Our first stop this morning was a Best Buy to buy a new phone charger. While at Best Buy we saw a man shopping who was wearing an Ohio State shirt. Those damn buckeyes are everywhere. J Having received a new phone charger free of charge from a nice Samsung rep we headed for the Garden of the Gods. This is an area of spectacular red sandstone formations. Many of the formations were given names. Tim particularly liked the formation called “Kissing Camels”. Lynda would not go near the “Balanced Rock” formation. She was sure this would be the time it would suddenly fall after thousands of years of balancing.
When we left Colorado Springs, Lynda had us take back roads to connect to I-70 heading west. We drove through spectacular scenery. Several of the passes we drove through had a summit of over 9000 feet. We would drive down from these summits and see the road stretch out in front of us to the next rise, It would take us over 15 minutes at 70 miles an hour to drive across the high plain to this next rise. Our route took us through Breckenridge, a famous ski resort. If we were skiers we would have been enthralled. Instead we just commented on how beautiful it was. We stopped in Frisco, Colorado for a sandwich before getting on the interstate. Joni Starr had recommended Frisco. It was a picturesque little town. Thanks Joni.
Not wanting to sound redundant, we continued to drive through spectacular vistas. In the Aspen area Tim was excited by several beautiful looking golf courses along the highway. Given the altitude we were at he was convinced that he could actually hit the ball on these courses as far as he does in his dreams. For a stretch of about 10 miles the road curved through shear mountains with the Colorado River cascading beside us. Incredible beauty. In western Colorado the scenery changed to high plains. The landscape was barren and for many miles there were no services at the exits. We were well into Utah before we came to an exit, Green River, Utah, with hotels. The first hotel we stopped at had no vacancies as did the second. We discovered that the Green River Melon Festival was occurring this weekend. We found one of the last rooms at a Knights Inn. If you are ever in Green River, Utah, don’t stay at the Knights Inn.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
When planning this trip we had a debate over how to travel. Tim wanted to fly, Lynda wanted to drive. After intense negotiations Tim agreed to drive provided that we stop along the way to watch the MSU-Notre Dame football game. Leaving Green River we drove through high desert which featured many indescribable rock formations. Again there were long stretches, think 50 to 100 miles, of highway with no services. As game time approached the closest town was still 60 miles away. There were no stations on the radio so Tim was convinced he would have to follow the first half on his smart phone. By divine intervention, right at game time we crossed the Utah/Nevada border where a casino/café was located. Tim was able to watch the entire game. Lynda enjoyed the casino. Unfortunately, God seemed to be on the side of Notre Dame and the officials were probably Catholic.
We left the casino/café about 4:00 local time and drove over 200 miles before coming to a town with hotels. We have no clue how the first pioneers made it across the mountain passes we went through with just horses and wagons. We do understand the pioneers frustration at not having any hotels at the exits. We arrived in Tonopah, Nevada at 7:30. If any of you are doing the math you have figured out we were driving really fast. The great thing about the barren topography is that even on two lane U.S. highways the speed limit is 70 mph and we easily were driving 80. There was no traffic and the roads are in good condition. Editorial aside: maybe the Michigan legislature should get off of their partisan butts and pass meaningful road repair legislation.
For those of you who look at us as experienced seasoned travelers, this next story will illustrate that even we can “step in it” so to speak. We ended up in Nonopah, Nevada where the first two motels we stopped at had no vacancies. The third motel we stopped at was called The Economy Inn. The first red flag should have gone up. When Tim went in to see about a room he was greeted by a very disheveled room (second red flag) and a few moments later by a women who seemed a bit out of sorts. Alcohol, drugs? Third red flag. There was a room available. It was reasonably clean, but, to be generous, it was old, tired, and badly in need of renovation. And worst of all, there was no hair dryer. We unloaded our luggage and headed for dinner. Unfortunately, the door to our room would not latch. Fourth red flag. In a show of incredible poor judgment we went to dinner anyway. We ended up at a casino/restaurant/hotel. After ordering dinner, Tim went to registration and enquired about rooms. They were available. Finally showing some sound judgment, Tim saw the room before paying for it. It was clean and, best of all, the door latched when you closed it and there was a hair dryer. Before taking Tim’s credit card, the women at registration pulled out an hour glass shaped cage with 3 dice in it. She told Tim that if he rolled three of a kind, the room was free. He rolled two 2’s and a 5. He was tempted to roll again to see if the same three numbers came up but thought better of it. After dinner Tim returned to The Economy Inn hoping that our luggage would still be there. It was. Not wanting to face the same strange, out of it women again, he didn’t bother with a refund. Fortunately, he won half of cost of the first room back at the slot machines.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
For those of you wondering why we are putting in the complete date in each blog, it is because we have discovered that this blog is a great journal of all our travels. We wish we had done it sooner as we have trouble remembering which trips we took when before we started the blog in 2009. Anyway, we had a short drive today to Yosemite National Park. Only two and a half hours. When we turned onto the road just outside of the park we were greeted with a sign that said the Tioga Pass was closed. At this corner was a gas station/convenience store with lots of cars parked all about and many people milling about. We went in the store and were told that the pass had closed yesterday afternoon because of snow but was now actually open. We entered Yosemite at 9945 feet with a temperature of 41 degrees and several inches of snow on the ground. It took about 30 minutes of driving through immensely gorgeous scenery before we came to a visitors center. Given our previous day”s frustrations with finding a hotel room, we were greatly relieved to be able to make a reservation for tonight at a hotel in the park. More on that later. As we drove through Yosemite we continued to marvel at the natural beauty we were seeing. To give you an idea of how large Yosemite is, it was a two and a half hour drive from the north entrance to the park where we entered to our hotel at the southern end of the park. As we drove we were descending in altitude so that we eventually drove out of the snow covered areas. Unfortunately, we also saw some of the areas where the forest fire has destroyed the vegetation. One of the places where we could stop had up to date information about the fire. It is still burning and we may see signs of it tomorrow when we leave the park through the western entrance. Within the park is the Yosemite Valley. This gorge is deeper than the Grand Canyon. We came to a look out point where we could see down into the opening of the valley from above. We won’t even attempt to describe what we saw. Eventually we ended up in the Yosemite Valley on our way to our hotel. We stopped to see the Bridalveil Falls. All we can say is, see the picture included. After checking into our hotel we went to the Mariposa Grove which is a grove of sequoia trees. We were overwhelmed when we saw the first of these giant trees. Sequoia’s are relatives to the Giant Redwoods but are actually smaller. You could fool us. By the time we arrived at Mariposa Grove the last tram tour had departed. We hope to take the tram tour tomorrow morning and then can report more details on the sequoias.
We are staying at the Wawona Hotel in the park. It is the oldest Victorian hotel in the entire U.S. national park system. The rooms are pleasant but spartan. There is no TV or telephone in any room and the only wifi is in one communal room. While there was no hairdryer in the room, Lynda was able to get one from the front desk. When we return to civilization tomorrow, our first stop will be to buy a hairdryer. It goes without saying that the grounds around the hotel are beautiful. There is even a nine hole par 3 golf course across the road. When we registered we had to read a full page description of proper wildlife animal etiquette including what not to leave in your car because of the bears. We did have a wonderful meal in the hotel dinning room.
Top picture: Yosemite ValleyNext picture: Tioga Pass, Yosemite
Bottom picture: Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite
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