Evergreen, Colorado
is the closet place to a hometown I've ever had. I lived there for almost 20 years and raised my two boys there. It's nestled in a beautiful valley at the bottom of Mt. Evans in the Rocky Mountains about 20 minutes west of Denver.If I were going to take you on a personal tour of Evergreen, I would start at my house, if I still lived there. And with our house came a herd of elk who squatted on our land several months out of the year.
In fact, you won't make a trip to Evergreen without seeing elk, and they often stop traffic to cross various roads and highways. If you google Evergreen traffic jam, you'll see what I mean. Below are a few pictures of elk I took over the years in our own yard. The closer shots were taken with a zoom because you really don't want to get too close to a bull.
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Starting the tour from my house, we'd head north into town to visit the Evergreen Lake House in Dedisse Park, which you can see below. It was built in 1993 and hosts many events including weddings and art exhibitions.
A nature trail loops around the lake and you can veer from this trail to head into the quaint downtown area full of gift shops and coffee houses. But if you stay on the trail, it loops all the way back around to the Lake House. Expect to encounter dogs. Every dog in Evergreen brings their human to the lake for its two-mile jaunt.
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In addition to dog sightings, there's usually some elk viewing from this trail (they love to stand in the shallows of the lake and many a child has witnessed them pooping there) but mostly people come to bird watch. There's even a place to record your sightings.
In the summer you can come here for outdoor concerts or to rent a paddle boat. In the winter there's always lots of ice skating and ice fishing. The yellow barrel way out there on the middle of the lake will eventually fall through the ice during the spring thaw. If you can predict which day that will happen, you can win $1000!
If Evergreen Lake is too crowded and you'd like a quieter body of water, we could poke around Evergreen to find one of the many smaller ponds, like this one that belonged to my parents before they moved from Evergreen a few years back. This is a photo of my older son fishing their watering hole, which also serves as a holding pond for the city of Evergreen. And driving around Evergreen you'll always see a variety of wildlife, including domesticated yak! The only thing we probably won't see are the bear, which keep to themselves.
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And in keeping with our tour of possible Evergreen sports outings, we might want to head over to the Evergreen Golf Course. It's a nine-hole facility that's walled on one side by a beautiful, steep cliff face. And after a round of golf, we could stop in for a bite of lunch at Keys on the Green (right behind the sign in the photo).
If golf isn't your thing, we could do a quick hike at Evergreen's Alderfer / Three Sisters trail. The park is part of Jefferson County Open Space and offers just over 15 miles of trails! Its big draw is the gorgeous rock formations -- called the Three Sisters and the Brother -- and stunning views up at the top. Right now, in February, it's possible to scale to the top but you'd need proper shoes and a warmer coat than I had the day I was wandering about Evergreen. So this photo of the trail head will have to do; if you want to see the rock formations, you'll have to visit Evergreen, yourself!
After all this outdoor exertion, I might suggest a repose for an hour or two at Evergreen's Tall Grass spa where you can go for a massage, a wax, a body wrap, a manicure, a perm, or you can just shop in their boutique. Of course, appointments are recommended so popping in probably isn't a good idea. This is me leaving after finding out they couldn't squeeze me in!
Leaving Tall Grass and heading east back toward town, we'll be driving right past the former residence of Willie Nelson. The local scuttlebutt has always been that Willie burned his house in Evergreen down to avoid having to pay taxes and you can see the stone foundation that sits almost across the road from the spa. The thing is, I don't think any of this is true. Willie Nelson did live in Evergreen in the 1980s, but his house fire happened at least a decade earlier and (I think) in another state. But none of that has ever bothered to get in the way of a good local story. And anyway, it's fun to sneak a peek as we're driving back into downtown Evergreen.
I don't know about you, but this whirlwind tour of Evergreen has made me hungry! And what better way to end a day in Evergreen than to visit the world-renowned El Rancho restaurant for dinner.
El Rancho first opened in 1948 and used to house a restaurant, lodge, and even a post office. It's now added a brewery, just in the last few years. The exposed log walls and rustic granite fireplace remain; but the rest of the interior has been updated and the little gift shop my kids used to love has been gutted to make room for the new 10-barrel brewing system.
I might recommend that you pass on the jalapeno cheddar elk sausage and instead try the BBQ sampler plate with brisket and chicken plus their hearty ranch beans and onion rings. So good! I hope someday you can join me in person for another tour of Evergreen! But for today, this vicarious tour taken with 
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Thanks so much to 
