Rocky Mountain National Park

I’m writing this from our home in Phoenix after arriving yesterday (Monday) morning, driving down from Flagstaff. Wow what a trip.!!

Our last update was sent from National Park Retreats RV park at the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park Co. We made our way through the park last Thursday. The park road is the highest passage through a mountain range in the US with an elevation over 12000 ft. We had weather chasing us all the way with light snow and a mid-day temp of 46 degrees. I moved quickly to get these photos. The road will probably only be open for a couple more weeks. Driving south from the park we crossed the Continental Divide at 10,759 ft but I’m sure we crossed it earlier at the summit but it was too cold to pose for a photo. Our destination for the day was Gunnison which turned out to be a long distance with the three slow mountain passes to go over. Lots of ski resorts along the way. Winter Park below, we also passed Copper Mountain and Breckenridge.

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We almost stopped for the night at Leadville where a film festival was going on. Looks like an interesting old mining town that we will put on our place to visit again. The picture below was taking on Main street as we drove through. After a long day of mountain driving we arrive in Gunnison 6ish, a tough 300 mile day.

Gunnison sets in high plains surrounded by mountains, ranches and farms. We had great dinner at the Gunisack restaurant in downtown.

Friday…The photo below was taken approaching Ouray from Gunnison. The road quickly climbs back in the mountains at Ouray on the million dollar HW. The HW name comes from the value of gold ore that was lost per mile when they blasted the road through the pass. Value today??

Lots of road work wrapping up for the summer. Good opportunity for some road side photos..

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Below, Ouray as we climb up the pass to the south.

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Friday our destination was Dave and Brenda’s home south for Durango Co. We stopped here on our way eastward and had a great time and were happy to be invited to stop westbound. Friday night we had this big fire while listening to great music. Weather is cooling to the high 40s at night and the fire feels good. Dave had tempted me to go trail riding on our eastward stop but with 6 weeks of vacation in front of us I thought it would be wise to not take any chances. Now almost home I’m ready. We had a exciting ride on a single track trail above Durango. Dave choose a trail to let me get my bike legs back but it quickly got a little technical keeping me on my toes.

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Pura Vida Cafe at Lake Vallecito NE of Durango. Costa Rican food in Colorado. Saturday afternoon lunch was perfect..

Taking a break at the top of the trail.

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Sunday we headed for Flagstaff to visit Carlton and Beth who were with us in Athens and sailing the islands. They live and work in Flagstaff and have a home in Cholla Bay like us. It’s going to be our last day in the mountains and great to spend it with Cholla friends. Lots of stories to catch up on and memories to reminisce about. They came home with lots of souvenirs since they were flying directly from Greece to Phoenix.

GatoLoco co-owner Dave Redden was in Flag working on his summer home so we went by to check out his progress. He’s building a 2 story 3 bedroom log home doing as much work himself as possible. Pictured here is Dave, Beth, Carlton and Frankie>>

We were treated to Beth’s famous cooking with a Greek lamb chop dinner. What a special way to spend our last day on the road. They even came back from Greece with some of Captain George’s olive oil for our salads. Thanks for a great evening.

I’m not sure how to end this cruise. It seems so long ago when we started, even longer from the planning stages. Everybody had a great time and of course Al had her 40th birthday cruise. Frankie and I, like everybody on the cruise can only hope she wants to do it again soon. We’ve taken lots of pictures to capture the memories and I will be working to get some slideshows put together to share the memories.

It is nice to be home but we will not get much rest with Big Fun in Cholla Bay coming Oct 14th – 28th

Stay tuned for the next adventure… Until the next update..

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