Colorado Trip Day Four 9-6-10

Greetings blog followers:

Today we left Grand Junction on a beautiful warm and cloudless day and headed for Arches National Park in Utah. We took the "scenic" route along the Colorado Riverway, and the scenery did not disappoint. Here is what we saw:

Here we are at Arches National Park. Our claim to fame today is a 200 ft hike on an uphill trail to get a good view and photo of Delicate Arch, the most photographed and most famous arch in the park. I'll let the pictures do the talking....Enjoy

Susan and Denis

The Three Gossips

Balanced Rock

North Window

Delicate Arch

The Devil's Garden

We thought this one was very pretty, but we don't recall the name.

lll

More Art on The Corner

Grand Junction has a nice little downtown. It's beauty and charm is enhance by Art on the Corner, which showcases art sculpture pieces in a variety of mediums by local and Colorado artists. Some are on permanent display, but many are for sale. Here are a few of our favorites:

Colorado 2010 Day 3 9-5-2010

Greetings blog followers,

Tonight we'm writing to you from Grand Junction. Yes, we have arrived at our destination! We woke to a brisk morning (about 50 degrees) in Winter Park. We ate breakfast in our room (we had a kitchenette), and headed out over Berthoud Pass, then picked up I-70 west. We stopped off in Vail for a few hours. We walked around and looked at the shops, the ski lift, and just the town in general. There were alot of people in Vail today, since they were having some kind of street festival going on. Since we were they over the noon hour, we decided to stay for lunch, then continued our journey west. We stopped in at a rest area in Glenwood Canyon near a town called "No Name", where we saw people rafting on the Colorado River. It was a lovely little rest area there, in the valley next to the river. We've included a picture of the rafters, and you can see where the roadway cantilevers out over the river. We arrived in Grand Junction around 4:00 this afternoon. The temperatures got warmer as we went further west. It was 95 degrees in Grand Junction when we arrived. We ventured downtown and looked at some of the "Art on the Corner" sculpture pieces. We took the required picture with "Chrome on the Range" (scroll down, you'll see what I mean). Tomorrow we leave Fran in Grand Junction to visit as we head to Arches National Park. We'll send pictures of the park from Cortez. Enjoy the pictures.

Susan and Denis


This statue commemorates the soldiers who trained in the Vail area during WWII.



Mt. Garfield, a Grand Junction landmark.
Our obligatory visit with "Chrome"
See you tomorrow from Cortez!

COLORADO 2010 DAY TWO 9-4-10

Greetings blog followers!We began our day early with breakfast at our hotel in Kearney. By noon we were ready for lunch and found a very cute little park in Greeley where we made our picnic lunch. Conditions were much better today, with little or no wind, and temperatures in the upper 80's.

After our lunch, we continued on our way west on US 34, which took us directly into the park.

Estes Park was jammed with people and cars, and it took us over a half hour to get through it. There were shops of everykind, and it reminded me of Wisconsin Dells, only times ten. Once through that madhouse, we finally made it to the park for some very grand scenery. It must have been a warm summer here in the Rockies, as the snow is all but gone from the peaks, and hasn't started to fall yet. It was definately cooler up at 11,000+ feet...the temp below in Estes Park was 88 degrees, but at the Alpine Visitor Center it was a brisk 58 degrees. Here are some select pictures from our visit to the park. We also crossed the continental divide on our way down to Winter Park. Tomorrow is scheduled to be an easier day...we are only about 20 miles from I-70, and about 3 1/2 hrs from Grand Junction. We plan to stop in Vail for lunch, and should be in GJ by late afternoon. See you from the Western Slope tomorrow night!

Susan, Denis & Fran

Colorado Trip Day One

Greetings blog followers!

Tonight we are writing to you from Kearney, Nebraska, about 700 miles and 13 hours after we left Plover this morning (5:30 am). As you all in Wisconsin know, it was very windy and cold today, especially this morning. We decided to eat breakfast "in" this morning, and stopped at a nice little truck stop and restaurant in Sparta. We had lunch "out" at a rest area just west of Des Moines, Iowa, and were almost literally blown away by the winds. We arrived in Kearney around 6:30, and ate "in" at a nice restaurant called Grandpa's Steakhouse.

The weather was good, except for the wind...it was very cloudy and overcast until we were in central Iowa, when the clouds finally moved off, the sun came out, and the temperature went up. The high today was 77 degrees in eastern Nebraska. There was quite a bit of traffic once we got to Omaha, and it continued to be heavy on I-80 heading west until we passed Grand Island.

Here are our pictures for today...Enjoy

The wide Missouri (I hope for a better one on the way back):

The Mighty Mississippi:

The Open Road (heading west in western Iowa...note the blue sky):

More tomorrow...we will be in Rocky Mountain National Park in the heart of the Rockies!

Susan, Denis, & Fran

COLORADO 2010 ITINERARY

Greetings, blog followers!

It is one week until we will be on our way to Colorado and the west. I thought I would let all of you know what our itinerary will be:

Thursday, Sept 2 . Denis and I will travel to Plover and meet up with Fran in Plover, WI. We plan to stay overnight and use Plover as our jumping off point for our trip west.

Friday, Sept. 3. We are planning an early start (6:00 a.m.!) to the day and we are hoping to make Kearney, Nebraska by late afternoon. We will stay our first night on the road in Kearney.

Saturday, Sept. 4. Another early start will get us on the road west once again. We are hoping to make Estes Park, Colorado by noon. The afternoon will be spent gazing at the wonders of Rocky Mountain National Park. We plan to stay the night in the heart of the Rockies in Winter Park. Read more about the park at http://www.nps.gov/romo/

Sunday, Sept. 5. We will continue our travels through the Rockies, driving south from Winter Park, over Berthoud Pass (over 11,000 ft), and regaining Interstate 70 just east of the Eisenhower Tunnel. We are hoping to make Vail about noon, and stop for lunch and a little shopping and sight-seeing. From there, we will continue on to Grand Junction and should be in town by late afternoon. Denis and I are hoping to get downtown in the evening. Grand Junction has a nice little downtown, about 6 blocks long, decorated with art pieces from local artists. We will, of course, pay homage to the most famous of the art pieces (and get our picture taken with it), Chrome on the Range. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the legend and allure of “Chrome”, check out the pics on Sunday’s blog. Read more about Art on the Corner at http://downtown.paragongj.com/aotc.cfm

Monday, Sept. 6. Today we will part company with Fran, our companion of the past few days. Fran is going to spend the week visiting with old friends and neighbors, while Denis and I are going to explore the southern part of the state. First, however, we will head west to Moab, Utah, and to Arches National Park. Arches National Park preserves over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, like the world-famous Delicate Arch, as well as many other unusual rock formations. After our visit to Arches, we will drive south through eastern Utah, and cross back into southwestern Colorado to Cortez. We are staying this night at a B & B, Kelly Place, which is about 10 miles outside of Cortez. Read more about Arches at http://www.nps.gov/arch/ Read more about Kelly Place at http://www.kellyplace.com/accom.html

Tuesday, Sept. 7. Today we will spend the day at Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. Today, the park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. After our visit to Mesa Verde, we will travel to Durango. We will be staying at the historic Strater Hotel in Durango for two nights. Read more about Mesa Verde National Park at http://www.nps.gov/meve/ Read more about the Strater Hotel at http://www.strater.com

Wednesday, Sept. 8. Today we going to let someone else do the “driving”, so to speak. We are planning an all day excursion on the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. We will travel by steam train to Silverton and back again in the heart of the San Juan range of the Rockies. Read more about the train at http://www.durangotrain.com/

Thursday, Sept 9. We will leave Durango today and head north and west toward Grand Junction through beautiful Unaweep Canyon. We plan to make one very special stop along the way, however, at the Gateway Auto Museum. The museum is part of the Gateway Canyons resort, conceived and built by , the owner of the Discovery Channel. This museum houses some of the most beautiful antique automobiles in the world. We will stay in Grand Junction this night. Read more about the museum at http://www.gatewayautomuseum.com/

Friday, Sept. 10. Today we plan to see more natural beauty and take in the Colorado National Monument in the morning and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in the afternoon. The Colorado National Monument preserves one of the grand landscapes of the American West. Towering red rock monoliths exist within a vast plateau-and-canyon panorama. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park offers vistas of a canyon of sheer walls, carved over centuries by the Gunnison River. Read more about the Monument at http://www.nps.gov/colm/ Read more about the Black Canyon at http://www.nps.gov/blca/

Saturday, Sept. 11. Today we will meet up once again with Fran and head east toward home.

Here’s a photo of the three intrepid travelers:

See you along the way! Remember to visit often. We will post our adventures and photos every day, internet permitting!

Susan & Denis

COLORADO 2010 COUNTDOWN

Greetings family and friends and blog followers!

Susan and Denis are putting the final touches on their 2010 September road trip! Yes, fans, the destination this year is western Colorado, with Grand Junction as our base camp. We will have a third traveler with us this year...Fran, Susan's mother. Fran was a long time resident of Grand Junction up until three years ago, when she returned to Wisconsin. Fran is riding along to Grand Junction, where she will join up and touch base with old friends. Susan and Denis plan to explore the western side of the Rockies in eastern Utah and western Colorado.

We will be listing our itinerary as the time gets a little closer. As with last year, we will post our day's experiences complete with pictures for you at home to follow along.

Departure date is Sept. 3. See you back here soon.

Susan and Denis