Out West Road Trip continues ...HI Colorado!

Hi, Friends; welcome back to CTA Photography Colorado Road Trip Video Journal. Our motto… Looking for adventure and whatever comes our way!

*ALL travel links at the bottom of this blog.

After leaving Cheyenne, Wyoming, with its bone-chilling16-degree weather, we headed south to Ft. Collins, CO, an adorable college town surrounded by the tail end vibrancy of fall leaves! We ventured to Horsetooth Reservoir and hiked Devils Backbone, and enjoyed a delish pub crawl at the end of the day.

Boulder, CO, here we come… little did we know we would get hit with a 12-inch snowstorm! YIKES, us Floridians are not used to driving in snow and ice! Thank goodness there was a DELISH Italian restaurant walking distance from our Homewood Suites! Explored downtown Pearl Street Mall the next day after all the streets were plowed and salted.

Colorado Springs is much larger than Boulder, and the shops and restaurants were open and ready for business!

We hiked through the Garden of the Gods National State Park…breathtaking! The brilliant blue sky and the warm sun basking on these GINORMOUS red rocks (millions of years old) was a delight for my photographer's eye! Next, we drove up to Manitou Cliff Dwellings and Pikes Peak! We stopped at this tiny hole in the wall shop, the Winery on the Peak which was the most amazing late lunch EVER!

Pagosa Springs This 5-hour drive had the most incredible snow-covered scenic views! Mother Nature is freaking AMAZING! We met up with our talented nephew, who was living in Creed. What an experience this has been. Have you ever been to natural hot springs? My mind was blown, as well as my body healed by Mother Nature’s minerals!

Part 2 of 3 New Mexico next.

Links :

Fort Collins ~ CO

Devils Backbone ~ Hiking

Horsetooth Reservoir ~ Hiking

Austin's American Grill - North ~ Dining

Ginger And Baker ~ Dining

Penrose Taphouse & Eatery ~ Dining

Boulder ~ CO
Gondolier Italian Eatery Dining ~ Our lifesaver after being snowed in…we could walk to it from our Homewood Suites :-)

Colorado Springs ~ CO

Garden of the Gods ~ Hiking

Manitou Cliff Dwellings ~ Ancient Ruins, History Museums