Hot Chocolate at 11,500 feet
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Colorado has definitely been the favorite point so far on the trip. Denver was great with the Zoo and the very warm reception at the holiday inn (which was significantly nicer than any other HI we've stayed at thus far).
The Rocky Mountains were awe-inspiring, especially how they just rose up out of the great plains as we approached from the east. We did some hiking near Bear Lake inside the park and also drove the Trail Ridge Road which goes up to the top of some of the mountains above the tree line where the climate changes to alpine tundra. We stopped at the top at the visitor's center for some hot chocolate. There are some great videos and photos of the park if you follow the links at the top of the page.
Our hotel that night was in Beaver Creek, a resort town nestled in a valley a couple miles down the road from Vail. Although summer is the off season, we really liked the town and the hotel was nice. We got there just as the hotel restaurant was closing for the night and they stayed to make us dinner even though we were the only ones in the restaurant...on top of that they gave us free drinks!
Yesterday was a relaxing day where we had a short 2 hour drive from Beaver Creek down to Grand Junction before touring Colorado National Monument where we took some stunning pictures.
We're in Grand Junction, CO right now and the terrain has changed from the forest covered rocky mountains to arid mesas as we move closer to the desert. We are very late leaving the hotel this morning -- we had planned to leave at 7:30 but its now 10 AM. We may end up skipping Arches National Park today on the way to Salt Lake City because we were hoping to have enough time to walk around downtown before the sun goes down and its at least a 5 hour drive away from here.
A few technical notes:
Apparently, Picasa has a limit of 500 pictures per album, so I've broken the pictures down into a gallery for each day.
I also added a link for videos that we've taken. For some reason the 2 minute video from our drive through the Rockies is showing up as low quality. I'll try and get it to display in HD like the other videos later on when I get a chance.
The Rocky Mountains were awe-inspiring, especially how they just rose up out of the great plains as we approached from the east. We did some hiking near Bear Lake inside the park and also drove the Trail Ridge Road which goes up to the top of some of the mountains above the tree line where the climate changes to alpine tundra. We stopped at the top at the visitor's center for some hot chocolate. There are some great videos and photos of the park if you follow the links at the top of the page.
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| From 2009 Road Trip: May 28 (Denver, CO to Beaver Creek, CO and Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park) |
Our hotel that night was in Beaver Creek, a resort town nestled in a valley a couple miles down the road from Vail. Although summer is the off season, we really liked the town and the hotel was nice. We got there just as the hotel restaurant was closing for the night and they stayed to make us dinner even though we were the only ones in the restaurant...on top of that they gave us free drinks!
Yesterday was a relaxing day where we had a short 2 hour drive from Beaver Creek down to Grand Junction before touring Colorado National Monument where we took some stunning pictures.
We're in Grand Junction, CO right now and the terrain has changed from the forest covered rocky mountains to arid mesas as we move closer to the desert. We are very late leaving the hotel this morning -- we had planned to leave at 7:30 but its now 10 AM. We may end up skipping Arches National Park today on the way to Salt Lake City because we were hoping to have enough time to walk around downtown before the sun goes down and its at least a 5 hour drive away from here.
 |
| From 2009 Road Trip: May 29 (Beaver Creek, CO to Grand Junction, CO and Colorado Nat'l Monument) |
A few technical notes:
Apparently, Picasa has a limit of 500 pictures per album, so I've broken the pictures down into a gallery for each day.
I also added a link for videos that we've taken. For some reason the 2 minute video from our drive through the Rockies is showing up as low quality. I'll try and get it to display in HD like the other videos later on when I get a chance.
