We drove into Boulder late in the evening(what else is new?) in the rain and the cold. Apparently, Boulder gets over 300 days of sunshine a year, however our first night and day there was not one of them. So when we awoke to an overcast, chilly, drizzly day we decided on something free, fun, warm, and inside to do. We headed over to Sleepytime Drive to visit the Celestial
Seasonings tea factory. We sipped on free tea and took in the “Celestial permanent collection” consisting of the paintings commissioned for the tea packaging, a range of artistically designed tea pots and a outfit crafted out of tea packets while we waited for our tour. Our tour began with a cheesy corporate video about the quaint, 
hippie origins of the company and all the amazing products the now corporate conglomerate offers. After the video we donned hairnets and a beardnet for Zach and feeling like visitors to the Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, walked through the double doors… Immediately, the dry, fragrant, musty smell of herbal tea
ingredients washed over us as we walked through tall stacks of bundled herbs on one side and large whirring machines on the other. On the day of our visit, they were milling blackberry leaves and our guide let us touch a sample of them before and after milling. Next we headed to the tea room, where they keep the actual tea… and we learned that black, green and white tea all come from the same camellia sinensis plant at different stages of growth. Next we stepped into the mint room, a filled-to-the-ceiling storage space for all the fragrant mints they use in 
their teas. The mint is so powerful that when you step into the room your eyes tear up and the menthol opens up you respiratory system! Zach and Iris quite liked the mint room, while Chelsea and other’s on the tour decided only to step in and out. Lastly we saw the packaging stage of production and learned the plant can produce as many as 1,000 tea bags a minute. Between the two of them, Chelsea and Iris, those lovers of tea, asked more questions than everyone else on the tour combined! Boulder is also nicely located near mountains. As we explored
the town a bit and were amazed to discover you can see the small range that Boulder is nestled up next to, the Flatirons, from almost every street in town. Iris was quite taken with the mountains and the three of us decided to go ahead and check them out. We climbed one of 
the Flatirons and looked out over the city on a beautiful clear sunny day. As Iris and Chelsea descended with Frida and Zach took on the challenge of biking to the snowy top. Even with the steep windy hills he made it to the top before the late afternoon sun was even close to setting!The next day our mountain exploration got bigger and more ambitious as we headed north to visit Rocky national park. It
was our first visit to a national park and we excitedly purchased a national parks pass anticipating many more visits and headed in to enjoy the day in the “wilderness”. We hiked up to the snowy summit of Deer Mountain at 10,013 feet. It was 
really refreshing to be out in the wilderness and although it was crisp out we quickly warmed up with the climb. And as we walked we contemplated our futures and took the chance to talk to one another unfettered by our daily trappings. It was late in the afternoon when we descended, and we decided to head to another part of the park to see if we could see some the elk that we heard are particularly active and present around this time of year.
Not only did we see elk, we witnessed the “bugling” when large groups of elk gather together and the male elk call out and strut their stuff looking for harem of females for the winter. We were enthralled by the up close and personal time with the elk! Before we left boulder we spent some time in the downtown area, discovered this cool shop Topo Ranch, hung out with yet another NMHer, Peter, and visited Iris Ave. Early in the morning, we headed out to Salt Lake City. It was the most beautiful drive of the trip so far, winding over the Rockies and down into the beautiful red desert of Utah, with a stop in Arches national park before heading on up to the great salt lake.
The bean counter miles traveled: 641
pieces of snail mail sent: 19
mountains summited: 2
mullets: 0
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