Colorado, part 4

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY Y'ALL! Hope you're wearing an obnoxiously patriotic get up and have fireworks and grilled goodies in your future. Or you're just relaxing and laying on the couch (yessss please!). Or working and getting that time and a half!

MORE COLORADO TRIP!

Our last day in Aspen we spent mostly in town. We got a hotel for the night, ONLY BECAUSE we decided at the last minute that we wanted to camp our last night there (the original plan was to stay at a hotel the last night) because our campsite was so amazing and we didn't want to leave. However it is so amazing that it, and every other campsite in the Maroon Bells area was already booked by 10am. So we had to get a hotel. While waiting for our check in time, we walked around some of the paved hike/bike trails in town. We found a little off-shoot actual hiking trail up a little ridge so we checked that out. Panted our way to the top, as usual. Worth it though, stellar views of the city.

How amazing is it that this is in the middle of the city. We were surrounded by houses, but this big ridge in the middle of everything was left to nature. So very cool. Aaaand we got to see a deer! Very close!

So let us discuss this hotel business. There is an app called Hotels Tonight. It was mentioned on one of the blogs I read, so I figured I'd try it out. FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING, do not use this app. Oh my gosh, we got so screwed. Not only was it still very pricey, we were put in the absolutely worst room in the lodge. It was teeny tiny, and even though AC doesn't exist in this hotel, there were NO WINDOWS OR CEILING FAN. It was a hellish and very hot nightmare. When we brought this up to the manager, he said he was aware it was the worst room in the hotel and they only use it for deal sites. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT? Mountain House Lodge in Aspen, CO. They're evil, don't stay there. Hotels Tonight is also probably the devil. BUHHH I HATE HOTELS.

Yeesh. Anyway, here are the culinary highlights of the trip. We recommend Victoria's Espresso and Wine Bar, Poppycocks Cafe, Main Street Bakery and Cafe, and if you're feeling fancy, Acquolina Aspen. Also we discovered Paradise Bakery and bought an embarrassing amount of mandarin orange muffins.

That's it for Colorado. Couple more stops on our way home and that's it. Back to the sporadic posting you're used to.

The rest of the trip here!