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Golden, Colorado

Approaching Golden

I think Golden, Colorado deserves its own post.  This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  Nestled in the mountains it has a quaint, charming historic downtown area full of outdoor eateries, shops, parks and a river runs through it!

Golden, Colorado

There are numerous walking, hiking and biking trails and it is dog and people friendly.  We went downtown on Sunday and the scene was one that could have been right out of movie with everyone acting on cue.  People were eating outside, there were walkers and bikers.  A group of motorcyclists were in town, people in the park were playing barefoot on the grass with children; another park had people barbequing.  There were water bowls for the dogs throughout the downtown area and everywhere one went people were greeting each other.  If you have seen the Truman Show, it kind of reminded me of it - almost too good to be true.

Not far from the downtown area is a big beautiful mall with all the shopping one could ever dream of.  We did not make it into Denver, but Denver is probably only 10 -15 minutes away.  Previously I had mentioned Dawn moving to the Boulder area, but she is closer to Denver than Boulder.  I love this place and look forward to other trips here.

Tomorrow I leave for Canada, Belinda returns to Florida and Dawn and Gio (and Fox) will settle into their new life in Golden, Colorado.  May the force be with them.

BLou (a.k.a. Luba)

Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

I'm back.......!!!  Dawn and Gio got cable and internet connected today so I am able to make my final entry on the "Two North's Wandering" road trip.

I failed to mention something at the beginning of the blog.  Our two vehicle plus U-Haul convoy kept in touch during the trip with two way radios that Dawn and Gio had.  Dawn was "blonde bomber" and Gio was "Haitian Sensation".  On Mother's Day when Gio wanted to wish me a happy day via the two way radio, he referred to me as "Canadian Bacon".  I would have preferred something more flattering but I found that Americans, when thinking about Canada often think of Canadian Bacon.  In Texas, when speaking to a well fed Texan and telling him I was Canadian, replied "I love Canadian bacon".  That was quite obvious.

When we left Taos, New Mexico on Saturday we drove over the Rio Grande Gorge.  I believe it is 650 feet deep and quite beautiful to behold (you could google this and see for yourself).  We then passed an "Earthship Community" where all the homes had a self sustaining energy system.  We then entered Colorado.  The drive was beautiful, had winding roads and we were surrounded by mountains:  Sangre De Cristo Mts. on the right and the Rocky Mts. on the left.  We passed the Great Sand Dunes, which I wanted to drive in and see but we had to make it to Golden in time for Dawn to sign her lease and get the key for the apartment.  On our drive we climbed to an elevation of 10001 feet at which point there was snow but then descended 5000 feet to the Golden area. 

Colorado Mountains

The trip was great:  8 states in 7 days and I got to spend a lot of time with Dawn.  I think I will do one more entry on Golden.............so keep reading. 

Two Norths Wandering .....over and out. 

Taos

Okay, I must admit that doing this blog daily is not as much fun as I thought it would be.  I certainly am not Dale - but I will do my best for today and that leaves one more day on the blog as our trip ends tomorrow when we arrive in Colorado.

I love New Mexico - after leaving the Roswell area the drive was beautiful.  The landscape went from flat land to rolling hills to mountains.  It frequently looked like the Merritt/Kamloops area.  We drove through charming historical towns, one of which was Lincoln where Billy the Kid met his maker.  There were a lot of gift shops and the local people were chatty and eager to tell us about the historical events that happened in their town.

Newton Train Stn.

The weather was variable; we had some rain, hail, wind, fog and temperatures ranged from 43 to 73.  Due to the length of time we spent on the road we got into Taos too late to see much and the rain was coming down in sheets.  We saw enough to realize that this is a place worth spending some time in.  We were unable to go to Taos Pueblo and that is disappointing but I will just have to return.

Taos Plaza

We had some delicious Mexican food in a local sports pub and are now ready to retire for the eveniing.  I am looking forward to arriving in Colorado tomorrow.

Blou

New Mexico

We are In New Mexico but I must say that it is not as interesting as I had expected.  The landscape driving from the state line to Roswell was quite flat and dry with a bit of scrub brush - not pretty.  

The Road to Roswell

Roswell is large enough to have all the amenities and by this I mainly mean it has a Starbucks!  The UFO part of the town is really quite cheap and cheezy.  We enjoyed walking around the town looking at all the gift shops selling alien and UFO souveniers and went into a shop that had recreated their version of Area 51 and we had our photos taken with a lot of "aliens". 

This morning when we awoke in Sweetwater, Texas we were supplied with the best free breakfat to date - it was big like the rest of Texas.  I had some grits and biscuits with gravy and Alamo sauce.  The drive through the rest of Texas was full of oil wells (you could smell the oil), cattle and miles of beautiful red earth.  In one town they were trying to grow grapes for the first time and if successful were going to start a winery.  I really liked everything I saw in Texas.

We checked into our room early and are having a relaxing evening.  Dawn and I went to Red Lobster for dinner.  Gio is allergic to seafood so he and Belinda went out to eat on their own.

Tomorrow it is getting back to the northerly route to Taos Pueblo.

Blou

New Mexico vista

Deep in the Heart of Texas

We entered the Lone Star State today and after a long day on the road we are still in it.  We have noted that Texas is more prosperous than the last three states we drove through. There are big cattle ranches and big homes and oil wells.

JR Ewing

We drove on the outskirts of Dallas/Fort Worth, past Abilene and are currently in Sweetwater,chosen for its "sweet" name.  Tomorrow we will be in New Mexico and are very excited about that state.

The only thing of interest today is that Gio ran out of gas 14 miles out of Breckenridge.  Dawn and I drove to buy a gerry can of gas and returned to rescue him from the side of the road.

That is all for tonight.  Tomorrow I will have more interesting things to say. Thanks for following along.

Luba

On The Road Again

We awoke in Alabama...

...drove through Mississippi...

...and are now in Louisiana - Shreveport.

The weather is beautiful - no sign of the tornado that touched down in Oaklahoma.  It was just a long day of driving (or riding for me).  We want to make good time now as we want to spend more time in New Mexico.  We had a "tailgate picnic" In Newton, Mississippi and walked around the historic train station.

The scenery is lush and green.  We drove through Short, Louisiana that proudly displays the sign that it is the birthplace of Tim McGraw and Gibsland, Louisiana that has the claim to fame that Bonnie and Clyde were killed there.

Tomorrow we will begin our drive across the state of Texas.

Good night from all of us to all of you.

BLou