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.

COLORADO Day Six 8/28/14

Hello Blog Friends,

We spent the day today in Grand Junction.  We visited Mom today in the hospital, ran some errands around town, and took in a baseball game tonight.  After many days of driving hundreds of miles, we only put 24 on the car today.  A welcome relief!

Mom report:  She is doing much better today, and seems to have slept off most of the effects of the anesthesia from the surgery.  She was up several times today.

Denis and I are going to Utah for the day tomorrow, after we visit Mom, of course.

Here are our pics from today:
1.  We spent some time walking Main Street downtown and doing some window shopping.  We ate lunch at one of my favorite spots, Main Street Cafe.  The cafe is furnished with formica tables from the 50's, and is decorated with 50's memorabilia.   And, they make the best malteds ever!
2.  Inside view of Main Street Cafe.
3.  Main Street Cafe decor.
4.  We went to see the Grand Junction Rockies, a minor league team affiliated with the MLB in Denver.  It was "Mascot Night" at the ballpark.  All the mascots from the various local teams were there to root for the GJ Rockies.
5.  Game action.
6.  Game action.

7.  Alas, the home team did not win tonight.  The final score was 2-1 in favor of the opponents, the Ogden Raptors.

COLORADO Day Five, 8/27/14

Hello Blog Friends,

We decided to bring our original route back to Grand Junction,  through the very heart of the Rockies, over Independence Pass, and through Aspen.  The trip was 310 miles, and took 7 hours, factoring a stop for breakfast in Buena Vista and a stop at Independence Pass summit.

Here is our photo journal for today:

1.  Our parting look at Pikes Peak.  It was the closest we would get on this trip.

2.  A high meadow on US 24, between Wilkerson Pass and Buena Vista.

3.  A schoolhouse in Hartsell, along US 24.  Elevation 8864 ft.  As of 2010, the population was listed as 862 (mostly all rural).

4.  Here we are at Independence Pass along Colorado Hwy 84.  This road is known as the Top of the Rockies.

5.  The view from the top...was breathtaking...literally.  Elevation 12,065.  At the moment we were there, the air temperature was 45 degrees,  with a wind chill estimated in the 30's?

6.  A Colorado "fourteener."

More from Grand Junction tomorrow.

COLORADO. Change of plans

Hello Blog Friends,

Tonight I am writing to you from Grand Junction.  Yes, friends, we are back where we started from yesterday morning.  

When we arrived at our hotel in Colorado Springs,  there was a message for us to call the friends that Mom was staying with.  Mom had an unfortunate accident, fell and broke her right hip and was scheduled for surgery today.    I'm glad to report that she came through the surgery just fine.  She is resting comfortably in the hospital here in Grand Junction.  She will be staying awhile (after discharge from the hospital) in a rehab facility.  We will be coming back in a few weeks to make sure she gets home OK.  That trip will be by airplane.

So, we got up early and headed back over the Rockies to Grand Junction.  We arrived just before the surgeon came out to give us a report.  Great timing.  We will be staying in Grand Junction until she is settled in the care facility.  In the meantime, we are going to try to salvage as much of our vaction as we can.  I'll still be posting photos of our daily actvites, so please keep coming back.

Susan and Denis

COLORADO Day Four 8/26/14

Hello from Colorado Springs!

We left Grand Junction this morning and headed south to the charming little town of Delta.  It's nickname is "The City of Murals".  We spent some time walking Main Street, looking at murals and window shopping.  We then headed south and east through through the mountains and finally arrived here in town at 6:00.

Here are photo highlights from today:

1.  A mural in Delta.
2.  Old West Museum outside of Montrose.
3.  A stand of Quaking Aspen along the highway.
4.  The Arkansas River.
5.  Mountain peaks under rainy skies.
6.  A cute grill for sale in Canon City.