Rocky Mountain to Denver

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Lily Lake

On our way out of Rocky Mountain National Park we stopped for a walk round the delightful Lily Lake. Our stay had been all too short.

From here we drove to Nederland where we had a coffee on the balcony of Happy Trails and people-watched for a while.

Happy Trails
Memorial bench at Happy Trails

Our guidebook described Nederland as a lively, ramshackle mountain-town magnet for hippies – and we had to agree, even though we were there at the wrong time of year for either Nedfest or Frozen Dead Guy Days. Yes, really. The term Ned has other connotations for us anyway – in Scotland it’s a derogatory term meaning a non-educated delinquent!

Coffee Roaster
Coffee Roaster
Floral sidewalk
Floral sidewalk
Nederland, CO
Town Hall, 1874
Ned’s
Creek and reservoir

After a stroll round town and down the creek to the reservoir, we returned to our car which was parked opposite the library. That looked the best building in the place to me – how wonderful to have a reading area on a balcony over a stream! Unfortunately, it was closed or I’d have dragged John in for a visit.

Nederland Community Library
Nederland Community Library

Our final stop was Boulder, somewhere which would repay a much longer visit. We had a picnic lunch in Chautauqua Park near the Flatirons before stopping off in town where we particularly admired the Court House.

Flatirons, Boulder
Near Flatirons, Boulder
Boulder Court House
Boulder Court House
Boulder Court House

After that it was straight on to Denver and the beautiful Capitol Hill Mansion B&B. The Bluebell Room was gorgeous ….

Bluebell Room
Bluebell Room

…. we even had a sun-porch which gave us our own private entrance to the house ….

Bluebell Room sunroom
Bluebell Room sunroom

…. the exterior of which was equally spectacular ….

Capitol Hill Mansion B&B
Capitol Hill Mansion B&B

…. and to cap it all, there was a delightful garden in which to have breakfast.

Breakfast garden
Breakfast garden

So this was our luxury home for the next four nights! Only three more posts and then I will finally have finished blogging about our Summer 2016 road trip.

Colorado, USA , , ,

42 Comments »

  1. All of your road trip posts are making me dream of road trips myself. I love the Rocky Mountains and Boulder. Nederland looks cute, but pretty touristy. Interesting about the Scottish connotation for NED. The Capitol Hill Mansion B&B looks fabulous. 🙂

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  2. They had more than 18 inches of snow in Nederland yesterday (May 18.) We had probably 5 inches, but down here it melted as it fell so the roads were never snow packed. I’m glad to know what ‘Ned’ means in Scotland. I must say, I’ve only ever known one guy named Ned. Though well enough educated, he’d otherwise be appropriately named by the Scottish definition.

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    • 18 inches! Is that normal for this time of year? It doesn’t sound it.

      The only Ned I remember is from when I was a little girl and Ned Norman was the town butcher. A cheerful type and not at all neddish.

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  3. What a wonderful room you had in Denver. Colorado is so spectacular and diverse as well. We would like to have a longer term house sit near Boulder one day, ideally in summer. Just too many places that are gorgeous in summer in this country… Lucky you with all that nice weather and blue skies. 🙂

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  4. Love the look of that B&B; one of my dreams is to live in a Victorian mansion with a turret! I also really want to attend the Frozen Dead Guy Days now that I know it exists. Any festival that has its own, themed ice cream is OK by me (apparently it is blue ice cream with crushed Oreos and gummi worms, which I would definitely eat because I have the taste buds of a five year old (not literally, which I feel I should point out given the subject matter!)).

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      • Whenever I got frozen yogurt as a kid, my go-to was always strawberry frogurt with oreos and gummi bears, so it sounds right up my alley! But my mother won’t eat strawberry ice cream to this day because she’d have to eat my leftovers (when I was really little…when I got older I wasn’t sharing ice cream with anyone!), so I get that it’s not to everyone’s taste!

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  8. Capitol Hill Mansion looks like it was built with Scottish sandstone! It reminds me of the big Victorian mansions in Toronto that have the same eclectic mixture of turrets and towers and verandahs. The Toronto ones definitely are made of Scottish stone, including the old City Hall and Provincial Parliament building. I wonder if you saw any decorative cast iron at Capitol Hill Mansion? That would likely have come from Glasgow!

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  10. This looks like a really nice place to visit and I had to laugh at what Ned means in Scotland. That B&B looks so beautiful…I love the whole look of that place

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  13. A library with a reading area on an outdoor balcony overlooking a stream? Tell me that I could also have a coffee while reading there and that would spell absolute heaven to me!

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  14. Hi Anabel – you were certainly travelling … I’ll remember NED for it stands for now! That B&B looks amazing and quite incredible … enticing me once again … cheers HIlary

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  15. Always wanted to go to Boulder. I don’t think I ever did, though. Don’t remember spending much time in Denver, either, although I did have a nice stay in Colorado Springs, which I recommend.

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  17. Looks beautiful I have a friend in Colorado and it is a lovely place. Different from “The Dear Green Place” I liked the Capitol Hill Mansion B & B – very relaxing looking – nice to relax with something wet, alcoholic, Scottish and 22 years old.

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