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Foiled again!
We had been planning this trip with John and Linda for quite a while now and the original destination was to be Ireland. Neither John nor Linda had ever been there and we had tried several years ago to make the trip.
On Wednesday the 14th of April, a volcano in Iceland erupted sending a plume of ash around the globe hitting hard those destinations in northern Europe. The European air traffic was shut down for several days. There were no flight leaving or arriving at airports in northern Europe.
We had made plans to have John and Linda over for dinner on the Saturday before we were due to leave so during that dinner we determined that there was no way we were going to be able to plan a trip (standby) to Ireland. We needed to find an alternate location.
We all decided on Denver and the west. There were several other locations available but this sounded fun.
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We met John and Linda over at the airport around 5 p.m. for our 7:50 flight to Denver.
This was our first trip since last October and the first through the new security concourse in Concourse B. It seems funny how we now have this massive new security system for an airport that appears to be dying.
We had dinner at the Panda Express in Concourse A which was ok but the fried rice was more than a little dry.
We waited for the plane to depart from B09 and shortly before the flight was boarded, I noticed that we were all going to be in first class for the flight out. We were all in row 1 (A, B, C and D) for the three hour flight to Denver. What is stranger still is that they served a meal on the flight. It has been quite a while since I saw that happen.
We arrived in Denver a little before 10 p.m., walked over to the rental car shuttle and waited for a Hertz bus to pick us up.
We got a little grey/blue Nissan Altima and began our trip west.
I wanted to drive outside of the Denver metro area so that we would not have to mess around with rush-hour traffic in the morning so our first stop was a LaQuinta Inn in Silverthorne on the other side of the divide. We arrived and picked up the key to room 315 and headed to bed.
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We met at 8 downstairs in the breakfast room for breakfast and then re-packed everything and headed west towards Grand Junction. We had talked on the way as to whether or not we wanted to stop in Vail but the consensus was to continue along.
Another idea was to take route 24 south to Leadville and amble over the mountains via Independence Pass through Aspen towards Glenwood Springs.
We stopped in Leadville and most every tourist spot was closed so after walking around the town for a little while, we headed south for the pass and Aspen.
As we turned onto the road towards the pass, we were warmly greeted by a sign telling us that the pass was closed. Sigh! We then had to backtrack to Leadville and back to the interstate towards Glenwood Springs.
We arrived in Glenwood and parked the car and walked up to the Glen Canyon Brewery for lunch. After lunch, we got directions to Doc Holliday’s gravesite, retrieved the car and headed in that direction.
When we arrived at the path to the gravesite, it had begun to rain and there was nobody really too keen on hiking to his gravesite so we proceeded to get back onto the highway towards Grand Junction.
We pulled into the lot for the Grand Vista Hotel late in the afternoon and checked into rooms 611 and 612 which were across the hall from each other. We then went down the street to Applebee’s for dinner. Most of us had only salads and/or soup for dinner. John had only a sundae.
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We met downstairs at 8 and went out to Denny’s for breakfast. John ended up enamoring the waitress and she took pretty good care of us. Then we headed down route 50 towards Montrose and the Black Canyon.
We arrived somewhat early in the day and stopped at the Ranger station and were told to pay at the Visitor Center. Well, it turns out that this week is “National Parks Week” and all admission is free so the little annual pass that I was carrying was of no real benefit to us.
We drove all around the south rim and then we headed down into the canyon itself towards the dam.
After visiting the road down in the canyon, we returned to Montrose to find lunch. I was thinking we could eat at that little restaurant from when we were there before but when we found it, it was closed for remodeling.
We found a little place on the main drag called “Daily Bread” which was open so we headed in for some lunch. I ordered a chicken salad sandwich and some gazpacho soup that was nice however, I was unaware that the soup was served cold. THAT was kind of a surprise! It was very good though.
Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we just headed back up the highway to our hotel in Grand Junction.
We had “dinner” in the bar at the hotel. Wednesday was “Free Wing Night” with several types of wings available to those that ordered more than one drink. The hot wings were pretty hot but the normal wings we re nice too. We struck up a conversation with four guys at the next table. They were in town for training at Schlumberger and had several plates of the wings.
We retired early.
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We met downstairs at 8 again and decided to just have the breakfast buffet at the hotel rather than go out to a Denny’s. They had a fairly good spread of eggs, waffles, sausages and bacon. We all ate well and my breakfast continued into the early afternoon what with finding little pieces of bacon wedged between my teeth.
We finished packing and we then loaded up the car and headed for Moab, UT via the Grand Mesa road and Colorado National Monument.
It had snowed up in the higher elevations when a storm blew through last night and there was new snow visible from Grand Junction. As we ascended higher and higher along the mesa, the snow became more and more threatening. There were a couple parts of the road that were more than uncomfortable for me with snow and ice.
We finally came to the top of the mesa and it was not too bad to drive on. Shortly thereafter, we began our descent towards the town of Deltavia a sleepy little town of Eckert where we naturally had to take Linda’s picture with the town sign as a background. From Delta we turned north to the Colorado National Monument that resides just slightly to the west of Grand Junction.
None of us were aware that this was there. It turned out to be quite a pleasant stop along the way with nice canyons and colorful rocks with the “Balancing Rock” as the grand finale at the park exit.
Then it was back to I-70 towards Moab and we got off around Cisco to take route 128 to Moab. A little less distance than the highway but quite a lot more scenic.
We finally pulled into Moab late in the afternoon and found our Ramada Inn in the south part of the town. Our room was ready (room 4101) but John and Linda had to wait just a few minutes for their room.
After we got all checked in and cleaned up, we headed down Main St. looking for a place called Zax for some dinner. Linda, Chearl and I partook of the unlimited pizza, salad and soup bar and John ordered from the menu.
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Up and ready to go again at 8 a.m. we headed to the corner for the Pancake Haus where we got a table and ordered from the menu. I ordered a pancake sandwich (two pancakes, an egg and two pieces of bacon) that was enough to keep me going for a while.
Then we got the car and headed for Arches National Park. This was my third trip to Arches but it is still as impressive as ever. John, Linda and I got off onto trails several times during the trip through the park and while the altitude still affected all of us, it was fun to look around.
After Arches, we returned to town and just milled around the town for the balance of the afternoon. There was a car show in town this weekend and some of the owners would run their cars up and down the main drag. Some of the autos were very impressive. There were a couple of Cobras there, an old Rambler, several old Chevy muscle cars, plenty of older trucks and most were in mint condition.
We had dinner at the Mexican restaurant near the hotel since the sky appeared ready to unload. I had a shrimp burrito that was ok. We then walked back to the hotel to the sounds of cars hustling up and down the strip.
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Up at 8 again. We got packed and the car loaded and then headed for the Pancake Haus again. I had the pancake sandwich again.
After breakfast John and I checked out of the Ramada and we all headed north to Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse State Park. The state park is just another arm of the Canyonlands project and it was a pretty park. There was a story of horses being rounded up to the natural point and the good horses were removed and the balance just left to die there. Sort of sad.
We then drove many miles into Canyonlands where we saw most of the sights inside the park. We saw Whale Rock, Upheaval Dome, Mesa Arch and both the Colorado and Green Rivers while we stopped at almost all of the stops along the way.
We had quite a ways to drive this afternoon so after leaving the park we stopped in Moab on the way south and had lunch at Denny’s. It was a warm afternoon and I can remember the cold water tasting so good there.
On the way down to Cortez, we stopped at a little park called Newspaper Rock. It was hidden from view along the southern entrance to Canyonlands but about 10 miles or so off the main drag there was this little rock that had all of these old petroglyphs from long ago. Coupled with some signage of a guy named “Gonzalez” and his grandson it was pretty interesting to look at. However, most of the drawings of feet showed six toes??
On to Cortez.
We finally arrived in Cortez pretty late in the afternoon, found our Econolodge along route 160 and checked in to rooms 109 and 110 on the first floor. We were greeted by this woman who looked as if she was having or going to have a really bad day..
We dropped off our stuff and since we all wanted to see the “Four Corners” area (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah) we asked around about it. The girl at the front desk was unsure as to whether or not it was even open and we had heard that the location had changed (how does THAT happen???) but we headed down anyway.
Well, everyone was right. It was closed! It was owned by the Ute Indians and they were apparently remodeling it (for whatever reason) so we entertained ourselves by looking at the razor wire lining the compound.
We returned to Cortez and passed a large Indian Casino where Chearl just had to stop and play the slots. We went in for only a couple of minutes and Chearl had won some 20+ dollars so we all hoofed it out of there.
We stopped at a Wendy’s on the way back to the motel and that was our dinner that night.
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Chearl’s birthday! And we are spending the day looking at ROCKS! I can assure you that I will be paying for this choice at some point down the road.
We began the day at the Anasazi Visitor Center north of Cortez. This is where you can get information on the two national monuments – Canyon of the Ancients and Hovenweep.
After the Visitor Center, we headed across the road to the Lowry Pueblo that is part of Canyon of the Ancients. The road goes off of SR192 for several miles before turning into a dirt road for the balance of the trip.
We got to the pueblo, saw the dwelling and kiva and then headed for Hovenweep.
Hovenweep seems to be a little more accessible so we walked down to the rim of the canyon to see what could be seen and then headed back to the car to find some lunch.
We drove back into Cortez and had lunch down the road from our hotel on Route 160 at a Subway.
After lunch we headed to Mesa Verde National Park that was only some 9 miles to the east from where we were staying.
We drove in to the park, showed the ranger my pass (it was still part of the “free” week) and then drove another twenty some miles back to the dwellings.
We stopped at the Visitor Center to buy tickets on the 3 p.m. hike to Cliff Palace and then looked at the exhibits before making the 20 minute drive to the starting point.
We were part of a group of about 30 who threaded their way down the side of the cliff into the “city” with a NPS ranger. It was labeled as a “strenuous” hike so we were all a little concerned about Chearl but that turned out to be a non-event.
We were all amazed at the settlement carved into the side of the sandstone cliffs and after the hike ended about an hour after it started, we climbed back into the car to continue around the park. We viewed some pit houses and other dwellings from the rim tour.
After the park, we had heard that there was a German restaurant in the town of Mancos so we made a right turn onto Route 160 to look for it. We had no name, no address. Nothing! Chearl looked on the GPS to see if perhaps “German restaurants” would give us anything but the closest we could find was in the town of Delores. We took a quick look in Mancos for the restaurant and then headed to Delores.
Upon reaching Delores, THAT German restaurant was closed on Sunday night so we just headed back to Cortez to see what we could find.
We headed back into town and ended up at a place called J Fargo’s. It appeared to be a chain type of restaurant but the food was good.
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Time to leave Cortez and return to the eastern parts of the state.
We headed out of town on Route 160 through Mancos and Durango. We stopped in Durange to see what could be seen and the Durango and Silverton narrow gauge train was just about to leave on it’s daily trip to Silverton. We stood by and watched the equipment leave and then walked up and down Main St. window shopping.
Then we headed east again to Alamosa.
Coming through the San Juan Mountains towards the sleepy little town of Del Norte, I was pulled over by the sheriff who maintained that I was following the car in front of me too closely. Well, this car in front of me was only doing about 20 miles per hour and I was trying to pass. Problem was, there were double yellow lines in the roadway. So I couldn’t pass! Anyway, he left me off with a scolding and we continued along.
We finally reached Alamosa and we had a spot of trouble finding our motel. It was supposed to be at 224 O’Keefe Parkway but it was actually on Route 160 just past Route 17.
We checked into the Days Inn, dropped off our things and then headed for Great Sand Dunes National Park at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Those Sangre de Cristo Mountains are pretty impressive. There are two groups to the south that have some eight or nine peaks over 14,000 feet and they rise from the little valley sort of like the Tetons.
We made it back to the park late in the afternoon and visited the Visitor Center to see what could be found. When we pulled up at the admission gate, I asked the ranger on duty if the free park offer was still good. He said that it wasn’t but was trying to find a way for us to save money so he thought of the senior discounts. I finally just showed my pass and we drove on.
There is a little river that is in front of the dunes and to get to the dunes proper, you must wade across the creek. Nobody told us that and we were all unprepared to just take off the shoes and walk across so we merely spent a few minutes staring at the sand before leaving and driving again.
We left the Dunes National Park and headed back to the wilderness area which Linda said should contain thousands of sand-hill cranes as part of their migratory efforts. We went down another dirt road looking for the place, finally found the center (that’s right! CLOSED!) and we just drove around the little road surrounding the wetlands. We saw perhaps three ducks and some other trash birds and that was it! Pretty disappointing.
We drove into town to the Bijou theatre which now houses an Italian restaurant and had dinner there. My shrimp dish was not the best but I think that everyone else enjoyed theirs.
After dinner we drove back to the hotel to get ready for another long day of driving.
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Anyone care to guess what time we gathered to meet this morning?? Those of you that said 8 can go to the head of the class.
We had breakfast at the hotel and then loaded up the car and headed north along the Sangre de Cristo mountains on the way to Canon City to have a view of Royal Gorge. We went up the western side of the mountains to a little pass and then hooked our way east through a little valley, picked up the Arkansas River and pretty much followed that to Royal Gorge.
Today, they have a “passport” that one can buy that allows entry to all of the goodies on site. It was $25 apiece except J&L were allowed the “Senior” discount so they saved a buck or two on admittance. John countered with the girl that he had the AAA card, AARP and several others so they actually owed him money to enter the park. The girl at the window did not seem to be amused.
We headed over to the aerial tram to take us to the other side of the Gorge and the plan was to walk back over the bridge once on the other side. John was not too crazy about the concept of taking a shoddy little bucket across an expanse such as the gorge, but he was a stout little trouper and had little difficulty with the trip.
Once on the other side, we ran into a real “cowboy”; that is a guy dressed up in western wear and riding a steer!
We then went into the movie house and looked at a movie about the Gorge, picked up some popcorn and then began the walk back across the bridge.
As I made my way onto the bridge, I heard John ask “Where are the gaps in the boards”? He thought that I was joking about being able to see through the boards down into the Gorge but after about 50 feet or so, he was looking at what I had been telling him about. From that point forward until the end of the bridge, John shuffled across the very center of the bridge to the other side. I really doubt that this was the high point of the trip for him.
Once on the other side, we queued up for the incline (funicular) down to the Gorge floor. We got onto this little car that had seven compartments for the trip down. It had a metal grate around the sides and doors that locked and was not very roomy. As soon as I got my butt into the little compartment, I began feeling a little claustrophobic but that pretty much passed… until later.
As they closed and locked the door, we stayed immobile for several minutes. I kept hoping that the cage would start down but it never moved. Anxiety building now.
It turned out to not be a big deal down and on the way back up. Unfortunately, once at the bottom there was not a whole lot to see – you can only go about 25 feet away from the funicular. So we took some pictures and then headed right back to the metal cage for the trip back up.
After we arrived at the top once again, the others went to the gift shop and then we headed back to the car to continue from Canon City to Colorado Springs.
We arrived at another LaQuinta motel, checked in to rooms 112 and 114 and then went to Garden of the Gods and the Visitor Center. I asked for and received two maps of the park and we then drove across the street to see what we could see. We took the little path into some of the rocks and then got back into the car and drove the rest of the way.
After Garden of the Gods I wanted to take John to Manitou Springs to see the Manitou Springs Railway that pushes the cars to the top of Pikes Peak every day. We drove close to the station and there was construction around so we just turned around and began to head back.
Since we were due to have an early day tomorrow, we wanted to get an early dinner and spotted a little restaurant on the way out of Manitou Springs called The Stagecoach . We went in for the “Early Bird Special” and they served us a basket of biscuits with cherry jam which were dee-lish! We ordered a second basket!
After dinner we all piled back into the Altima and headed back to the LaQuinta where we all tried to cram all of the items accumulated on the trip back into our luggage.
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I wanted to get on the road no later than 6:30 and the LaQuinta served breakfast beginning at 6 so that worked out well. We were on the road by 6:15 and arrived at Denver International around 8.
We dropped off the car, boarded the bus and were at the terminal in plenty of time. We passed through security and were due to leave from C42 which is where we headed and sat.
Our airplane was due to arrive from Cincinnati and was running a little late so it got moved from C42 down to C38 (C38 is in the other wing of the concourse and was apparently one of Northwest’s gates. We have NEVER left from that side of the concourse before.)
We all managed to get into first class – even though we had the bulkhead seats again - and the flight home was uneventful.
We said our goodbyes to John and Linda after the escalator and we headed to the shuttle to take us to the car.