Mint Room Survival

Look at the two or three little circles in the hallway. Those are orbs. Otherwise known as LITTLE GHOST CHILDREN!!!! According to Tyler the Tour Guide.
Yes, we had to wear hair nets in the Tea Factory. (Some people wore beard-nets!)
Standing on a log in Bear Lake
Pooh at the top of the mountain
Driving through Estes Park, and taking a pit-stop with LOTS of chipmunks.

On Tuesday morning, we headed to Boulder. The drive took us about 3 1/2 hours. The GPS got us right to our friend Julie's house. After getting settled in, we headed off to the Celestial Seasonings factory tour. We learned more about tea than we had expected and enjoyed a lovely tour of their facilities, even with the hairnets. The company was started in the late '60's by some hippie types making herbal teas from the herbs they found growing in the mountains. The highlight of the tour was entering into a normally closed room that was filled with bags of spearmint and peppermint leaves. The smell was overpowering and my eyes were watering, I couldn't wait to be let out. Mara loved it. After purchasing some packs of our favorite tea flavors, we headed into Boulder and walked around the Pearl Street Mall, where no cars are allowed. There are lots of cool shops and many street entertainers. We had some yummy pizza at a place with their own microbrewery. The mint was finally behind me. After dinner, we passed by a little place called Jax, where Hosea Rosenberg, the recent winner of Top Chef worked.

On Wednesday, Julie drove us up into the mountains. We started with a stop by some falls at the Alluvial Fan. Mara led us on quite a rock climbing adventure along side of the falls. Then we drove to the Alpine visitors center along the Old Fall River Road, a one-way, unpaved road. Lots of twists and turns. The center was at about 11,000 feet and we enjoyed the views and a picnic lunch. It was quite windy and chilly there. The temperature was in the mid 50's, about 40 degrees cooler than in Boulder. From there, we headed down the mountain to the Stanley Hotel in Estes. This is the hotel that inspired Stephen King's book The Shining. We took "the ghost tour" and learned all about the amazing Stanley brothers, how King was inspired by a late season visit to the hotel and how it is legitimately haunted (or so they say). Some of the people on the tour felt the presence of spirits more than others. After that, we headed back in to the park and took a hike to Alberta Falls and ended at Bear Lake. It was a great day filled with hiking and horror. We ended the day with some tasty bison burgers grilled by Julie's husband Jim.

On to Salt Lake City.