As I mentioned in the first post on this trip, it was such a jam-packed getaway, I couldn’t contain it all in one post. In fact, the first week of our trip took SEVEN posts to adequately cover all the adenvtures we went on!
The second week, however, wasn’t so busy.
After our week-long stop in Canon City, we did our final cleanup and left the AirBnB Saturday morning for the three hour drive to Crested Butte. Checkout from the AirBnB was by 10:00 am and check-in at Pioneer Guest Cabins isn’t until 3:00, so we once more found ourselves with some time to kill.
I had done my best to repack the car with all of the stuff we brought with us, plus the extra stuff we were leaving with, such as more groceries and a handful of souvenirs, my new GoPro, a massage gun for Brandy and more. It was pretty cramped in the car, the back seat was half full of stuff that didn’t fit into the cargo area so Ash didn’t really have a lot of room.
We started the drive and quickly found ourselves in Salida where we made a pit stop, getting gas, some food and taking Ash on a bit of a walk to expend some energy.
After roaming for a bit, we loaded back up and continued on our way. Shortly after leaving Salida, we got to a chain station on the way up Monarch Pass. Chains were not needed but I pulled over anyway and mounted the GoPro to the roof like I’d done for my drive over Skyline Drive. Once mounted, we took off up and over the mountain.
We pulled in to the visitor’s center at the peak and Brandy ran in while I stayed in the car with Ash.
Brandy came out with another t-shirt and we pulled out and made our way back down the other side of the mountain.
When we reached the bottom, I stopped the recording on the GoPro and later on, stitched together the footage into a nearly 30 minute-long video.
Later on, I shortened that to a two and a half minute highlight style video from footage on the way up the mountain:
I’m really enjoying the video editing process. Matching up music to the feel of the video, finding good cut points, transitioning from one clip to another, making the thumbnail images, all of it is quite a creative outlet for me, especially since I don’t have my drawing stuff available.
But I digress.
We made our requisite stop at the Safeway in Gunnison to pick up a couple more groceries that I piled up on Brandy’s lap to avoid taking any more of the precious room Ash had in the back seat. We powered on through Gunnison and Almont and into Crested Butte.
Even with our stops in Salida and Gunnison, we still had a ton of time to kill so we passed the turnoff to CB South and headed into CB-proper where we drove around the little downtown shopping district before making a stop at Clark’s Market, the local grocery store. I picked up some more groceries and took up the little bit of remaining space that Ash had in the back seat.
We headed on to Pioneer Guest Cabins and STILL got there early. We stopped at the office where there was a sign saying that they were out but to check in with the winter caretaker in cabin 1. We skipped that step and went on to our reserved cabin, which was unlocked. We unloaded the way too much stuff we had and started unpacking.
A Low Key Week in Crested Butte
Pretty much the entirety of the week in Crested Butte was spent working and relaxing. On Sunday, we did go in to town to do some shopping and have lunch for Brandy’s birthday (we went to The Hideout, which is where Last Steep used to be. They’re trying real hard to be an upscale casual dining experience. I think they’re on the right track, but have a ways to go to get it right yet.) Brandy bought more clothes and we stopped off at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory then headed to The Dispensary to start dipping our toes into the the realm of regular marijuana use.
While we were out, we stopped by the Crested Butte Museum. It was a small room in a larger building showcasing the town’s history of mining and winter sports. There was a car from the lift from the nearby ski resort as well as a large diorama of the town from its days in the mining era.
It was rather informative, if you’re interested in such things. As I am not, I briefly glanced at the displays, snapped a few pictures and headed out into the gift shop where Brandy was browsing around. We picked up a couple of trinkets and headed back to the cabin.
We headed back to the cabin, Brandy fell asleep, I started working on the blog posts for our stay in Canon City and the rest of the week was us working and getting high.
We did get a pizza from Secret Stash, which we had visited on my very first trip to Crested Butte but aside from that, I cooked dinner every night, even when things didn’t go exactly as planned (soupy mashed potatoes, the wrong kitchen tools, etc.)
On Thursday, we went back to The Dispensary for a few more goodies, then, when we got back, we started packing up, getting ready for our early departure Friday.
Pike’s Peak
Brandy suggested a stop by Pike’s Peak on our way home. We took the detour which added about 2 or 3 hours to the overall drive home.
Friday morning, we got the rest of our stuff packed up, leashed up Ash, who was SUPER excited to finally get out of the cramped little cabin, and made our way out of town.
I stopped at the post office in Gunnison to drop off a postcard for my parents then we made our standard stop at the Gunnison McDonald’s, which will now be forever etched in my mind as the place where Brandy had to use the men’s room to be sick on our way home from our last trip to Crested Butte.
We were officially on the road on our way to Pike’s Peak right around 8:00.
Just after 10:30, we pulled up to the guard station where we were told that the peak itself was closed due to snow but we could get close. We paid the admission fee and set about on our way up the mountain.
As we climbed, I was in awe of the amazing scenery we were passing. I REALLY wanted to set up my GoPro but the suction cup to mount it to the roof was well buried and I wasn’t about to dig it out. We continued onward and upward.
The drive up the road was steep and windy. We drove on for about 40 minutes before reaching the furthest point we would get to, about 2/3 of the way to the peak. There was a lodge on the side of the road and a small parking lot across the street from there. I hopped out to snap some pictures, then we headed back down the mountain.
The road down was super steep so I kept the car in low gear the entire way down. When we leveled out, I put it back in drive and we headed to Pike’s Peak Pickles, where Brandy bought a jar each of bread and butter pickels, pickled beets and pickled eggs. I bought myself a jar of salsa and a jar of candied jalapenos and we each selected a pouch of beef jerky that we munched on as we headed out of Colorado Springs.
Soon we were on the highway and on our way home.
We stopped for the night at the Days Inn in Colby, KS. This was, without a doubt, the nicest Days Inn I’ve ever experienced. It was super clean, the room smelled nice, we felt safe, the room had a king size bed, it was quiet… just what we needed to rest up for the last leg of our journey home.
We started the last leg of the journey bright and early on March 2 and made our way east through Kansas. Before long, we hit a massive bank of fog that greatly reduced our visibility.
We drove through the low clouds for what had to have been a hundred miles before it finally broke as we crossed the state line into Nebraska. Once it cleared up, I was able to start boogeying, pushing the envelope speed-wise.
We got home just before 5:30 Saturday afternoon. We unloaded the car and sat and relaxed for the rest of the night.
Conclusion
So, two weeks in Colorado. Was it wall it cracked up to be? Well, yes and no.
Yes, it was a great trip that saw us do a TON of stuff, from hikes to scenic drives to a visit to Garden of the Gods, two museums, and a ride on the Royal Gorge Route Railroad. We spent a ton at a dispensary and have started getting high pretty regularly. I’ve finally found my limit for daily use (7.5 mg) and my desired limit for weekend stonage (10 mg).
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses though. The end of the trip saw us all getting a tiny bit of cabin fever from being cooped up in the tiny cabin in Crested Butte for a week. I don’t mind being there, I just think a week might be too long, especially when we were effectively snowed in (the firepit wasn’t accessible so if we were at the cabin, we were inside.)
Ash was particularly impacted by the isolation as he couldn’t even venture out leash-free. And because it was so cold, snowy and the fact that we were working the whole time, his trips outside were way shorter than he wanted them to be.
But, we made it through, we got home in one piece and are looking forward to our next adventure.
The rest of this year is shaping up to be an absolute whirlwind of travel and adventure with trips to New England, Albuquerque, New Orleans, Boise and of course back to Crested Butte to name a few!
As I literally just got done typing to my dad, I am so super grateful for the opportunities Brandy and I have been given. To be homeowners with a minimal mortgage payment, making the amount of money we’re making, but working remotely and our employers not caring where we’re working from, as long as our work is getting done, to have minimal debt, besides the mortgage and a car payment. The stars have finally aligned for us and we are taking full advantage of the lives we have to live ahead of us.
As for this trip, as I mentioned in my previous post on this trip, all the photos from this adventure are found on my Photo Diary page.
I’ll have another post put up soon on a Sunday night adventure we went on for Brandy’s mom’s borthday (Whoops! That’s already up!). Keep an eye out!
Until then!
-Phil
Pingback: The Greens Summer Tour – Gunnison, CO – Wandering New Mexican