Sunday, March 20, 2016

Telluride to Colorado Springs {via Crested Butte}

I decided to hit the road back in the general direction of Kansas this morning.  Dennis was so nice and got up early to run to the grocery store and make a smoothie for me!  I'm telling you, the people I've met through Couchsurfing are some of the nicest people around.


I drove him up to work (rather than having him take the gondola) and I got to see Chelsea again and tell her bye at her coffee shop.  And it was 12 degrees.  TWELVE.  Ugh.  So cold!!


After I said my goodbyes to my new Telluride friends, I hit the road towards Colorado Springs...but with a planned stop in Crested Butte, another place I've wanted to check out out for years.

The drive was fantastic, again.  I think almost all of Colorado is fantastic actually.





I got to Crested Butte early afternoon, and only picked up one female hitchhiker along the way.  She needed a ride to Crested Butte, so it was perfect!  I didn't have the guts to take a picture of her, but she was super nice and very grateful for the ride!




I was a little disappointed with Crested Butte.  I mean, I wasn't there but for a few hours.  It was just small and I don't know, not as beautiful as Aspen or Telluride.  Just my opinion though!  I didn't really like how the actual town was a couple of miles away from the ski resort.  I like how Aspen and Telluride are right there, all together. 

 

I did some shopping, walking around, looked at some new boots and almost bought some new skis.  Seriously, why are there so many options for boots and skis!?  It's so hard to make a decision!

Like I said, I didn't stick around Crested Butte too terribly long.  It was only about an hour detour off my route, and I'm glad that's all the further it was.  I drove back to my highway, and stopped a grocery store for some lunch: sushi and some chips!



More gorgeous views, and one more small detour in to the town of Salida to try on some backcountry ski boots...that no other store seemed to have.


 

I didn't buy them...again.  The struggle is real to make a decision on those, haha.  It's a lot of money and I want to make sure they're just the ones I want!

So I kept on driving towards Colorado Springs...up and over more mountains.



I had a little bit of time to kill before my next Couchsurfing host would be off work, so I was pumped to find out Pikes Peak was on my route to her house!


Only problem was...it was closed!  Who knew!?  Pikes Peak closes at like 3pm or something ridiculous like that...and I missed it by about 20 minutes!  I was so mad!


Not for long, though.  Because even better than Pikes Peak was Garden of the Gods!  I had no idea it was such a cool spot!  {I took just a few pictures...}










I drove through the park and did a few loops, stopped a few times, but I didn't have enough time to explore too much.  I had to go meet my next Couchsurfing host, Shawna, at her house in eastern Colorado Springs. 

I don't know how many times I can say I met "the coolest chick ever" on Couchsurfing, but she fits in that category, too.  She's in the military and has been so many awesome places.  Oh, and she might have the sweetest Corvette ever, too.



We had such a fun time going to dinner at The Rabbit Hole.  Seriously, we both laughed so hard all night long. 


 

That might have had something to do with the flaming alcoholic drink I tried to have.  (I ended up sipping on it for a few minutes before passing it off to Shawna to finish.)  And she tried brussel sprouts for the first time! 


Shawna was so kind and gracious, just like all the other Couchsurfing hosts I've had, and she let me stay in her awesome Asian-themed guest bedroom.  (She used to live in Korea, so of course I picked her brain about all things Korea for my upcoming trip there...)

My bed for the night

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