Astounding Awesome Arches

We took a trip to Arches National Park, getting an early start to beat the crowds.  It was breathtaking!!  I need a thesaurus to come up with enough words to describe what we saw. The park covers 76,500 acres and is a collection of amazing rock formations.  There are fins, pinnacles, arches, bluffs, mesas, spires, petrified sand dunes, etc. etc.  We were struck by the variety, the size, the beauty, and the views provided in the park.  I was excited to be able to use my Senior National Parks Pass for the first time…(one of the benefits of being old) but it was so early, they didn’t even check it…just sent us through.

The park was the setting for the opening scene in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, and  “Mission Impossible II” had scenes filmed at Arches.  There are so many beautiful pictures, I can’t include them all. We took a drive through the park on a paved road with several sharp switchbacks as the road wound through the park.  There are several overlooks and pullouts.

The sheep rock is a remnant of an arch that eroded, and just the sides are left.  It looks just like a sheep!Balanced Rock is also a well-known icon.  The rock on top weighs as much as 10 school buses!

“The Windows” are also regularly featured as a landmark of Arches. That’s me standing in the center with my arms out!

They say there are 2000 arches in Arches National Park, and that 43 arches are known to have collapsed since 1977.  There is a double arch in the above picture.

Delicate arch is also a well-known icon in the park.  We hope to be able to make a 3 mile hike to the arch tomorrow for a close up view.

 

 

 

The rock formations are made of sandstone and the erosion creates a layer of fine sand on the ground that is just like walking on the beach!  We hiked a short distance on the “beach” to see Sand Dune Arch nestled in the big rocks.

 

What a spectacular display of the earth’s natural beauty, and what a treasure this national park is for all of us!             Herbert Hoover signed the first proclamation creating Arches National monument in 1929.  Then in 1938 Franklin D. Roosevelt enlarged the area of Arches.  LBJ also enlarged Arches in 1969 and Nixon named it a National Park in 1971.  Thanks to these Presidents for creating a place for all of us to enjoy!

Crossing Colorado

We took a beautiful drive across Colorado today. The route along I70 is shown on the map as a “scenic drive”, and certainly lived up to its billing.  The scenery was spectacular, and changed as we rounded each curve.

We climbed up and down the mountains and through the passes.  At one point we were at an altitude of 10,662 feet! 

There were plenty of long steep grades, which seemed to go on forever. The downhill grades are the scariest, because it’s hard to get slowed down once you get going.  There were signs warning the truckers, and we thought this one was funny.  We went through six different tunnels…each had a personality of its own!  And, boy was it nice to go THROUGH the mountain rather than over it!

We passed by lots of small mining towns, then came upon Breckinridge, Vail and Copper Mountain.  It was fun to see the ski areas without snow! 

 

 

Then we hit Utah where the scenery and the speed limit changed!  The speed limit is 80mph!!!  And the countryside is covered with stunning rock landscapes everywhere you look.

We landed at the Moab KOA, and have a beautiful view from both the front window and back.  Can’t wait to begin exploring tomorrow!

Rocky Mountain High

We said goodbye to our Alaska buddies around a “campfire” in the barbeque grill since there is an “extreme” fire danger and firepits are prohibited. It was a great get-together, and safe travels wished to everyone, with a pledge to get together again next year. 

We had originally planned to visit some old friends in Winter Park on Sunday, but due to a family death, they had to fly out to California.  So, we ended up with a leisurely drive to Central City, Colorado, only about 120 miles from Ft. Collins, and just west of Denver.  You could tell we were climbing because our ears kept popping as we curved up and down, and then came upon a beautiful view of the mountains topped with snow!  We can really tell a difference in the altitude..dry thin air, and Spot requires a lot of water!

 

When we got off the interstate, we chuckled as we saw the gateway to Central City…the Casino Parkway!  This tiny city has 8 casinos that operate 24 hours a day!!!  It is an old mining town founded in 1859, and the only thing left here are the casinos, one hotel, a museum, art gallery and several dispensaries! I’m not sure why people come here.  There is a ski area close by, but the campground closes down during the winter.

The campground sits at about 8,200 ft. and provides a beautiful view of the city below.  We did a double-take when we checked into the campground and were warned that there is an active bear alert in the campground.  Apparently a large black bear has been visiting in the evenings and is quite the topic of discussion!   They apologized for having to lock the dumpsters at 8pm each night.  I’d be a little worried if I were staying in one of the tents here.

Music, Biking and the Beer Trail!

Thursday night we went to a great dinner theatre and enjoyed music from Motown and Jerseys—the music was great and even the food was good!

On Friday we toured the Budweiser brewing facility…a HUGE beautiful complex where we were treated to a VIP tour by the master tour guide who really educated us on history, horses, hops, alpha beer and the whole brewing process. 

The highlight was being able to drink the freshest beer we’ll ever taste…less than a day old…we drew our own beer from a chilled tank that was ready to be bottled! 

Ft. Collins has a large number of breweries due to the availability of high quality water from the mountain streams that results in exceptional beer quality. 

The city also is very bike-friendly with beautiful paths throughout the city.  We took a long bike ride on Saturday, and went by 3 different breweries--

…got stopped by a train….and found a bike “fix it” station along the path—complete with air, tools and instructions— (thank goodness we didn’t need it)

….passed by a “dispensary” complete with a van touting “security for the Cannabis Industry”….(there’s an entire side story on this topic—the place was bustling!)

…and we saw some very pretty scenery along the way!

The weather has been fantastic—cool nights and warm days—perfect fall weather.

On the Road Again....

We're on another road trip--this time headed west! We'll spend about 6 weeks in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico before we head to Scottsdale.  We left Indy on Saturday, September 3 and stopped in Branson to visit a friend who was the Wagon Master on our Alaska trip 3 summers ago.  Then we headed to Ft. Collins, Colorado where we joined for a reunion of motorhomes from that Alaska trip.  Six motorhomes made it this year, coming from California, New Jersey, Michigan, Oklahoma, Missouri, and us from Indiana.  We had a great time catching up with everyone's adventures!

We visited the New Belgium brewery on Wednesday, where everyone got an education and quite a few tastes of beer!  They produce more than 300,000 bottles of beer each day!!  Quite an interesting view into the brewery that makes Fat Tire beer!

On Thursday we took a beautiful drive up the Poudree Canyon, and saw some amazing scenery.  And the aspens are just now beginning to turn, so the color is beautiful!

Right outside the campground is a rock formation that looks like a tilted table! Our group has had a great time sitting around the table sharing stories.  It's amazing how a group of people who came together because of a motorhome caravan have become such good friends!

We have a lot more activities planned...I hope to be able to keep up with the blog!