Trip to Boulder

On Monday, July 5th, we set out to go climb Pike's Peak on the Cog Railway.  However, we got to Manitou Springs and found out that all the seats were sold out.  So, we went with Plan B instead.  The girls went to Boulder to tour the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory, and the guys went to Golden to tour the Coors Brewery. 

 So the girls set out for Boulder and the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. On the way to Boulder we encountered a scenic overlook and got out to see the whole valley, Boulder, and the beautiful Rocky Mountains.  There's still snow on the mountains.

 The tour was great, and it smelled wonderful.  Unfortunately Shelby wasn't old enough to go on the factory tour, so she and Amanda stayed back and had a tea party.

Then after the Tea Factory we decided to drive around Boulder until it was time to meet the guys for supper.  So we drove into the mountains to see what kinds of cool things we could discover.  We found a random road that said "Gold Hill" and decided to follow it.  We had no idea where we were going, but kept going on and on a narrow dirt road climbing higher and higher.  We saw awesome scenery the whole way.

At the top of the moutain we discovered this old town, which unbeknownst to us, was the very first discovery of gold in Colorado, which began the "Pikes Peast or Bust" gold rush in 1859.  We were so in awe of the old town that popped up at the top of the mountain that we couldn't believe it.  Unfortunately, most of the things up there were closed and we needed to meet the guys for supper.

On the way back down we were not as scared of the mountain road and decided to take in the scenery.  We found 2 old gold mines.

The Black Swan gold mine is right behind the green roof.

We also found an old schoolhouse and we wondered if it was still in operation.  It looked like it.

Apparently, there are bears in this area.  We were searching and searching for wildlife on our drive, but never found any.

We also found a cool old church on the mountain road.

And we found an old miner's rest.

Finally, it was time for supper at the Dushanbe Tea House.  What a cool experience!  We sat at the Tap Shan tables, which is where you sit on the floor on beautiful pillows.  It was a tiny bit uncomfortable for the guys, but they were good sports.  The tea was delicious and the food was beautiful and delicious.

The beautiful tiled ceiling.

The interior was so beautifully decorated.

The amazing carved panels behind us.

Shelby reclining on the pillows.

The guys were in a huge hurry to get out of there, so the girls stayed around and explored a little bit.  The outside of the restaurant was just as beautiful as the inside.

Shelby is so in love with Amanda. 

We were surrounded by hippies on every side.  Apparently, Boulder is a very free-love, tree hugging kind of city.  Here's a picture I snapped of a bunch of hippies just hanging out on the corner.  It was weird!

We finished out our time in Boulder by walking through the park.  There is so much recreation available in every spot I've seen in Colorado so far.  There are tons of walking trails, bikes, and hikers.  It's great.