At the beginning of August, I was fortunate to take a short vacation to the beautiful mountain town of Salida, Colorado. With a rich kayaking and rafting culture, this town is quite unique and was a fun place to visit to celebrate the wedding of two dear college friends (Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Graham!).
We were in town for a wedding, so we needed to stay in a hotel. I stayed in the cheapest place in town, which I will not mention here other than to say that it was overpriced and not worth the money. To others coming to town I would suggest staying in one of many nearby campgrounds, the hostel in town, or one of the nicer hotels in town such as the “Hampton Inn”. The $20 savings or so a night is NOT worth it.
Downtown Salida was absolutely stunning, and full of plenty of small businesses, cafes, restaurants, and bars. We particularly enjoyed Sweetie’s, Benson’s, and the ever popular Victoria (The Vic). The Vic had some sort of drink special every night we were there, which was delightful.
One thing that I loved about my trip was the ease of access to the great outdoors. Honestly, we didn’t get to do much exploring (I was with a group of friends I hadn’t seen in 5 years, and we preferred to socialize with each other), I did notice constant access to trailheads, hot springs, and other fun excursions I would love to take on another trip.
We did make it up to St. Elmo Colorado to explore the “ghost town”. Not much “ghosting” persay, but the old buildings were beautiful, and we got to enjoy feeding some highly domesticated chipmunks.
The wedding was held in the stunning Monarch Park Campground, with the reception being held at the Steamplant Event Center. It was an amazing and intoxicating day, followed by a rafting adventure up the Arkansas River. I am so grateful for Tom, an old college friend, for being an amazing raft guide and keeping my hungover ass in the boat. It was a beautiful day and the amazing rafting sunburn on my thighs goes to show that you really do need waterproof sunscreen.
Our 3 hour drive back to Denver to catch our flights was punctuated by gorgeous mountain vistas, a stop in South Park, and good conversation. I am so glad I was able to take this trip and reconnect with my friends, and I hope to be able to visit Colorado again soon.
Ms.Homemaker 