Buena Vista & Leadville, CO
Buena Vista has become one of our new CO favorites, especially for K. He absolutely loves this area and I can’t disagree. It is in the Arkansas River valley, with views of the Collegiate Range and many other 14ers.
We took a weekend trip out together and stayed in a local hotel called the Surf Chateau that overlooks the Arkansas River and the bluffs above. It’s a neat relatively new hotel with an interesting concept. There is no lobby, and you are provided the room code in advance so that you can let yourself in whenever you happen to arrive. Here are some views from our balcony:
There is a hiking trail that runs along the river, through a park to include a bouldering area, as well as over a bridge and up into the bluffs, so we did some exploring and ended with a colorful sunset over the mountains.
While in town we checked out a couple neat breakfast locations, the Evergreen Cafe and Roosters Crow Cafe, both with local charm. For dinners we checked out both locations of the Eddyline Brewery, one of which is a traditional restaurant and the other more of a taproom, but both serving some food.
We took a day trip over the Leadville which some folks claimed to be the most interesting and charming place, but we really thought Buena Vista was the much nicer of the the two. Leadville definitely has history and was neat to see, but a day trip was sufficient.
We also drove by Twin Lakes and up Independence Pass just outside of Buena Vista. The drive and little trail and overlook at the top where breathtaking.
We decided we’d definitely got back to Buena Vista, and in fact K has already been back once with the trailer and the dog. I’m sure we’ll go again in the not too distant future!
