After leaving Colorado, we traveled west on US Highway 50, which cuts though the high desert of the Great Basin that encompasses the majority of Utah and Nevada.  Utah is dotted with huge, otherworldly rocks that seem to pop up at random throughout the landscape.  These rock formations eventually give way to wide, flat valleys interspersed with frequent small mountain ranges.  There is little vegetation, save for low-growing bushes, like sage brush and small pine trees.  I have to say, this is the most barren and desolate road I have ever traveled.  One could be easily forgiven for thinking you were traveling on another planet.  The land looks dry and dusty, even in the mountains.  There is little traffic, no rest stops, and very few towns along the way.  There were small herds of cattle, but not many.

Interestingly, the cell phone service was pretty good across both states.  Gives one a bit of comfort that if there is trouble, help is just a phone call away.  Across Utah, the communication towers are fairly visible in the higher elevations.  However, in Nevada there were no apparent towers, which fueled an obsession to see if I could find them.  The things we resort to for entertainment when traveling.  I eventually spied one – it was the typical round, white cell transmitter set on a tripod about 5 or 6 feet tall with its own solar power source and surrounded by a fence.  I did not find another obvious device all across the state, so I suppose they are carefully hidden in the mountains.  Well played, Nevada, well played.

Jean

Connected to the Colorado National Monument is McInnis Canyon, a large high-desert canyon land that is also home to a stretch of the Colorado River.  This is not a national park with lovely, well-marked and -maintained trails and park rangers, but a rough, natural area.  For the seasoned hiker, there is a 14-mile trek into Rattlesnake Canyon where I am told natural rock arches abound.  Why anyone would venture into a place called Rattlesnake Canyon is beyond me, but I guess the call of rock arches is strong.

Nevertheless, we did venture along a short trail where quite a number of dinosaur fossils have been found. Allosaurus fossil:

And, of course, Theo managed to find a real-life dinosaur:

Jean

When I hear “monument” I think of statues.  Or other man-made structures like the Washington monument.  Not so for the Colorado National Monument.  This is a large area of canyons and rock formations that have been carved by 150 million years of erosion, similar to the Grand Canyon or Arches National Park.  There is a 23-mile main road that runs the length of the monument and winds its way to the ridge top – and I do mean it winds.  Close to the canyon edges.  For someone who is not fond of heights, this was not a good time.  But I will admit the views from ridge top more than make up for the hair-raising and nail-biting turns of the road to get there.

Jean

As we traveled Interstate 70 across Kansas and Colorado, I could not help but notice the stark differences in the scenery from the highway.  Both states are beautiful in their own way, but Kansas is more of a man-made beauty crafted from the carefully plotted and lush farm fields along the way.  In early spring, the crops are just beginning to poke their faces out to greet the warm sunshine.  The prairie in this part of Kansas is so flat it is easy to convince yourself you can see for miles in the distance.

Interstate 70 across Colorado changes from the pastoral rolling hills dotted with farms and ranches just east of the Rocky Mountains to the dramatic twists and turns of the highway as it snakes it’s way through the natural gaps in the mountains from the front range to Grand Junction near the border with Utah.  This portion of the highway is riddled with warnings of rock falls and avalanches, dangerous grades (especially for big trucks), and runaway vehicle ramps.

Pictures from a moving car are never what we wish they could be, but nevertheless, I hope you will enjoy my less than stellar images of our drive across these two beautiful states.

Jean

Our room had a beautiful view of the Fall River. It also had a kitchenette and an outdoor grill. Everything we needed so Jean and I didn’t need to eat out for every meal. After the previous day’s dinner at Cafe de Pho Thai, we stopped at Safeway. Salmon sounded appealing, so we made a simple menu around grilling fillets. Added baked potatoes and Caesar salad kit to complete dinner. For dessert, an assortment of cheesecake. There was no wine at Safeway, only beer. While Jean checked out, I went to the liquor store and got wine.

Our tastes in wine are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Jean likes grape-juice sweet wines and I like dry bold reds. I asked for suggestions. The clerk at the liquor store first suggested a bottle of Chardonnay for the salmon. I would be happy, but not Jean. We considered some other wines, then he said “wait here.” He came back with two four-packs of single-serving wine bottles. One was a Chardonnay for me, the other pack was a Pinot Grigio for her. Perfect.

We grilled the second night at Aspen Winds and it went perfect. Well, except the grill I thought was heating up, was slightly warm when I came out with the Mediterranean Salmon Skewers. Not sure what happened, but when I pressed the ignition button, a small explosion went up. The burners were on again. Closed the lid and waited another ten minutes for the grill to heat up. Then there was the Romaine lettuce that was placed too close to the freezer compartment. The Caesar salad was crunchy and not just from the croutons. The baked potatoes Jean cooked in the microwave were perfect.

Theo

I fell in love with the Rocky Mountains when first I saw them as a child.  I lived in Colorado Springs for a short time as a young adult and have visited Colorado periodically since then; however, this is my first visit to Rocky Mountain National Park.  I must say I am most impressed with my mountains and I have promised them I won’t wait so long to visit again.  Until then, dear friends.

Jean

Whenever, wherever I’ve traveled, I try to stay away from fast food and chain restaurants. I love local restaurants where the owners are actively involved, the setting has a warmth to it or seems familiar, or the place is just quirky. And I love to eat.

We’ll still stop at fast food places, it’s quick and easy when we are between destinations, but I won’t post anything unless something unusual happens. Like the time on a Sunday evening in Switzerland when almost all restaurants were closed. At a Burger King in the train station, I got a Whopper, but didn’t want any caffeinated drinks so I ordered a Root Beer. Her English was no better than my, well I don’t know what language she was speaking, and after a couple of attempts at Root Beer, I understood when she asked “Heineken?” and nodded my head and said yes.

While I’ve never been a fan of people posting pictures of their food, I started taking pictures of dishes I found interesting when Jean and I were traveling in Germany.  I never posted any of them, but for this trip, I decided I would post pictures and write about the food, restaurant, and experience.

Our first true Great Escape destination was Estes Park. We arrived at Aspen Winds on Fall River Road in the early afternoon. While checking in, the owner recommended at couple of restaurants, the Trailhead which was up the road toward RMNP and served standard American fare.  In the other direction, Nicky’s. I thought he said Nicky’s served Greek food. Turns out the owner Nicky is Greek; the restaurant serves the usual steaks, seafood, and burgers. Neither of those choices appealed at that moment, so using Google, I found a Vietnamese and Thai restaurant, Cafe de Pho Thai in downtown Estes Park.

We were a bit worried when we arrived since the restaurant was pretty empty – but then we were still living in the Central time zone.  We were seated quickly and not long after, a family arrived that spoke to the host in their native language.  Always a good sign in my opinion.  The menu was divided into appetizer, curry, noodle, and entree sections.  We ordered crab and cheese wontons with homemade wonton sauce for an appetizer.  Jean was adventurous and ordered shrimp curry with pineapple and jasmine rice – although she did play it safe on the heat ordering mild and not the Thai hot.  Even the mild was pretty spicy, but just perfect in my opinion.  I ordered Vietnamese barbecue shrimp, which was traditional Vietnamese grilled herbs, shrimp, and crispy spring rolls, served on Thai rice noodles, lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts, carrots, spring onions, and mint with sweet and sour chili sauce.  I felt clueless, but I had to ask the server how to eat this dish.  Fortunately, he was very kind and said I could mix it up as I liked, or eat it in layers.

All the food was delicious and appealing, the service was great, and a very nice atmosphere.  Although I have to tell you that about halfway through our meal we both realized Christmas music was playing in the background.  No Jingle Bells or Frosty the Snowman, but spiritual Christmas music.  We did visit on the evening of Good Friday, but this seemed a little different to us.

Theo

On our way across Kansas, we stopped in Abilene to visit the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, which is a 22-acre campus located on the original site of his boyhood home.  The home itself is very nicely preserved with furnishings original to the family.  Here is where Ida and David Eisenhower raised six sons who where all quite successful in their chosen professions:  banker, lawyer, pharmacist, electrical engineer, agriculturist/college president, and of course West Point graduate turned 5-star general and two-term US president.

My favorite piece in the house is the Singer sewing machine, ca 1870.

The piano claims pride of place in the family parlor as Ida was an accomplished pianist and taught all of her sons to play.  Also in this room is the radio Ida used to listen to news reports on the war efforts.

Considering modern kitchens, it’s hard for me to imagine feeding six growing boys with so few cabinets and so little workspace. A separate kitchen was added after the boys were grown.

A humble resting place for a humble man.

Jean

This week brought a significant change to our lives in the form of my retirement! After more years of working in a demanding and stressful profession than I care to admit, the time was right to take a leap of faith and move on.

We’ve been planning life in retirement for several years now and knew that we wanted to do more traveling both throughout the US and abroad. There is quite a bucket list.

We had a good think and many conversations about how we wanted to travel. Because I feel the need to discuss everything to death. Always. Poor Theo. Like so many of our contemporaries, we were drawn to the idea of RVing, but not in a bus-sized vehicle that would fit an entire rock band, but rather something we could pull with an SUV. Portable, flexible…like a hotel room on wheels that could go anywhere we wanted. And with an inside loo…that was a real necessity for me!

Have you any idea how many of these things exist? We researched and visited and kept narrowing our choices until we settled on a 19′ Escape travel trailer. These are not sold at dealers, but only from the manufacturer in British Columbia. We visited with an owner locally who was kind enough to let us see their trailer and pepper them with all our questions. We also visited the manufacturer last fall to have a very close look and, well, pepper them with questions. See the note above about my tendency to over think.

Now all the decisions are made, money has been exchanged, and our new little trailer is waiting for us to pick him up!

A retirement celebration along with a road trip to collect the trailer were turned into a massive excursion we have dubbed “The Great Escape.” Starting in Missouri, we are headed west with stops in Colorado, Nevada, and California; then up the coast to Seattle and BC. After we pick up the trailer, we are headed back through Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nebraska. I will spare you a discussion of the over thinking and spreadsheeting involved to plan this trip. You can thank me later.

Everything needed for a month-long trip and the essentials for our trailer were crammed into our SUV (thanks to Theo’s amazing packing skills) and off we go!

Stay tuned for our adventures from the road!

Jean