YOUNG AT HEART college town

When we have out-of-town company, we head for Boulder. It's another side of Colorado that most people don't experience.

Boulder is only about 30 minutes from the north edge of Denver. You have to be there to experience the ambiance of this unique town.

Quick Tips:

Take two interesting free industrial tours. The first tour through Celestial Seasonings tea is sure to please tea-drinking females, and another tour through the Leanin Tree’s Museum of Western Art is very popular with the men. For lunch or dinner, you can dine on veranda of the dining hall at Chautauqua Park or at one of Boulder’s charming sidewalk cafes on the Pearl Street Mall.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walk the Pearl Street Mall from end to end. It's where the college students hang out. Watch jugglers, trapeze acts, hear musicians while walking the mall. It has the most entertainers performing on weekends.

Gold Lake Mountain Resort is a place to escape the stresses of the world. After I spent just one night in this tranquil place, I felt I had achieved a new balance of mind, body and spirit.

I listened to the mountain breezes whispering through pine needles in a forest overlooking scenic Gold Lake and the snowcapped peaks of Colorado’s Continental Divide.

Gold Lake’s history is filled with adventure. Nearly 200 hundred years ago, Chief Niwot gathered his warriors here for summer retreats. During Colorado’s gold rush, the property was a gold mining district, even though gold was never found here. At the turn of the century the Lefthand Ditch Company acquired the lake’s water rights and built a dam.

Through the years, Gold Lake has operated as many things– from a summer Girl Scout camp to a corporate retreat to a private club.

I enjoyed a massage by a licensed therapist. As the lights were dimmed and soft music played in the background, time just flew by for me, and I emerged completely relaxed. The spa offers a variety of aromatherapy facial and massages.

I don''t fish, but I saw others lazily casting a line into the deep-blue waters of Gold Lake and rowing boats to do "catch and release" fly fishing. Trails in the surrounding national forests beckon invitingly for mountain biking, horseback riding or hiking. I took a leisurely mile-long hike along wooded trails around the lake.

Gold Lake''s beautiful restored cabins, each have a different artistic decor, ranging from Victorian to Oriental to Western. My husband and I stayed in Russell''s Ranch (named after western artist Charles Russell), which is a Western-style cabin filled with antiques. In the living room, my husband was intrigued with a table (a former old woodworking bench). I loved the beautiful 1878 Steinway piano. Our bathroom featured a stunning copper cactus and desert scene wall.

We ate great food at Alice''s Restaurant in the old 100+-year lodge, which once was the dining hall for the Girl Scouts. I tried a house specialty, a dessert called Gold Lake chocolate mountain, which is a tall mound of rich chocolate cake served alongside a lake of orange sauce.

We were fascinated by the high backed willow chairs and large candelabra in the rustic dining room, which is open to the public. For more casual meals, Karel''s Bad Tavern, also located in the main Lodge, features a lighter, simpler, menu. The resort is owned and operated by a friendly young couple,who came from St. Louis seeking a life change from their demanding urban careers in marketing and architecture. They purchased the Gold Lake property and utilized their talents to develop the property into an upscale mountain resort. A large white circular tent located near an old Indian mound offers seats up to 75 people for elegant, indoor/outdoor summer events, including weddings.

For directions to this mountain resort above Boulder, call 1-800-450-3544 or 1-303-459-3544.

listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Hotel Boulderado has been meticulously restored to its original early 20th-century grandeur. The elegance of the lobby's stained glass ceiling, cantilevered cherry staircase, antique and reproduction furnishings provide the feel of the past while providing the comfort for today's discriminating traveler.

One of my favorite restaurants is Boulder's authentic Oriental-style teahouse. The restaurant serves many foreign ethnic dishes, including Asian, Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, Indonesian, Persian, and Italian.

When I had lunch there I knew I wasn't in the midwest, but somehow I felt transported to another continent. The ornate Oriental wood carvings and colorful original paintings brought back memories of our trip to Hong Kong and China.

The teahouse is a friendship gift from Boulder's sister city, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, a former Soviet Republic state that was once part of the old Persian Empire.

It took more than 10 years of planning and lots of perseverance to make this 2,100-square-foot teahouse become a reality. Leaders of Dushanbe,Tajikistan, Boulder's sister city, proposed the teahouse a friendship gift.

Piece by piece, three craftsmen came from Dushanbe to reassemble this magnificent teahouse, which is decorated with bright floral and geometric patterns of Central Asia and Persia. Its intricately carved cedar columns support a beautifully painted 13-foot ceiling with a skylight.

In the center of the teahouse, a fountain bubbles beside seven bronze-colored statues that depict a 10th century folk tale from Central Asia. Hand-painted tea tables of different sizes complete the decor; some are quite small and just the right size for children while others large and roomy enough for lounging. The menu is very cosmopolitan and creates an awareness and appreciation of cuisine from other lands.

The varied ethnic specialties include a spicy Thai green curry noodle dish with steamed vegetables, coconut milk and roasted peanuts, marinated Persian lamb kabob served with vegetables on Tajik plov rice, black eyed peas and tomato lemon chutney, and Italian layered polenta with gruyere cheese, grilled portabello mushrooms and a spicy tomato puttanesca sauce.

Celestial Seasonings created Boulder Tangerine herbal blend tea especially for the teahouse. The waitress, who wore a black skirt with matching black blouse and black turban on her head, served our tea in an ornate teapot along with a three-minute ôeggö timer. She recommended that we steep our tea a minimum of six minutes but no more than nine to get maximum flavor. We followed her advice, sipping our just-right steeped tea with our exotic lunch and left as happy souls.

The teahouse opens in the morning for tea, scones and other pastries. It's open for lunch and dinner and has an outdoor patio.

For more information, contact Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau, 303/442-2911. For reservations, call 303/442 4993.

The Boulder area and the famous Flatirons south of Boulder are among Colorado's most popular rock climbing areas. The Flatirons are towering rocks that were pushed up sideways millions of years ago by upheavals from within the earth. You see them as you enter Boulder from the east.

If you like technical climbing on high, sheer rock faces, you can drive to Eldorado Springs south of Boulder on Highway 93. Rock climbers from around the world come to Eldorado Canyon State Park.

To begin this drive, take Canyon Boulevard west of Boulder for 17 miles to the little town of Nederland. Canyon Boulevard follows an old wagon trail built by some of Colorado's earliest settlers. At Nederland, turn north on Highway 72 and follow it to the towns of Ward, Allenspark and Estes Park.

Chautauqua Park of Boulder continues to thrive as one of three Chautauqua cultural and recreational centers in the U.S. and the only Chautauqua west of the Mississippi River with its original buildings intact.

Located on 26 acres of land leased from the City of Boulder, Colorado Chautauqua is an enduring slice of early American culture. The park consists of four public buildings, two lodges, and ninety-nine cottages nestled against the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains.

A network of Chautauqua trails connect to Boulder Mountain Park. Hikers of all ages delight in the variety of challenges available. From a wide, smooth trail through the trees to a challenging technical climb, diversions are endless at Chautauqua Park.

Chautauqua Auditorium, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is home to the award-winning Chautauqua Summer Festival. Concerts, films, theater and dance performances take place in this 1898 wood-frame structure.

The beauty and romance of America’s Wild West comes alive at Boulder’s Leanin' Tree Museum of Western Art, home of one of the nation's largest private collections of western art. This is where the famous Western greeting cards are made.

We have taken house guests here many times, and they always marvel at the great original art and sculptures on display.

For more information, view www.leanintree.com or call 303/530-1442. It's located only a few blocks north of Celestial Seasonings. It's open M-F from 8 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Even if you don't drink tea, you'll enjoy this tour of the Celestial Seasonings plant and herb garden. One favorite part of the tour for me is the refreshing smells in the room where the minty tees are produced.

The teapot collection of winning teapot designs for their colorful boxes is a miniature museum.

Free tours are on Mon-Sat from 10-3 on the hour and on Sun 11-3. Free tea tasting is at the end of each tour. Their tea shop sells tea-related souvenirs and Celestial Seasoning tea. I enjoy eating at their cafe, which is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday thru Friday.

It's located off the Boulder-Longmont diagonal highway. Exit on Jay Road, go east to Spine and then North to Sleepytime Drive.