(Cathy) Yes I am so excited! So hoping balloons go up tomorrow. Also hope I can get rid of this headache. Sinus driving me nuts. The tram was sort of scary. So high up but the ride was smooth. I got a front window view.
(Glenn) The highlight of today was our trip up the Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque, NM. It is the third longest single span tramway in the world and the longest in the U.S. The crowds to ride were really growing by the time we left because the city is crowded with visitors coming to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta. We had lunch in Corrales, NM and then went to the International Balloon Museum in Albuquerque near the Balloon Fiesta Park. We bought our tickets for the festival tomorrow morning and hope the winds stay calm enough for the balloons to take off in the morning. The park opens at 4:30 AM and everyone says if you are driving your own vehicle you need to be there EARLY. Probably leave here around 3:30 or 4:00 AM (OUCH!). Cathy is so excited, she has wanted to see this event for years, over 500 balloons will all take off within a two hour window. If it happens we should have some great pictures.
(Cathy) Yes I am so excited! So hoping balloons go up tomorrow. Also hope I can get rid of this headache. Sinus driving me nuts. The tram was sort of scary. So high up but the ride was smooth. I got a front window view.
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(Glenn) We left Durango, CO this morning and started our trek toward Albuquerque for the balloon festival this weekend. We found a natural hot springs bath in Jemez Springs, NV as we traveled. We spent two hours at "Giggling Hot Springs" baths. It was very nice but I enjoyed sulfur mineral springs in Thermopolis more than I did these. It is warm here today (upper 80's - the baths would be nicer if it were very cool outside). We are staying in Bernalillo, NM just outside of the Albuquerque area. Tomorrow we will go to our hotel near the ballon festival for two nights.
(Cathy) I must say: we LOVE comments but please don't post anonymously. I agree with the last comment. Native Americans were truly mistreated. We took their land and they were here first. This was their home. We told them where to live and told them they could not speak their native language and all sorts of things. But the average Native American is not benefiting from these tribal things we pay to see. According to our Young Navaho guide, the Lower Antelope Canyon is privately owned. All employees were Navaho but he was still just an employee. Hardly getting rich. Love you all! We had lunch today at this little place called Dave's (see photo).Don't know where "Dave's" came from because this lady cooked really good Mexican food. Glenn did have a hot dog( really??). I had an "Indian taco". That was "fry bread" with all the fixings (beans, lettuce, cheese, chili) on top. Delicious, Glenn helped me eat this. Loved the baths, Glenn is really spoiling me. (Glenn) Busy day today. We raced early to Mesa Verde National Park to get tickets to tour "Balcony House". It required climbing straight up ladders, crawling through 18" passages, and a 60 foot climb up an open face cliff with stone steps. We were tired and I did not enjoy the heights but it was a great experience. Amazing to see the dwellings of eleventh century Pueblo people. They are still unsure why they began building in the cliffs and why they were later abandoned. We visited their museum and toured the "Spruce House" cliff houses also. Afterwards, we rode an additional 100 miles round trip to see the Four Corners National Monument. It was fun to physically be in four states at the same time (CO, NM, UT, and AZ) but it was a real tourist trap. The land is owned by a Native American tribe. We paid $5 each to get in and take pictures and left 5-10 minutes later. We don't plan to ever return there again. Tomorrow we plan to leave Colorado which is still one of my favorite states. (Cathy) I know. The question is: how did I get thru an 18 inch passage? I wiggled and squirmed as I was not about to stay in that little space. The Balcony House is one of the most challenging cliffs. I MADE IT! I huffed and puffed, no air also at that altitude, but I got thru it. Coming up from the Spruce House Glenn did his usual kisse kisse to get me motivated. Lol (Glenn) We traveled from Montrose, CO to Durango , CO by way of one of the most scenic roads in America. Highway 550 is known as the Million Dollar Highway and we rode it years ago on the motorcycle but the color changes made it seem better than before. When we reached the beginning of the road in Ouray,CO about 9:30, we found out that the road was only open from 12:00-1:00 due to road construction. We arrived early and rather than take a 3 hour detour, we parked the bike and got out our chairs to read some books and watched traffic backup behind our bike for the next two hours. We saw some of the road was falling into the canyon and they were blasting into the mountain to create another lane in some areas that were only one lane with a 1000 drop off on its side. At noon we continued to Silverton, CO to have lunch at the Handlebars Saloon that we visited years ago. We finally arrived in Durango, CO where we explored downtown for a couple of hours. We plan to spend two nights here and visit Mesa Verda National Park tomorrow. (Cathy) We did not get any reading done sitting in our chairs at the roadblock. A gentleman and his wife came up and the man started a conversation with Glenn that lasted about the entire time. Colorado is really a beautiful state. We saw it with snow and again with the color changes. Totally different. This is definitely a return-to state. And Glenn did really good with this very nice hotel. (Glenn) This morning we shipped our fourth package back home. I have no idea how we keep accumulating so much stuff (maybe Cathy has an idea??). We had a beautiful ride down Hwy 50 from Salida, CO over the Monarch Pass through the mountains. The spattered colors of gold, red, and orange mixed with the evergreen trees were great. Today we spent most of our time in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It is one of the newest national parks located in western Colorado as it was established in 1999. It had some sheer cliffs over 2300 feet making them the largest in Colorado. Just imagine a "mini Grand Canyon". We could hear the roaring river Rapids in the canyon floor below us. It is a beautiful park with very few tourists but about three hours was enough for us. We traveled all of the paved roads and went out on trails to a few observation points. Tonight we are sleeping in Montrose, CO near the park and plan to ride south tomorrow. (Cathy) These canyons were different, the canyon walls were really dark. God has given us such good weather for our travels. Thank you, thank you! As Mama would say. We had cereal this morning for breakfast and somewhere along the way we had a boiled egg and cheese nips. About 4:00 pm Glenn found me a really nice restaurant for dinner. Great ambiance, just a little dark with candle lighting on the table. Really nice place but casual dress was ok. He told me not to get used to this. Jim G. has always been our riding buddy. Years ago we were stopped at the visitors center at this Monarch Pass , Jim was feeling anxious. He is out on the pavement throwing everything out of his luggage (looked like a crazy man), looking for his medicine he thought he had lost. Glenn and I laughed as we passed there today thinking about that past trip. (Glenn) This is our last day at our hotel in Salida, Colorado. Today we rode about 1 1/2 hours to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It is in a remote area at the base of the mountains and is the highest sand dunes in North America. This is a very unusual area seeing huge desert sand dunes at the base of some beautiful Colorado mountains. It was quite a hike to the lower dunes and Cathy and I agreed there was no way we were going to climb the 750 foot dunes. It is very hard to climb mountains made of sand but many people were doing it. See the dark specks (people) on the dunes in the background. The motorcycle got 46 MPG today (best I have ever recorded). On our way home we stopped to wash the motorcycle because it was filthy from riding unpaved backroads up the mountain to the Hopemoor Mine yesterday. We enjoyed watching a total lunar eclipse tonight as the large full "supermoon" slowly turned red. Tomorrow we head west to visit another national park. I have mixed feeling about our journey being on its last few weeks. I will have so much to catch up on when I get home- I just hope I don't get a ticket for my tag that will expire at the end of this month (maybe some carefully placed mud will help). (Cathy)The dunes were awesome. I got a small rock and a little bitty container of sand as a souvenir. We shared, yes shared lunch. Chicken fried steak, salad and sweet potato fries. Our waitress split everything for us. So sweet. Tried green chili, we just kept seeing it advertised. One bite and I knew what green chili was! Drank half a glass of water. Glenn finished this. (Glenn) We are still in Salida, Colorado. This morning we returned to Leadville, CO for a tour I reserved a few days ago to tour an underground gold and silver mine. Cathy was a little nervous at the beginning of the tour when we (4 on the tour) were stuffed into a small mine elevator and lowered over 600 feet down a shaft into the mine. It was interesting to hear the miner discussing the history of the mine and the town of Leadville. The tour was over two hours and the owner showed us around the mine shafts. Gold and silver were shown to us in the rocks and one was very large. The temperature is always 40 degrees and many of the lower levels are under water now. He demonstrated the equipment he uses now and some old equipment used there in the 1880's. On the way back to Salida, we visited Beuna Vista, CO and saw their old shops downtown. It was a small place and we left after our late lunch. Time to watch a little college football before bedtime. (Cathy) We got 2 rocks from the mine as souvenir! I collect shells, rocks etc. from beaches, parks, national monuments. I collect these things, what can I say? Glenn decides to stop on this gravel road to take off his coat. He gets off. I'm still sitting in my seat. Bike starts moving, we're turning over. Glenn grabs bike, I get my foot down also to keep it up. One leg on ground and one leg over bike. Bike weighs about 600 pounds plus me. A car came up beside us and asked Glenn if we needed help? Glenn says "no thanks, we're good". Imagine all that if you can, we don't even have the bike upright yet. Jim Garrard will appreciate this: Bike was in neutral when Glenn got off!! This is twice in Colorado.Last time was about 9 years ago. He did get the bike up before we hit the ground. (Glenn) Today we rode to our final destination of Salida, Colorado by way of Wetmore, CO to see Bishop Castle. It is such a unique structure created by one person who started the project in 1969. There are antigovernment signage everywhere. The structure is interesting but appears to be unsafe. There is no charge to explore this place and it draws alot of visitors (donations encouraged). We heard he now is fighting cancer and was conned into signing the property over to another person recently. We are unsure of these details but we're glad we visited here. We will be spending the next three nights in Salida, CO (Jim Garrard's favorite city) to visit a few places in the area. The ride here on highway 50 followed the path of the Arkansas River through some mountain canyons (unbelievable scenic route!). (Cathy) Glenn told me if Mr Bishop was at the castle I was not to engage him in anything political.lol I went part way up but was not comfortable going all the way up to the touret. Some of the steps looked like they were were just hanging there. No Hoover building inspectors for sure . But still interesting. (Glenn) I managed to get my oil changed this morning in Colorado Springs and I let Cathy sleep later. When I returned after 11:00 she was still sleeping! I guess she deserved a little rest as hard as we have been going. After local BBQ for lunch we visited the Garden of the Gods which was just a few miles from where we are staying at the base of Pikes Peak in Manitou Springs. The park was filled with many natural red rock formations and biking and hiking trails. There was a large rock called "Balancing Rock" that I tried to help upright with no success (see photo). Afterwards we visited the grounds of Glen Eyrie Castle which has lodging available in the huge historic home. It is now owned and operated by the Navigators group who worked with Billy Graham. Downtown Manitou Springs has been fun but tomorrow we head west again to Salida, CO after we visit Bishop Castle in Wetmore,CO. (Cathy) I was dead tired last night. I would like to come back sometime and stay in the Glen Eyrie Castle. Last night Glenn woke up needing water. Didn't know where the glasses were, he did find the sink. Drank out of his hands. I didn't hear a thing. Our room is sometimes interesting. We have a cloth over the microwave timer, one over the clock, one over my phone. Sometimes I have the curtains tucked under, sometimes a towel over the top of the curtains, and the bath mat is under the door trying to block all sources of light. I have not had a cell phone signal for about 4 days. Couldn't receive a call or make one. Finally found a Verizon store. Bad SIM card, they put in another one and I am good to go. Yippee! Nicole gave up and called Glenn's phone. "You still alive? My calls just went to voice mail." Just a little bit of how we worry about her and she worries about us. (Glenn) We ride south to Manitou Springs where we plan to spend the next two nights. I made reservations a few days ago to ride the 9 mile incline cog railroad to the top of Pike's Peak. The alternative would have been a steep 20 mile road on the bike at about 15 MPH-no thanks. The views were great and there was still a little snow at the top. We tried their famous "high altitude donuts" when we reached the top. At over 14,000 feet in altitude you can sure tell it is harder to breathe when you exert yourself. After checking in to our room, we just strolled around downtown and had dinner at Mannitou Brewery and ice cream from a small custard stand. Cathy is washing clothes tonight while I plan future stops for our trip and I have an appointment in the morning to change my oil in Colorado Springs. The weather has been nice and we are enjoying the fall colors (especially the bright golden colors of the aspen trees). We are excited that we have a room in Albuquerque for two nights for the start of their huge hot air balloon festival October 3rd. (Cathy) I get to sleep late tomorrow! My back is bothering me. Miss my chiropractor. Maybe Glenn and I can make time for a massage in one of these little towns. Pikes Peak was interesting. Sure didn't want to hike up or down that one. (Glenn) We had a great breakfast here (pancakes,bannana/pecan syrup,fruit,sausage) and headed for Leadvill,CO. I wanted to revisit the old west town I fell in love with about ten years ago. The city has the highest altitude of any city in the U.S. and that can create a shortness of breath and other symptoms of altitude sickness. We did not sleep here tonight because in the old hotel in the photo I had problems on the third floor. I awoke at two AM feeling like I couldn't breath and felt very anxious. I held my head out of the window trying to breathe and could not wait to leave this place. Needless to say we are staying at a lower altitude in Golden , CO tonight. Leadville had cute shops and a great pizza place downtown. Leaving early for Manitou Springs tomorrow to go to top of Pikes Peak. (Cathy) Ride to Leadville was just beautiful. The mountains,the changing leaves,we timed the color changes perfectly. Mostly colors of deep greens from evergreens mixed with the bright yellows of the deciduous trees. everywhere looks different. Just hard to explain. I told Glenn he thought the cute shops were cute because I didn't buy anything.. He says no, just a glass, a little sign for the deck, little container of exfoliating lotion. That's pretty much not buying anything. Oh, and yes, I bought cookies in Ft. Collins Sunday. (Glenn) We left early in Fort Collins and rode to Rocky Mountain National Park. This was one of the first national parks I had ever visited about ten years ago. When we visited here last time on the motorcycle there was so much snow on the ground and the alpine visitors center at the top of the mountain was almost totally covered by snow. The park was still very impressive today ,but I told Cathy it almost seemed like a different park with no snow present. I hiked up a trail to the highest point near the Alpine Visitors Center which at first appearance did not look too bad....but at 12,000 feet elevation it took a lot out of me (Cathy decided to pass on this trail). We later had a "fancy" picnic of boiled eggs, spicy cheezits, yogurt, and water but our view was the best. We are staying at a bed and breakfast (The Silk Pincushion) in Golden, Colorado and we enjoyed a tour of the Coors Brewing Company before dinner downtown. We will sleep here again tomorrow after a road trip to Leadville, CO in the morning. (Cathy) I did pass on this hike. Not much oxygen, Glenn said I would have turned back quickly.lol. Glenn took so long I finally went outside to see if I was in the wrong place. I saw him coming down the hill by his walk, I couldn't see a face, just that little John Wayne type swagger. (Glenn) We decided to look around downtown Fort Collins today. They have a fun downtown area with many shops and restaurants. The only photo I made today was of a funny Bigfoot Research Kit I saw in one of the stores so I just shared it. We visited the Anheuser Busch plant here and an interesting local brewery called Funkwerks that most of the locals seem to really like. We had nice weather today and we enjoyed relaxing around downtown but tomorrow we plan to leave early and see Rocky Mountain National Park on our way to Golden, Colorado. (Cathy) This little store had all kinds of unusual items. Their speciality seemed to be different flavored drinks. Bacon flavored sodas, chocolate,ginger, peanut butter,?you name it, they had it. Vintage candy, chewing gums. We had a good time just checking out all this stuff. Cute little town. Went to a cookie store too. Did we buy a cookie??? (Glenn) Leaving our hotel this morning there was a little frost on the motorcycle. We bundled up with a few extra layers and rode about 2 1/2 hours to Fort Collins, Colorado. We really wanted to visit and tour the New Belgian Brewery but found out the tours book up long in advance. They said if we stayed around they may get us in if some did not show up. We got in the second tour of the day and it turned out to be the most entertaining brewery tour we have ever been on. The place was very crowded and everyone was super nice. We will stay here for two nights and plan to explore the downtown area tomorrow. I am enjoying some Alabama football now but hope to see the Tide pick it up a little more soon (I am concerned)-Roll Tide Roll! (Cathy) I have been in the room with wet hair for the last couple of hours. The hair dryer broke and there was no spare. The manager just brought me new dryer! WooHoo! Temperature rose to a blazing 53 degrees before we got to Ft. Collins. I didn't take any pics until we got to Colorado, too cold to take off my gloves. Around lunchtime I was taking my sweater off. We had a nice lunch from a food truck that comes to the brewery, (Glenn) We are heading toward Colorado but after 3 1/2 hours on the road we chose to stop in Rawlins,Wyoming. It seems to be a small town but it was home to the Wyoming Frontier Prison from 1901 until it was closed in 1981. It was a cold, dark, and confining place where many people were executed by hanging or the gas chamber. Cathy volunteered to sit in the gas chamber. The exterior of the building looked very nice but conditions in the prison were awful. No heat or hot water until the 1970's. It was an interesting tour and we really enjoyed it because there is not much else to do in this town. Tomorrow we enter Colorado and will stay in Fort Collins for a couple of days. (Cathy) Not much here but we did meet the post master, Derrick Sharp. He was really friendly and he rides motorcycles also. Glenn has a football game on tv so he's good for the night. It was really cold getting here today. 59 was the high today with winds it felt colder. Glad I had my heated jacket. We saw so many little herds of deer and sheep, some had as many as 20 deer in the herd. Must have seen 100's.. (Glenn) We slept later today and then returned to Temple Square to "investigate" and look around a little bit more. The visitors center was very nice and everyone we have met here the past three days were beyond nice to the point I told Cathy we must be in some sort of fairyland. The presentations throughout the campus presented a great Christian atmosphere with my beliefs of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. I had a feeling there must be more to this controversial faith so I started researching their beliefs based on their "Book of Mormon". I have problems believing anyone could accept many of these far-fetched ideas. I will not go into them but just look up some information online. Unbelievable!! Tonight we attended the practice of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They sounded great but I was ready to go soon after they started, maybe my studies prior to choir practice disturbed me somewhat. Tomorrow we head eastward and will stop in Rawlins, WY for the night before we enter Colorado and I see no reason to ever visit Salt Lake City again. (Cathy) Regardless of your religious beliefs or denomination, you have to give Mormons credit for their community service and dedication to what they believe in. The choir is exceptional, full orchestra and a picky director. There are over 300 choir members. We also toured Brigham Young's house ( The Beehive House). Maybe we could take the good things that we know Mormons do and skip the rest. (Glenn) It rained here most of the day and was not pleasant with the wind and colder temperatures. That made it a perfect day to sit inside a city tour bus. The tour was in an old time trolley and there were only five of us on board including the driver. Tonight we returned to Temple Square for a nice dinner with the best view in all of Salt Lake City. Looking out one window was a view of the front of the Morman Temple and out of another was the state Capitol building of Utah. It was the nicest dinner we have enjoyed in a long time. The weather is supposed to be better here tomorrow for us to explore the area more. (Cathy) The capital building in the photo is small. Maybe we can get a better pic for tomorrow. It is the largest state capital in the U.S. Regardless of your religion or personal thoughts on Mormons, they are the most pleasant people in general, that I've been around. And no pushing of their religion at all. Everything on their grounds are just spectacular. Great dinner, great company and great view. Maybe no rain tomorrow. (Glenn) I left Cathy in the hotel room this morning and ride thirty miles to Provo, Utah and purchased an audio set for her helmet. Now we can communicate again much easier while we ride. We arrived in downtown Salt Lake City and are staying at the Radisson about two blocks from Temple Square. Our day was spent in Temple square where we enjoyed the noon organ recital at the tabernacle. We visited the free genealogy library and watched a movie called "Meet The Mormans". I found a barber shop nearby and got a much needed trim. The people (young and old) working in the Temple Square area are so helpful, nice, and friendly and are not "pushing" any of their beliefs on anyone and are there to answer questions without ever being intrusive. I know very little about their beliefs based on the Book Of Mormon but they are publicly presenting similar beliefs and values related to Jesus Christ and moral behaviors that I have always known. They do not share much information about the Book Of Morman in their visitors center displays, videos, or movies. We will be in town for three days do it will be interesting to see what we discover. (Cathy) It rained pretty hard so I got to wear my new rain poncho. My manicure and pedicure have been gone long ago. I have only colored my hair once in the time we have been gone,therefore I am getting whiter by the day. As one man said "we don't have a hardware store, we don't even have neighbors". But who do I know? And Glenn doesn't care. I'm having fun taking pics with my new camera, wish I had it long before now. May have to redo some things. Lol (Glenn) After breakfast we headed northwest toward Salt Lake City. We detoured through the town of Provo to send another package of unneeded things back to Alabama and lighten our load another 39 pounds. We also went in Sam's Wholesale Club and bought Cathy a new camera. She lost hers for a short time at Canyonlands Park until someone drove up behind us and said they found it in the road and recognized us from photos on the camera. It was damaged and now difficult to operate and gave her a good excuse to buy a new toy. We toured through Big Cottonwoods Canyon today because it was recommended by our friend Jesse Mathews. It was a very scenic drive through the mountains and there were many nice homes and cabins. There were also a few resorts and many ski lifts so I assume this place gets very busy after the snow season begins. We are staying in Murray, Utah tonight and I am working on getting Cathy's helmet an audio system in the morning in Orem, Utah before we roll into Salt Lake City for a few days. (Cathy) Yes we went to Sam's Club, no problem getting a day pass but they don't take Glenn's visa card so I had to pay for our camera on MY MasterCard. He loved it. I'm really the one that likes all the pics. . My camera was really old but I sure was glad I had been talking to these two couples that found our camera and they hunted us down. Now to learn to use a new camera. Most of my pics are taken on the fly going 70 mph. Never know what I will get. We had an afternoon thunderstorm but we were snug in our room.Our hotel not only has breakfast but had a light supper tonight (shepards pie and salad). I find it so fascinating how all the landscapes have changed over millions of years. These mountain ranges and canyons were once filled with water. Everything is constantly changing. Good chance my grandchildren will not see the same things I am seeing on this trip. There will be something new. Should have paid more attention in school. Now Glenn is my teacher. (Glenn) We dedicated most of this day to Canyonlands National Park. It was about an hour from Moab to the "Islands in the sky" entrance to the park. It was not as crowded as some other parks ( maybe because today was Sunday or since it is now later in September). The views were impressive as expected. The areas looked like canyons within canyons within canyons. We enjoyed a lecture on the cliff side by a ranger who explained how this area was formed. My favorite area of this park was Mesa Arch which required a small hike to view. One of the photos shows Cathy in front of the arch with the canyon view through the arch. We spent over four hours in the park the move on to visit "Hole N The Rock" south of Moab. Many years ago a miner created a 5000 square foot home in a large rock. It cost about $13 for us to get a 12 minute tour but it was actually worth seeing (but never a second time). It is for sale for 2.19 million dollars if anyone is interested in a nice summer home. Tomorrow we head north toward Salt Lake City but plan on sleeping in Murray, Utah after visiting Big Cottonwood Canyon south of Salt Lake City. (Cathy) we had a little picnic at the area of the park called Upheavel Dome to get us by until we could get back to Moab. But we backed out of hiking to the Dome. I have given Glenn my cold. Stopped by Dollar General for more cold meds. At dinner Glenn got smoked pecan pie to go. I told him no but he got it anyway and now he is trying to use the pie as a bribe... Hum. I rubbed Patsy's foot cream on his feet, moisturized his dry legs, fixed him a cold Dr Pepper, fixed his alka seltzer!! What more???? I am taking lots of pics for Patsy. I just know she won't make it out to Utah.lol |
AuthorGlenn and Cathy Stephens Archives
October 2015
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