The long and winding road

After leaving Winnemucca, NV this morning, I knew it was going to be a long day.  Driving, that is.  As I experienced on a previous road trip and mentioned in a previous blog, driving the highways of Oregon can be frustratingly long.  Crossing the border from Nevada to Oregon on US Hwy 95, the speed limit went from 65 to 55.  Let's be honest...it's really hard to stick to 55 mph when you're traveling miles and miles of straight roads.  I admit, I exceeded that speed limit by a few mph, but other motorists were passing me going 10-15 mph over.  That became the trend of the day as I drove west through the state.  Even pickup trucks towing trailers were going around me!  And, I didn't see one state patrol car the whole day!  No wonder people speed!

I got to my pit stop early, so I indulged in a much needed car wash for my Outback.  Plus, I didn't mind checking into my hotel early to watch the second half of the Seahawks-Cowboys football game.  I was thinking I wouldn't have any photos for today's blog entry, but as I looked out my hotel window this evening, I saw this.

It's a fitting ending as my road trip draws to a close, and I'm driving into the sunset, so to speak.  I'll be making the long trip to home, sweet home tomorrow, and getting a good night's sleep tonight.  Kind of like this Amur Tiger at the Denver Zoo.  Sweet dreams!

The way west

I had an excellent overnight stay in Provo, UT.  I stayed in a suite at an extended stay hotel for a very reasonable price and it had everything I needed to be comfortable.  I slept like a log and made good use of the extra hour, since I would be traveling from Mountain time back to Pacific time.  Heading west on I-80, I stopped at a rest area to check out the Bonneville Salt Flats.  This place is famous as a site for racers wanting to break world speed records.  There was too much water near the shoreline so I wasn't able to actually walk on it.  It was still cool, though.

After three hours of driving, I stopped in Elko, NV for lunch and a visit to the Northeastern Nevada Museum.  This museum had a mix of history, art and some guy's stuffed animal collection.  That would be his animal trophies.  Personally, I prefer my animals alive.  I DID get a photo of someone's horsehair coat, and a very pretty chamberpot!

When I exited the museum, my eyes were immediately drawn to bushes with purple flowers...and monarch butterflies!  I don't see these butterflies where I live, and definitely not so close up.  Photo op!

Just south of Elko is the California Trail Interpretive Center.  This museum has exhibits that promote the emigrant experience back in the mid-1800s when wagon trains traveled the various trails going west.  I enjoy exhibits that are a little different like this representation of a typical meal.  That would be bacon, biscuits and beans.  I also thought the display of a coyote digging a grave was pretty funny.

Well, tomorrow is the last full day of my road trip, then the final push home.  It's time...life on the road is wearing on me.  Not that I haven't been having fun! 

Return to Delicate Arch

I woke up a little earlier this morning because I wanted to get a jump on the mass of people that were sure to show up at Arches National Park...the Delicate Arch trail in particular.  After grabbing breakfast AND lunch at Subway, I headed out to the park.  I made it to the Delicate Arch trail head just after 8:00 am, then started out on the 1.5 mile hike to the famous arch.  Leaving the parking lot, I was greeted by a pretty scrub jay.  As I looked to the south, I could see the Windows Section of arches, with the South Window clearly visible.

 

The hike to Delicate Arch is considered strenuous, mainly because of the long, steep slickrock that greets you after the first half mile.  I had to stop several times to rest, but you get a feeling of accomplishment when you make it to the top. Yes, those tiny specks in the distance are people!

Arches National Park has at least a couple thousand documented arches, with the most accessible and impressive within view of visitors.  As I neared the end of the trail, there was one small arch right next to the narrow rock shelf I was walking on.  And, there was another one to the north.  I don't know if they had names.

The most impressive arch, of course, is Delicate Arch.  Sitting on top of a rock outcropping, it just doesn't seem possible such an arch could exist.  But, there it is.  The last time I made the hike to Delicate Arch, I didn't get quite as close as I did today.

I only had time to see a couple more arches that I hadn't seen in my previous visit to the park.  I walked a two-mile loop trail to check out Tapestry Arch and Broken Arch.  Broken Arch isn't really broken.  It just has a visible crack at its apex, which might eventually result in its demise. 

As I was nearing the parking lot at the end of the loop trail, two animals popped out at me.  A lizard and a Hopi chipmunk stood still long enough for me to take their pictures.  Thank you. 

After hiking about five miles, I was tired and ready for lunch.  I ate at the Fiery Furnace viewpoint, and took a pic afterwards.

I spent the rest of the day driving to my next nightly pit stop.  Tomorrow, more driving and a couple of museums.  I'm well on my way back in the direction of home.  I wish I could get a car wash, but I'm afraid of making my window crack grow some more. 

Rim Rock views...and bighorns

After a restful stay in the small town of Parachute, UT, I drove west to my destination of the day, Colorado National Monument. I had only driven a short distance from the park entrance when I was greeted by a group of bighorn sheep grazing along the side of the road.  It was only the second time I've ever seen wild bighorn, and the second time on this road trip.  Cool!

 

 It was overcast when I arrived at the park, and I was eager to get in as much walking and photo taking before the rain arrived.  Colorado National Monument is famous for their red rock panoramas, and there was no shortage of that.  There were many interesting rock formations and driving the park's Rim Rock Drive made it easy to see them.

Besides the bighorns, I got a couple other pics of animals.  Here's a dark-eyed junco who I heard before I actually spotted, and a Hopi chipmunk that I was lucky to snap...fast little critter!

 

Tomorrow, I return to Arches National Park!  It's been awhile since I've last visited, and I really miss one of my favorite parks. And, I'm so happy to hear the weather forecast says it will be sunny and 70s!  Perfect!

Huffing and puffing

I wanted to get an early start on my day so I skipped the breakfast omelet bar at my hotel this morning.  As I passed by the dining room, I saw the chef flipping someone's omelet into the air.  I didn't much feel like eggs anyway.  Leaving Lakewood...a suburb of Denver...I drove about an hour west to hike St. Mary's Glacier, located just north of Idaho Springs.  This 3/4 mile trail takes you to the base of the glacier, which is really just a large snowfield.

 

With my trekking pole in one hand and my camera in the other, I headed up the steep rocky trail...and soon realized something wasn't quite right.  I found myself getting quickly and overly tired and out of breath.  I knew immediately I must be at a pretty high elevation to get winded so easily.  

At first, I took things a bit slower, then changed my walking technique.  A long time ago, I was watching a documentary on TV which featured noted photographer Art Wolfe.  I love his wildlife photos!  I remember him sharing this technique for traversing steep trails.  He would step forward with one foot, then bring the other foot up and in line with the first.  Done repetitively, it saves energy and doesn't tire you out so much.  I've used this technique before, and believe me, it works!  And, it worked today, too.  In no time, I reached St. Mary's Lake and was greeted by the glacier and some pretty gorgeous scenery.

I had the place to myself going up, but passed several people as I was going down.  It's always nice to beat the crowds!  As for animals, I saw squirrels and chipmunks running around, but they didn't stay still long enough to get a photo.  Finally, I managed to snap a quick one of a cute chipmunk.

I had lunch in Silverthorne... Chipotle Mexican Grill.  This restaurant is the favorite meal spot of the Seattle band Barcelona...one of my favorite musical artists.  I had never eaten at Chipotle before, and I was curious as to why they like it so much.  I got the burrito bowl with carnitas (pork) and black beans.

Verdict?  Delicious!  I really enjoyed it, and wouldn't mind eating Chipotle again before my road trip is over.  Right outside the restaurant, I admired the view of Red Peak in the distance.

You can see a little of the fall colors in that shot.  I got the opportunity to get a few more photos of the pretty foliage when I was caught in construction traffic on the interstate.  At a standstill, I snapped this pic.

In the afternoon, I visited Rifle Falls State Park near Rifle, CO.  Just a short walk from the parking lot was a trio of water falls.  Nice!

  

The park also had some limestone caves that were not that deep, but interesting.  I walked the Coyote loop trail that gave me a different perspective of the falls from above.  

 

Well, it looks like there might be some rain in the forecast tomorrow.  I'm hoping to visit another park and get some views and a hike or two if the weather cooperates.  Oh, I found out that the elevation at the St. Mary's Glacier trailhead is about 10,400 feet.  Well, that explains my difficulties!  Whew!  

Pennies and predators

I got a much better sleep last night...no train horns blaring.  I had to battle a little Denver rush hour traffic this morning to make my tour at the United States Mint.  The guided tour was only 45 minutes long, but was well worth my time.  There was some history on the mint, and we could see coins being made below us on the production floor.

Afterward, I drove a short distance away to visit Voodoo Doughnut...the first shop to open away from Oregon.  The Portland creme doughnut was delicious!  I spent the rest of my very leisurely day at the Denver Zoo. The city should be very proud...they have a great zoo!  They have almost every animal you can think of at the Denver Zoo...and then some!  And, I got a lot of awesome photos.

Banded Mongoose

 Serval

 Amur Leopard

 Clouded Leopard (cub)

 Black and White Colobus Monkey, Gibbon

 Cheetah

 African Wild Dog

 South African Lion

I would have taken more photos, but my camera ran out of battery power.  And, I didn't bring my spare!  Oh, well.  It forced me to spend the rest of the afternoon actually LOOKING at the animals rather than concentrating on taking photos of them.  And, that was a good thing.  

When I got back to the car, my happy day took a negative turn.  I had bought a brand new window shade shortly after I got my new car.  It has a VERY reflective surface, which I guess is supposed to deflect the heat away from the windshield.  I should have known it would not be good for my windshield crack.  I removed the shade to find the crack had grown about 10 inches more!  Well, so much for my great window shade.  At least the crack is moving in a fairly straight line now, not that it makes any difference.  Well, tomorrow I leave Denver and start slowly heading back west.  More parks and it looks like rain again on the horizon. 

Trains, Planes and Automobiles...did I say trains?

How was I to know?  I guess if I had consulted Trip Advisor, I would have known.  So, I was settled into my hotel in Cheyenne, WY last night when I heard train horns.  Loud train horns.  Not once, but several times during the evening.  At that point, I DID check out Trip Advisor, and sure enough, there were complaints about train horns.  Concerned that my sleep would be affected by the cacophony, I decided to use the rock and roll earplugs that I always carry with me.  Now, these earplugs don't cancel out ALL noise, but it was better than nothing.  Turns out I only recall hearing train horns only once during the night, and I immediately went back to sleep.  Needless to say, I won't be staying at that hotel...or any hotels in that general vicinity...in the future.

Before leaving Cheyenne this morning, there was one little thing that needed to be addressed.  A few days ago, I noticed only the driver's window switch was working.  None of the other automatic window switches seemed to work.  That could be inconvenient if I want to take a photo on the passenger side of the car and can't roll down the window.  I happened to notice a Subaru dealership just a block away from my hotel yesterday, so decided to drop in to see if my problem could be fixed.  I spoke to a nice young lady working in the service department, and explained my window switch issue.  To my relief, she knew exactly what the problem was.  I had inadvertently hit the window disable switch adjacent to the door lock switch.  Now, why didn't I notice that?  I felt pretty silly, but my old Blazer never had that particular switch.

I drove down to Denver and spent a relaxing day at a couple of museums.  The first one was the Forney Museum of Transportation.  This facility had a lot of nice old and rare cars, in addition to other modes of transportation.  Trains, bicycles, motorcycles...even horse drawn vehicles.

 

One thing that added a little flavor to your standard museum of this type was the inclusion of wax figures.  They came from a former local wax museum, and they conveniently fit in to the historical theme. This bright yellow beauty was once owned by Amelia Earhart...who is sitting behind the wheel.

One display that was not so effective was the Wright Brothers.  I don't know if they really looked like this, but it got a chuckle out of me!

In the afternoon, I went to Wings Over The Rockies Air & Space Museum.  This museum didn't have the biggest collection of planes, but they more than made up for it with their other exhibits.  There was a big emphasis on aviation history in Colorado, and I really enjoyed the video with Harrison Ford promoting flying in the Rocky Mountain area.

The one fighter...actually starfighter...that most impressed me was the official Star Wars X-Wing replica.  It had been constructed for several Star Wars promotional events, and now resides permanently at this museum.

I really enjoy seeing miniature items in museums, and I loved the cross section of a jet plane model that included little people inside.  Such attention to detail! 

So, I'll be spending one more fun day in Denver, and it looks like the weather will be perfect for a zoo visit.  As usual, I'll be looking to take a lot of animal pics!