Winter day, winter travel, Winter Park

As usual, the thought of a quick escape flashed through our minds, and the next moment we were already booking a hotel somewhere close, but far away... And a couple of days later we loaded the car, drove out of warm and snowless Denver and crossed the Continental Divide. The highway wasn't busy (even though it was Sunday) and the weather was beautiful, so it didn't take long to cross the Berthold Pass and to see the snow... A lot of it ;)

 

We chose Winter Park as our destination mainly because of the hotel (more in the next part), but also because of the beautiful road. We also wanted to refresh our memory, because the last time we stopped there was... mmm... a long time ago... looong time...

It was much colder up there (no surprise, it's about 8,000 ft) and the snow covered ground along the highway. But it was exactly what we wanted from a short winter trip - some cold, a little bit of white, a snowy terrain... and we got it all!

At first we wandered around the town, walking aimlessly along the main street. It was almost lunch time, but we weren't hungry yet and needed some fresh air.

 

But soon enough we found a good place to bite and... it was absolutely delicious! Durbar Nepalese and Indian Bistro exceeded all our expectations. The food was hot and hot (pun intended), and tasty and the service was excellent too. I guess next time we will go there again ;)

After lunch we felt more adventures and wanted to do some exploration. So we jumped in the car and drove off, heading towards Lake Granby. We had passed the lake several times before, but had never stopped and taken a closer look. It was a good opportunity to change that ;)

So we turned right and started driving around the lake... just to find a surprise or two ;) First of all, we had no idea how big Lake Granby was...  We drove and drove and drove and only saw more and more water with each turn.

We turned around after about 5 miles without reaching the end of the road and the lake ;) It was a huge surprise to discover the size of it.

And the second surprise was the road. We didn't think about it at all, but found ourselves driving on the snowy road, surrounded by snow and wind. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I drove down the road like this ;) But it was well plowed. We had no trouble following the turns, to stop here and there and get back in time. I mean to get back just before dusk ;) Yeap, at this point we returned back to Winter Park and were ready for our hotel (but I will tell you about it tomorrow)...

Click here to see the hotel we stayed - A night in an A Frame Club ;)

Pictures were taken on December 17, 2023.