It seems that the weather is favouring us and the storm that was to drop snow and rain, stayed further to the north. Our route today took us first to Royal Gorge. The Royal Gorge (also known as the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas river) is a canyon on the Arkansas River near Canon City, Colorado. With a width of 50 feet at its base and a few hundred feet at its top, and a depth of 1,250 feet in places, the 10-mile-long canyon is a narrow, steep gorge through the granite of Fremont Peak. It is one of the deepest canyons in Colorado. In 1929 Canon City authorized the building of the Royal Gorge Bridge, which at 1,053 feet above the river is the highest suspension bridge over water in the world. We didn venture ... read more

Our second day in Frisco we headed out to see Vail and Steamboat springs. They are popular well known ski resorts and the playgrounds of the rich and famous. Vail is very compact and crowded with the center of the village closed to traffic. It was very quiet because it's autumn so the summer crowds have gone and the winter snow and skiers have not yet arrived. There was a huge amount of building going on. It was hard to imagine that they could squeeze any more condos into such a small space but it was happening. I walked around the village for a short time and then we drove on to Steamboat Springs. The town derived it's name from the hot springs in the areas which sounded like a steamboat to early settlers. It's larger ... read more

The weather forecast for today is for very warm weather, so although we will be traveling on the Trail Ridge road across the park on Sunday, we decided to do part of the trail today and take time for photos. The day began with bright sunshine and temps in the high 60's in town. We headed out through the canyon and into Estes which is at the entrance to the park. When we reached the park gate we were told that it was some sort of National something day and that there was no entry fee. That fact, plus the nice weather told us that it would probably be quite busy in the park and we were right. There was lots of traffic but the park is so huge that it wasn't a problem at all. ... read more

The weather continues to control our visit here in this area. The mountain pass in the park is still closed and the skies over the mountains indicate that it is possibly snowing up there. The skies to the south of us were partially blue so we decided to head in the direction of Boulder and potentially better weather. Although Frank had researched the scenic routes well before the trip we made one slight detour was to the Colorado Welcome Center to gather more material and maps. Boulder is the home of The Flatirons and Chautauqua park. The Flatirons, named by pioneer women after the flat, metal irons used to press their clothes, are five large outcroppings of rock ranging from north to south along the east slope of Green Mountain. Information at the Chautauqua meadows told ... read more

Although the sky was very overcast and threatening, the temps were mild and the roads dry as we started out on Snow Ridge Road, our last scenic route through southern Wyoming. Wyoming is a beautiful state with so much wide open land, fresh air, wildlife, desert, high plains, prairie and mountains. We've had good weather until the last couple of days so really can't complain. Frank's friend Chuck was quite funny when he asked what were the three most important things we had learned about Wyoming. The correct answer according to Chuck is take every opportunity to stop for gas, take advantage of every bathroom you see and the third is that wind makes all the difference. He was absolutely right. Gasoline and bathrooms are few and far between out in the desert and mountainous areas ... read more