Fun with Friends in Colorado, Part 2

This is my second post about the long weekend I spent in Colorado with my high school friends. I recommend reading the first post before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I was given media passes and other benefits for some of the locations we visited throughout our trip. Several of the places we went are free to everyone; we paid full price for the rest. Everything that I share here is something I recommend without hesitation.

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Fun with Friends in Colorado

After a great day at Meow Wolf, the five of us headed to our next destination: Meier Craft Skiery. Our sixth, Nancy, met us there. It was wonderful to finally all be together!

You may be wondering what a Craft Skiery is. It is what happens when you add a bar to a ski making factory. The bar itself is made of ski core wood. 

The rest of the space functions as a showroom for Meier skis. 

That's the ceiling. It's really cool. 

If you visit Meier Craft Skiery, you can sit at the bar and watch skis being made through the windows. Or, if you come at Happy Hour, you can take the guided factory tour. Is there any doubt which we did? 

The tour begins with a drink, which you can take with you during the tour. I appreciate that they offer multiple non-alcoholic options. Ted, the owner of Meier Skis, was our tour guide. He took us into the wood shop first... 

... where he explained the process of laminating Colorado aspen, beetle-kill pine, and maple to provide the ideal core for skis and snowboards. 

After curing, the cores are cut to size. 

The next layers are cut...

... along with the stencils for the branding. All the layers are joined...

  

... and it's time to add graphics.  

Most of Meier's graphics allow a portion of the wood to show through. Not only is it beautiful, but it's a sign of quality as any flaws in the wood would be visible. 

Our group of six included a serious skier, a non-skier, and everything in between. We all enjoyed the tour.  Ted was happy to answer all the questions we had. When the tour ended, we returned to the showroom where we received souvenir glasses to take home. 

There was a food truck outside and live music inside, so we ordered food and had dinner there. 

I highly recommend a visit to Meier Craft Skiery!

It had been a long day, particularly for our east coast friends who had gotten up before dawn, flew across the country, experienced Meow Wolf, and then toured a ski factory. So we headed to Boulder, where we would be staying for the next three nights. 

On Saturday, October 17, we headed to the Boulder Farmers Market. I love farmers markets and Boulder's is excellent. 

We each found breakfast from the various bakeries at the market. I can personally recommend Izzio Artisan Bakery. Yum!

We bought vegetables, eggs, cheese, hummus, breads, and other goodies for future meals. 

We also bought the most delicious cocktail (and in my case, mocktail) mixers from Cocktail Caravan. 

We stored all of our goodies, then headed out on the Boulder Urban Adventure Quest. 

The Quest brought us to all sorts of neat locations in downtown Boulder. 

We made a quick stop partway through to get Denver Pops. 

I recommend the Raspberry Lime. 

Back to the Quest!

Of course I drank glacier water. Who wouldn't?! 

  

The Quest introduced us to SMiLE, Boulder's anonymous street artist. Once you know what to look for, you can find SMiLE's artwork all over town.  

  

What I love the most about UAQ is that the questions take me to locations I otherwise wouldn't have noticed. Here we're learning about a miner (he looked like a child - a minor miner?) that I'm sure I would have otherwise walked by with barely a glance.  

Boulder is the 31st city where I've done an UAQ. I'm eager to add even more cities to my count. 

After the Quest, we grabbed a late lunch (tacos for some, smoothies for others)...

... and then watched the CU Buffoons a capella group perform. 

We happened upon World Singing Day... 

... and joined in the fun. 

  

Eventually, we headed back to the house. We prepped all of our farmers market finds and had a wonderful dinner together. 

It was a fantastic evening of good food and good friends. 

I'll be back on Monday to tell you what we did on our second full day in Boulder.