On the Road Again - Back to PA

Well, we're finally on the eve of our return journey to Boalsburg. Yesterday we got to do something not on our shirts, a day-long visit to Rocky Mt. National Park and the town of Estes. Unfortunately, if you've been reading about California's fires, the air over the park was overcast, also due to some of their own specifically started blazes to control undergrowth, so the picture opportunitys were slim. We did make it to the top of the park, the highest US Park Building in the US at 11,700 ft., and the views were great but I couldn't take any shots to capture them. Today spent the day relaxing in Denver at Ken's house, rode some bikes (finally after six weeks), this evening we'll go out with Ken and Darrell to finish our trip, then flying out tomorrow at around 2PM, arriving in Harrisburg around 10PM. Thanks to all who viewed my blog, it was fun working on it along the way, gave me some good ideas for our next jaunt somewhere. Take care, see you in B-Burg or at the PSU game on Saturday. Jim and Sheila

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Well, this is one of those places which might not be high on one's list to visit but once you see it it is truly a natural marvel!! Got up this morning at Valleyview and drove the 50 miles down the center of San Luis Valley and headed back up to the foothills of the Sangre de Cristos mountain range where the park sits. Over many decades (probably centuries) the silt and sand from the San Luis Valley was deposited in this one area with the de Cristos range on one side and the San Juan range on the other side of the valley, creating a place for these dunes to deposit. We only hiked up into the "foothills" of the dunes which took us almost an hour, probably to reach the top of the closer dunes it would take one 2-3 hours to reach them and a lot of water. I now have empathy for Lawrence of Arabia and his desert adventures. Grilling tonight and hopefully we'll have another beautiful sunset over the San Luis Valley, tomorrow back to Denver. Take care, J&S

San Luis Valley

We spent three good days at Durango at a pretty nice B&B doing good tourist stuff. Went to Mesa Verde for a day where we climbed ladders, thru small openings and up a rock wall to see the cliff dwellings. Then spent another day on the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge RR going thru a beautiful gorge (the Animas River gorge). Today took about a four hour ride leaving Durango and reached a rustic mountain resort called Valleyview which sits high up in the San Luis Mt. Range overlooking a very large arid valley. This evening we took a 1 hour hike up into the mountains to see an abandoned mining cave which is the home for nearly 200,000 Brazilian freetailed bats coming streaming out (at dusk) to head out over the valley catching their insects. This area is known for its mineral springs and pools which are readily accessible while you're staying here. Tomorrow it's off to Great Sand Dunes National Park (which we could actually see down the valley even though it's almost 50 miles away). Take care, will try to download some pics once we get back to Denver. J&S (sorry the one shot from Mesa Verde is sideways)

Lightner Creek Inn, Durango, CO

Long haul here to Durango, took us about 8 hrs., with a lot of photo and rest stops, to reach our B&B in Durango. Saw some more beautiful scenery on the way, coming thru the mt. town of Uhrey, then left there headed up into the Rockies. Tomorrow our day will be at Mesa Verde, hope to bring the blog up to the present with some new pics. Take care, j&s

Nirvana, I've Finally Done It!!!!!!!!

A nice picnic at Ken&Darrell's on Sunday, did quite a bit more walking around their very organized new neighborhood built on the old Denver Stapleton airport. Today was the day, though!! For all those other Coor's drinkers out there, I made it to the mecca of our brew, Golden, CO. Learned much about my beloved Coors, from their new name of Miller-Coors to the fact that they also brew and bottle Blue Moon, Killian's Red, and Keystone beers! Off to the Mesa and Durango tomorrow. Take care, j&s.

Arrived in Denver

Got back on the Zephyr at 4AM this morning and made it to Denver around 5:30PM. Will spend several days before heading down to Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes NP's. Had a good Friday evening at Ken and Darrell's place, toured around Denver for awhile and then got to bed early for Sat. Today (Sat) we helped K&D do some weeding around their rental buildings and just drove around Denver, Sheila was able to locate a quilt shop which she visited. Quiet evening in Denver, tomorrow I'm not sure what we're doing yet, very hot (90+) here today. again, take care, j&s

Visiting Salt Lake City

Have spent the last two days touring the area of SLC, very interesting history and development. Visited the Kennecott Copper Mine, largest in N. America, quite a place, again pics do not represent how immense it is. (sorry the mine pic is sideways but catch the size of those tires and then look at the trucks in the preceding blog pic and then look on the far side of the mine, look like little toys!!) Toured the area around the Mormon Temple (this concert hall is where the tabernacle choir practices) and then today we did a 30 minute hike in the mts (right next to our friend's place) and then went for a ride to the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Sheila and I did a zipline ride right beside the main long jump venue, the highest zipline in the world, that was an experience! Traveled at a top speed of about 55mph and then the braking mechanism slows you right down at the end and you can stand right up (after taking off your harness). Traveled to Park City for lunch and are now back at Jim's friend's home sitting above the city. Will catch some sleep and are due to be back on the Zephyr about 3:30AM (I can't wait to get up at 2:45AM to catch our cab). Anyway, tomorrow off to Denver for our next stopover, will update from there. Hope everyone is having a great summer in Happy Valley, Lancaster, Camp Hill, Palo Alto, Fairfield, Seabeck, or wherever else you're located. Take care, j&s

The Zephyr to Salt Lake City

We had a very enjoyable time with my brother, Stewart, and his wife, Kathy, in Palo Alto, getting to walk around and meet their neighbors and see the urban side of Palo Alto, not just tourist stuff. We did tour Stanford's campus which was very nice and on Tuesday morning, 8/18, we boarded the California Zephyr in Emeryville, CA, which heads to Chicago every day from the West Coast. Our first destination was Salt Lake City, arriving there at 3:20AM (!!!). Great time to get off a train in try to find someone's home, thank goodness for GPS units. The cabbie had one and we just plugged in my old elementary school buddy's name and off we went to his home. Although we did have a sleeper on the train, which is a story by itself, neither Sheila nor I did get much sleep although the train itself was neat. Going through the Sierrra Nevada range leaving California for Nevada was beautiful and we spent a lot of time in the dome car just looking at scenery. Very nice seats in that car that swivel around and let you see landscapes on both sides of the train, even can visit the lounge car and sip a brew (or wine) as you're watching the scenery go by. The sleeper compartments are interesting, that's a story in inself. I'm just glad we had many years of experience with our VW camper bus and how to negotiate small areas and "try" to sleep. Leave SLC Friday morning at 4:30AM, getting into Denver at around 7:35PM, another 17+ hour ride, but it should be good going through the rockies to Denver. The blog has been updated to include pics from our adventure up through Yosemite, tx for looking!!! Everyone take care, we're on the last two weeks of this journey. j&s