Golden, Colorado - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, traveled to Golden, Colorado, and captured the local flavor of this quaint community through her photos. I went to Colorado for a long weekend recently, and had big plans to take advantage of some great photo opportunities while I was there.  Initially however, it appeared that Mother Nature had another agenda.  We landed, picked up our rental vehicle, and drove about 40 minutes in whiteout conditions to our destination of Golden!   Snow was not part of our plan, especially since we had left gorgeous weather at home.  It snowed most of that night, then started raining the next morning.  Well, not raining… POURING!  So, the first order of business was finding an umbrella, then on to the alternative plan – shopping.  After a morning of trying on clothes and swiping plastic, we sat down for lunch to plan our next move.  While there, my friend spotted a sliver of “sunshine” out the window (I really thought it was a mirage), so we gobbled up our food, and headed out to let our cameras get in on the action.
 

We headed straight to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which is absolutely stunning, and I can only imagine how incredible it is to attend a concert there.  It is open to the public when not in use for an event, and there are hundreds of people working out and running the steps there at any given time.  I wasn’t one of them, but I did lug my heavy camera backpack down and up every single step!  Does that count as a workout?  From then on, the weather turned around, and even though it wasn’t as warm as it was at home, we were able to get out and enjoy it without being snowed or rained on.    
 

Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, travels to Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado. Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, travels to Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado. Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, travels to Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado. Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, travels to Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado. Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, travels to Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado. Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, travels to Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado.
 

I spent the next couple of days wandering around with my camera, capturing the flavor of this beautiful area.  The City of Golden is so quaint and inviting, I’ll definitely go back again.  There are beautiful walking paths along the river, fabulous green spaces, and tulips everywhere!  I don’t know what the story is with the tulips, but they were everywhere – I don’t think I saw any other type of flower in town.  And, of course on the first day, there were tulips in the snow!  Now, that’s something you don’t see every day – the trees were blossoming, the grass was green, tulips were in bloom, and all of it covered in snow!
 

Golden, Colorado - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, traveled to Golden, Colorado, and captured the local flavor of this quaint community through her photos. Golden, Colorado - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, traveled to Golden, Colorado, and captured the local flavor of this quaint community through her photos. Golden, Colorado - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, traveled to Golden, Colorado, and captured the local flavor of this quaint community through her photos. Golden, Colorado - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, traveled to Golden, Colorado, and captured the local flavor of this quaint community through her photos. Golden, Colorado - Brainerd Lakes Area PhotographerBrainerd Lakes Area Photographer, Deb Mitzel, traveled to Golden, Colorado, and captured the local flavor of this quaint community through her photos.
 

All in all, it was a fabulous trip, and I was able to get some fabulous photos to add to my collection.  Happy Spring everyone!  I think it has finally arrived.
 

Have a great week!

Deb