Another vacation countdown... only two weeks until our big road trip. I have hinted around (I think!) that it is MINI Cooper related... so to make it "official"... we're heading to Copper Mountain, Colorado (about 80 miles west of Denver) for:
MINIs in the Mountains... Coopers at Copper... whatever alliteration you'd like!
Even with our dry heat (which ain't so dry at the moment), taking a break from the hot desert (and having done "tropical" the last two years)... it seemed like a really good idea to head to the cool(er) Rockies. This will be my first trip to Colorado (not counting those airport layovers) and our first time at a big national gathering of MINIs. In just its second year, MitM is attracting owners from over 20 states and, as of this writing, 155 Coopers and 253 folks registered for the weekend event.
Not quite sure whether we are quite ready for the full-on MINI experience, we're skipping the first day. If you think I am/was cuckoo about my MINI, believe me I probably don't even register on a Cooper craziness enthusiasm seismograph compared to some folks... we're talking seriously hardcore!
So, MitM will be just part of our overall vacation... we'll be at Copper from Fri-Sun... and making few stops along the way. Here's our trip map:
It looks like an innocent little loop... but folks, according to AAA, what you are looking at is about 1800 miles and 30 hours of drive-time!! Plus, tack on at least a few hundred more miles for MitM... since the primary MitM activity (along with dinners, happy hours, vendors) is getting all those Coopers out caravaning around the twisty mountain roads for daily "fun runs."
To give you some more perspective, my Cooper's odometer just passed 5400 miles... so given my meager average, that's like putting on 6 months worth of miles on my car in just one week!!
The yellow thumbtacks are the stops and our itinerary is:
1st Stop - Santa Fe, NM (541 miles, approx. 8 hours) - Overnight and some good NM food!
2nd Stop - Denver, CO (394 miles) - Rockies/Cubs game at Coors Field
3rd Stop - Copper Mountain, CO (77 miles) - For the weekend
4th Stop - Telluride, CO (287 miles) - Spending two nights
5th Stop - Home (500 miles, approx 9.5 hours)
The first and last days are definitely going to be killer drives... but we're looking forward to it... should be a fun and very scenic trip!
Sounds like great fun.
Posted by: Scott C | Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 10:47 AM
That's so cool ...
Posted by: Kenna | Saturday, July 28, 2007 at 10:07 AM
In September I'm heading north in my MINI for a week to pay a visit to Knottyboy and see Yellowstone. I've only had Anderson since the end of March, but I've already racked up 7000 miles! (Lots of trips to/from Tucson and one big tour of New Mexico.)
Posted by: Alexander | Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 10:41 PM