Creed, Colorado

If you are looking for a mountain town to grow old in... this is it.

Creed is an old mining town built into the side of a mountain. It has a population of 290 but unlike many rural mountain towns the culture seems to be thriving. The shops were all open during the day, people were out and about visiting with each other and there was even a dad teaching his daughter how to ride a bike. I mean come on!

We arrived to Creede later in the evening and found a free camping spot near the valley, about five minutes from town. The dirt road to get there was well maintained and the van had no trouble maneuvering through the beautiful country. From this spot it felt like you could see for miles and the beauty of the rolling fog through the hills made the whole experience surreal. So far, it was our favorite spot of the trip. We had the place completely to ourselves, so we made an evening coffee and played around in the fields like children until the sun went down.

<Use arrows to see photos>

The next morning I woke up to Alex yelling for me to come outside...

I expected to see a flat tire or a weird animal footprint (We had seen some weird animals skins laid about the previous night, likely Bigfoot leftovers) but instead there was a rainbow. The most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen. It shined right above our van and touched down within view on both sides. Straight out of a movie. We fumbled around as we unsuccessfully tried to get the whole thing in one picture (Alex almost gave himself an asthma attack trying to get across the valley quick enough, I almost gave myself an asthma attack laughing at him). Eventually it faded into a quiet rain storm and the rest of the morning consisted of cozying up and drinking coffee inside the van. For years we have longed for something we haven't quite known how to put into words. Whatever that feeling is that we've been chasing, we felt it here. Our bond with the world around us was completely ours together. No one knew we were there, we had no where to be, our day was entirely our own. The feeling is liberating and fleeting. Our conversation centered around how lucky we were to be experiencing these days together.

<Use arrows to see photos>

Around mid morning, we decided to walk around the Main Street. With a population under 300, it was incredibly lively at 9:30 in the morning. Local shop keepers swept in front of their stores and families congregated to the closest restaurants. It looked like something out of a Spielberg film. We were greeted with smiles and offered free hot coffee in almost every shop. Eventually, we wandered into "Finding Gems", my very favorite from the day. The owners, Jim and Anna have curated a unique selection of natural goods and local art in their store. From vintage comic books to bottles of sand from across the world, you could tell that they chose to sell things that meant something to them personally. We left the store in high spirits talking about how they might be the happiest people on earth. (On top of that they had a cat that I considered smuggling out for myself)

Creede is a special place. You can feel it in the air. We highly recommend staying, even just for a night, and exploring the charming town! A huge thank you to our friend Dalton Childers for telling us to stop and enjoy it!

The coordinates for the campsite we stayed at are 37.85015, -106.94371 (the altitude is around 9,300)

If you want a good sound track for the experience

Our friend Cole Parker (love ya Cole) recommended Ian Noe's album, "Between the Country". We seriously had this on repeat the entire time we were there.