Some days, you just have to get out of the city. We decided to take a day up the hill and explore Idaho Springs a little bit, just about a half hour away. We did our research, got reservations to drive up Mt. Evans and for a tour at the Argo Gold Mine, and planned our day.

We left home pretty early – we wanted to take the pretty drive up Clear Creek Canyon – and we’d made reservations for the 8:00 am time slot up the mountain so we could get the good morning light. We got bagels at Moe’s, and off we went.

Clear Creek is always a pretty drive. So is the drive up Mt. Evans. Of course, pictures don’t really do it justice, but then, neither do words. Here are pictures:

I did spend some time trying to photograph the marmots up there, they’re always some funny creatures.

When we’d had our fill, we headed back down to the Argo Mine, where we had tour reservations. That was kinda cool. We didn’t get to go too far into the mine – something about the water being so acidic that it would kill you. Or at least severely maim you. We did get to see the rooms where the gold was processed, so that was kinda cool. And all the cool old mining artifacts out front were pretty awesome!

Afterwards, we went to Tommyknocker’s for lunch. Food was good, beer sampler was good…

Then we headed to the Indian Hot Springs. I’ve been seeing it on the side of the highway for years, and had been wanting to go there for quite some time.

These hot springs were different from the others. There was only one pool, and it was indoors (which ended up being awesome, since it stormed like crazy while we were there), and it was a sort of greenhouse. There were cool tropical plants everywhere you looked inside.

We soaked for awhile, then called it a day and headed home. Quite the pleasant day.

Check out the video, the views are awesome!