There are some trips that are planned. For my trip to the Gallapagos, I knew that I was going to take this flight, go to these specific islands on these specific days, and do these planned events. Other trips are loosely planned. I knew I was going to go to Fort Collins for three weeks and stay with my friend Taylor, but I let the rest magically happen and unfold. Then there’s a third kind of trip: the ones that aren’t planned at all and just happen all on their own while going along the way to something else. Some people call it a distraction. I’ll just call it a detour.
As Tom and I were going out to dinner, we saw a sign for Lookout Mountain. Since I wasn’t super hungry, we decided to take a detour to see the area. The way up was a mini adventure. While the bike paths were really good in the neighborhoods, they went away as we drove up the mountain. This meant that as we were driving up, we needed to be on the lookout for bikers, cars driving on the wrong side of the road while they were navigating around bikers, and cars stopped in the road to get a view of the town and valley. While I always recommend admiring the world around you, please don’t stop in the middle of the road. Use the pullouts or designated overlooks people! It keeps the flow of traffic going and is safer for everyone involved. The overlooks are usually located at the best/clearest views too.
After getting past the car and bike obstacle course, Tom and I stopped at Lookout Mountain Park. Here, people can have a picnic or BBQ under the shelter and play games. We actually decided to walk along the path, past the picnic area, toward the edge of the cliff and have a look at the world out and below us.
There is a .5 mi path (Buffalo Bill Trail) that takes you from the park up to Buffalo Bill’s grave where there’s also a museum, gift shop, and restaurant. Once we got to the area, we decided to skip the museum and head straight towards the grave site. William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was known for his Wild West shows depicting the American West and the Indian Wars. He originally wanted to be buried in Cody Wyoming, the town he founded, but changed his mind at the last moment when he remembered the beautiful views from Lookout Mountain. (I've never been to Cody, Wyoming, but after seeing these views, who could blame him?) He was buried under 11 feet of dirt and concrete in order to prevent the people of Cody, Wyoming from stealing his body to bury it in their city.
After traversing the winding roads back down the mountain, we headed into the city of Golden for dinner. We drove down the main street to scope out the food options, but ended up settling on a restaurant just outside of the main downtown area: Sherpa House. I call Tom my Sherpa when we go camping because he carries the heavy tent. So when I saw the name of this place, I couldn’t resist eating here. Not only was the food amazing, they were really intentional with sharing their culture. If a restaurant, brewery, and museum had a baby; this would be it.
With the fun drive up the mountain, seeing all the views, and having a wonderful dinner at the end; this would have to be one of my favorite detours to date.
Do you step out of the routine and take a detour or change of pace, place, or space? If so, what was your favorite detour?
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