2006 FALL TRIP

TO COLORADO

On October 12 through October 15, my mother, sister, brother and I drove through beautiful Colorado. We met in Grand Junction, which is a wonderful smallish city near the western border of Colorado. This picture was taken of the Colorado River from Rifle as we drove up I-70 to Glenwood Springs and then down to Aspen. Everyone knows Aspen. We spent some time there looking in very fancy shops and admiring the mountain scenery. It is very much the tourist town. What I remember best is the smell of the fallen leaves as we walked through the tree-lined plazas in the shopping area. From Aspen we drove to Independence Pass on a narrow (sometimes only one lane) winding, sheer-drop to the side road. While the trees are gorgeous between Grand Junction and Rifle; they've mostly fallen as you travel north. Independence Pass is just snow covered. And it is windy and soooooo cold. It's the highest pass in the country and where we crossed the Continental Divide. Down from the Divide is the old mining town of Leadville. The Miners Museum was of great interest to my brother, the history teacher. Soon we reached Denver and checked into a very scary motel. Needless to say, my sister forgo her early morning walks the two days we spent in this neighborhood. The plus was that it was close to downtown. That next morning in Denver found us lined up to go into the Denver Mint. I was disappointed that they no longer show the gold bars (damn terrorists are ruining everything) but it was fascinating to watch them put the unminted discs into the machines and turn out real money. A short walk from the Mint led us to the State Capitol building. Close by is the architectural wonder, the Denver Art Museum. Unfortunately, we did not get to spend as much time there as we would have liked. We also visited Molly Brown's house before traveling south to Littleton to see the LDS Temple. We were not sad to leave our motel the next morning to head west again. First stop was the Coors factory in Golden. The process of brewing beer was incredible to watch. Our bus tour guide was hilarious. Golden is a great town and we enjoyed shopping an old-time variety store there. Then we started back over the Rockies just in time to hit a snow storm. Luckily the roads weren't too bad and it soon turned to rain. Along the way, we stopped in Georgetown, another charming mining town and Vail, a typical ski resort. Things warmed up as we got closer to Grand Junction. Right now, we are planning our next year's trip to the area around Grand Junction and Moab, Utah. But that's a year away. I was glad to visit Denver but don't feel a need to go there again. But the mountains of Colorado are beautiful. There are more sights to be seen there. It was just fun to spend time enjoying each other's company and the gorgeous views and interesting sites.