The next day was spent exploring all over Boulder with Sarah and was one of the most surprisingly fun days of the trip! One of the universal themes wherever I went in the USA, was how much they did not want Californians to move there. But consistently, the people in Colorado do a terrible job of making Colorado seem unappealing. Sarah had toured across the USA with two other women when she was still in school, or had just graduated (I forget). She had planned to go solo originally, but when she mentioned it to a classmate they said they wanted to join her, and then, by word of mouth, another woman was also interested. Those two additions were late in the planning stage, and it sounded like it came together very hectically towards the end, much like my departure! They also took a fairly meandering route that took them into Wyoming momentarily and Idaho as they zigzagged their way across the US. Unfortunately for them, their indirect route meant that they finished their trip just short of the Atlantic. I believe two of them made it to Western Virginia (not West Virginia) with one of them finishing their ride a little earlier. However, Sarah didn't seem too disappointed by that and said she had a great time on her adventure despite mothering the other two women throughout since she was the most prepared.
Sarah's touring experience meant she knew how to create great memories I guess as she had a plan for the day, especially when she learned I had never gotten a true bar experience in the USA. At the time of the ride, I was 22 years old. However, my birthday is April 7th and everything in the USA shutdown about a week prior to my 21st birthday and had basically remained shutdown even at the departure of my trip. It would make things difficult when I was trying to get water because parks would have fountains shut off or people would be hesitant to host me. But, all that to say, I had only been to a bar in the USA once and that was on this trip when I got a drink with another host, Leslie, in Breckenridge. Sarah was determined to give me the full experience, however, and we set off to a favorite bar of hers after a quick stop at a clothing sale.
At the bar, it was first I heard of such a concept (can you tell I don't really go to bars?), but I guess you can get a sample of the beers on tap. Sarah had me try every beer on tap (you can see in the picture below all the small glasses, the first of two sample rounds) and rank them. Then she bought me two glasses of my two favorites. I'm really not a big beer guy, but I had a raspberry beer at that bar and I doubt I'll ever find a better one!
From there, we took her dog out to splash in the river and afterwards met up with some people she had just met the previous day who she offered to loan her tubes to. They had taken them previously in the day with the promise to return them. Shows you the type of person Sarah is! Anyways, we met up with those guys at another bar where another beer sampler was bought for me. I had a great time! After getting the tubes back, we went to go visit her brother and pick some raspberries for the cake she was making the next day for Jessie's birthday and then headed home.
I forgot to mention that the previous night, Sarah had also treated me to sushi! You couldn't ask for anything more from a host. Sarah did it all and made me fall in love with Boulder. Too bad it's wayyyyy too expensive for me. After hearing about my love of bakeries, she also took us to a French bakery this morning. We did so much over one and a half days I've almost lost track. But eventually the fun was over and I stole Sarah's bed for one more night knowing that the next day I would be leaving for sure since I did have lots of miles left to complete. To achieve that goal, I was determined to ride 200 miles in one day at some point during my trip and that day would be very soon... But first a huge thank you to Sarah for making my time in Boulder something I will always remember! It was truly fantastic!