Exploring Colorado :: Day 2 Afternoon :: Betty Ford Alpine Garden, Gondolas, and More
$39 PER PERSON to ride the Gondola to the top of Vail Mountain? What sort of drugs are you on? Does it come with a butler, open bar, and valet parking?
Our intrepid party had planned to take the scenic gondola to the top of Vail Mountain, maybe do a bit of sightseeing or hiking on Tuesday afternoon. We arrived at the ticket booth around noon, only to be informed the price is $39 per adult ($33 for seniors, which doesn't help me...at least not for a couple decades yet).
Well, guess we're not doing that! Oh wait...the the ticket guy just informed me the ticket prices drop to $15 ea after 5pm. Well, hello again, gondola. 5pm this time of year still gives you several hours of fine daylight to do...stuff. We're a party of old folks, there are very few activities that won't outright kill us.
So we went the evening gondola route, but that left us with some 4 hours to kill before we could use our evening tickets. What to do? Ah, the Betty Ford Alpine Park. No cost (donations welcome), and the wife and I, along with most of the rest of our senior party, enjoy flowers. Who doesn't like flowers? Ah. Of course. My wife's uncle bowed out and decided to wait it out in the lodge just outside the park.
One of the coolest flowers I saw, basically because of the high contrast and bright color. |
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Ok, the quaking aspens here in Colorado are apparently a Really Big Deal. They turn a bright yellow in the fall and shimmer like gold with each breeze. Wrong time of year for that here, so I was just amused by how the knots look like Egyptian eyes. The trees...always watching. |
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Holy crap, it's 5pm. Gondola time!
We left the park, gathered our relaxing senior citizens, and made our way to the gondola.
Elevation 10,350ft at the top of Vail Mountain. |
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A great community of writers there, helping each other get better at what they enjoy doing.
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You are hilarious! Very delightful commentary, I always prefer my travel photos with some light hearted banter!
That's why they charge so much!
Cheers!
Ha, thanks for picking up on the scattered bits of humor! :)
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Those huts looks kinda cool, and at $15, the gondolas still sounds kinda expensive, but then, I'm a cheapskate! :-(
$15 is a lot, but better than $39, and you don't go on vacation to SAVE money, do you? :)
Nice - that looks like a fun way to kill the time while waiting for the gondola! And it looks like the payoff was well worth it too! Those stickwork hut sculptures are pretty neat - huh? I had the pleasure of checking out some similar ones at the Montreal Botanical Gardens last summer in Montreal, Canada and thought they were very impressive!
I'm definitely adding Colorado to my list of places to visit - looks like an incredible place to do some outdoor exercise while experiencing some fantastic views and scenery! Thanks for sharing!
Good stuff! Colorado is beautiful, and the area is just packed full of things to do. Not cheap to live there, but definitely worth visiting.
These are really nice, @negativer. I am able to travel through your photo lens and comments. I have never seen huts with those kind of shapes.
Thanks for looking at my pics!
I'm glad Moro made it out alive!
Also, is this where the Betty Ford Clinic is? Is that why you were really there?
There is a unsurprisingly large amount of good beer in Colorado, so if the Betty Ford Clinic were to be located somewhere, this would be the place :)
Makes sense.
the poppy an dthe red flower are so beautiful....great pictures... i like very much flower pictures
Thanks! I love taking flower pictures :)
So at the top of Vail Mountain the air is really even thinner? No wonder the older folks in the group were wanting to sit more; I would've too. Btw, beautiful views!
The air definitely gets thinner as you go up. I don't know that I could tell the difference between 8k and 10k since I was already struggling a bit at 8k.
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