Travel Blog: I Went To Colorado And I Still Haven't Caught My Breath

You guys know I'm a big fan of doing travel blogs. For example, I've blogged about Mykonos

Washington DC

And even my trip to the Eiffel Tower 

Any time I can blog about travel, I do it. Which brings us to this blog.

Over the weekend I went to a new state, Colorado. In my old age I find it important to try and visit new places, travel to new destinations, see a bit more of the world. I actually blogged about how I want to get out of NYC more in 2018,

so I'm trying to find times to actually do it. And what better place to go than the Sunshine State, Colorado? I have a pal who lives in Denver who is a good snowboarder, I wanted to snowboard, and I've heard great things about Aspen. So I flew into Denver, we drove to Aspen, had had a weekend of shredding the fresh pow pow and rubbing elbows with the super wealthy.

So what are my biggest takeaways from Colorado?

For starters, it's quite stunning. I'm a sucker for skylines and mountains, and Denver has both.

The drive to Aspen was spectacular. The roads that cut between the mountains, the red rocks, the snowy scenery, the Colorado River, all of it. You kinda forget just how much nature is out there sometimes. A ton of trees too. Shout out to Colorado trees working overtime to try and make up for all the pollution in New York.

Another big takeaway- lots of good local beer and breweries. I made sure to not drink a beer I had ever heard of the entire trip and I succeeded without even trying. I obviously barely even scratched the surface of all the local beers, but by golly, they were all really good. 

Now let me talk about Aspen. What a place. Where the beer flows like wine, where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. Dave Portnoy would absolutely love it. It's the definition of a "I have a lot of money so I go there" type of place. All the restaurants we ate at were great. Every store you walk by has a pair of $3,000 ski pants in the window. It was quite a scene, which I expected. What I didn't expect though was to get my fucking ass kickeddddd by the elevation.

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While Denver is around 5200 feet above sea level, Aspen is a whole 'nother animal. It's 8,000+ feet above sea level, and man do you feel it. Like, I've heard about how some athletes have trouble playing in Denver because of the thin air or whatever. We've all heard about "elevation". But I didn't really think about it, because how bad could it really be? Well…it's no joke. 

I'm not in terrible physical shape, but it's not like I can go out and run a marathon tomorrow either. I just exist in a very average way, in every way possible. But the combination of the elevation and not having snowboarded in 10 years made me feel like I was 100 years old having a heart attack. I couldn't believe it! I knew I was going to suck at shredding the pow pow, but I didn't care about that. I'm not an expert boarder or anything, I just remember liking it 10 years ago and wanted to do it again. What I didn't expect was to be gasping for breath for the entire day afterwards. It blew my mind. Just trying to après (the fancy word for getting drunk after the mountain closes, something I'm very into) without having a heart attack, ya know? Get some oxygen, Colorado. You have so many good things going for you, just get some of that whole "air" thing we need to live. I'm shocked more old people don't drop and die. Or maybe they do. They probably do.

Commercial: Here I am doing it.

Bunny hill 4 life. 

I got a lot of Tweets from people talking about how they didn't expect the elevation problem either which made me feel better and slightly less of a pussy. Slightly.

It was worth it though because again, mountains make me happy and so does when the sky does cool things like this: 

Gorgeous, right? Guess you could say Colorado is breathtaking for multiple reasons. And boom, I just nailed the title of this blog.

So overall, I would recommend Colorado to those who enjoy the outdoors, but also have some good lungs too. It seems like it would be a fun place to be in the Summer- a nice 75 degrees, locally crafted beers, lots of rooftops to drink on, and weed is legal too for those who like to puff the devil's lettuce. I wouldn't recommend Colorado to fat people. Just can't be worth it for you guys.

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As for Aspen, again, it's sort of a different type of place that I'd recommend if you're into skiing and snowboarding, but also have some extra change burning a hole in your pocket. I was happy to spend the extra money for the experience though. And I've begun to enjoy splurging for good food, so that was a nice treat.

Colorado score: 3.9 balls. Had to subtract points for the lack of air, and for Casa Bonita being closed.

I hope to one day return, especially because there is a Penn National casino in Blackhawk. 

Yes please.

Hopefully this is just the first a few travel blogs I write this year. Not sure where or when my next trip will be, but I look forward to exploring the great outdoors (or the inside of poker rooms) again soon. Namaste, my friends.

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I talk more about my trip, Casa Bonita, and the Super Bowl in this week's episode of Cracking Aces. Click below to listen, dl, and subscribe.