This morning, after the best breakfast I've had yet on the road at The Shack on the main drag in Steamboat, I decided to go for a ride. The town has a lovely bike path along the Yampa River, which runs through town.
The bike path also runs right by the springs for which the town is named. Allegedly, the trappers who first named the spring thought that it sounded like the chugging of a steamboat. Of course, you can read the sign as well as I can... In any event, I'm not sure about chugging so much as standard sound of gurgling water.
This is not part of the Steamboat Springs ski mountain, but the town does have a second ski area called Howelsen Hill. It includes several ski jumps that terminate literally at the edge of town.
The bike path also went directly by the Steamboat Springs botanical garden. 
After several miles in the saddle, I felt I deserved a chocolate ice cream soda. Luckily, on a previous trip here I discovered the old-style soda fountain in Lyon Drug right in downtown. They still make the best chocolate ice cream soda of anywhere I've tried. That more places don't make a decent one is surprising because it's really quite easy, yet they still manage to screw them up.
After my bike ride, I decided to see Fish Creek Falls, a local attraction. It requires a very short hike after driving up a steep and winding road. It is quite scenic and worthy of the copious advertising it has.
Tomorrow, I head to Aspen, which I've been to once, but only in the winter (for skiing(which was not very good because they hadn't had snow in a month(triple parenthetical!))), so it will be nice to explore in different weather. We'll see what the camping options will be in this rich man's playground...
Nice triple parenthetical. :)
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