Well the remainder of the trip was just a matter of pointing the car in the direction of home and trying to stay in between the two weather fronts. We had spent the night in Amarillo Texas and left on the morning of the 10th under very overcast skies with some light misty rain. We were now traveling on Interstate highways in order to make some good time. The sight seeing was over and the objective was just to get home. In the eastern part of Oklahoma the countryside varied from slightly hilly farmlands with a few trees and bushes to [View Full Entry]

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Today is Friday and our plan had been to spend a few more days in Colorado Springs and then to start heading home on Sunday or Monday. However, it seems that the weather once again is changing our plan. Ahead of us is a rainy stormy front and behind us is a snowy cold front that is evidently to bring some unseasonably very cold weather and quite a bit of snow. This morning the temp is 33 degrees and there is a small amount of snow on the car. Considering the weather report and the fact that it will only get [View Full Entry]

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What a difference a day can make when it comes to the weather. Yesterday it was 70 degrees when we arrived in Colorado Springs and this morning it was 37 degrees with light snow. UGH!!! We had planned to go to Pikes Peak but obviously that was out of the question due to snow on the mountain. We chose instead to visit the Air Force Military Academy and the Chapel. At the visitor center, we viewed a short film about the academy and then I went to the Chapel to photograph this architecturally interesting building. The following is information written about [View Full Entry]

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We moved on to Colorado Springs today via a pretty direct route through mountain passes. What a huge variation in temperature and overall weather. The temp in Montrose was 43 with totally overcast skies. It dropped down to 32 with snow flurries in the mountains and then gradually up to as high as 70 degrees and clear blue sunny skies when we arrived in Colorado Springs. Winter to summer in a matter of a couple of hours. That's Colorado!! Because it was such a gorgeous clear day, we chose to drive up Pikes Peak. Unfortunately it was 3pm, the park closed [View Full Entry]

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After the rainy day we had yesterday, we were very happy to see bright sunny skies even though it was a little cool with temps in the high 40's and low 50's. Our plan was to visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It is one of the steepest, darkest and most rugged of canyons and was formed by the Gunnison River as it flowed through hard ancient rocks at the western edge of the Rocky Mountains, on its way to joining the Colorado river at Grand Junction. The gorge reaches depths of over 2,000 feet while often being [View Full Entry]

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Well this was not the most exciting day that we have had. It was time to take care of some necessary auto maintenance and so we stopped at The Big O tire dealership to have the tires rotated and to get an oil change. While in the waiting room, several people came in and said that it was snowing to the north and also to the south up in the mountains. This afternoon we thought that we would visit Ouray. Ouray is about 40 miles south of Montrose so we headed out to see this town that is advertised as the [View Full Entry]

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Well flexibility is always best when traveling. We were to go to Black Canyon National Park today, but because of the changeable weather, we thought it was best to see Telluride and surrounding areas while we could. What a fabulous area of Colorado. I think that this is my favourite of all the places we have seen in this state. We headed out on Highway 550 from Montrose towards the town of Ridgway, then onto Hwy 62 also known as the San Juan Skyway/Million Dollar Road. From there it was onto a small road that Frank had discovered on a previous [View Full Entry]

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This morning we left Salida and eventually ended up in Montrose to the west but not by the most direct route. We wanted to see Aspen which is quite a way north of Salida, so we took a rather circuitous route which included Highway 82 through the mountains and across the Continental Divide at Independence Pass. We've seen many mountain passes and crossed the continental divide numerous times but this particular route was spectacular to say the least. The east side of the pass road reminded me of the Going To The Sun road in Glacier national park. It snaked along [View Full Entry]

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Its difficult to imagine that this area of central Colorado didn always exist as we know it today. The geological history is fascinating and the more I see and learn the more Im amazed. Everywhere we look its a breathtaking panorama. This morning the air was a cool 49 degrees, the skies once again pure blue but today they were especially clear over the mountains. The temp was below freezing last night and the little fountain in front of this wonderful hotel froze for the first time this winter. Little Oscar, the resident Dachshund was not impressed with the cold weather [View Full Entry]

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Well the weather continues to be simply great. Although the cold front came through and the temp this morning was in the low 40s, the sun continues to shine and the skies are as blue as they can be. The snow has been confined to the higher elevations so we haven seen any of it. The air out here is clean and fresh and the scenery beyond description. Today we went to the The Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was absolutely amazing. Who would think that there would be massive sand dunes at the base of the mountains in Colorado. [View Full Entry]

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