If only we could control the weather.
Colorado has some of the world’s most beautiful mountain scenery. But during most of our visit, those spectacular mountains looked like this:
Well, what can you do? Occasionally, we had a peek at some sunshine, but we saw an awful lot of clouds, fog, and rain. I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising, since one of the areas we passed through was the “Never Summer Mountain Range”. No kidding. Now there’s a prime vacation spot.
Colorado is sometimes called the Switzerland of America – the Rocky Mountains have more than 1,000 peaks that top 10,000 feet. We’ve visited Colorado before, so we know the area is gorgeous and heavily wooded, but we were astounded to see the devastation that the tiny pine beetle has imposed. These little pests have turned vast areas of verdant forest into checkerboards of green and brown. Huge swaths of forest are littered with dead and dying trees.
We read about the pine beetles in South Dakota, but we hadn’t seen evidence of their destruction until we arrived in Colorado. The authorities are trying to combat the bugs, but it is quite a battle. Let’s hope our country’s forests don’t become deserts anytime soon.
Despite the rain, despite the bugs, we managed to catch some glimpses of the area’s tremendous beauty,
We drove along I-25, 70 and highways 34, 40, 9, 91, 24, 285, 17, 6N, 150, 160, and 159 reaching heights of two miles above sea level. Some of the roads through the Rocky Mountain National Park were scary at best, death-defying at worst. You know you’re in trouble when they number the hairpin turns so you can count how many you have left on your wild journey. And we were so happy to see the familiar road signs we’ve become so fond of:
They’re not kidding when they talk about our country’s crumbling infrastructure. Road construction is EVERYWHERE, at all hours of the day and night, and always on the roads we want to take. Where do they grow all that asphalt anyway?
We stopped in Leadville, which is the highest incorporated city in the US, at 10,000 feet. Snow is on the ground from October through May. Grand Lake was a beautiful spot, enhanced by a great meal topped off with cornbread pudding.
We couldn’t help but giggle at this election-year sign:
I’m not familiar with Colorado politics, but the state seems to fight many of the same battles as the rest of the country. In Colorado and several other Western states, we noticed billboards admonishing people not to make the mistake of using methamphetamines. These billboards were disheartening to see, but were an important reminder that not all of our country’s residents are living the American dream. The signs often appeared in small towns, where jobs, opportunities, and hope might be lacking. Let’s hope their message is received loud and clear.
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Leaving Colorado’s majestic mountains, we had a rollicking, rolling good time at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Sitting at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, this is basically a ginormous sand castle open for climbing, sliding, digging, and rolling. It was a HOOT!! Great fun, even if we spent the next several days digging sand out of our ears. Now this is a sandbox:
We learned that certain sand-riding techniques work better than others on the Great Sand Dune. The belly-flop, while visually appealing, is slow and inefficient.
The pencil roll is the much preferred technique for professional high-speed sand dune divers.
Bodies litter the dune after a particularly rough roll:
Luckily, everyone survived the day to stroll barefoot into the sunset. If only an ocean was in sight.
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Those of you keeping score at home might remember that we had planned to visit Four Corners during our travels. A monument marks the spot where visitors can stand in four states at once: Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. Apparently, lots of people like this idea, and they’ve worn down the monument, closing it for renovations. We were disappointed, but only for a moment. The visit would’ve added several hours of driving to our trip, and luckily, we found this out before making the trek out of our way. Another time.
9. Colorado
Rocky Mountain National Park