Well, we’re just back from a two week jaunt through Colorado – truly a national treasure! The map shows where we went [click on a numbered red icon for a picture or two from each place]:
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Vail: The point of our trip [to Vail] was to get together with a group of our oldest friends from the Air Force [33 years ago for our yearly visit] – a week of good friends, good food, and good times. Then we set off on our own for an exploring week.
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Leadville: Leadville is nestled in the mountains south of Vail – an old gold rush and later mining town. As a boom town, it was left with lots of brick buildings not turned into shops and restaurants. The old mining train runs as a tourist attraction up to a “moly” mine above the tree line. There’s even a Mining Hall of Fame that was surprisingly interesting. The scenery was spectacular and virtually unpopulated until one reached the city limits [very cold in winter!].
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Independence Pass: The drive from Leadville to Aspen was breathtakin., in more ways than one [it was our first venture above 12,000 feet].
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Rocky Mountain National Park: Rocky Mountain National Park is too big to photograph, winding above 12000 feet. On the Skyline Parkway above the treeline, the foliage clings to the rocks for dear life. Evergreens at the treeline are blown “uphill” actually migrating in the fierce winds at high altitudes. There are plenty of Elk [and rumors of Bighorn Sheep, though none showed while we were there].
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The Colorado River Valley: From its origin on the western side of Rocky Mountain Park, the Colorado River picks up steam flowing westward towards its masterpiece – the Grand Canyon. The valley in Colorado is a collage of petrified sand dunes – some showing a hint of the bright stripes that light up the painted desert in Arizona.
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The Colorado Monument: The Colorado Monument is a National Park with a harrowing [for me] clifftop drive. One overlooks the Colorado River Valley with distant sand dunes from several prehistoric seas. The eroded sandstone canyons and pinacles stretch for miles [for those who choose to look over the edge]. It’s a preview for Arches just over the Utah border.
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Arches National Park: We had planned to go to Dinosaur Park but found that the fossil exhibit was closed, so we diverted to Arches National Park in Eastern Utah. There’s not anything like Arches Park on the planet. I’m sure of that. There are miles and miles of massive sandstone pinacles, hoodoos, and the unique arches that give the park its name. The pictures here are a mere sampler from the encyclopedia of Arches Park – truly one of those “you’d have to see it yourself” places.
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[More] Colorado River Valley: Leaving Arches Park, we took the eastern route back to I-70, along the Colorado River. It was probably the most spectacular drive of the trip – totally unexpected! Walls of sculptured sandstone towered on either side of the river valley. The river itself was lined with cottonwoods. It was “unphotographable.”
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The Black Canyon of the Gunnison: All of the geology in the landscape and parks before this one were sedimentary formations – the result of erosion on the sandstone layers from the beds of ancient oceans. But the Black Canyon is much older. It’s black color comes from the mica formed when this precambrian sandstone was “cooked” eight billion years ago. The cracks in the black stone filled with magma – pegmatite, a quartz colored pink with feldspar. This canyon cut by the Gunnison River is 2800 feet deep in places – an ominous sparkling black with pink veins.
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The Arkansas River Valley: The precambrian rock formation runs along the Gunnison River, then picks up on the other side of Monarch Pass in the Arkansas River Valley as the River turns into rafting heaven. The mountain goats were a nice touch…
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The Royal Gorge: Outside of Canon City, there’s a lesser version of the Black Canyon which is a commercial theme park with multiple ways to “hang out” over the gorge and be terrified. I read a book in the restaurant [bungie jumping into a 2000 plus foot deep gorge is for the young at heart].
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The Cripple Creek Area: In Colorado, if you’re not on a mountaintop or in a canyon, you can see forever. In Georgia, if it looks like rain, we turn on the Weather Channel. In Colorado, you can see the rain from miles away. We’d dodged showers every afternoon until we drove through the Cripple Creek area. They were all around us, then they converged creating a significant hail storm. It may have been a routine afternoon for locals, but for us it was a life experience.
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Colorado Springs: We spent the night in Colorado Springs with old friends from the 70’s. The next day, we saw the “Garden of the Gods, the Olympic Training Center, and couldn’t resist taking a trip to see some of the Religious Right bastions headquartered there [more later].
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Pike’s Peak: What can I say? Pike’s Peak is there and we drove up it. There’s no air there! Absolutely none! On the way down, we flunked the brake temperature test [486°] and got put in time out. There above us while we waited, near the top, a skier was skiing in a patch of left-over snow. That’s what I call insanity!
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Denver: We weren’t in Denver very long – passing through coming and going. But the last night of our trip, we had dinner with our daughter’s [and our] good friend [blogger] Smoooochie and family. A great treat!
Nothing pulls your ADD daughter in like an interactive media gallery and bullet points!! Haha. I can’t wait to see even more pictures from the adventure. Looks like you got to do some cool stuff.
You’re not telling me that my dad went up the side of a mountain in a cable car. I just won’t believe it!!
No, I read a mystery in the restaurant while your mom rode the cable car. I did, however, drive up Pike’s Peak [been there, done that…]…
Did you drive in the middle of the road? Or have you made your way over to the edge?!! I know heights have never been your fave!
The political landscape isn’t nearly as beautiful, but I guess that could be said about our whole country. Even so, thank you from a native Coloradan for visiting! We (Smoooochie’s bunch, dogs included) really enjoyed your visit.