Travel with Sue and Ted

Category: 2016

At Santa Fe, and Up into the Air

Through September, we visited nine states, and entered New Mexico on Friday, making camp in Santa Fe, N.M. for four nights. This city is 1,000 feet higher than Denver and we love the clean, dry, air!

On the way we saw a sign for Union Fort National Monument and decided to take a peak. We had no idea about it’s history, and oh my, what a treat! This was the largest fort in the late 1800s, with thousands of occupants, and it served as a supply hub for all other forts in the west. Prior to that it even participated in one key battle against the Confederate Army during the Civil War, stopping them from trying to win the west and gain all its gold.

Friday night we visited “The Shed“, restaurant in old town Santa Fe, and enjoyed the enchiladas very much, and it is now on Sue’s “best of” list. Native Americans sold jewelry and items on the sidewalks all around the old town square until 5:00 pm, prior to our dinner.

On Saturday morning, we got up at 4:30 to drive an hour to see the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (the world’s premier balloon event). At 5:45, we arrived seven-tenths of a mile from the freeway exit to find a long line of cars backed up in the right-most lane. We took our place – it took us a full hour to go the last two-miles! But we walked onto the field at 7 am to find tens of thousands of people all waiting for the yellow flag (windy conditions) to change to green, which allowed balloon owners fire up the propane and lift their balloons into the air.

We enjoyed walking all around the balloons laid-out flat on the ground, awaiting air. Bill, from Phoenix, was particularly fun to talk to, and he informed us of the basics of hot air balloons, how the festivals work, what they provide to the balloonists (room, propane, and a gift card to pay for gas to get here) and how much a modest new balloon might cost to get started ($45k).

At 8:30 they began their ascent! Please enjoy these additional pictures Sue took on our dedicated page for the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival (click here).

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October 8, 2016
South of Pueblo, Colorado

We drove to the south-land of Colorado on Wednesday and parked our rig about a half hour south of Pueblo, CO. While in transit we took a diversion to see the tourist attraction, Royal Gorge.

A Royal Gorge it truly was. The suspended bridge crosses sheer cliffs that plummet down to the Arkansas River, and it was a very impressive achievement to build. But we did not go to the tourist fun park. Instead of paying $40 to walk the bridge, ride gondolas, and more to go bungee jumping, or ride on zip lines, we drove up the nearby hill to the county park picnic and viewing area. There we saw a magnificent overlook and admired the original gorge with some other people we met there from Arizona.

After setting up camp on Wednesday night we loved seeing the Giants pull out a victory over the New York Mets in the top of the 9th inning. It is an even year after all!

On Thursday we did a day trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, a National Park that we’ve never been to before. It is more and more impressive the closer you drive to it.

The dunes are nestled against the San Juan mountains and go on for miles and reach as high as nearly 800 feet. It is most interesting that two creeks naturally surround the dunes, and a third one goes under it. As the wind blows sand up toward the mountains, the creeks return it back to the dunes in a wonderful cycle of life.

We also enjoyed visiting the streets of some really small towns: Colorado City, Rye, and Walsenburg. Trump signs are everywhere (as they have been since Idaho, supporting anyone to the right of Hillary) and American flags seem to be located every half mile on the freeway around here. Along the way we have met genuinely nice people. The needs of small towns are different than big cities.

This afternoon is windy again (+40 mph) and I’m glad I’m not pulling a trailing with these gusts cutting across the freeway. Tomorrow we leave our beloved Colorado and head south to New Mexico!

October 6, 2016
We’re Halfway, and We’re Golden!

We had a short 90-minute drive on Monday and we set up camp in Golden, CO, which is on Highway 40, just west of Denver.

One of the great opportunities while traveling is to see friends who live far away. Our purpose for stopping here in Golden was not to see the Coors Brewing Company tour, but more importantly, to see Timothy and Chelsea who work in the mountain resort of Devil’s Thumb. We thoroughly enjoyed dinner with Timothy Fisher, a friend from church, and his fiancé, Chelse McClelland, in Lakewood, at a rather new, and nice, restaurant, Tstreet Roadhouse.

This morning, we are enjoying some fast speed internet at Starbucks, along with the mandatory pumpkin spice latte. It is so windy here that Trump would never go outside without a hat! Winds are clocked at a steady WNW 28 mph, but it’s the gusts that are blowing metal chairs off the tables on the sidewalk.

The website for the city of Golden states

It is rumored that Golden has the highest number of museums per capita in the State. Whether or not that’s accurate, we do have an impressive collection

Sue yelped a great lunch for us: Bob’s Atomic Burgers. Wow. Great hand-made burgers and sweet potato fries.

So we were trying to figure out what to do on this very relaxing day – see the Train Museum? American Mountaineering Museum? Buffalo Bill museum? Astor House? Per the suggestion of our server at Bob’s Atomic Burgers, we took a drive up the Clear Creek canyon – highway 6 and 119. Shear cliffs, beautiful creek, six tunnels, and the changing colors of the fall leaves made it a wonderful drive.

Back to Golden for a late afternoon visit to the Mountain Toad winery with fine reviews about their Butternut Brown, but Ted took a liking to their Dunkelweizen as well. But it was the Butternut Brown that came home with us in a glass growler – why? – there is a VP debate tonight!

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October 4, 2016
Fort Collins and the Nielsen Family

We stayed with good friends Dave and Kathy in Ft. Collins, CO. during the weekend of Sept. 30-Oct. 2. Arriving on Thursday, we parked the trailer on their side yard and enjoyed a few days of living in a house, talking of life, and catching up on family.

Dave and Ted took a 20 mile bicycle ride on the beautiful Poudre River trail while Sue photographed an event, Laps for Laurel, at the school where Kathy teaches. Then on Saturday, Sue and Kathy enjoyed a pedicure while Dave and Ted visited the microbrewery, Zwei. We had a nice meal in downtown at Salsa Brava one night, and had a great pizza at Grimaldi’s another evening. But the best part of our time together was spending a lot of time on their front yard patio… mornings with coffee… and evenings with wine.

We worshiped together at the Faith E-Free Church on Sunday morning. Dave played bass on this Sunday. The sermon was about belonging to church, and was one of the best on that subject that I’ve heard.

This is the half-way point in our trip! On Monday we leave for Golden, CO, to have dinner with Timothy and Chelsea.

October 2, 2016
Rocky Mountain National Park

Three days at Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park provided us with gorgeous weather with 70 degree days and lows in the 40s. The aspen and cottonwood trees are sunshine yellow and a joy to look at on the mountains are around the creeks. The above picture is the Big Thompson River about 15 steps away from our camping site! We can see the trout swimming in the river, and elk are said to come through here but we haven’t seen them here yet.

We rode bicycles from our camp into downtown Estes Park a couple of times and enjoyed some nice Mexican food that earned its way onto Sue’s “best of” (right side) lists. We also saw the movie Scully last night in Estes Park.

One of the highlights in late September and October is the “rutting of the elk” which means the males are actively seeking mates, bugle calling, and gathering/protecting their females in herds. On Wednesday late afternoon we went on Bear Lake Road to the Mill Creek area to see and hear the elk. What a show!

We drove up to Sprague Lake on Tuesday, which we have visited several times in past years, and enjoyed the walk around the lake with many photography stops, including the one below.

More Pics! Click here to see more pictures of
Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park.

September 28, 2016