Day Trip to Boulder!

Last Tuesday I decided I needed to get away for the day. So I decided to head to Boulder about 45 minutes north of Denver. To avoid the tourist on Trail Ridge Road I left about 8 am for my journey over the highest continuous highway in the U.S. While going up, over, and down there were quite a few elk. (See pictures above) It was nice to return to civilization for the day. Boulder is the 11th most populous city in Colorado and home to the University of Colorado. It is known for being a college town with a fair amount of hippies and outdoors people. Just to the west of the city is the towering rock formations of the Flatirons.
I started the day with a visit to the Pearl Street Mall and the Boulder City Hall. I then had lunch at a local deli before heading over to Sleepytime Drive and going on a tour of Celestial Seasons. I now know more about tea then I ever thought I would. The best part of the whole tour was going into the Mint room. After the tour I headed over to "The Hill" and explored the University of Colorado. I think I might go back to school. I then headed to the 29th street mall to pick up a few things and then went for a run along the Boulder Creek Path.
After my run and taking some pictures I headed back to Grand Lake. I made a stop in Estes Park and saw the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley Hotel is where Stephen King stayed and it inspired him to write The Shining. I then got back onto Trail Ridge Road and up, over, and back to little Grand Lake.