scenic, but we forgot to take a picture today. Michele noted that it would only take 6 feet in rising water to reach the bike! She expressed some concern to Rob and he said don't worry. Even though this is the same river that caused the 100-year flood in Estes Park back in 2013 when Estes closed down and we had to change our route last minute on our first Colorado trip.

We got settled in our room and worked out where to get takeout dinner that also had cold sandwich options we could buy ahead of time for our picnic lunch tomorrow. We stopped over at the hotel office and picked up two movies from their DVD library (Live Die Repeat/Edge of Tomorrow and Flight of the Phoenix. We'll watch them this week.) Walking into town takes about 10 minutes on a nice river path winding past other hotels. We got to the restaurant and they said they were closed until 6:45pm because they just got a huge pizza order and couldn't take any more orders! We walked back to a nearby park and waited for 30 minutes. 

This statue is titled "Wishful Thinkin" and is dedicated to a Korean American who was a servant of medicine. We can't quite figure out the connection because it's of a man in Western garb holding a boot upside down to let the water out. It's pretty though.

We watched a couple with a fluffy German shepherd eating takeout burgers and fries. The lady put two sweet potato fries down for the dog and it was not interested. It wanted the lady's burger. 

After 20 minutes we started walking back over to the restaurant. We picked up cookies at the fudge/ice cream shop along the way. We ordered our dinner and sandwich and waited out front. Michele asked how many pizzas were in the big order, 22! Across the street Michele noticed two trees that had been "yarn bombed" with handmade crochet. There was also a little sitting area and a tiny free library box. 

With dinner in hand, we walked back to our room and relaxed with the fireplace turned on. Tomorrow we will visit the park and try out a hike or two if the weather holds (rain expected) and if Michele's blistered toes are up to it. Her big toe that is her "bad toe" is doing okay, it's just the bottoms of the little toes on both feet that got blisters from the last two days of hiking.

Although today was not as scenic as the past two, every turn and every mountain pass offers something new to see. There's always something interesting on the road.