As a higher elevation followup to our 3 weeks at the beach earlier in the year we planned a 3 week trip to Colorado for late fall this year, and we just got back.
My company has instituted a pilot program which officially allows remote work outside of your home state for 2 weeks per calendar year. Actually this was extended to 4 since planning the trip but I digress. When this was announced I jumped on it telling my group I’d be elsewhere for November before we had the trip planned. Most of the details came together pretty quickly and we booked stays in all our past locales. And with the expectation of a full week off for Thanksgiving from my job, we were able to stay for more than three weeks.
Megan decided to fly out a few days ahead of time on Wednesday with both of the kids leaving me back in California to finish up the work week and schlep all of our junk on the plane for the remainder of the trip. It was a nice break while the kids were away, with some time alone to work on projects and do some long rides I had had my eye on. One in particular up Mount Umunhum turned out to be quite the little adventure considering the early sunset and a dead battery in my headlight. I was pretty busy working and getting ready for the trip, in particular packing up my gravel bike which I had planned to bring out to Colorado to get some exercise and do some of my favorite old routes. The whole shipping aspect turned out to be a bit of a disaster and I wound up taking the bike on the plane for the trip to Colorado but it all worked out eventually.
Once I flew in, we started off the trip together in Golden just at the bottom of South Table Mountain in a nice house rented on Airbnb. Our time in Golden was great and in retrospect was the highlight of the trip for me and I think for Megan too. We had tons of energy considering we were just beginning our trip, and I got a lot of rides in on my bike and we were able to visit with both the Leighton’s and the Lenore’s in the evenings. Dan and Ashley just had Chase a few weeks ago and it was fun catching up with the new parents. When meeting at Janet and Charlie’s we had a ‘not Thanksgiving’ feast of tri-tip along with many more traditional sides and as luck would have it, Jason, Jessie, and Wyatt were in town so we got to see them along with Matt and Jan. We got a few nights out thanks to Megan’s parents providing some babysitting services and really enjoyed our time in general.
For the first two weeks I still had to work some although I had taken the Mondays off in order to make better use of of our time in Colorado. Working from the Airbnb was OK although not being at my normal desk in the garage with my own chair, nice monitor, and generally great set up was a bit of a change for the worse. Although it really did make me appreciate the set up that I do have.
I rode most days while we were and Golden but the two best rides were up Lookout Mountain since it was a perfect day and one of the first rides I did once we got there, and going up White Ranch and down the Golden Gate Canyon. White Ranch was as technically challenging and rocky as I remember and particularly difficult on the gravel bike but the scenery was great and the ride down from the top through Golden Gate Canyon was awesome (54 mph!).
We had great weather most of the trip but it was particularly good while we were in Golden with daytime temperatures in the 70s and sunny with scattered clouds all the time.
That Saturday we packed up and moved to Fort Collins for the following week. We had a rental right by City Park and the location was great. We got there and we were excited to meet up with a few friends and go around visiting all the old places we frequented while were in college. Unfortunately Fort Collins turned out to be a bit of a bust in some respects. Over and over again we encountered unexpectedly closed restaurants, terrible service, or generally negative experiences. I think it was just a bunch of random bad luck but it all happened together and shed a somewhat negative light on our time there. We also didn’t end up getting to meet up with my friends since their kid came down with Covid the day we were expected to meet which was a total bummer.
Our house in Fort Collins was also a bit of a let down. It was very tight for us in terms of space and filled up with a whole bunch of uncomfortable furniture and general junk from the owner. It made the whole time there a little bit frustrating but we still have some good experiences. I did a long 50 mile ride up Rist Canyon through Stove Prairie and down the Poudre which was very tiring but a super scenic ride. We also had generally good weather the whole time although I was a bit colder than while we were and Golden and I realized how much of a warm weather person I’ve become.
I was working in Fort Collins as well and it was a bit less comfortable than the Golden set up and combined with the terribly slow DSL internet, made it frustrating and fairly challenging to be productive during the week. I ended up taking Monday and Friday off that week.
I think Fort Collins was also the time when the lower quality sleep while traveling, started to catch up with us. Everyone including me was very tired and not sleeping great. We also had the time change while we were in Golden and although its always a bummer, the immediate effect didn’t seem to be quite as dreary as it did after going through the full following week of getting dark at 4:30 PM.
These two things in particular are the big takeaways we’ve had from this trip:
- We never sleep as well while traveling as we do at home and this can really add up for everyone over the course of a few weeks away. We noticed this in Capitola too but the close proximity to San Jose for the occasional night, and lack of moving around made it less apparent.
- Traveling while on standard time kind of sucks since you want to be out doing stuff all day but it’s dark (and cold in this case). Granted, standard time kind of sucks at home as well…Ecuador?
By the end of our week in Fort Collins I think we could have both ended the trip early but we were looking forward to the family portions during the week of Thanksgiving. First the Traberts in Breckenridge and then my side including Mom and the Lenores in Boulder / Arvada.
Upon our arrival in Breckenridge it was snowing which Jane was super excited about. We arrived after dark but it didn’t dampen Jane’s enthusiasm for the snow coming down from the sky. During our stay we had a nice simple condo which was spacious and comfortable, a big upgrade from Fort Collins, and just a few minutes from where the in laws were staying.
While there we went sledding, rode the gondola to the base of the ski resort, and had an impromptu mini snowball fight with the little cousins. Kathy made a very good traditional Thanksgiving meal, and Megan and I had a night out on the town. Although we weren’t able to take full advantage of it after our BBQ dinner since it was in the 20’s and many shops and restaurants were closed for the night.
Surprisingly I felt pretty affected by the altitude. Our condo was about 9850′ above sea level and despite our 2 full weeks in the front range around 5000′, I felt out of breath the whole time and had pretty low energy. Part of this could have been due to the poor sleep preceding this stay but I think most was due to the altitude. While living in Colorado full time I never felt impacted unless sleeping above 12000′ but this was no longer the case.
After 3 nights in the mountains we headed to Boulder and met with Mom for a stay at the Colorado Chautauqua in Chautauqua Park. This was the stay I was most looking forward to ahead of the trip and it didn’t disappoint. The location is great and as I really enjoy staying in places that have a bunch of cabins, a dining hall and other old time type setups, it was perfect. We knew ahead of time that the one bedroom cabin would be tight, and it was, but for future stays we will hopefully secure a two or three bedroom place. Despite booking what I thought was early, none were available during our stay. While in Boulder we did a hike in the park, went to the shops on Pearl Street and went to the awesome playground on the grounds with Jane.
Thanksgiving day we met at Charlie and Janet’s house where we had a second traditional Thanksgiving meal this time without Jason, Jessie, and Wyatt. It was a fun time. I miss spending time with Matt and Jan more regularly and it was nice to catch up.
During our stay in Breckenridge we canceled a previously planned two night stay in Denver following the Chautauqua. We both were ready to be home and opted for a 6:45AM flight to SJC on Saturday following Thanksgiving. To meet the time we also cut a night off of our Chautauqua stay in favor of the Westin located directly on DIA’s grounds. In retrospect this was a good call. It took us the better part of the day on Friday to take care of all the logistics of packing up and transporting ourselves and two kids to the airport and returning Kathy and Rich’s car. And by the time we got home on Saturday morning we were all so relieved to be back home and in California’s nice weather.
Overall the trip was a success. We introduced Max traveling, Jane got to go sledding, I got to experience what remote work with kids would be like, and we saw a bunch of family and friends. Future trips will be shorter for sure, at least until the kids are older, but I’m super glad that we took advantage of the opportunity to do another trip like this. A few years ago this kind of trip wouldn’t of been possible for me while working, and taking advantage of these kinds of opportunities afforded by our new way of working thanks to the pandemic has been a great upside of the whole situation.
Ride Summary:
- 10 Rides
- 147 miles
- 13,967 vertical feet
Thanks TSA:
