The Great Adventure 2011 Colorado– 7/1/11

Happy 4th of July to all my USA friends!!

(For more pictures of our Great Adventure 2011, click HERE. )

We left Colby, Kansas and headed west. It really wasn’t too bad in the morning. We passed Goodland which boasts a huge Van Gogh painting that we saw two years ago when we were there. It was nice to see rolling hills in the distance as we traveled down the highway. We couldn’t believe all the traffic that we hit when we got to Denver and it wasn’t even rush hour!

Our first stop was Idaho Springs where we ate lunch. It was a cute little town! Then we headed up Hwy 40 to Granby which was a very curvy mountainous road.

We arrived in Granby a day early and The Trail Riders Motel (215 E. Agate Ave.) had our room ready for us and let us check in a day early. It was an adorable motel and I hate that we could only get 3 nights there (they were booked after that). The couple running the motel was extremely welcoming! Our cute room had a double bed, eating area, small fridge, microwave, desk and private bathroom plus free wifi. There was a little porch with white plastic chairs in front of our room that overlooked the main road and we enjoyed sitting out there watching the sun set. I would highly recommend this motel to people coming to the area! Not only was the motel clean and cute, but the prices were very reasonable!

After we checked in, we headed to the Rocky Mountain National Park and drove the Trail Ridge Road up to the highest point. Along the way we saw a moose and her two babies and lots of elk. The mountains still had snow on them and there were places that the snow was over our head! The views were breathtaking and hard to describe. After getting in and out of the car, we realized that the high altitude was going to give us some problems hiking if we rushed onto a trail, so we stayed close to the car and enjoyed the views. Tomorrow we will do some lower elevation hikes and continue to get acclimated to the altitude.

We had dinner at the Maverick Grille which was only two blocks from the motel and the food was great! Don had a beef chimichanga which he says was outstanding and I had the smothered chicken (smother in mushrooms, bacon, and pepper jack cheese) that I enjoyed also.

I look forward to doing some hiking in the park tomorrow!

What I Learned Today:

· It can be super hot at one location and a few hours later, I could be standing on a snow covered mountain.

· Seeing a mother moose with her two babies is really exciting.

· The views from the Rockies were amazing and hard to describe. Pictures just don’t do them justice.

· It is fun to stay at small “mom and pop” motels where guests can feel welcomed and appreciated.

crossposted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original Photo Rockies by Pat Hensley