Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Why I Love Breckenridge, Colorado

My second home is in Breckenridge, Colorado, and my husband and I hope to make it our only, permanent home soon. Sure, we love skiing in Breckenridge in the winter, and I even had one of my mystery novels, To Hell in a Handbasket, take place in Breckenridge in the winter. But summers are absolutely gorgeous in Breckenridge and the surrounding mountains and valleys in Summit County.

I thought I'd share with my blog readers some of the activities we engaged in during our most recent visit. The two photos below are from a long 8-mile, round-trip hike we took to the Kettle Ponds in the Eagle Nest Wildernest area. What a beautiful area! I hope you'll agree.



The small towns in Summit County and nearby Eagle and Park counties seem to take turns sponsoring festivals, so there's always a fun time to be had on the weekend. Last weekend we visited Fairplay, Colorado for the Burro Days festival. We watched the racers prepare and start for the burro race up to the top of Mosquito Pass and back.





Other festival events included a staged gunfight (see three photos below).




We also watched the town parade, which included some of the llamas that had raced the day before, and watched the outhouse races (see photos below). The teams thought up appropriate names for their entries, such as "The Princess and the Potty". Between events, we wandered among the arts and craft booths and I indulged in my favorite guilty pleasure festival food--kettle corn. Yum!





Lastly, the photos below are from a visit we made to the Alpenglow Stube restaurant at the Keystone Ski Resort in Keystone, Colorado. It is the highest AAA Four-Diamond™ dining experience in North America. We enjoyed the breathtaking views while riding two gondolas to the top of the North Peak at 11,444 feet. Then we sampled wine, appetizers and desserts on the outdoor patio (see below).






After stuffing ourselves, we poked our heads into the Der Fondue Chessel restaurant next-door to see what the fondue offerings looked like. We wound up getting caught up in the chicken dance song performed by the German band (see below). What fun!



So, have I enticed you to visit the high-country of Colorado during the summertime yet?

4 comments:

T. L. Cooper said...

You two always have so much fun! I admire the way you just embrace the experience for what it is! Thank you for sharing!

G.M. Malliet said...

The photos are fantastic. And the food of that region...sigh.

Beth Groundwater said...

Thanks, T. L.,
Yes, Neil and I really like to have a good time--like when we visited you. :)

Thanks, G.M.,
The photos were taken by my husband. He's become quite proficient at his avocation, and has gotten published photo credits for a few he's taken of me.

Bob Sanchez said...

I've had the pleasure of visiting Breckenridge once, a couple of years ago. It's absolutely beautiful.