COLORADO Day Twelve 9/4/14

Hello Blog Follwers,

We have begun the long journey home.  Tonight we are writing from Grand Island, Nebraska.  We left Grand Junction at 6:00 this morning and made our way across the mountains and the prairies of eastern Colorado and western Nebraska.  We made one stop to strtch our legs a bit in Kearney, Nebraska.   We toured the Archway Museum, which chronicles the human history along the Great Platte River Road/Trail.  The Archway spans all four lanes of I-80.

Tomorrow we will be back home.  Our final post will follow sometime this weekend.

1.  First light.
2.  A final glance.  Good-bye Rocky Mountains.
3.  I-76 in Eastern Colorado.  Note the lack of trees, or anything else.
4.  The Archway Museum at Kearney.
5.  The Hall County Courthouse in Grand Island.

COLORADO Day Eleven. 9/2/14

Hello Blog Friends,

Well,as they say...the best laid plans...we are still in Grand Junction.  We tried to leave, but only got about 20 miles or so down the road.  We left at about 1:30, got to mile marker 58, then came to a dead stop.  In a place with limited cell signal, of course.  While we were sitting there, the Grand Junction Bomb Squad went rolling by.  Not a good sign!  We sat for 45 minutes, moved less than 1/4 miles, said "this is nuts", and turned around in the median and came back to town.  Turns out, there was a suspicious looking item they thought might be a bomb, but ultimately wasn't.   Police closed I-70 in both directions for 4 hours.  When we turned back, the line was over 5 miles long.

Mom sure was surprised to see us!  Speaking of Mom, she is doing well and has a tentative release date of next Tuesday and will fly home a couple days after that.

We didn't take many photos today, but I can share a few pics of Debeque Canyon and the traffic jam.

COLORADO Day Ten 9/1/14

Hello Blog Followers,

Mom Update:  She is doing better every day, but still has a ways to go.

We spent our last day in Grand Junction mostly at the hospital, but did manage a couple of hours away.  We drove Rim Rock Drive on the Colorado National Monument.   Tomorrow we are reluctantly heading back to Wisconsin and will write from the road.

Photos from today are all views of/from the Monument.

COLORADO PICTURES

Hello Blog Friends,

I have been using my tablet to write these posts and to attach the pictures.  I've just now noticed that the pictures are not coming through full size. 

Please double click on the pictures to view them full size.

Susan

COLORADO Day Nine 8/31/14

Hello Blog Followers,

Mom is doing better today, I'm happy to report.  Tomorrow starts a busy week of intensive therapy to get her ready for the trip home in a couple of weeks.

This afternoon we visited the Peach Capital of Colorado, a little town called Palisade.  Evidently, the climate in Palisade is perfect for growing peaches, pears and grapes.  Orchards and vineyards abound.  We stopped at a vineyard, tasted some very good wine, and purchased some to bring home. 

Here is our photo journal for today:
1.  Vineyards.
2.  Orchards.
3.  Peaches on trees.
4.  Mt. Garfield and the Bookcliffs.
5.  Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine...

COLORADO Day Eight 8/30/14

Hello Blog Friends,

Mom update:  She is doing better today and has started therapy.  She will have tomorrow off, but will be back to work on getting better on Monday.  Denis and I are going to extend our stay one day, and will head back towards home on Tuesday.

We stayed around Grand Junction today, running some errands for Mom, but did manage to get a little sightseeing in, too.  We visited the Allen Auto Museum.  It is owned by Tammy Allen, who lives here in Grand Junction and contains an interesting mix of vintage automobiles, antiques, and wax figures of celebrities.   Here are some photos of the interesting things we saw:

1.  1960 American Rambler
2.  Pedal Car
3.  1947 Cadillac Custm Woody Wagon
4.  The Love Bug
5.  1972 Honda 600 Coupe
6.  Stretch Mini Cooper Limo

COLORADO Day Seven 8/29/14

Greetings, blog friends.

Mom report:  Today she moved to the in-hospital rehab floor.  There she will get intensive therapy in the hope she will be ready to fly home in 2-3 weeks. 

While Mom was moving and starting therapy,  Denis and I spent some time in the Moab, UT area at Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park (UT), and the Colorado Riverway Scenic Drive.  Moab is about 1 1/2 hrs from Grand Junction.

Here  are the highlights of our day:
1.  Utah State Line
2.  Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park
3.  View of the Colorado River's meandering canyon, Dead Horse Point State Park
4.  Milt's Stop-n-Eat, Moab.  A local little drive in where we had dinner.  Fun.
5.  Along the Colorado Riverway.
6.  Along the Colorado Riverway.
7.  Colorado State Line.