Day 19: Boulder

We sleep in and start the day relaxed. The driving distance to Boulder is only one hour. Then we find a parking spot and walk through the downtown area. There is even a pedestrian zone here. The city has 100,000 residents, is a college town, and very liberal. There are many small shops with alternative jewelry, fashion, and accessories. We stroll around and visit some stores. Then we have lunch in a small bistro. Afterwards, we continue along the university. The University of Colorado based in Boulder has 30,000 students and is the largest in Colorado. The red-brown brick buildings remind us a little of Harvard University. We lack the desire for a stop as it has become noticeably warmer. Our destination is Bear Creek Lake State Park. This is our last night in the camper. It is 2:00 PM and we first take a swim in the lake. This time the beach is quite crowded. We have fun observing the Americans because they drag half of their household to the beach. The standard equipment includes a tent, multiple camping chairs, blankets, an XXL cooler full of food and drinks, at least one boat or stand-up paddle board, several swim rings, and a wagon because you somehow have to transport all the stuff. The water is refreshing and we cool off quickly. We can't stand it for too long, so we leave the beach around 3:30 PM. Now it's time to pack. Tomorrow morning we return the camper, which means we have to pack all our things into suitcases and tidy up a bit. The whole process takes a while, and after dinner, we want to have one last campfire. Unfortunately, it is very windy, so it's not possible. So we play cards together in the camper. After 30 minutes, the wind has almost died down and we can finally have a fire.