From Fish Lake to Glenwood Springs



I spent some time hiking around Fish Lake which is a peaceful place. The water is a very rich color of blue and matched well with the turning aspens. 


The next morning it was time to head to Glenwood Springs and I was up early enough to catch the sunrise from my cabin window.

 Diversity
The ride over on I-70 was full of views of the mountains and hills... It was very striking to me to see the diversity in the types of formations... There were white mountains, gray mountains, red mountains and some that were striped. There were many shades of brown along with some very dark colored hills that were almost black when the sun was low. There were massive rock formations that over time had fallen and scattered to provide even more contrast. Some mountain tops were jagged while others were rounded like the ones we see in East Tennessee. Some were flat and layered with the occasional river thrown in to add to the view. Some had lots of trees and foliage, while others only had sparse plant life. The really high ones had no plant life at all. There was one really interesting set of rounded hills that appeared to be made of solid gray rock. The tops of these hills had a golden brown crusty covering. They seemed out of place with their surroundings but really caught my eye. It always amazes me how God goes to a bunch of trouble to create things in a more beautiful and unique manner, He is quite the artist.. I mean, he coulda just made earth to be a plain and unfeatured planet... We wouldn't have know the difference, it would just be the way it always was... To me, the way he made mountains is very similar to the way he made people...

 Glenwood Springs!
What a cool town... I told my sister that it was like Gatlinburg, TN except they have a small college, a HUGE river (Colorado), and legal pot... The Colorado River runs right through town and is joined by the Roaring Fork River. There are folks everywhere fishing the river in many ways, including contracted float trips:


The city has also developed an amazing paved path system that winds around the rivers and the city itself. I took a day off the bike and got about 5 miles of scenic walking in...
I also watched a pick-up softball game at the city park

The Park Walking trails were relaxing

Found this neat Firefighters memorial in a park
When I pulled into my hotel the first thing I saw with the Gondolier going up the side of the hill... I decided I had to ride that thing. There was a touristy town on top of the hill but it had a great viewing deck... There is a funny story about that coming up..
A view of the town from the Gondolier Ride

Funny Story: Being from Tennessee you have to always have a good story


So I went up to the viewing deck to take pictures of the mountains and town. The only other folks up there were the three people in  the picture below... The older folks turned out the be an Italian couple that lived in NYC and the other lady was their daughter... So...

I walked over to them and ask if they would take a picture of me with the view in background... The older lady proceeded to ask me; (you have to hear this in Italian whine) " Would you like to have you picture taken with my bbeeeuuuttiifullll daughter?" (the daughter said "MOMMA")   Being quick on my feet I replied (you have to hear this in a slow southern drawl ) "Well I think my beeeuuuutiiifulll wife would want to know why I am having my picture taken with your beeeeuuuutiiiifulll daughter"

This didn't even slow the old gal down... She countered with; (italian whine) So, where is your bbeeeeuuutiffffulll wife, why is she not with you??? (the daughter again said "MOMMA") I replied " My bbbeeeeeuuuutifullll wife does not like to ride motorcycles, and I do... When I said that her eyes got very big (she had taken off her sunglasses during the negotiation) and said ; "Oooohhh, you ride a motorcycle!!!" and she gives a big wink to her daughter... (again she says MOMMA)...  
This whole story just goes to prove what Jeff Sanger has always told me.... "Chicks dig Motorcycles"... I guess this even goes for 80 year old Italian chicks that live in NYC, amazing.

BTW, I dig get my picture taken!
Bottom line, Glenwood Springs is a very well put together town... It does have a significant homeless community that are always asking for money, but I never felt in danger. I think this might go along with the legal pot theme.

Next up is a visit to my friends in Frasier CO, Laurie and Randy Dack...


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Yellowstone

Image
I started the Sunday morning in Idaho Falls... With the time zone difference from Tennessee I seem to wake up early and caught a good pic of the sun rise from my hotel window... The hotel was right next to the Snake River which makes me want to go fishing... I wanted to get to Yellowstone. Prior to this day I had only 7 states left that I hadn't been to. After my ride that will be down to 4... I started in Idaho, then went to Montana, where the West Yellowstone Visitor Center is, and then into Wyoming for Yellowstone. On the ride to the West Entrance Visitor Center I passed this place called Bear World , which had just added a billboard saying they have 45 black and grizzly bears... The funny part was right next to that billboard was another temporary billboard sign saying "We Are Hiring!!!"  I thought "I don't think so... The guy you are replacing probably got ATE!!!"   It made me laugh... I got to the Visitor Center and wanted to buy an entrance...
Read more

From Tulsa to Hot Springs

Image
After the great visit with my daughter's family in Jenks OK, I continued east to visit some friends outside of Hot Springs AR.  The drive was an easy ride . I am finding that the more I drive the more I like it... I have learned to relax and by this point I had over 4000 miles of experience to use.  Sheila and Terry McLarty are just fine folks... They live in a beautiful house out in the back hills around Hot Springs... It is such a peaceful remote place that requires a GPS to find.  The woods around them are so nice that you can forget the rest of the world even exist.  Terry is an avid hunter and fisherman so he is right at home out there... He is from the area, so just a natural fit. Sheila adds her charm and taste to the place and completes the picture. She is just one of those folks that does for others and is so relaxing to be around. I could just sit around and yak with those two forever. They cooked up a great supper that featured some amazing gril...
Read more

Elk-A-Rama

Image
What a great visit with some old friends. I got to Laurie and Randy Dack's condo in Fraser CO,  just in time for a great lunch... They are such good people and we had a great bunch of fun. After lunch, we ran around Granby a bit and even took a tour of a grow house... A gentleman explained all the details of the science around proper agriculture, which was really pretty interesting. It was much more exact and detailed than I thought. After that we took off the to the Rocky Mountain National Park to see the Elk and boy did we hit pay dirt.. There were several groups of Elk, and while the first bunch were out in the fields..... The next group was very up close and personal...  Check out the pictures below This girl came up behind me while I was taking pictures of the bull... She had a calf but seemed to not mind me being close This is the calf with the female above who was scratching an itch There was probably around 30 females in the her...
Read more