Day 5
Well, I thought that a whole day of driving through Kansas would be totally boring, but it isn’t. The prairies were beautiful and the high plains are so different from what I expected. There is an air of complete desolation. There is just nothing but green fields and fences for miles and miles. I can’t imagine what a snowstorm must be like out here. I feel like I have dropped back 50 years. However, this is slightly marred by the image of cowboys herding cattle with ATVs!
We are heading to Colorado Springs to be with my sister and her new husband Bill tonight. Hopefully, we will get there at some reasonable time but it is almost a 600 mile drive. I must say that it is easy driving though.. We will be there through the weekend and then off to Arches National Park in Utah (at least that is the plan). Gail said that they had blizzards nearby just a couple of weeks ago (just like we had in Webster). The weather is supposed to be good.
Well we arrived in Colorado Springs after a really nice drive. Gail and Bill greeted us with a gourmet dinner and we finally collapsed in bed around 10. The altitude makes me feel lightheaded and not very hungry.
Bill told me that the herd I saw at the side of the road were antelope (as in deer and antelope play). For some strange reason, it never occurred to me that there was an actual animal called an antelope. Don’t know what I was thinking!! So I can add that to my list of animals seen on the trip.
Day 6 – Colorado Springs
We awoke to a beautiful sunny day and spent the morning sitting on their patio, drinking coffee and soaking up some sun. Bill and Gail have a wonderful garden and a lovely patio to just soak in Colorado Springs. We then set off to explore a little of the city and see where my father taught. It is a beautiful small city with Pike’s Peak as a backdrop. You can see the mountains from Bill and Gail’s front door. We had a wonderful lunch at this little café. We spent the afternoon absorbing more of that sun while Bill and Warren went out for a walk in this incredible park in the city. Bill made some awesome fajitas for dinner and we had breakfast burritos with the leftovers the following morning. I was totally exhausted by 8 and went to sleep.
Day 7
Well finally got some sleep and we headed back onto the road to see some more of the scenic views in Colorado Springs – truly a beautiful town with wonderful architecture. A real eclectic mix of styles greeted us in some of the nicer sections of town. There were tremendous views of the valley and city from high up on a dirt road that just went up and up! We gabbed more and had another of Bill’s awesome meals from his smoker. We are still eating up the remnants on the road.
Day 8
Warren finally got his butt out of bed. He had of course dumped my plan for where we were supposed to head to next. Bill and Gail showed us an alternate more interesting way to get to Arches from their house, so that we could do the back roads with some more interesting sights. Warren of course decided we needed to go somewhere that he could kayak so he chose Elk Creek on the Blue Mesa reservoir near the Black Canyon of Gunniston. The ride there was incredible. The roads were great and the scenery seemed to change completely every 10 miles. The weather also had a habit of changing as well.
We were up at 11,000 feet and had snow. This was at the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass. The snow was piled high next to the building. We saw an incredible bright, bright blue Stellar Jay there. As the day progressed, we got thunderstorms and lots of rain as the day got later. By the time we got to the campground, it was high winds and we couldn’t even get the tent up so we opted for the van for sleeping. As the night wore on, obviously the clouds disbursed as the temps went down into the low 30’s and it was darn cold.
Day 9
We awoke to a beautiful morning over the reservoir though. We had seen a herd of mule deer just a couple of campsites up the previous evening although they didn’t stand still for getting their picture taken. The weather is amazing. Even though it was cold, it felt warm as the sun is so warm when it is out. It was gorgeous again and we got on the road after a leisurely breakfast at the campsite. Only two miles down the road, we saw big horn sheep just standing there – they did pose for their pictures.
We headed to another National Park called Black Canyon of Gunniston which I had seen in my Park book. We basically spent most of the day driving and stopping at the scenic overlooks along the way. It was incredibly beautiful and different again from anything we had seen so far.
Warren again decided on a new course to be taken so we headed for yet another campground with a reservoir. Now mind you, I had done lots of research about campgrounds etc and expected to be in Utah by now. He found a Colorado state park that looked promising. I kept asking him what the altitude was. Believe it or not, I have actually pretty much adjusted to about 7000 feet by now but still get dizzy when higher. Well, the ride to this campsite goes down in Brandkamp annals -- the adventure kind. As we drove down this “scenic byway”, we kept getting higher and higher and more and more snow. Warren laughingly said that he hoped that the reservoir was liquid. No sooner did he say that then we passed another reservoir that was frozen solid!!! We finally ended up at 11,000 feet again with yet more snow. I did not have great hopes for his campground and my expectations were met. At least this one has electricity but still no showers. We will have the heater in the van tonight. It is at 8000 feet and damned cold yet again. I will make sure he knows the elevation the next time. I don’t think he will be kayaking here either!! On to Arches and a motel tomorrow!!!
Well, I thought that a whole day of driving through Kansas would be totally boring, but it isn’t. The prairies were beautiful and the high plains are so different from what I expected. There is an air of complete desolation. There is just nothing but green fields and fences for miles and miles. I can’t imagine what a snowstorm must be like out here. I feel like I have dropped back 50 years. However, this is slightly marred by the image of cowboys herding cattle with ATVs!
We are heading to Colorado Springs to be with my sister and her new husband Bill tonight. Hopefully, we will get there at some reasonable time but it is almost a 600 mile drive. I must say that it is easy driving though.. We will be there through the weekend and then off to Arches National Park in Utah (at least that is the plan). Gail said that they had blizzards nearby just a couple of weeks ago (just like we had in Webster). The weather is supposed to be good.
Well we arrived in Colorado Springs after a really nice drive. Gail and Bill greeted us with a gourmet dinner and we finally collapsed in bed around 10. The altitude makes me feel lightheaded and not very hungry.
Bill told me that the herd I saw at the side of the road were antelope (as in deer and antelope play). For some strange reason, it never occurred to me that there was an actual animal called an antelope. Don’t know what I was thinking!! So I can add that to my list of animals seen on the trip.
Day 6 – Colorado Springs
We awoke to a beautiful sunny day and spent the morning sitting on their patio, drinking coffee and soaking up some sun. Bill and Gail have a wonderful garden and a lovely patio to just soak in Colorado Springs. We then set off to explore a little of the city and see where my father taught. It is a beautiful small city with Pike’s Peak as a backdrop. You can see the mountains from Bill and Gail’s front door. We had a wonderful lunch at this little café. We spent the afternoon absorbing more of that sun while Bill and Warren went out for a walk in this incredible park in the city. Bill made some awesome fajitas for dinner and we had breakfast burritos with the leftovers the following morning. I was totally exhausted by 8 and went to sleep.
Day 7
Well finally got some sleep and we headed back onto the road to see some more of the scenic views in Colorado Springs – truly a beautiful town with wonderful architecture. A real eclectic mix of styles greeted us in some of the nicer sections of town. There were tremendous views of the valley and city from high up on a dirt road that just went up and up! We gabbed more and had another of Bill’s awesome meals from his smoker. We are still eating up the remnants on the road.
Day 8
Warren finally got his butt out of bed. He had of course dumped my plan for where we were supposed to head to next. Bill and Gail showed us an alternate more interesting way to get to Arches from their house, so that we could do the back roads with some more interesting sights. Warren of course decided we needed to go somewhere that he could kayak so he chose Elk Creek on the Blue Mesa reservoir near the Black Canyon of Gunniston. The ride there was incredible. The roads were great and the scenery seemed to change completely every 10 miles. The weather also had a habit of changing as well.
We were up at 11,000 feet and had snow. This was at the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass. The snow was piled high next to the building. We saw an incredible bright, bright blue Stellar Jay there. As the day progressed, we got thunderstorms and lots of rain as the day got later. By the time we got to the campground, it was high winds and we couldn’t even get the tent up so we opted for the van for sleeping. As the night wore on, obviously the clouds disbursed as the temps went down into the low 30’s and it was darn cold.
Day 9
We awoke to a beautiful morning over the reservoir though. We had seen a herd of mule deer just a couple of campsites up the previous evening although they didn’t stand still for getting their picture taken. The weather is amazing. Even though it was cold, it felt warm as the sun is so warm when it is out. It was gorgeous again and we got on the road after a leisurely breakfast at the campsite. Only two miles down the road, we saw big horn sheep just standing there – they did pose for their pictures.
We headed to another National Park called Black Canyon of Gunniston which I had seen in my Park book. We basically spent most of the day driving and stopping at the scenic overlooks along the way. It was incredibly beautiful and different again from anything we had seen so far.
Warren again decided on a new course to be taken so we headed for yet another campground with a reservoir. Now mind you, I had done lots of research about campgrounds etc and expected to be in Utah by now. He found a Colorado state park that looked promising. I kept asking him what the altitude was. Believe it or not, I have actually pretty much adjusted to about 7000 feet by now but still get dizzy when higher. Well, the ride to this campsite goes down in Brandkamp annals -- the adventure kind. As we drove down this “scenic byway”, we kept getting higher and higher and more and more snow. Warren laughingly said that he hoped that the reservoir was liquid. No sooner did he say that then we passed another reservoir that was frozen solid!!! We finally ended up at 11,000 feet again with yet more snow. I did not have great hopes for his campground and my expectations were met. At least this one has electricity but still no showers. We will have the heater in the van tonight. It is at 8000 feet and damned cold yet again. I will make sure he knows the elevation the next time. I don’t think he will be kayaking here either!! On to Arches and a motel tomorrow!!!
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