Leaving Montrose and Black Canyon of the Gunnison, we high-tailed it south for the last few stops of our three-month trip. The first leg took us down the Million Dollar Highway, named for the views … but which could also be the price tag of repairs, if you lose concentration on this narrow, hairpin-turn, slow-goin’, steep-grade, views-a-plenty, nerve...
WHO HAS BEEN DREAMING of visiting Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park?! Wait, you’ve never heard of it? Admittedly, it is not on many people’s radar, and therefore, we had fairly low expectations. We were shocked, therefore, at its “wow factor” … surprising scale and unusual beauty, best described in superlatives: Deepest! Steepest! Narrowest...
We’re still flyin’ high, at 9,000 feet, here in the alpine paradise of Crested Butte. Surrounded with majestic mountain peaks in every direction, it’s breathtaking (literally) … case in point, “Crested Butte Oxygen Rentals” is a real business, and real busy. The quintessential charming Colorado town, Crested Butte...
We’re in the land of the “Collegiate Peaks,” a range of 14,000’+ mountains all named for Ivy League schools. Hence, Mt. Princeton, Mt. Yale, Mt. Harvard, Mt. Columbia, et al. We’re “out of our league,” feeling inferior, because there is no Mt. Community College or Mt. Trade School to be found. On one side of Buena Vista and...
We’re in Leadville, the richest silver mining boom town in Colorado, with no worldly explanation of why it’s not therefore called Silverville, but I digress. Even in the rough-and-tumble days of 1880, it was one of the most sophisticated and modern cities in the world. Remember “Unsinkable Molly Brown” of Titanic fame? She’s from here, as was...
Just west of Denver, but a world away both weather-wise and population-wise, lies Clear Creek County. Up in the mountains, the air is clearer, the temperatures are cooler, and we can’t breathe. Like, at all. This is the beginning of a long’ish period of living at 8,500 feet altitude (or higher), and I wonder if we are really cut out for these Rocky...
It’s just a hop, skip and a jump across the border from Wyoming to get to Greeley, 50 miles north of Denver. Here, we spent the 4th of July weekend, attending the 100th Anniversary of the Greeley Independence Stampede. The Stampede’s mission, dating back to the late 1800s, is to “celebrate our nation’s independence and preserve our western heritage...
We had plans to rip up the town in both Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming, but those plans were quickly modified as we nestled in our campsite at Curt Gowdy State Park, located midway between the two cities. Why exactly would we want to leave to go anywhere? (Full disclosure: we didn’t really get rowdy at Curt Gowdy, but who can resist a good rhyme?) Curt Gowdy SP...
Leaving Custer, SD, we crossed over the Wyoming border into NW Nebraska. Many think Nebraska is nothing more than a “flyover” state, but we saw some really cool things! For instance … in Alliance, Nebraska, it’s NOT Stonehenge … it’s Carhenge! Stonehenge – ENGLAND Carhenge – NEBRASKA A to-scale replica of the...
Check out this “jewel” of a place in Custer, South Dakota: Jewel Cave National Monument! Indeed, she’s a bit of a hidden “gem” in this area, living in the shadow of other more well-known attractions such as Custer State Park and its thousands of roaming bison, Wind Cave National Park, and of course Mount Rushmore. Jewel Cave was so named...