Boulder, CO and More

Sunday morning we drove 37 miles south to another forest service campground, Kelly Dahl. It was similar to Olive Ridge, but that night there was only one other RV in our loop so it was very quiet.

We were only 20 miles from Boulder, a city we have read about as being a great place to live if you like the outdoors, so we always wanted to visit. The drive along Boulder Canyon Drive, from Nederland to Boulder is a beautiful descent with high rock walls on both sides of the road, and with Boulder Creek running along side the road. We were astonished at how many people there were all along the way either playing in the water, tubing, jogging, cycling, and rock climbing. It is definitely a place for the young and active.

We took our netbook since again we had no connection at the campground, and found a bench by the creek to sit and look at e-mail. More crowds of people were enjoying the water.

And there was a rock sculpture garden in the creek, which was pretty interesting. The rocks had to be glued because people were walking and tubing among them.

We went downtown to Pearl Street, a four block pedestrian mall with lots of shops, restaurants and street performers. We couldn’t believe the number of bikes around town, and all the nice bike lanes.

We figured there had to be some good gourmet pizza, and we just happened upon BOP (Boulder Organic Pizza). It was a really cute place, and we ordered the Bliss, a vegan pizza with a cannellini bean sauce, sweet potatoes, shredded carrots and red onions. Yes, it sounds weird, but the flavor and crust were excellent. And it was reasonably priced.

Yesterday we headed for Colorado Springs, as Jim was in need of his internet fix, and wanted to make some phone calls. We planned to stay at a Passport park for a couple nights since the weather was turning cool and rainy, but as we were driving I was able to get online and read some reviews that said there was no Verizon service. So we just went to Woodland Park, a little northwest of Colorado Springs, and are camped at South Meadows, another forest service campground for $17 a night, no hookups, but water and a dump just down the road.

We don’t have great cell or internet here, but with the booster it works fairly well. It is just so wooded, and it was overcast until this afternoon, we are having to run the generator tonight to use the computers. I probably won’t be doing very much posting while we’re here.

We’ve been searching for 2 new tires for the car, but no one seemed to have our size in stock in Laramie, Cheyenne, or Estes Park. Jim called around Woodland Park late yesterday after we got here and Wal-Mart just happened to have 6 Uniroyals in the size we needed, for $25 each, a closeout price. We jumped in the car, headed to Wal-Mart, and ended up replacing all four, since we paid what one would have cost anywhere else. Hope they hold up!

This morning I called a local dentist to see if we could get appointments to get our teeth cleaned and checked in the next week or two, and they just happened to have two cancellations this morning. So we jumped in the car, drove to Colorado Springs, and got that taken care of. We both got good reports for a change. It’s been a busy day and a half here. We did take a walk tonight, and are looking forward to exploring Pikes Peak and the surrounding area. This is a nice campground so we may just hang out until after Labor Day.