Vacation Journal

We didn’t do much on Wednesday.

On Thursday we went to Montrose to visit Wal-Mart one last time before we left for Texas.  Then we went for another drive on the Million Dollar Highway to see how much the color had developed since we were there on Saturday.  The change was unbelievable.  I would say it was within three to four days of its peak.  We saw lots of good color.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy so it wasn’t as brilliant-looking as it would have been in sunlight.  Still, it was beautiful.  We had intended to drive over to Ohio and Kebler passes near Crested Butte this morning, but changed our minds when we woke up to rain.  We would have driven over 40 miles of gravel/dirt road on those passes and we decided not to bother because of the rain.  The Denver Post last year had rated the color at Ohio and Kebler Passes as the best in the state in a normal year.  We did catch the color here several years ago, and will try again some other year.  The color this year near Ouray is much better than last year.  It snowed early last year and the cold weather ruined the color.  Apparently if it freezes too soon, the leaves just turn brown and drop off without much color.

Friday we drove the RV to Moab (pulling the Jeep), but we did take a quick drive in the Jeep along the Million Dollar Highway before we left.  We just had to see the color in the bright sunlight we had on Friday morning.  Once again we defied the odds and arrived safely in Moab in spite of riding in a very big vehicle being driven by an old geezer.  I got a little hot hooking up the RV.  The temperature was around 83 degrees.  It’s amazing how hot the 80’s feel when you haven’t experienced those temperatures for six weeks.  We went to a movie (Just Like Heaven) Friday evening.

Saturday we went to downtown Moab for breakfast at the Jailhouse Café, a place famous for its breakfast which is the only meal it serves (6:00 to noon daily).  We ate outside in some very pleasant weather.  Then we drove through the Colorado River Valley east of town.  This is a narrow canyon with sheer cliff walls sticking up several hundred feet.  We took the side road past Castle Rock and went on up to the La Sal Mountains.  We went from 4,100 feet to 9,100 feet.  We took a dirt side road five miles up to Warner Lake.  About 50% of the aspen up there have turned the bright yellow color.  Back in town we had lunch at Eddie McStiff’s, a local hangout where we had eaten in 1997.  In the late afternoon we drove up to Dead Horse Point State Park (near Canyonlands National Park).  This is still what we consider the best single view we have ever seen.  We stayed up on the point until after sunset.  The view was awesome. 

Tomorrow we leave for Bloomfield, New Mexico.  This is pretty much the end of our vacation.  For the next two weeks we will be traveling or visiting family.  This will probably be my last vacation journal entry for this trip.