Pictures

Colorado Springs was fun. We spent 1 week in a nice park in Manitou Springs. We drove around seeing our old houses and driving on favorite streets and areas. It is a beautiful town. I lived there when I was in school before Bob, then as a family we moved back 10 years later in 1966 and stayed 10 years! After we got our bearings, we called a few old friends. Those who are left and remembered us after being gone for over 30 years! Had some nice times together. We also played tourist. Spent some time in the Garden of the Gods, Kissing Camel area and took the trip up to the top of Pikes Peak! Weather was nice with afternoon thunder, lighting and rain!
From Colorado Springs, we drove to Gunnison CO. Only spent 2 nights. We have decided that we will spend minimum 2 nights when we stop no matter where we are! Nice park at Gunnison but quite chilly. We found out that Colorado winter temperatures, Gunnison is the lowest! So off we went to Montrose. Lots warmer. Nice warm days and evenings! We took side trips to Colorado National Monument, an incredible place. Beautiful scenery. I had a very old book, a Readers Digest book, “Just off the Interstate” and there was a picture of the spires in the park and I always wanted to see it. Well, we went and it was wonderful! If you are ever in the Grand Junction CO area, go. Well worth the time. Then we went to the “Black Canyon of the Gunnison, another incredible place. Tremendous scenery! We spend 1 week in Montrose. With a neat old fashion cinema across the Hwy, I left Bob and Korkie alone and walked over one afternoon and saw “Julie & Julia. What a wonderful movie. We did create a reputation with Korkie running out to greet everyone who walked by and our habit of “5:00 Happy Hour” on our patio, people came up to visit! We had to extend our stay one more day because Bob lost a crown on Saturday of Labor Day week end! He got a Dentist name from the Park Manager and on Tuesday, he called them. He got in on Wednesday and they could put it back in so the Thursday, we could get on our way.
From Montrose we sent south to Ouray CO. One of my favorite places! It’s called the “The Switzerland of America”. The town is surrounded by the mountains of the San Juan Range. The colors on the surrounding mountains change hourly. As the sun moves, (I’m sorry guys, it’s the earth that changes) the shadows on the mountains change colors. Amazing! We are still in high altitude at 7800 ft elevation! I think we are getting acclimated by now being in high altitude for about a month. The weather here has been from warm sunshine to strong winds, thunder and lightning, rain and hail. Quite a few tent campers here in the park. We are about 2 blocks from the “Hot Springs Pool” I went one afternoon alone. Bob cannot get into even a hot tub with other people, let alone a huge therapeutic natural hot spring pool. Also saw “Box Canyon Falls”. The canyon is 20 feet wide and 285 feet high. Its perpendicular granite walls are roofed by stone. Canyon Creek rushes through the narrow gorge, which is spanned by a high bridge and cat walks. When we went to the Visitor’s Center, it said “No Dogs.” The nice man said it’s “OK if you carry him.” So we carried him. This was only about 3 blocks from our camp but Korkie likes to see the sights! Afterward we came home, had lunch and read a while then went off to see the “Cascade Falls”. A 300 foot waterfall and also the Ice Park where they Ice Climb in the winter. We left Korkie at home this time. Good thing, the trail was pretty steep. One day we took a car trip to Telluride. Great place. It’s a funky ski town high in the mountains where rich and famous people took a liking to. Beautiful scenery all around.
Ouray became rather cool with some chilly nights, so we headed up through the “Million Dollar Highway” to Durango. Amazing country! The Colorado Aspens are starting to turn yellow. In a week or so they will be red and orange. We had planned on spending some time there, but the cold and high altitude was getting to us. Needed to get into some warmer weather. Our motto is to go where “The weather suits our clothes.” So New Mexico, here we come.