It was in this little Mountain town with the gorgeous views and oddball residents that i spent the years from fourth grade through ninth (explains a lot, doesn't it?!). So, when we awoke to an actually sunny day on Friday, mom and I jumped at the chance to drive up the canyon to see it again.
Having determined, thanks to the internet, that our old favourite pizza place, Neapolitan's, had closed own, we started off with lunch at one of our Boulder favourites--Old Chicago (yes, I know it is a chain and all over these days--but the Pearl Street location was a hangout for us for many years in the 80s). It is a lot brighter and more open these days and they have a greatly expanded menu with plenty of salads, burgers, pastas and the like as well as the pizza. It is still very good though.
(this may be a good time to mention how much I am LOVING being bale to get good, freshly brewed iced tea, with lots of ice, when out, and how much I am loving being back in the land of free refills).
After lunch we started driving up Boulder Canyon, where clouds came over and it promptly started to rain! Oh well, so much for the sunshine. It was still a lovely and dramatic drive.
Up top, I was tickled to see that Nederland has undergone substantially fewer changes than Boulder/ It is still very much the same town I remember (even my old dentist is still there and open--though I believe his son has taken over the business). We parked by what was the rodeo grounds when I lived there, but has been Chipeta Park since the time my kids were born and walked towards town. First stop was the old railroad cabooses. These were various stores when I was a kid and are a coffee shop these days.
Then we headed down the walking path and across the river on the covered bridge.
Boulder Creek is always so pretty from up there.
Right across the bridge puts you in the middle of the small town. You can turn right to go down the main shopping and restaurant street (which isn't big), or cross over to the left where there is some free parking (which is always full--why parking at the park is nice), a staffed tourist center and free and clean bathrooms. I thought the sign for the crosswalk was cute:
The old courthouse looks exactly like it did when I lived there. The Whistler's Cafe (originally Whistle Stop Cafe) is much bigger though! Probably 2-3 times its original size.
Nederland was founded as a mining town (it was once the tungsten capital of the world), and lots of mining memorabilia is still around town as a reminder.
There is also now a mining museum. It was free! It's small (one room) but very interesting and worth a visit. The staff were very friendly and happy to explain all about the displays as well.
There was a break in the rain, so we headed back out and walked around towards the main street. There is a big rocks and geodes shop , which has been there 20 years or so, a new souvenir shop that handsome really cute t-shirts, hoodies and jewelry (I bought a Nederland t-shirt, a very touristy and out of character thing for me). The co-op food store is still exactly where it was when I moved to Nederland and still looks exactly the same. And the place we used to have dinner and stay for live music most weekends is still there too:
By the time I had taken that photo it was starting to rain again, and picking up steam, so we headed back towards the car.
It was as short visit--but lots of fun for Mom and me (and hopefully fun for the kids too!). When I was in college, my parents had a lovely house in Coal Creek Canyon (one canyon over), so we drove along the ridge and went down that way so as to drive by. it is buried deep in the trees--but from what we could see from the road that old Cape Cod Colonial in the mountains is well cared for and pretty much the same as it was when Marika was born. It was a bit of a thrill to see that too.
All in all we had a nice walk down memory lane--and some pretty views, in spite of the rain.
--Hadley
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