6 Great Days in #Colorado! Day 6: Dinosaurs! And More Wine!

6 Great Days in #Colorado! Day 6: Dinosaurs! And More Wine!

Day 6 was the “fly home” day of our Southwest Airlines sweeps win holiday, but before we struck out for the airport, we had one last Golden thing we had to squeeze in: Dino Tracks! Golden is home to Dinosaur Ridge, the #1 Dinosaur Tracksite in the nation! I deliberately booked us the latest flight home possible, so we’d hopefully have at least a few hours to do something before going to the airport, and we were able to get the first bus tour of Dinosaur Ridge that morning at 9am- and it turned out to be a private tour, too! Dinosaur Ridge is the home of the world’s first Stegosaurus discovery, with more than 250 amazing Cretaceous dinosaur tracks, dozens of Jurassic dinosaur bones, and many other very cool fossils, such as the water ones pictured above. The guided bus tour we took featured stops at the Bone Bed, the Brontosaur Bulges, and the Dinosaur Tracksite. While you can do a self-guided tour, or a hike, if you’re new to paleontology we HIGHLY recommend taking one of the tours with a volunteer guide or a geologist, so you know what you’re looking at! Unless someone explains it, you might never realize that those huge layers of rock that look so “natural” are really the impressions of giant dino feet, or that the wave-like rock formations really ARE waves- from the ocean that once ran through what is now mountainous, land-locked Colorado!

After our dino trek, we dropped off our rental car at the airport and flew Southwest Airlines back to Charlotte, NC, changing planes in Nashville, and checked back into the airport Holiday Inn Express & Suites at almost midnight, pretty darn pooped! (Remember when flying was actually fun? When you got all dressed up to fly? When you got served actual food on flights, with real cutlery? When you didn’t have to race down 10 miles of moving walkways and take a train to get to your gate, or a bus clear across an airport-city to rent or drop off a car? When flying didn’t turn you into a weeping, exhausted, stressed-out dishrag? I do… meaning I am obviously older than dirt! LOL) I have to say that Southwest Airlines, which we had never flown before, made flying as pleasant as it can be, and that their service was truly great- something I can’t say about several other airlines which shall remain nameless… Their free baggage policy is great, and their unassigned seat set up is rather interesting, as it means that if you’re flying “steerage class”, and don’t splurge for early boarding, you might not get seated next to your partner… but everyone- passengers and staff- was truly nice on all four of our flights, and there were no problems.

We rested well at the Holiday Inn, and the next morning we started our road trip back home to West Virginia. While I dozed, Dan drove, waking me up every time he saw a brown highway sign indicating a winery… I married good! 🙂 (You can also type “winery” or “distillery” into Waze or Google Maps and tons of places will come up! That’s my job on our Road Trips while Dan drives!) We thus got to discover, stop, and have a tasting at the Daveste Winery in Troutman, NC, where their signature wine, Rkatsiteli, is made from estate grapes they brought over from the Republic of Georgia (Gruzia). Daveste, founded by Dave and Ester DeFehr, was the first vineyard to plant Rkatsiteli grapes in North Carolina, and their Rkatsiteli is an award-winning and critically acclaimed wine that’s captured numerous medals, including the coveted North Carolina Fine Wine Competition double gold! We bought a bottle of this special wine, around which I plan to make a traditional Gruzini dinner! Our last road trip wine tasting was at West Wind Farm Vineyard & Winery, a family-run winery in Max Meadows, Virginia, which is less than 1.5 hours from the Elkhorn Inn! After enjoying our tasting, we bought a bottle of wine to take home from there, as well! Dan and I love discovering wineries and distilleries when we travel, as well as meaderies, cideries, and microbreweries; it’s always fun to do tastings, and many have excellent food. And, as I’ve stated before, bringing home something you can enjoy, be it food or drink, a scented candle, an artisan spice mixture, or a unique, local condiment, is a lovely way to prolong the pleasure of a vacation and extend the happy memories!

And so we got home to the Elkhorn Inn & Theatre safe and sound, and our BFF and pets were glad to see us again! I hope you’ve enjoyed this 6-part post on some of the many fun, exciting, and delicious things you can do in and around Golden, Colorado, and that it makes you want to get out and travel again! I, personally, can’t wait to take off again as soon as possible- anywhere!!