Well gang, we are on the road for our Colorado vacation. Left this morning about 9:30. Had an uneventful trip for the most part. On I40 west bound near Hinton, Ok. we had a semi that was all over the road. After a few miles of it we dropped the dime on him. Not sure if the Troopers were able to stop him but I hope they did before he caused a wreck.

We've got the Merc loaded down pretty well. The trunk is cavernous and easily handled four large back pack, three smaller cases, a mid sized ice chest and a 50 quart ice chest. There was still quite a bit of room left over. With four of us in the car and cruising 75 or so we got right at 25 mpg, both via the indicated on the dash and the hand figured method.

Got to the Best Western in Pueblo at about 8:00. Check it was fine. Travelocity had us a room but there was some minor confusion. Got it all corrected though.

The scenery was a nice transition from semi-desert to the foot hill of the Rockies. Ears were popping a bit. Gave the kids home made beef jerky to chew on to help. The road kill got a lot larger the further up the road we went. Tomorrow we go to Royal Gorge and then to the Cliff Dwellings. We were going to do Pike's Peak but wife and daughter do not like heights.

Everybody was in good spirits for the trip and there was minimal fussing.

Will keep ya'll posted.

Can't wait for Chapter 2!

Have fun.

X2 X2

Like this??

Mark

Yeah, I really wanted to. I like heights and things like that.

We just got up, it 6:30 local time. Wife is ready for breakfast and daughter is getting that way. Son is going to sleep in.

I forgot to mention that yesterday we picnicked along side the rode in a rest stop in the north Texas panhandle. Read some of the history markers there. The XIT ranch, a 3 MILLION acre ranch was once part of that area. There was mention of Billy the Kid and other notorious outlaws. As you drive across that landscape you can easily picture in your mind desperadoes moving across the sage and mesquite brush.

I will come back and maybe edit this entry as the day goes by.

Take care.

Great. Drive safely and have fun!

BTW, how did you manage to get the daughter up so early? I should take notes and forward to my mother!

We are in a small suite. She had to choose the hide a bed.
When wife and I get up we make noise. She wants to eat but does not want to eat alone so she gets up and get ready.
Takes my wife ten minutes to do makeup, daughter it takes over 30!!!
Son is now making sounds like getting up. He may join us or may eat later. He is fine by himself but his sister ofter ropes him in to going places with her so she feels more secure.

Today we are headed to Royal Gorge and then the cliff dwellings at Manitou Springs. I may try to post some photos.

Nice trip log PH. Keep it up. It's almost like we're there with you.

Royal Gorge is great. Lots of small deer around the area to photo.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? I need to go potty!"

Enjoy your vacation PH.

I had 5 kids in the car with me for 3 hours on Saturday. I threatened a side trip to Home Depot if they were too loud. All was well.

Nice reports PH.
We've made a few trips to Co Springs in the past (Hockey Tournaments). Always had a great time and love the scenery.

One trip was a full circle. We drove in a storm all the way from St. George UT and it didn't let up until we were on the other side of the rookies. Maybe avg'd 25mph all the way across on the I-70. So we ended up returning home coming back down thru Albuquerque and across on the I-40.

Have a great time. The gorge is way cool, not sure how much they'll enjoy it being scared of heights though.

Well we made it to Breckenridge.
We were using a Magellan road mate or something like that and some maps I printed up from Google. The maps bailed out the Magellan a couple of time. Cannot trust the Magellan in areas with many cross streets.

The roads were wonderful to drive on. Had to slip the Merc into low a couple of times to keep off of the brakes. Someone ahead of me did not know this trick and all you could smell was hot brakes.

We loved Royal Gorge. The kids and I hiked across the bridge a couple of time and got some good photos which I will post later. We rode the incline railroad down into the gorge and got to see some folks shoot the rapids on rafts and kayaks. The passenger train stopped while we were there and we got some photos of it as well. Man, when he hit his horn just about everybody jumped!

We went to the cliff dwellings in Pueblo. Kind of neat but just a little too restored for me. Also not a lot of history or archeology type stuff.

From there we drove on a bit and had another roadside lunch along side the highway. Got into Breckenridge about 6:00 PM and got into our place. Ran down to a local grocery and bought some vittles. Kind of a shock to see chicken breast selling for what a Porterhouse brings back home. First night we cooked some frozen pizza, at least those were more in line price wise with what we are used to.

Picked up some Fat Tire ale. Cannot remember who on the board talked about it some time back but the name stuck in my mind.

I can see why he liked it. Darn good amber ale.

There is a nice breeze blowing through the room. There is still snow up on the mountains and the temp here is very pleasant.

Tomorrow we head into Leadville for some sightseeing and some horseback riding.

Ye haw!!!


Parrott_head

Well up at the crack of dawn this morning. Cooking up some bacon for omelets this morning. Wife and I both logged in on the free 'net access.
The condo we are at in nicely stocked with cooking tools.

The kids went out last night checking out the place. We told them stay together and be respectful of others. Them made it back before ten and went on to bed. Amazing how sleeping in a car can make you so worn out.

On to Leadville in a bit. Will see if Maggie (out electronic and slightly confused tour guide) and Google will agree on a route. My money is on Google.

Oh, the Fat Tire beer is very good.

Lucky bums. I'm jealous.

Well we just got back from Leadville...what a trip. Very nice town. I like it a bit more than Breckenridge since it's not striving all that hard for atmosphere.

We went to the Mining Museum. That was neat. Bought a big geode
stone. Went to the cabin Baby Doe Tabordied in. Quite a rags to riches to rags story there. In the late 1800's the Tabors spent 15K on christening dresses for their daughters.

After that we had a picnic lunch and fed the squirrels some scraps. The next stop was the horse riding stables.
We got to the stable fine and were put on our mounts. My daughter has done some horseback lessons so they put her on a more spirited horse. My son and wife got gentle mounts and I got one named Little Bit. Name should have been "One who knows where every low branch in Colorado is" but I guess that's a little long. The horse was pretty bad about rubbing right up against the trees, many of which had stubs on them.

The ride was 3.5 hours long. We saw some gorgeous vistas and glens. There were several abandoned cabins still left from the gold rush days. Also some mines and exploratory holes. Most of the trail was pretty vertical. Often times we were completely under the canopy of pines and aspens. There were hundreds of tree stumps left from logging. I figured maybe from the '40's or 50's. Come to find out they were from 1880. Seems there are no termites up that way and it is so dry most of the time that decomposition takes forever.

After we finished our ride we went back to Leadville to eat at Quincy's Steakhouse. They only do Fillet Mignon's. You have your choice of sizes but that's it. The 15 oz one is only about 16 bucks. A really great deal and the steaks were top notch.

After that we went back to our rooms. Maggie (the navigation unit) gave us directions back that took us through Frisco for no reason what so ever.

We are now back in our room. Kids are racking out for a bit, may go to the spa later. Wife is editing the photos, I may post later. I'm having a Fat Tire.

Sure is pretty up here. The Merc made it up Summit Pass ok, the tach never went below 4200 but the temp was ok.

On the way back in some idiot talking on her cell phone pulled out from a stop sign on Highway 9 right in front of us. Got the car shut down but it sure scared us.

UM, I'm enjoying this trip with you. Good to hear that you all are enjoying our neighbor state...
LBS

Sounds like a great trip PH. & it's really funny that you call your GPS (Magelleon, no doubt) "Maggie." That's what we call ours as well. The Admiral started it all from when she was travelling for business and had the GPS unit in her rental car.

WhaddI tell ya about Leadville? Neat place. Eat at Quincy's everytime I am in Leadville for dinner. They used to do a mean prime rib on Saturdays for $10 too.

I like the Mining Museums 'walk thru' display areas. Just like being in a mine. Great history here as well. You can spend a whole afternoon in there and not see it all. Doc Holiday has some great history in this town. I think they still have a museum there for him too. Glad you like my little area of the world...... sounds like fun.

I love museums...any kind. This puts me on the outs with my family. They want to do a museum in 30 minuets or less. I can spend 3-4 hours in a simple museum, no problem.

Today we went to Buena Vista and rented a Jeep. The guy renting it to us was very nice and gracious but not entirely organized.
We drove up to Cottonwood Pass, on the Continental Divide. Didn't need a Jeep for that. Drove down to the other side and went to Taylor Lake. Very pretty.

We went back across the divide and drove over to Lost Canyon.
On the way up there we stopped off for a picnic at a place the Jeep owner recommended. From a granite outcropping you had a view of the entire valley for miles in every direction. Sure made a nice accompaniment to the company and the food.


We went to a working gold mine near Lost Canyon. When we pulled onto the location we were nearly the only ones there. The mine is for sale. It's the type of mining, called passer I think, where the gold is found in the soil, not in veins. I visited with an older woman who was in a Jeep as well. Found out she and her husband were the owners. They had sold the mine two years back but had to foreclose on the buyer. She explained to me the mining operation. They let hobby prospectors work the claim. She and her husband are from Indiana and have a farm up that way. They were getting ready to leave and asked me to lock the gate to the place when we left. We scouted around a bit and then left.

We drove up to a couple of abandoned miners cabins. Man, the stories they could tell! As we were headed back down the trail we saw a mama beaver and three of her offspring. They each reared back on their haunches and looked at us. One of the little ones barked at us repeatedly.

The drive up and back was fun, a little narrow with extreme drop offs but really nothing too bad.

I was wanting to do more but the S and D team were bushed so we headed on back to camp.

One thing I really like about Colorado is the folks here really seem to take pride in their state. We have seen almost no litter. The vacant camp sites we saw were clean.

Well, got to get some dinner and then sit down with a good book to relax with.

Later.....

PH, glad to hear you are enjoying Colorado. I lived there over 20 years and grew up there. If fact, my 2 kids have been there the last 6 weeks spending time with various family. They are currently in Estes Park at a family reunion we all should be at but for the fact my wife got rear-ended in the end of May and can ride in a car that long. Hope you've had a chance to visit Breckenridge Brewery. I've spent many a night watching the Colorado Avalanche play while drinking an Avalanche Ale.
The trip to Buena Vista must have been quite a long one (considering) for a day trip.
If I may be so bold to ask, where are you staying? The last 2 years my father-in-law has rented a cabin called Lauraway. And by cabin I mean 3 floors, 5 bedrooms, pool table, hot tub, and decks on all floors. Great way to enjoy the views.
Enjoy your vacation!!

We are staying in a condo at The Village. A unit that is set up to where it could be rented out as two one bedroom units with one of those having a kitchen. Kind of odd but a very practical arrangement.

I will go by the brewery today. I planned this day as an off day. Daughter wants to go shopping with wife. I will use the GPS to do some Geocaching.

Wife is editing the photos we have taken. Will probably put them online later today.

Later....

Are you working for the Colorado Tourist Board because your making me want to go there again?

Enjoy your day PH.

Well I took a walking tour of Breckenridge today. Must say that now that I have walked the town I like it a lot more.
Found two geocaches, the Garmin eTrex walked me right up to them.

I stopped by Breckenridge Brewery and had an Oatmeal Stout and a burger. Bartender told me it was happy hour and I didn't look happy enough. Ordered an English Pale Ale. My thanks to TEG and his countrymen for this fine addition to our cuisine.

Walked on down to the firehouse museum. You go next door to the fire station and a fireman will give you the tour. Angelo was my tour guide. After a bit the squad was alerted and he left.

Walked over to the Barney L. Ford Museum. Barney was a ex-slave who became a successful business man. He twice fought statehood for Colorado until it the statehood movement put language into the state constitution granting blacks voting rights. As a child he only had his first name.

I also walked over to a monument to the U.S Army Tenth Mountain Division..
My wife had a great uncle who recently passed away. He was an officer with the Tenth just started up. He was selected for this unit due to his background of having worked with farm animals and having learned how to snow ski.
He had lots of funny stories about the US Army coming to terms with the Norwegian instructors. Seems the instructors were not to thrilled with the Army's choice of OD Green as a uniform.

He later fought at the Apennine Mountains in Italy. After the war he was a member of the Army of Occupation in Japan.

He had a lot of stories, some funny, some not.

Finally wandered back up to my room where I picked a fight with the kid who were watching TV instead of being outside.

Later...

The Admiral/Navigator has informed me we are headed back Saturday with a stop in Wilson, KS to partake in a Czechoslovakian (thank you Mr. Spellcheck..)festival. Sounds like fun to me. We will spend the afternoon at the festival and leave the next morning for home.


You know what you call it when Czechoslovakian woman gets an abortion??





...a cancelled Czech.....


I'm horrible....

BOOOOOOOOOOOO!