Summit County Colorado

We had a week in our itinerary where we planned to go to Summit County, Colorado to visit my Mom. That was extended to three weeks when my Mom missed a step when walking down the stairs, fell and broke her pelvis. We were able to shift our schedule so that I could pick her up from the rehabilitation facility and take her home. We stayed with her for three weeks until she felt better and didn’t need our help. During this time our daughter Heather flew out to visit as well.

My Mom bought “the cabin” in the early 1970s, we would come up on the weekends and for vacations. She moved up to the cabin permanently in the late 1990s. The cabin was originally just an A-Frame but Mom had it remodeled to add a garage, hot-tub/laundry room and upstairs is a studio apartment.

As with many resort communities, Keystone has great trails which were fun to ride on our bikes. Our first ride was to Keystone Ski Area. The trail meanders along the Snake River. Keystone is special to John and me because we were married at the top of the gondola on the Mozart Deck (that no longer exists). It was a simple ceremony with just my Mom, Heather, and a few close friends but it was a beautiful day.

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Our next ride was along Dillon Reservoir through the towns of Dillon, and Frisco and then over Swan Mountain Road. We were thankful to have electric bikes because the final hill over Swan Mountain was tough, especially because we were at a 9,200 foot elevation.

Our daughter flew in from Portland, spent a couple days with her friend in Denver and then I drove halfway down and met them for lunch and to pick up Heather. Heather and I love driving “over the top” of Loveland Pass and we always stop at the top to take photos. One of these days we will bring our hiking shoes and will hike up there.

One of the things I love most about going to Summit County in the Summer is all of the free entertainment. Dillon has a beautiful amphitheater that overlooks the reservoir. We went to several concerts while we were there. The views are fantastic, the weather was typical (wait 5 minutes and it will change) and the music was good.

Mom said she was feeling well and suggested we take a drive (I think she needed a break from all of us). We decided to go to Leadville, Colorado. If you’ve never been to Leadville, you really need to go. I’ve been quite a few times so I kind of forgot to take pictures in town but I did take pictures when we drove the Route of the Silver Kings.

After our drive we stopped at Periodic Brewery in Leadville and then we stopped at Highside Brewing in Frisco before heading back to the cabin. At Highside we played giant Jenga outside. It was a fun day!

For our next outing, Heather and I rode the bikes to Silverthorne and over the “Dam Road”. The weather was beautiful and trails weren’t very crowded.

I took Heather to the airport on July 3rd so she could fly home to spend 4th of July with her husband. On 4th of July John and I rode our bikes to Frisco to see the parade. First we stopped in Silverthorne to listen to the Stars and Stripes concert for awhile.

On one of our last days John and I went to lunch at the Tiki Bar by the Dillon marina and that evening went to another concert at the amphitheater.

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We were at the cabin from June 18th to July 12th. The majority of time was spent with my Mom. We are so lucky that we have the ability to go wherever we want whenever we want. It was great to be able to be there to help her when she needed it. Being at the cabin is always a relaxing time and brings back so many childhood memories. It’s one of my favorite places to be!