Tour Diary - Day Four
Nov. 4th, 2016 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanFrom the deserts to the mountains...
Friday 7th of October - Richfield to Boulder
Another of those early starts, as we had a lot of ground to cover today. Quick packing, loading Travis & then breakfast at a nearby cafe, where we both agreed it was time to have an American coffee. We knew it wouldn't be great & could possibly be undrinkable, but the need for a caffeine hit outweighed the risks. In the event, it wasn't too bad, as far as drip-filter black coffee goes... Eggs, bacon sausages & hotcakes probably softened the blow
Onto the Interstate & across Utah we went. More incredible rock & desert scenery, especially at a place called the Salt Wash, which was just a rest stop on the highway, but a million dollar view if you built a house there (& arranged electricity, water, sewerage, wi-fi... probably making it a 2 million dollar view)
Travelling further along the wonderfully-named 'Dinosaur Diamond' highway, we picked up the Book Cliffs on our left. This cliff wall is incredibly long - about 200 miles, so I would imagine it got its name because you can begin reading a book at their start & have it finished by the time they end... The desert scenery gradually changed as we crossed into Colorado & headed towards Grand Junction. The Colorado River wandered into view on our right side, actual green trees & grasses appeared & the desert buttes became the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where snow could be glimpsed on the higher peaks. As we began the climb from Grand Junction, following the river, the temperature dropped, the hills became mountains & the freeway wound its way through towering gorges, tunnels & bridges. The red desert sands were truly left behind... for a few days anyway
We stopped at another highway rest area called Grizzly Creek, partly because we liked the name, but mostly because it was right next to the river rapids & the hills were alive with the changing colours of Autumn... Fall... whichever... Then the serious climb up the Rockies began, topping out at 11,500ft just before the Jefferson Tunnel, which marked the beginning of a quite rapid &, at times rather hairy, descent. Once over the Continental Divide, we mapped ourselves towards Boulder, then had those directions enhanced by SMS & then a video call from Gary, our Host, who guided us through the back ways to avoid Denver's peak hour traffic & we arrived at his home around 4pm. We were in much better shape than the last time we were here 4 years ago - we got in around 11pm, having driven from Monument Valley via Arches NP that morning. And we'd been up for sunrise!!
Catching up with Gary & Kathy, while also bringing in the luggage, playing with Ellie & Raven, the 2 resident dogs, then time for dinner in town with our friend Lester & his partner at a BrewHouse which served a pretty amazing range of mac'n'cheese options, as well as good steaks, fish &, of course, beers. We'd missed catching up with Lester last trip - he was living in Chicago at the time &, due to a series of unsatisfactory experiences, we left there the morning after we arrived & were halfway to Indianapolis before we realised... Good to know he doesn't hold a grudge. A fun evening - good food, good company & a post-dinner walk around what seems to be College Kid Central. Boulder is a university town & Colorado is one of the few states to have legalised marijuana use, so all of a sudden, getting your tertiary education in Boulder is a wonderful thing!!
Another Lyft home, with a Denver native who had about 2 dozen suggestions for what we could do & see while we're in town for the next couple of days, but was slightly dismissive of Boulder because "that's where all the liberals live", making it sound like that's a bad thing... Once home, liberals Gary & Kathy were still up watching the evening news - the main story being the Hurricane currently flattening the south-east coast, then the sleep bomb went off for both of us... It's nice to be in the same place for a few days - mostly because we can sleep in tomorrow. Luxury!
(P.S. - Julia is dying from the high altitude and is having a somewhat miserable time)
Odometer: 1,300 miles
States: 2
Friday 7th of October - Richfield to Boulder
Another of those early starts, as we had a lot of ground to cover today. Quick packing, loading Travis & then breakfast at a nearby cafe, where we both agreed it was time to have an American coffee. We knew it wouldn't be great & could possibly be undrinkable, but the need for a caffeine hit outweighed the risks. In the event, it wasn't too bad, as far as drip-filter black coffee goes... Eggs, bacon sausages & hotcakes probably softened the blow
Onto the Interstate & across Utah we went. More incredible rock & desert scenery, especially at a place called the Salt Wash, which was just a rest stop on the highway, but a million dollar view if you built a house there (& arranged electricity, water, sewerage, wi-fi... probably making it a 2 million dollar view)
Travelling further along the wonderfully-named 'Dinosaur Diamond' highway, we picked up the Book Cliffs on our left. This cliff wall is incredibly long - about 200 miles, so I would imagine it got its name because you can begin reading a book at their start & have it finished by the time they end... The desert scenery gradually changed as we crossed into Colorado & headed towards Grand Junction. The Colorado River wandered into view on our right side, actual green trees & grasses appeared & the desert buttes became the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where snow could be glimpsed on the higher peaks. As we began the climb from Grand Junction, following the river, the temperature dropped, the hills became mountains & the freeway wound its way through towering gorges, tunnels & bridges. The red desert sands were truly left behind... for a few days anyway
We stopped at another highway rest area called Grizzly Creek, partly because we liked the name, but mostly because it was right next to the river rapids & the hills were alive with the changing colours of Autumn... Fall... whichever... Then the serious climb up the Rockies began, topping out at 11,500ft just before the Jefferson Tunnel, which marked the beginning of a quite rapid &, at times rather hairy, descent. Once over the Continental Divide, we mapped ourselves towards Boulder, then had those directions enhanced by SMS & then a video call from Gary, our Host, who guided us through the back ways to avoid Denver's peak hour traffic & we arrived at his home around 4pm. We were in much better shape than the last time we were here 4 years ago - we got in around 11pm, having driven from Monument Valley via Arches NP that morning. And we'd been up for sunrise!!
Catching up with Gary & Kathy, while also bringing in the luggage, playing with Ellie & Raven, the 2 resident dogs, then time for dinner in town with our friend Lester & his partner at a BrewHouse which served a pretty amazing range of mac'n'cheese options, as well as good steaks, fish &, of course, beers. We'd missed catching up with Lester last trip - he was living in Chicago at the time &, due to a series of unsatisfactory experiences, we left there the morning after we arrived & were halfway to Indianapolis before we realised... Good to know he doesn't hold a grudge. A fun evening - good food, good company & a post-dinner walk around what seems to be College Kid Central. Boulder is a university town & Colorado is one of the few states to have legalised marijuana use, so all of a sudden, getting your tertiary education in Boulder is a wonderful thing!!
Another Lyft home, with a Denver native who had about 2 dozen suggestions for what we could do & see while we're in town for the next couple of days, but was slightly dismissive of Boulder because "that's where all the liberals live", making it sound like that's a bad thing... Once home, liberals Gary & Kathy were still up watching the evening news - the main story being the Hurricane currently flattening the south-east coast, then the sleep bomb went off for both of us... It's nice to be in the same place for a few days - mostly because we can sleep in tomorrow. Luxury!
(P.S. - Julia is dying from the high altitude and is having a somewhat miserable time)
Odometer: 1,300 miles
States: 2
