In the fall of 2022 we made our last road trip west with Steve's mom Claudia. (She passed away quietly at home in February of 2024 at age 98.) On that trip we considered going to Mesa Verde National Park but discovered we were too late in the season to actually explore the pueblos. So we put it off for another trip--this one!
We began on Thursday, Sept 26, with a Minnesota Orchestra coffee concert at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. A couple wonderful Ravel pieces and a couple contemporary pieces we were less enthusiastic about. Another woman was sitting next to us in what used to be Mom's seat. She was sweet, and we chatted a bit. Her response to the most contemporary piece was "I can't imagine spending the time needed to practice something like that!"
From the concert, we headed to Waseca for a late lunch with friends and then on to Des Moines, continuing to Denver on Friday. Flat prairie. No pictures. But it WAS a beautiful day. Denver is NOT in the mountains, but by the time we reached the edge of the city, faint lines of blue mountains showed through the haze to the west.
This morning we took off a little after 7, headed west on I-70. Colorado is the only state I know where even the Interstate can be jaw-dropping beautiful.
At Copper Mountain we headed south on CO 91 on the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway. Just past a major mine, we came to this valley where three mining villages thrived in the 19th century. Abandoned in the 1950s, the valley was later filled in with mining slag. One of those towns was Kokomo. My dad (who celebrated his 102nd birthday this week) grew up in Kokomo, IN, so I had to take this picture for him of the site of Kokomo, CO.
Some great photos can happen when you take a wrong turn. This one (which we thought would take us into Leadville) took us instead to a tiny community of double-wide manufactured homes with freshly painted wood siding. Every house was different, but similar enough that we suspected it was a company town. This view is from a dirt road beyond the community, which led to a dead end. Not to Leadville.
From Leadville, we continued south on CO24. Our Scenic Highways and Byways book recommended a side trip to up CO82 to Twin Lakes, a tiny tourist town of log houses and shops. We continued up 82 as far as Independence Pass where I hiked with my sister a decade ago along the Continental Divide at the top of these ridges.
On the way back to CO24 we stopped for lunch at a picnic ground along one of theTwin Lakes. The sun felt good in the breeze.
I had a note in my plans to take 306 out of the town of Buena Vista into a part of the map that is REALLY hard to read because of the small print. Colorado is NOT good at marking roads, but Steve spotted a sign that said "Cottonwood Pass" and went the right direction, so we took it. Never did see a sign that identified what road we were on but people we talked to at the top said it was 306. Cottonwood Pass turned out to be the place where my sister and I left my mother-in-law Claudia in the car with her embroidery and a book. By the time we got back to the car, it was snowing. In the weeks before she died, that was one of the memories Claudia commented on.
Here is Cottonwood Pass today. No snow.
We continued over the pass and down the other side. (We know from people we talked to that the road number changed, but never saw a sign indicating what it was.) Spectacular scenery. The aspen are at peak at elevation. When the sun shone on them, the gold color was almost blinding. We ended up following this trout stream for miles. So gorgeous.
Someone had recommended Crested Butte because of the aspen, so when we hit CO135, we turned north. The scenery was beautiful and lots of aspen, but the day had begun to cloud up so the color was not so brilliant. Then I checked the GPS and discovered that this route (all marked scenic on the Colorado map) was going to take 3 hours to get to our hotel and it was already almost 4. Uh... We turned around and took a shorter route, also scenic. (I don't think there is anything NOT scenic around here.) It only took us two hours. :-) So much to explore; I guess we'll have to come back. :-)
Mi Mexico in Montrose for supper.
Today's route:
No comments:
Post a Comment