Hi everyone!

Sean (DH) and I just got back last night from our wonderful Colorado vacation! We had a great time, but after our very long drive yesterday, we are glad to be home.

We started out early on Thursday night, leaving the day before we had planned on. What can I say, we were ready to get going. We drove until we were too tired to drive further, and we stopped at a Days Inn in Boonville, MO.

Friday morning we started out bright and early and drove the rest of the way to Colorado Springs, CO. We somehow ended up past our hotel, and in a pleasant, very scenic drive in the mountains. We finally realized we were lost, took a look at the map (again), and found our hotel. The Radisson in Colorado Springs is very nice, as I believe all Radisson hotels are. I really liked this hotel. We were given complimentary drinks (alcholic or non, guess which one we chose!) every night we were there. One thing we totally loved about Colorado is the smoke-free aspect. The entire state has a smoking ban in restaurants and bars and pretty much any indoor place. It was very nice to be able to enjoy a bar and breathe at the same time! The Radisson also gave us a free hot breakfast buffet every morning, which was very good, and the restaurant overlooked the mountains. Very nice. We were also given 25% off vouchers for the restaurant in the hotel, which we only used once for dinner. Our King room was HUGE, and we had a nice mountain view. The indoor swimming pool was very large, complete with a deep end (perfect for diving) and the outdoor hot tub under the gazebo was a nice touch. The only negative about this place was the confusing hallways. It took us a couple of days to figure out our way around the hotel. The front desk staff was just great. All in all, it is a great hotel, and we will be back here!

Saturday morning we woke up to rain. Not that we were going to let a little bit of rain get in the way of our vacation, so we ate our free breakfast at the Radisson, grabbed our jackets, and took off. We went to Garden of the Gods, where we drove around, hiked a trail, drove some more, then walked all the way around some of the huge "rocks". We were absolutely fascinated with the place. Thankfully, the rain tapered off some, so it was just a light drizzle for most of the day.

After Garden of the Gods, we headed off to Seven Falls. Due to the rain, the stairs were closed, and we couldn't access the trails at the top of the falls. All we could do was view the falls, and that didn't take long at all.

Then we were off to Helen Hunt Falls, which was FREE, and lovely. I had thought that we were going to just look at the falls and go on, but there was a trail. Ah, did I say trail. I meant to say mountain climb by way of trail. Anything involving Sean going up a mountain he loved, so up we go, with me huffing and puffing the whole way. I hate going uphill! The trail seemed to go on forever, but we finally made it to the very top. What a lovely waterfall, and what beautiful views below us. I was very thankful for the light rain, which was so cool, and kept me going up and up and up and up...

We had dinner at the hotel that night, overlooking the mountains. It was very nice, and with our 25% off, it was quite affordable too. After dinner, we enjoyed our nightly drink (have you guessed whether it was alcoholic or not yet?), then went off to the pool and hot tub.

Sunday morning we got up very early to head to Royal Gorge. We had a quick breakfast at the Radisson, then headed off on the drive to Canon City (pronounced Canyon City). We took the train ride through the bottom of the gorge along the river, seated in dome class (the nicest, by far), and enjoyed our lovely views. Despite my problems with motion sickness, I made it quite well, until I got up on the moving train to use the restroom...not advised. My Bonine wasn't strong enough for that, so I wasn't feeling all that swell for the rest of the train ride.

After the train, we went to the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park. We payed our entrance fee, which in my opinion was way too much money for what it entailed. We took the incline to the bottom, which was really the only thing in there that I liked. We walked across the suspension bridge, which was moving in the wind. Urgh. And there were signs all over the bridge from where some nuts had jumped off the edge for extreme sports. Crazy people, I tell ya. We took the aerial car across the gorge, and the guy who operated it was telling us about how one week a year they have extreme sports off the aerial bridge too. They just open up the doors and people jump out. Some people are just nuts, what more can I say.

After Royal Gorge was finished, we went to back to Colorado Springs, had dinner at Solo's next door, our free drinks at the Radisson, swam, used the hot tub, and passed out.

Monday morning we had breakfast at the Radisson. After that we headed for the Pikes Peak cog railway. Both of us experienced symptoms of altitude sickness, though Sean's was more mild than mine. I was in a lot better shape than a lot of people who were there. Some people had very severe sickness. What do you expect at 14,110 ft? We enjoyed the cog railway very much. Sean said it was much better than driving to the summit, which he had done in the past.

Sadly, on the Pikes Peak trip up the mountain, our camera's memory card filled up. We ended up having to delete a lot of good pictures just so we could take a few from the summit. After we returned to the bottom, we set off to find another memory card. We ended up buying one with a HUGE amount of space on it, and needless to say, we didn't have that problem again, at least for this trip.

After all this, we had dinner at Applebee's, drinks at the Radisson, swam, and used the hot tub.

Tuesday we had breakfast at the Radisson, express check-out, and headed for Estes Park, CO. We checked-in at the Comfort Inn in Estes Park, Colorado, room # 340. My first impression of this hotel was not good. The parking lot was a maze and very poorly designed. The internet didn't work as advertised, and I HAD to have it for my schoolwork. The staff are not there overnight, so I have no idea what happens to someone who tries to check in after 10pm. I encountered a really rude employee on my first day, which really ticked me off, and should have served as a forewarning to us of what was to come with this hotel. The swimming pool, which was supposed to be heated, was NOT. It was too cold for anyone wanting to swim, including kids. The heating system for it must have been broken. Just add it to the list of things they need to improve there. The indoor hot tub was nice, and was always empty. They had advertised a hot breakfast every morning, but they only had five tables or so for everyone there, and they didn't offer much for choices in the morning. We couldn't get milk, and we had to settle for muffins, everything else was taken each morning. We were not impressed.

The only really good thing about our hotel was our view from our balcony. It was wonderful to sit each evening and watch the sunst over the mountains. What a great experience. We tried to capture the experience with our camera, but it just couldn't capture it properly.

We drove half of Trail Ridge Road our first day there. Entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park was $20/car for the week. That was $20 well spent, since the entire time we were in Estes Park that we weren't sleeping or eating, we were in the park. Trail Ridge Road goes higher than many mountains, so it wasn't really surprising when I started feeling ill. Of course, Sean's terrifying driving didn't help matters any. He refuses to speed when we are on a flat, straight road...but put him on a mountain way above the tree line with U-turns, and boy...he speeds. Don't let him lie to you...he was speeding the entire time.

We had dinner that night at the Wild Rose, which was downtown and good. Downtown was a tourist trap, but we were only there for dinner, so it didn't bug us any.

Weds morning was a beautiful day, with clear blue skies and not a cloud in sight. It was a great day for hiking, which is what we did, all day long. We started out at the Bear Lake Loop, then went on the the Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake trails. The trail to the last three lakes was just up and up and up and up and up....I can't even type how many ups there was. It was constant up, the entire way, which made going down easier. The lakes were gorgeous, well worth the hike, but a lot of people didn't make it and turned back. It was hard, imo, going uphill constantly. These trails took all morning to complete, but the lakes were just so beautiful and calm and wonderful with the mountains surrounding us, so high above sea level. Ahh...it was worth it in the end. Too bad our pictures didn't accurately capture the beauty of the place, we couldn't fit everything into the pictures.

After our morning of hiking, we went to lunch at the Other Side, which sucked. Next time we go to Estes Park, we will swing by a Safeway and pick up food for the week. We'll save money and have a lot better meals than we did while eating in Estes Park. We only had two good dinners the entire time we were there.

That afternoon we went to the Moraine Park Museum, located in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was an informative little place. After that, we hiked to Alberta Falls, you guessed it...uphill. Sean and his damn uphill trails. He's trying to kill me. The falls were pretty, and it's a good thing to, because I don't like going uphill all the time.

We had dinner that night at the Longz Mountain Grill at the Holiday Inn. I tell you, Estes Park has some seriously limited eating options.

Thursday we set out for Trail Ridge Road, to do it properly, and completely. Once again, once we hit a certain elevation, way up there, I was feeling ill. Sean was once again speeding, since we were way on the top of a mountain. We had lunch in Grand Lake at EG's Bar & Grill, seated outside, which was nice, then we hiked Adams Falls at the East Inlet trailhead. This waterfall was very pretty also, and not nearly as uphill as Sean would have liked it to be. Then we headed back to Estes Park.

Friday we overslept, since Sean didn't bother getting up for the alarm clock and I was exhausted. We finally got up, got around, and headed out to Sprague Lake, where we did the loop trail. What a simple, wonderful trail. Sprague Lake was so serene and beautiful, and there was NO uphill at all! It was great! We then went off for a quick lunch at Dunraven Downtown, which was very good. Of course, Sean couldn't be happy with no uphill, so I relaxed and read a book by the lake while he went off to climb a mountain, as I call it. Uphill uphill uphill, he had his fill for a few hours at least. He hiked to Beardstart lake, or something like it. He had planned to go much further, but realized quickly he didn't have nearly enough daylight time to make the trails and make it back, so he returned. We had dinner at the Sweet Basilico Cafe, which had horrible service. Urgh, what is with these dining options?

Friday evening we had planned to go play some mini golf, but we knew we needed to officially checkout of the hotel that night so we could leave before 7am (8am our time) for our 17 hour drive home the next morning. After our check-out process, and being told to just leave the key in the room in the AM, I called our bank to be sure everything was as it should be. Sigh. Of course not. Our hotel had double charged us. Sean went up front to take care of it, and returned with nothing resolved. We both went up there to take care of it, and returned with nothing resolved. We called the 1-800 # for the CHOICE hotels, and a helpful lady recommended we request a printout of the void from the front desk. We go up front to request it, and were told that they had never heard of such a thing. So they then call the 1-800 # and are told no such thing exists. Sigh. Sean tried to use the 100% satisfaction guarantee for that night, since by then we were so pissed off we decided to leave RIGHT THEN, but they wouldn't let him. In the end, to rectify the situation, I had to call my bank, talk to a person, and have them deal with the hotel staff to have my money returned to my account. US Bank is awesome and took care of it immediately. Who wants to bet though that I have to deal with this all over again this week, since the correct amount was never charged, we were overcharged. To say I will never stay at this hotel again is an understatement, in fact, I may never stay at any CHOICE hotel again. I am seriously pissed.

We took off, despite having already payed for our night at the hotel, and drove as far as we could. We ended up stopping at the Colorado border. The next day, Saturday, we spent all day driving, most of the time through Kansas, which just never ends. We finally made it home late last night, and we were so glad to be home.

We had a great trip. Though we had issues that last night with the hotel, we won't let that sour our memories of our vacation. And now we are back home, where there is absolutely no uphill anywhere in the city. Ah, it's good to be home.

Our pictures from our vacation are now online. Click on the webshots link on my signature to view our pictures.

I'll talk to everyone soon.

Amy (& Sean)

View pictures at: http://community.webshots.com/user/loverly7100

Nice trip report! Glad you had a mostly good trip to Colorado. You really covered alot of ground and made good use of your time. It is unfortunate about your hotel in Estes. There are SO MANY wonderful places to stay there. Restaurants too. We live in Denver and have a hard time picking and choosing there are so many good B & B, condo's, cabins and wonderful restaurants. Hope you come again and get to try them.