CO Trip Days 3 - 5: Denver to Leadville to Salida

On Saturday morning we went to a gorgeous community center in one of the burbs outside of the city for a dragon boat team practice that Aaron found. While he was paddling in a boat held stationery in a pool, Saul and I went for a very crisp morning walk and then ended up playing on the playground at the center. It was a great way to burn off some energy before sitting in the car for a while.

Dry air = static electricity + bright sun = hair-lo (halo)

Fortunately, we had room for Saul in the car! This is his one nap of the day while driving from Denver to Leadville. We experienced a brief snow storm cloud and beautiful but very cold weather on the drive. So amazing and such beautiful mountains.

Saul sleeping while surrounded by luggage.

By the last few days he would say, "Move bag. No bag!" (Also notice the winter sweater.)

Salida is one of the towns we visited on our honeymoon. We fondly remember the pizza and brew pub and the rose quartz location. It really hadn't changed that much in the historic area off the main highway. We had coffee and explored the little shops on a quiet Sunday morning, also letting Saul burn off some energy before the drive to the Sand Dunes.

The next few are at Sand Dunes National Park. It was really cold and ended up snowing on our hike back to the car. Saul was NOT pleased with this, was tired, and generally was ready to be done. However, on the way up and while exploring the dunes during Aaron's 33 minute hike up and 6 minutes down, Saul definitely had fun walking in the sand with bare feet.

Fussy cold face.

"Go this way," he would tell me.

I'm not sure what his directional sense was telling him,

but he definitely knew which way he wanted to go.