On the Road: Palisade to Boulder

The route from Palisade to Boulder is simple: drive east on Interstate 70 for about 4 hours. Normally we prefer to avoid major interstate highways, but this particular stretch of I-70 is known as the Mountain Corridor: it goes over and through the Rocky Mountains, reaching elevations over 11,000 feet. It was an exciting drive, with constantly changing scenery and gorgeous vistas at every turn. After the barren desert cliffs of the Grand Valley, it was refreshing to be surrounded by so much GREEN. We also raced a train alongside the Colorado River.

We reached Vail, the halfway point, at a perfect time to stop for lunch. It was our first time in Vail, and we soon realized that we had to park our car in a garage near the interstate and walk into Vail Village. It was a fairy-tale perfect alpine town, with high-end shops and trendy restaurants. It felt like visiting Disney World, except that people were wearing fashionable western attire instead of shorts. As an added bonus, a bluegrass festival was underway, with live music on multiple stages. We had a lunch at Mountain Standard, where I fell in love with their rich vegetarian chili with sweet potatoes and roasted poblanos. As luck would have it, we returned to our car just in time to escape a rainshower.

We continued on I-70 as it climbed higher. There was still plenty of snow on the ground at this elevation, which made the tall peaks especially beautiful. Huge dark clouds moved in quickly, and at Vail Pass (10,662 feet), it started to snow! It didn’t last long, and we continued through the Eisenhower Tunnel (11,112 feet) without incident. As the skies cleared, we turned north and drove parallel to the Rocky Mountain foothills, all the way to Boulder.