Chapter 31 Travels with Cali July 17: I left Flying J about 6:00 am and headed west for a bit, then south. Cali—Wow! I've never seen Mommy up this early before! I wonder what is going on? Crazy fool that I am, I decided not to go through Cheyenne and Denver to Pueblo. I'm not quite tired of seeing mountains yet, so I aimed for Steamboat Springs, CO. That way I thought I could bypass two big cities and a lot of time on the Interstate. (I prefer back roads to Interstate.) Of course, I didn't look closely at the map [View Full Entry]

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On Friday night, the 18th, I flew into Denver where I met up with Montserrat. Montse had never been skiing before, but was willing to go. One of the few who were willing to, even with a free condo thrown in, what is wrong with people? Montse is a friend from Mexico, who now lives in San Francisco. She is adventurous and a ton of fun, and made a great addition to the trip. We waited for, what seemed like hours, for my board to come around and met Steve outside of the airport. After we loaded up we made the [View Full Entry]

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Independence Pass The gray gigantic curtain of rain hid the Independence pass. The smell of water filled the air. The temperature was dropping quickly. The dark shadow of the thick heavy clouds slowly enveloped the mountain sides. At the bottom of the valley, the condition was the opposite. The flat bottom was basking goldenly in the bright sunshine. Earlier when we just left Aspen, we passed a beautiful dreamy forest. Skinny trees with lush green leaves stand in pack formation on both sides of the road. Green trees, gray asphalt, yellow road lines, and blue sky were the only th [View Full Entry]

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Aspen Don’t get fooled by the bland brick building and simple Victorian architectures around town. Aspen is very opulent; the epitome of luxury, style, and grace. Strolling down the streets, big fashion names that fill Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Fifth Ave in Manhattan, Avenue Montaigne in Paris, and Bond Street in London are well represented here. Arts Galleries that cater to the strangest tastes are as common as Toyota in Tokyo. I never heard the “organic contemporary style” term till I opened the Aspen Home Design magazine. The style, according to the magazi [View Full Entry]

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Vail We were pleasantly surprised to find Austria on the way to Aspen when we decided to make an ice-cream stop. Vail, a ski resort town, had to be designed by a home-sick Austrian architect. It features the wooden Austrian bridge that goes over a creek, narrow roads, Alpine houses and condos with ornate shields, crests, and flags and colorful and fragrant flowers on the windows. At around two thousand dollars per square feet, I could own a tiny piece of a small Austrian ski village replica. The dining options are stupendous in this town. There are many great places to [View Full Entry]

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Loveland Pass After a brief stop at Georgetown, we headed west on I-70. My longing for exhilarating driving was answered by the Loveland Pass highway sign. Anything with the word “Pass” in this mountain region means driving ecstasy. Without a GPS, I took the exit ramp. I didn’t care where this US-6 West would lead me. All I knew, I was about to experience the mountain road that would wake up all my senses. Route US-6 is a wide nicely paved ascending two-lane undivided highway with ample emergency lanes on both sides. The highest point at the pass is 11990 ft. [View Full Entry]

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Reaching to the Sky I’d like to add one more instance of addiction if I could, the instance that I personally have; an addiction for driving through mountain passes. To satiate such longing, my girlfriend and I decided to head for The Rockies for my long weekend getaway. First, I didn’t want to drive my car to the Rockies as it would be quite a drive from my hometown, San Francisco. But, if we fly, how will we ensure that we get a fun car to drive through the stratospheric mountain passes? Georgetown Our first stop after passing the boring part [View Full Entry]

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This is my first entry on a blog. We just watched the movie Julie and Julia yesterday and I thought that it was about time that I created a blog. We have been traveling since we got married 45 years ago and I have documented little of the stories that we have accumulated. This is my chance to write about our many adventures, both good and bad. [View Full Entry]

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La vida es loca. Quiero experimentar lo todo. It's all becoming so real. Daily conversations, detailed itineraries, a potential sublet; my life is progressing full force down an unknown path. Oh.... the joy. Today Alex came by to meet the roomies and check out the place. She was really cool, calm, collected; the perfect roommate. The day progressed into a blur of internet perusing and a stellar caffeine buzz. It seems that every turn I take continues to direct me to South America. A friend living in Lima for the summer, a hook up in Buenos Aires, an ideal 5 day [View Full Entry]

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Tomorrow is the big trip! (sorry for the color change. something is wrong with the computer.) We will not have time to write this tomorrow so Happy Vetrans Day! We will be flying from Denver to New York and from there to Madrid.We will arrive in Madrid on Thursday, and we will go to my grandparents' in Mallorca. From there, we will leave for Paris on November 17th. The travel blog is so you could all get updates on what is going on during our trip. If your reading this Mrs. Ferris,tell Nathan I said hi. (that was supposed to be [View Full Entry]

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