Day 19 - Heading South

Today, we headed south to Manitou Springs to take the cog railway to Pikes Peak. At the peak, we were at 14,115 feet! Absolutely gorgeous, but hard to catch your breath. AND, it was 28 degrees! I was lucky that my gloves were in my jacket pocket. Wayne sure wished he had remembered to bring his. It was also treacherous walking because the snow had hardened to ice in some spots. We were told to drink lots of water to combat altitude sickness, but it still affected us.  After we came back down the mountain, we headed to Garden of the Gods. The drive through is 6 miles but you can park and walk some paved trails. The lady at the welcome center pointed out an area we should walk and indicated that it wasn't a long walk.  Hah! Heading back to the car was uphill!

There was lots of fall color on the Aspen trees.

We saw four lakes on the ride up and lots of beautiful scenery!

Besides the low temp and icy walking, the wind was pretty swift.

This is the train we rode and a good showing of the snow and the scenery.

I had a hard time picking just a few of the pictures we took in the garden.

Most of these rocks have names, but I sure couldn't tell you which is which.

I just think they are all awesome!

This one is called Balanced Rock.

Day 18 - Heading North

Today, we were able to sleep late. After breakfast, we packed two boxes with the rocks I've collected, some souvenirs and dirty clothes. We then found the nearest post office. We'd rather pay the post office to get this stuff home rather than the airline for overweight luggage. We then drove to Boulder and had lunch on a pedestrian only street with lots of neat shops. After that, we drove to Estes Park.  We were just driving through some beautiful country. On the way back, we passed three elk swimming in a lake. We pulled over and got some good pictures.

We were about 20 feet away from these guys.

Look at the antlers on him!

There are some areas where the leaves are turning.

Day 17 - On Our Way To Denver

We drove through Glenwood Canyon which was once considered impassible. We stopped for lunch at Vail; ritzy place! Our afternoon rest stop was at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Some of our fellow travelers have been to Denver before but never heard of this place.  Many brand names have performed there. Then we made our way to the hotel where we had a farewell dinner. The next three days are on our own.

This is one of the streets in Vail.  Looks like a street in an Alpine city.

We stopped to visit with Mark Twain!

This is the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. There are humongous rocks on either side for great acoustics.

Here's one of the big rocks on the side of the theatre.

Wayne took this picture from our moving bus. It's the dome of the capitol building. It is covered in real gold.

Day 16 - All Aboard!

This morning, we boarded a narrow-gauge railroad for a morning ride through the San Juan Mountains to the town of Silverton. Then, after lunch and browsing through shops, we boarded our bus for a ride through Red Mountain Pass. (Our bus driver took 1 1/2 hours to get to Silverton. It took us 3 1/2 hours by train!) We also drove on the Million Dollar Highway. No one is sure why the highway has that name.  I can tell you that this was the curviest, scariest highway we've ever been on! Tonight's hotel stay is in Grand Junction, CO,

Wayne took this picture from the train while it was going through a curve.  Our assigned seats were in a closed car, but he took lots of pictures from the next car which was open.

The snow on the mountaintop just happened yesterday. We followed the Animas River the entire ride.

These are some of the shops in the small town of Silverton.  Our altitude was 9,300 feet. Notice that we are here for the beginning of the fall colors.

This was taken in the Molas Pass which is 11,000 feet.

This is a sampling of the type of road we were on. We were sitting in the front seat, on the right side which enabled us to see the sheer drop offs! (There were no guard rails.) This picture is taken from the road before the first  of two 180 degree turns.

Look closely at the edge of the road. There were many crumbly areas with sheer drop offs!

This area was called Red Mountain Pass and the road was called Million Dollar Highway.  There was a lot of mining in this area in years past.

Day 15 - Mesa Verde National Park

We took a tour today to Mesa Verde National Park, home of the Ancient Pueblo peoples.  It's a good thing we trust our bus driver 'cause these were some winding roads! I've continued to wear my motion sickness patch so I did o.k.  We had a step-on guide who was great.

This is called a Pithouse.  The Pueblo people would sink posts and build up from the pit. The archeologists have found hundreds of these  remains.

This is a picture of a village that the Pueblo people started building when they quit building the Pithouse. Wayne took this picture from across the valley. This village was called Spruce Tree House. It was named by two local ranchers who discovered it in 1888 while looking for stray cattle. There was a large tree they thought was a spruce leaning toward the structures. There are no spruce trees in the area but the name stuck.

We walked down a 1/4 mile paved path to get to Spruce Tree House. We were allowed to get up close and personal.  The trees that were used for support are still there! Most of the people in this picture are in our group. Oh, the walk back was uphill. And, we were at an altitude of about 8,800. So, we were huffing and puffing and taking many rest stops!

Day 14 - Heading to Durango, CO

We are traveling through the Navajo Nation. Our first rest stop was at a Burger King in Kayenta.  Next to the Burger King was a display about code talking during World War II. The display, and souvenir shop, is owned by the son of a code talker. There were also some native american structures to walk through. We then rode through Monument Valley.  When you see the pictures below, you'll understand the name of the valley.  We had lunch at Goulding's Trading Post (out in the middle of nowhere). Then, we continued on to Durango for a two night stay.

This is a traditional Native American structure called a hogan.

This is typical of the monuments we saw as we rode for miles and miles through Monument Valley.

Wayne took this picture from our lunch stop at Goulding's Trading Post.

Day 13 - Page, AZ

This morning, we visited the Glen Canyon Dam. Then, we rode to the marina for a boat cruise on Lake Powell. After lunch at the marina, and a short rest at the hotel, 16 of our group, including us, went to Antelope Canyon. We had a wild and crazy ride with Leonard, a Navaho. Then, we had an organized dinner at the hotel. After dinner, Leonard gave a talk to us about the Navaho beliefs and practices.

This picture is taken from our boat in the middle of Lake Powell. That smokestack-like formation is a butte.

We boated down what is called a slot canyon.  This canyon, and many others, were filled with water when the dam was built.

This is our Navaho guide, Leonard, at the entrance to Antelope Canyon.  This is also called a slot canyon.  When rains are heavy, there are no tours due to the fact that water runs through the canyon.

The picture speaks for itself. The colors in the canyon were magnificent.

The walls of the canyon were a lot closer together then we thought they would be.

This is the truck that Leonard took us to the canyon in.  Four of us ladies sat in the back seat of the cab while the other 12 people sat in the bed. Leonard was a 'fast' driver, and the drive across the wet sant was quite bumpy. Wayne said his whole body got a lickin'!