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.

COLORADO Day Three, 8/25/14

Hello from Grand Junction, CO.  Another long day of driving, but we finally made it despite rain and road construction delays.

We started out from Colby with partly cloudy skies and a temperature of only 60 degrees, quite a change from the 100 we had yesterday.  We made it through the Denver metro area and well into the mountains before noon.  We stopped in Georgetown for lunch, and arrived in Grand Junction at 4:00.

Here are our photo highlights from today:
1.  A field of sunflowers in eastern Colorado.  Notice the lack of trees on the horizon.

2.  Vail valley.

3.  the Western Slope. 

4.  Rafters on the Colorado River.

5.  Chrome on the Range, downtown Grand Junction.

COLORADO, Day Two 8/24/2014

Hello from Colby, Kansas!

It was another hot and sunny day on the Plains today.  We started out from Columbia at 8:00 this morning, drove through Kansas City, and almost all the way across Kansas.   Colby is only 53 miles from the Colorado border.  Colby calls itself Oasis on the Plains.  The largest barn in all of Kansas is here.  Colby is a small town, but has a lovely count courthouse.

The terrain in Kansas follows an interesting progression from east to west.  Eastern Kansas reminded us of Wisconsin...it was green and wooded.  The trees gradually gave way to corn, soybean, and grain fields as far as the horizon.  Eventually, the prairie landscape took over, with very few trees at all. 

We stopped for lunch in Manhattan, Kansas which is the home of Kansas State University.   The air temperature was 100 degrees at noon, so most of the sightseeing today was from the car windows, but we did make one stop just off the freeway...in a tiny town called Victoria.  Their claim to fame is St. Fidelis Catholic Church, also known as the Cathderal on the Plains. 

Tomorrow we cross Colorado and arrive at our final destination: Grand Junction.  We will post again tomorrow night from there.  Will there be snow on the Rockies, do you think?  Tomorrow we will see, then you will know.

Here are some pictures from today's ride:
1.  The wide Missouri.
2.  Eastern Kansas (looks like Wisconsin).
3.  The three of us at a scenic overlook just outside Manhattan.
4.  Western Kansas. ..a whole lot of sky and not much else.
5.  The Cathedral on the Plains.
6.  County Courthouse in Colby.
7.  Grain elevator.   There are big ones like tbis in every town.

COLORADO Day One 8/23/14

Hello from Columbia, MO. 

After 594 miles and a 12 hour day, we arrived in Columbia with the last rays of sunlight at 8:00 pm.  We left this morning at 6:00 looking at a gray, misty fog morning.  We hit some light rain around Normal, IL and by the time we arrived in Hannibal, MO, it was 95 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  We stopped for lunch in Lincoln, IL and found an unexpected surprise...Historic Route 66 through town.

We spent a couple of hours looking around Hannibal and even found a quilt shop for Susan and Fran and a model train layout for Denis.  Hannibal is a lovely river town that takes full advantage of it's Mark Twain connection.

Tomorrow we push on to Colby, KS, billed as "The Oasis on the Plains".

Here are some pictures from today:
1. The model train layout in Hannibal.
2.  I-72 bridge over the Mississippi River at Hannibal.
3.  Mark Twain boyhood home.
4.  On Route 66 in Lincoln,  IL.
5.  The travelers at 6:00 am.