Breckenridge, Colorado

We had the opportunity to visit Breckenridge, Colorado, this summer. The ski resort town is quaint and scenic. Covered with snow in in the winder, we decided that the mountains are just as impressive in the summertime. Here are a few of the photos we that we captured along our trip. This is a scenic view from the Alpine village at the base of several ski lifts. 

We took a tram to get from the town to the ski slopes. The gondola ride on the Epic Discovery gondola takes you to to Peak 8 Base Camp. This commercial resort has a variety of rides and amusement activities as well as condos, lodging, meals and ski slopes. We walked around and took in many views of the scenic mountains.

Here’s where we were headed.

At the top was the Alpine village with condos, restaurants and ski slopes and rides..

Breckinridge is a small community and winter ski resort at the base of the Tenmile Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. As we walked down the main street, the street was full of tourists. This is a destination tourist resort in both summer and winter. We found many families with children along the streets and in restaurants. The quaint town is scenic, well kept and the mountain backdrop makes this a picturesque place to visit. It is well-kept with beautiful flowers gardens and baskets throughout common areas along the streets and yards.

Here’s the view from the other side of the town. Wouldn’t you love to have this view from your front porch? In the distance you can see where the ski slopes run on the mountain slopes. Breckenridge Ski Resort opened in 1961. It has 187 trails over five mountain peaks, with a total of 2,908 acres of terrain for skiing. The highest chairlift in North America is at Breckenridge reaching 12,840 feet at its peak. The ski resort was the first one to allow professional snow boarding.

These are steep slopes for the popular activity of mountain bike riding. If you look carefully you can see a biker making his way along one of the paths.  In addition skiing, mountain biking and amusement rides, a person can go hiking, white water rafting, fly-fishing, enjoy a symphony music concert by the National Repertoire Orchestra or visit one of many gourmet restaurants. In fact, we did not see any fast food chains in this town (other than Starbucks).

Although winter is the main season for this town, visiting in the summer was so tranquil. The town was full of flowers.

The National Repertory Orchestra (NRO) has been located in Breckenridge since 1993. Established in the 1930’s, this symphony orchestra is composed of 88 young adult musicians who come on intensive fellowships for eight weeks during the summer to prepare them for future professional careers. The orchestra gives concerts two or three times a week and the selections range from classical to modern music.

This is Riverwalk Center Concert Hall which is the main location of NRO’s concerts. With the cool evening air and quietness surrounded by mountains, it is a great place to enjoy a concert.  The Blue River flows through the center of town..

Here is NRO’s closing concert.

In town, we ate at several wonderful restaurants. A novelty dish that we sampled was an appetizer of thin slices of fried “Spam” and a dipping sauce. I haven’t eaten this canned meat in years. I’m sure it was a mainstay of miners in years gone by.

We watched families and families with dogs — this hound dog is at Starbucks — he was quite out of breath.

I loved the beautiful red poppies.

Breckinridge is a Home Rule Municipality with a permanent population of 4,540 according to the US 2010 Census. The peak population is 37,135 which includes part-time residents and tourists. All the mail is delivered to the post office “General Delivery” – none to residences. The town has one of the largest historical districts in Colorado with about 200 buildings and historic structures.The town was originally settled in 1859 as a gold mining camp. The original name was “Colorado’s Kingdom.” In 1961 it was officially named Breckenridge.

Wildflowers are abundant and beautiful. Here’s a field of mountain flowers at the Alpine village at the top of the gondola ride..

And we left going South and crossed the Continental Divide.

It was a relaxing trip. We saw many new sites and would love to come back to this scenic town again some time. .