On the Road Again: The Rocky Mountain States

A return route is just the same, only backwards, right? Noooo. Admittedly there are some similarities on the way back to Durango (long straight roads, strange rock formations, yada yada yada). But here’s the thing. If you’re ever given the chance to visit one more national park in the USA, take it. Chances are you’ll see something new and ridiculously wonderful. And so it was that Ma and Pa took a right turn off the road and into Mesa Verde national park. Mesa Verde, Green Table. The name given to a huge flat-topped rock formation that for thousands of years until 750AD was home to puebloan peoples who built their homes under the rocky overhangs. You think Ma and Pa are making this up? How did they do it? No idea. Why did they leave? No idea, either. But it seems their descendants moved to pueblos in New Mexico and lived in exactly the same way for centuries so much sense has been made of the archaeological finds at Mesa Verde. See? Always take that detour. And so back...

Another day at Grand Canyon, this time visiting the eastern section of the South Rim. The freebie buses don’t go on that route so Ma and Pa were back in the Chevrolet. An early start meant the road was quiet and stop-off points were quiet too. It was a littler cloudier than yesterday which muted the colours of the mighty Canyon. Honestly, you’d think it was actually trying to impress. But still... ‘It’s health and safety gone Ma-a-a-d’, said no one, ever, at Grand Canyon. No fences? Really, people? The national parks seem to have taken the view that visitors will surely see that edges of canyons are jolly dangerous, so there’s no need for fences or warning signs. Let’s see how that’s going. And the warning signs about mountain lions. Beside the picnic tables? Ma and Pa were lucky to get out alive. Anyhoo, here are a few factoids which just might make all the difference to your placing in your next pub quiz: the Grand Canyon is 280 miles long....

There are various ways to see the vistas of the Grand Canyon. You can hike the endless trails and camp along the way. You can ride mules down to the Canyon bottom. And back up again. You can climb aboard a helicopter and swoop over the highs and lows. Ma and Pa chose the free hop on-hop off shuttle buses! They trundle along and stop at all the finest viewing points. Not as daring as the helicopter, nor as smelly as the mules, but with cheery drivers and air conditioning, and showing up every 15 minutes, there is much to recommend them. Best bit? The seats at the front for Seniors, and Ma and Pa occupied them proudly. Over four hours in increasing temperatures, they saw as much of the west of the South Rim as can be done by road. Each viewpoint more dramatic than the last. Take a look: It’s a mile to the bottom of the Canyon, carved out by the Colorado River. And if you can see mountains across the top of the Canyon, they are 120 miles away. And many of the e...

Excited this morning to be headed to see something we’ve wanted to see for a long, long time. And hoping it really is Grand. But first, there’s the small matter of an eight-hour drive from Colorado to Arizona. On very, very straight roads. And as Ma and Pa looked out of the car window, the landscape got stranger and stranger. It looked like huge piles of sand dropped from the sky, but was really rock of various colours. Odd flat-topped structures and sculptural pillars of stone. Extremely odd. Have a look, blog readers. Wasn’t it odd? Ma and Pa have enjoyed a little US State name-dropping and guess what, on this drive there was a great opportunity. Here they are at ‘Four Corners’, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet. Of course they were too cheapskate to pay $5 each to go to the actual monument and made do with the road sign. #notbornyesterday And then, suddenly, there it was. As the trees cleared the vista emerged and was quite the grandest Gran...

Today was rail-trippin’ day for Ma and Pa, on the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. This route was hacked out of the mountains in the 1880s when gold and silver was discovered in them there hills. Silverton is at the top of the route, sitting at 9500 feet. The mines had all gone by the 1930s but the remains of the old mining town survive and now serve as a tourist destination. But only in the summer months - in winter it shuts up shop as typically it’s under 7m of snow. So here are the intrepid duo, waiting to set off in their restored 1880 coach, and very comfortable it was too, pulled along by a genuine steam engine huffing and puffing. The train shoogled and rocked up steep climbs and beside sheer drops and rushing rivers. All very dramatic indeed and all the while the mighty peaks loomed above us, some over 14000 feet high (about 4300m for the metric bods). Hard to describe and do it justice, so as usual let’s let the pictures tell the story: ...

Big day today, as Ma and Pa set out all by themselves to find the Grand Canyon. They hear it’s fairly big, so hope to find it without getting lost too many times. In truth, they got lost the first time one corner away from home when offline Google Maps would not work offline. How they laughed. With only 400 more miles to go. Today’s destination was Durango, in the south of Colorado. But an early start left Ma and Pa peckish by the excellently named Fairplay. Population 679. And home to the Dream Stream Cafe. If Ma has finally worked out how to add a video to this blog, here is Pa waiting for his breakfast, to the soundtrack of his youth... And look who was spotted at one of the stops on the way. This must be the equivalent of a bloke in a kilt on Princes Street, because none of the locals batted an eye. The rest of the journey was just as spectacular as all other journeys have been on this holiday, surrounded by the immense Rockies and actually going over them at one poin...

Ma and Pa had a quieter day today, in preparation for Road Trip 2 which starts tomorrow. A tour of downtown Fort Collins revealed it to be very lovely indeed. We are told its perfectly preserved Main Street was the inspiration for Disney Main Streets everywhere. And you can see why. Tracked down some very suitable items from one of the quirky shops.  What do you think? It’s also home to the Silver Grill, and it’s been in these parts for over 100 years. Did blog readers think they’d get beyond the 2nd paragraph without a food mention? Tsk! How about giant cinnamon rolls, made into french toast, eh? Brief visits to Walmart and the Grocery Store, then home for a quiet time and a bit of packing for tomorrow. Colorado is home to a multitude of microbreweries so Ma and Pa were taken along to Odells in the afternoon to sample the local brews. They come in sets of  five. Obviously! A lovely family dinner then final prep. Alarm is set for 4.45a...