Another fabulous National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

(Sightseeing)

June 18, 2017

From Denver we drove north to Loveland where we stayed overnight prior to driving through Rocky Mountain Park.  With a name like Rocky Mountain it stands to reason that the park has some major passes to navigate.  By the time we got through the entire park we had gone over 3 huge passes (12k, 11k and 10k) driving the motorhome  and pulling our car.  Happily we had no problems -  our biggest complaint was the lack of places where you can pull a motorhome over and take pictures.  Even the 3 visitor centers lack parking space for motorhomes so we missed them entirely!  The road itself is another testament to the hard working folks who build our roads. The obstacles they overcome so we can drive there are amazing.  It was quite a trip.  My arms were tired from steering around all the curves.

Looking at the Rockies from Estes Park, Colorado.  This is clearly a favorite place with
tourists  Lots and lots of cars everywhere along with hotels, motels, cabins, condos, etc.

It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Still lots of snow up top.

One of the few places we could actually pull off the road.
It was really chilly out there.

Above tree line.

Sheer rock cliffs.

Stream meandering through the valley between two peaks.

The big D

Denver, CO

(Seeing Friends)

June 15, 2017 - June 17, 2017

After we left Arizona, we discovered that our friend Mark had moved from Denver to Phoenix so we thought we had missed our chance to see him.  But, in one of life's little ironies, he happened to be visiting a friend in Denver at the time we were going to be there.  Sweet!

We met for dinner at Steve's (Mark's friend) and had fun reminiscing.  We both knew Mark from our days at Pacific Northwest Bell/US West. He still works for the company (now called CenturyLink) but fondly remembers the old days.  Of course we knew all kinds of people in common so we got caught up on their news as well.  It was such a fun evening!

Mark and Steve with Steve's dog ToTo (who is too cute for his own good.)

Insects, gardens, rocks, bridges, gorges

Colorado Springs, CO

(Sightseeing)

June 13, 2017 - June 15, 2017

It's easy to spend time in Colorado Springs because it has so many things to see and do. It was also a reminder that summer is here, the kids are out of school, and getting a campground reservation isn't just a good idea, it's a must.  After numerous calls and slight panic we managed to get a spot in a place called the Golden Eagle Campground which is associated with the unusual and very interesting May Natural History Museum.  It is billed as the "World's Largest Private Insect Collection." Although some of the insects were purchased or traded between other collectors, most were collected from all over the world by one man.  The information about where they were found was even historically interesting in that many of the countries don't even exist any longer.  At any rate - here is a SMALL sampling of bugs, butterflies, moths, spiders, beetles, etc. from Mr. May's incredible collection.

James May (the collector) and his son John, who built the custom, air-tight cases which display the insects.

I actually have more pictures but you get the idea.

Garden of the Gods

A tremendously beautiful and large piece of land left to the city of Colorado Springs by Charles Elliot Perkins on the condition it be a free public park.  What a gift!  Visitors can hike, bike, rock climb or just view the park by car.  There are literally miles and miles of hiking and biking trails. The green trees and bushes, set against the unusual rock formations are stunning.

One of the hiking trails.

Looking north to south along the west side of the garden.

Panorama of the view above.

Steamboat rock from the north.

Can you see a figure in this rock?

Looking down the garden from the north end.

Balanced Rock

Steamboat Rock from the South.

Royal Gorge Bridge - Canon City, CO.

After reading about the Royal Gorge Bridge I felt we really needed to see it for ourselves.  Built in 6 months time in 1929, it is one of the world's highest suspension bridges.  It crosses a canyon cut by the Arkansas river which is 955 feet below.  In 2013 a wild fire destroyed all the park buildings but the bridge was mostly unharmed.

Royal Gorge Suspension Bridge.

View of some of the cables which hold the bridge up.

Arkansas River Gorge

The railroad along the river was added in the 1950's.

Selfie taken at the Washington State flag along the bridge.

View as you walk over the bridge.

Cable infrastructure

More cable infrastructure

If you're brave enough you can zip line over the gorge!!!

It would be easy to spend several weeks in the Colorado Springs area as there are many interesting things to see and do there including a drive up Pikes Peak.  We had intended to do that drive but we got there 10 minutes after they closed the road for the night!  I guess it will have to wait till our next visit.  

A Sand Dune in the Rockies

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO

(Sightseeing)

June 12, 2017 - June 13, 2017

I've been interested in seeing this National Park for some time so we headed northeast out of Bayfield and reached it easily in 1/2 day going over Wolf Creek Pass (10800+ feet) in the process.  It's the highest pass we'd been through thus far.

Views from near Wolf Creek Pass.

The dune is readily apparent as you get closer.  It's a mammoth thing and from a distance it looks like it's right up against the nearby mountains.

Panorama of the Great Sand Dune as you see it driving into the N.P.

There were no campsites available in the park or anywhere nearby so we just drove into the park with the motorhome towing the car.  Luckily, it's not a big driving tour like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. We had to forgo the visitors center because there was no space left to park so we drove to the dune parking lot which did have plenty of spaces for RV's, Once there you get out and walk through a bushy area where you can than see/photograph/climb/etc. the dune.

This was a surprise!  A stream flowing between the bushes and the dune.
It was only about ankle deep however and the kids were loving it.

We saw people who had climbed way up on the dunes and I'm certain there were people using boogie boards to slide down.  Sorry to say we didn't even get our feet wet.  All our pictures were taken on this side of the stream.  With no place to stay in the area we drove on to Fort Garland for the night.

Of necessity, we're hanging out

Bayfield, CO

(Sightseeing)

May 9, 2017 - June 12, 2017

We wanted to take the famous narrow gauge railroad trip from Durango to Silverton and back so we headed out of Cortez towards Durango.  Even though it was only early May we couldn't find a reasonably priced campground in Durango so we headed on to Bayfield, a town about 19 miles east of Durango. At first all was well with Laura's back but the second night we were there she had some very painful muscle cramps. For awhile I thought we might be making a trip to the ER but things finally settled down. By the next morning she had decided to go to a chiropractor to see if he/she could give her some relief from the back pain. That was easily accomplished but she felt like she should also see an orthopedist in case there was something wrong that xrays didn't pick up. Amazingly she got an appointment rather quickly.  After an extensive examination, the Dr. suggested Laura get some physical therapy, then come back for another appointment in 4 weeks.  All I can say is it's a good thing we are not on any kind of schedule.  We've basically been hanging around Bayfield since then.  The physical therapy commenced and has really helped with the healing process.  Laura also continued the chiropractic treatments and went back to see the Dr. on June 6th.  Everything seems to be under control at this point so we will be leaving Bayfield on Monday June 12th.  We would have left earlier but unfortunately a mail snafu prevented that.  Tomorrow morning we'll (hopefully) pick up the mail and be on our way again.

We stayed at a very nice campground with a river running through it (hence it's name "Riverside") with lots of places to walk the dog and very quiet at night.

The Pine River flowing through the campground.

One of the trails through the campground.

Catch and release fishing is allowed in the river.

Ponderosa Pine

A big tree went down during a windstorm and took out this RV.
Luckily the family was not in it when it happened. 

Cute fence at a house in Bayfield.

Old washing machines on the front lawn of the local laundromat.

Once Laura got the OK from the Dr. we scheduled our train trip - a half day trip to Silverton and back. We rode up to Silverton by bus (1 1/2 hours) then came back to Durango by the narrow gauge railway (3 1/2 hours).  We picked the shortest possible trip because of our dog and we only managed to eat some lunch in Silverton before a brief walk over to the depot to catch the train.

The town reminded me a lot of Port Townsend - full of cute shops in old buildings. I'm actually glad we did the bus/train trip because we got to see the area from two very different views.  The bus trip travels up through the mountains, crossing over Coal Bank (10,640 ft.) and Molas (10,970 feet) passes before dropping down into Silverton which sits at 9,318 feet in a bowl surrounded by mountains. On the other hand, the train tracks generally follow the Animas River as it descends from Silverton to Durango.  Some areas are so narrow that you could touch the rocks on one side of the train and look down a sheer drop to the river below on the opposite side. If I were to do anything differently I would take one of the 1/2 trips that allowed for more time in Silverton.

Now for some pictures.

Delightful bronze sculpture in front of the RR station.

At the top of Molas pass.

Looking a different direction at Molas pass.

The town of Silverton from the south.

One of the restaurant's in town

Lot's of motorcycles running around town

Beautiful bench

This town is scenic 360 degrees around.

another street scene

Try to imagine 19 feet of snow falling here as it did last winter!

Our train - ready for boarding.

Traveling along the Animas River.

You can travel inside in a typical RR car.  This is a standard class car.
There are Deluxe, First and Presidential class cars.

You can also travel in a car without windows.  This is also a standard class car.

White water rafting is very popular on the Animas.

Sometimes the rock walls are really close.
A careless arm or head out the window would be disaster.