Colorado September 1994

We planned this trip in July to visit once more David’s Mom but she died on August 30, 1994. We kept our plans anyway. I flew to Denver Saturday September 3 and stayed with Genevieve in order to go birding on Sunday with Jean-Marie who was visiting her son in Colorado Springs, and Barbara Hoover who just moved to Boulder. We had a wonderful day going to Barr Lake and Jackson Lake (both off Highway 6, northeast of Denver). We saw 48 species of birds and I had 4 new ones. I now have 78 Colorado species. Meanwhile David drove to Denver arriving at Genevieve’s Sunday night - before I did.

The rest of the week was spent taking care of family matters. It was very hard because although we are relieved Mom is out of pain I will miss her very much. I am so glad I know she is in heaven. Jack, Dot, Karin, Bob, Barbara, and David took her ashes and scattered them above Georgetown on the road to Guanella Pass. I couldn’t do it so I stayed home alone and read the remembrances Mom had written about her family along with the first letter she ever wrote to me when she knew David and I were getting married. (I had brought it with me.) I really felt like I had a good visit with her.

Then we cleaned out her apartment and Jack rented a tuck and will take things to David John himself, and us. It was so good the way we made decisions of who wanted various things - no problems at all.

Friday morning September 9 David and I left early and had a lovely drive to Vernal, Utah along highway 40. We first sent up CR 103 on the road to Mt. Evans near Idaho Springs and drove to the tundra and Summit Lake (12,830 feet). The route #5 to the lake is the highest paved road in the U.S. We looked for birds but only found pipits, sparrows, and ravens, -- and a lovely Mt. Goat with a baby! It was so cold and hard to walk but just exhilarating - I loved it. Then we went to Georgetown and took CR 381 to Guanella Pass. Along the way we scattered rose pedals that Genevieve’s grandson had sent to be mixed with Mom’s ashes. It was a beautiful trip up - the aspen was just turning and it was lovely. Then we continued along 40 and enjoyed some lovely scenery although from Craig to Vernal it was high desert - like the eastern Sierra. We are staying in a Best Western - only $45 but very large and luxurious.

Saturday 9/10/04 We visited Dinosaur National Monument today. It was very interesting - the bones were left in place on a wall and building built around it. We drove through the park to see the sights. I especially enjoyed the petroglyphs and I loved Josie Morris’ cabin - a beautiful spot and intriguing to think of her living there alone until she was 90. Around noon we left and drove to Wendover - a dismal town on the border. David went out trying to win another $200. It is good to have some nice time together and talk about Mom as needed. We have seen some lovely country - even the desert. It is interesting to see dwarf junipers and aspen growing in the desert - lots of colors.

We left Wendover in the morning and drove all the way home. We had thought of stopping near reno and coming home Monday but it was too early and we were ready for home. We weren’t too tires sharing the driving. I really love driving on the desert. it is fun going 75 and even at that I got passed a lot. I find the desert beautiful in its bareness and I enjoy listening to tapes of music. We drove about 2900 miles total.

Trip from Menlo Park to Colorado Springs & Back

4/12/04 - 4/17/04

Monday 4/12/04 Barbara and I left about 10:00 AM on our trip to Colorado Springs. The Honda Pilot was loaded to the limit with stuff for Kenneth and Family. I was bringing Kenneth lots of David’s tools which I was pleased that he wanted to have - I know David would have been pleased too. I also had some of their things that we had been storing for them in our garage. Now that they have their own home they can store things themselves! Our load was very carefully loaded and every rearrangement during the trip created major problems. But we did fine! We had a rather uneventful trip to Fallon, Nevada. Only problem was when we were looking for a lunch stop and I couldn’t find Lodi Lake - a place I’ve been to several times but always from Highway 5. We were driving up Highway 99 - but we finally found it and had a picnic lunch. We passed through South Lake Tahoe which sure is a busy place. Stopped and had a hot fudge Sunday at MacDonalds which was pretty good. Then we continued on to Fallon, Nevada where we stayed at a Best Western motel for free! I usually stay at Best Western motels and after enough visits I got a free night. Then we went to Aunt Rheta’s home and took her out to lunch. I hadn’t seen her for about 14 years, Barbara had seen her last year. We had a nice visit - she is a very positive lady for someone with so many physical problems. With macular degeneration, cancer, diabetes, and old age. She gets around very well and uses all the resources that are available to her. I admire her attitude. After dinner we took her home and went back to our motel. Today we drove 336 miles driven today.

Tuesday 4/13/04 I got up early and went to the local Curves in order to exercise for half an hour. Felt good after missing a few days. Then came back and took a shower and met Barbara in the breakfast room for our morning breakfast. Then we left for our next section along Highway 50 - billed as the loneliest road in America. Mostly just hype but we didn’t see many other cars along the way. We both enjoyed the scenes - the desert has an interesting variety of vegetation and scenery and the various mountains are so beautiful. We stopped at most of the historical sites which related to the early development of the area some 150 years ago. Also went to a couple of Petroglyph spots - Grimes Point and Hickson, We had lunch at Hickson Petroglyphs site - a bitter sweet reminder of 1990 when David and I also ate lunch there. We also stopped in Austin to look at “Stokes Castle” (Tower). It was from the late 1800’s - a three story tower built of stone that was the Stokes family summer home. We stayed in Ely, Nevada a small town that seems to be dying. It is too bad as it has lots of potential and looks like it once was doing well. It certainly had a lot of motels - from closed up ones to nicely appointed ones. The better looking ones filled up for the night. The town has a lot of interesting murals painted on the walls and buildings. They had a big project a few years ago and many were done - both by the city and privately. We did some shopping in town and then ate dinner at the Nevada Hotel. Again had to walk through the gambling area to get to dinner and even though they have a no smoking sections for dinner we still smelled of smoke when we were through. I sure miss the California no smoking restaurants. Back to the motel for a good night’s sleep. 288 miles driven today.

Wednesday 4/14/04 We had to get up early today because we had to be at Lehman Caves by 8:30. so up at 5:30 AM and breakfast in the room. Then we left and drove to Lehman - near Baker on the border. We were early - about 8:00 but we got our tickets for the 9:00 tour then we enjoyed the Visitor’s Center and I went through the gift shop. We left at 9:00 with 10 other people for a 90 minute tour of the caves. Lots of the usual beautiful formations with lots of rooms. We walked slowly and spent time just standing around and looking. It is hard to imagine what the early explorers saw with only candle power. Even the early tours were conducted by candle light. It was dark enough as it was with the little electric lights we had. But we both enjoyed the tour and followed it up with a snack at the cafe. We then drove the road up to Wheeler Peak - could only get up to 10,000 feet as the road was closed by snow at that point. It was a beautiful drive but again brought back memories of the time I last was there with David. I am going to have to accept that there is little I can do or few places in the West I can go that won’t remind me of David but still it is hard. I try not to upset myself but instead just remember the good times. But I guess it is still too soon as I find these memories painful and it is hard not to continually cry. But I can’t live like a hermit. We continued down the road through Baker and picked up highway 50 again. We stopped for lunch at an archeological site and enjoyed our left overs from dinner last night. It was windy and cold but we still had a picnic outside - much better then eating in the car or at another restaurant. Then we continued on, first to Delta in Utah where we bought gas and post card stamps, then on to Salina, Utah where we spent the night. After a short rest we went out to dinner and then back for a night’s sleep. We certainly noticed different scenes today, fields are greener - even in the desert areas and there are more farms. There still are several mountain ranges of different forms that are interesting to watch. Traffic is very light and the speed limit is often as high as 75 mph and with no traffic to compare it is hard to keep the speed down to that - but we do our best. Today we drove a total of 270 miles.

Thursday 4/15/04 Left Salina about 7:30 after a good breakfast and drove to Green River. Along the way we went through the San Rafael Reef area where we saw some beautiful scenes. The red rocks were really gorgeous and the variety of geological formations was amazing. We took lots of photos after stopping at every view point. We continued on to Colorado and after checking out the Welcome Center we continued on to the Colorado National Monument. There we drove the Rim Road - 23 incredible miles of beautiful scenes of the canyon - so much red and many other colors. We then continued on to Montrose enjoying the beautiful farms along the way. We arrived in Montrose after 295 miles so we reluctantly decided it was too late to go to another national park. I went to Curves for a workout to relieve the day of driving and then we went out to dinner and back to bed for the night.

Friday 4/16/04 We left Montrose about 8:30 and drove Highway 50 to Pueblo. This was the scenic route and scenic it was. We drove along a river and up and down over many passes. We saw snow and farms and prairie. We stopped at Monarch Pass - the Continental Divide. The elevation was 11,312. The snow was beautiful and the wind and cold fierce. We bundled up while we took photos. There were three brothers also there so we traded photo ops with them so we have a photo of Barbara and me at the Divide. We continued on to Pueblo stopping for a picnic lunch along the river - that was pleasant. In Pueblo we stopped and checked into a motel and then continued on to Manzanola - the town where our Mother grew up. It was interesting to see a place we had known so well. As children we visited there every year. Mother’s home was nicely kept but instead of being fronted by a small two lane highway it is now fronted by a four lane highway with lots of traffic. We drove around town checking out the places we remembered, the Feed and Fuel store, the train station, the main street, the churches, high school and city park. It sure was a shame to see how the town had deteriorated - most of the stores were empty and boarded up. But most of the homes in the town looked well cared for and the cemetery was also well cared for with plastic flowers on most of the graves that looked in good condition. We took lots of photos. Then we came back to Pueblo, ate dinner and went to bed. Today we traveled 327 miles.

Saturday 4/17/04 In the morning we washed the car and then went to Fountain to visit Jody and her husband Johnny. Jody is my mother’s cousin. It has been about 40 years since I last saw her. We had coffee and a nice visit with them and then continued up to Colorado Springs where we went to Garden of the Gods. What a beautiful place that was. We didn’t spend much time in the Visitor’s Center because they were busy with an Earth Day Celebration. We drove into the park and walked around a bit. The rock formations were really beautiful and so varied. The nice thing about this park is that it is free and has really nice walking trails for everyone. It is a great a place for families in Colorado Springs. Then we drove to Kenneth’s home and enjoyed visiting with all of them. Of course in the way things work they had a broken pipe that morning and the yard and basement were flooded so Kenneth was vacuuming up the rug where we were supposed to sleep and we helped dry the bed and blankets enough so we could sleep that night. But it will take several days before it dries. Judy had fixed up the basement rooms very nicely so it was too bad. Well it all worked out and we had a good visit.

The cost of the trip - gas and motels was about $400 plus meals. We drove 1605 miles from Menlo Park to Colorado Springs - that includes the side trips as well as the highway traveling. Barbara spent the night and then flew home to Arizona on Sunday.

Trip From Colorado Springs to Santa Maria

April 27-May 1, 2004

I spent a lovely 10 days with Kenneth and family. We did do some sight seeing and I also drove around the area to get a little more familiar with Colorado Springs. But I mostly played with Sophia and Vincent which is always fun. Then on Monday April 26 Genevieve flew in from Albany, New York. She spent the night and then we left early the morning of:

Tuesday April 27 We left for Pueblo. There we first went to radio station KGHF where Genevieve’s father used to have a show in the 30’s. She was just wondering if they had any information from those days. They didn’t but suggested she go to the newspaper archives. Then we drove to the home of my uncle, Oscar. I remember many times there and I did recognize his house but oh my was it ever smaller than I remember - I guess that is often the case. From there we went to the cemetery where Genevieve's grandparents and other relatives are buried and check out those places. Then we went to the two houses where Genevieve grew up. A successful morning in Pueblo. From there we headed over Wolf Pass to Pagosa Springs. We were a little nervous because of the heavy snow on Sunday but the roads were clear and easy all the way. The scenery was absolutely spectacular. We were traveling at high elevation but some of it was in a valley surrounded by mountains. There was a lot of farming being done and the fields were beautiful. the mountains all had snow and were stunning to see. We did see a lot of snow but it was only on the ground under the trees having melted off the trees and the road. We did have to wait for 30 minutes or so at Wolf Creek pass - about 11,000 feet - where they were doing road work, but the scenery was so pretty it was a pleasant wait. We arrive as Pagosa Springs in good time, walked around the very pleasant town, had a good Mexican dinner and a good night’s sleep. We drove 323 miles today which included the miles driven in Pueblo.

Wednesday April 28 Today we first drove to Mesa Verde Park. There we spent several hours exploring the park. We walked down and into one of the Cliff dwellings. It is so amazing to think of people living in those dwellings many years ago. How they ever got into the buildings is hard to imagine. They are very far from the bottom and from the top of the cliffs. We went to the museum and drove the loops - stopping to walk out to many of the vista points. We had our standard picnic lunch there - cheese, apple, crackers and juice. We left there and continued on to Blanding, Utah, driving through some beautiful scenes. The farms were a picture post card with fields of a rich velvet green interspersed with fields of very red dirt. The farm house where attractive and mostly well cared for. As we continued the wind picked up and we were hit with some very gusty blasts but we arrive safely at Blanding. We have now heard that a storm is coming through and it is supposed to be a very big storm so we will see what happens in the morning. We were going to some back roads but our plans may be changed. Who knows we may be stuck in this town for another day! Today we drove 237 miles.

Thursday April 29 Today we had nine and a half hours (7:30 to 5:00) of pure adventure. We drove a total of 355 miles and saw the most amazing sights. Yesterday we heard that a big storm was coming in so we watched the weather channel which made it sound as though it was going to be a big blizzard. It showed the storm coming in exactly the areas we would be driving. So we planned two routes for today - one for no weather problems and one for problems. When we woke up the streets were dry and the sky was clear so we left for the Valley of the Gods. I had read about it in Sunset magazine and it sounded like fun. We had stopped at the visitors center in Blanding and got some information on the area. The guy there assured me that a regular two wheel car could make it so since I had a four wheel drive I thought “no problem”. We were delighted to start our journey on a pleasantly warm and non windy morning. The scenery was lovely as we drove down a semi-main road to reach our destination. The speed limit was generally 65 mph until suddenly we came to a reduced speed sign that also included warnings about the road ahead. The speed limit was gradually reduced to 5 mph and the road became hard packed gravel. I cannot begin to describe this road. The turns were continuous with extremely tight hair pin turns. The edge had no guard rail and the sign warmed of “1100 feet shear drop off”. I would have taken a photo but at the one stopping place if I had gotten out to look down I would never have gotten back in the car. Whenever I saw a car ahead - no matter how far I stopped at the first wide spot and waited for him - unless I noticed that he had done the same thing. When we got to the bottom and stopped and looked up at the cliffs it was hard to believe we had come down the wall. The road doesn’t even show from below - it is just carved into the side of the cliff. It is hard to imagine them building that road let alone “why”! Well now that we were on hard asphalt we turned off it to go on the 17 mile road through the Valley of the Gods. I cannot begin to give a justifiable description of this Valley. It is similar to Colorado’s Garden of the Gods but with many more formations covering many more miles of land. Never could anyone imagine all the different shapes we saw. The formations were mostly a reddish color and many actually looked like some - such as a hen sitting on a nest, a lady in a bathtub and so forth. Many were just jutting up from flat land all around. It is so hard for me to imagine how this special place was formed. We stopped one place and walked up a dry river bed for a while. the silence was lovely and the weather perfect. We passed very few cars and we drove very slowly - about an hour and a half or so to cover the seventeen miles. Regarding the road - I would not want to do it in a low clearance vehicle and it certainly would not be passable in wet weather. The road was very rocky and bumpy. There were many short very steep parts that then went down very quickly and steeply. You could not see over the top until you got there so you never knew what was on the other side - hopefully not another car. Then at the very end there was a river crossing that was very muddy and very steep up the bank. I just took a running start and kept going and made it just fine. When we left this valley and hit the main road there was no sign to tell us what direction to go and we were so turned around by this time we were confused. Fortunately we used a compass and were able to determine which direction to go. We continued on to Tuba City which took us several hours. During this trip we started to get stormy weather - including wind. We could see storm clouds ahead so we weren’t sure what to do. At Tuba City. Arizona we stopped to get a snack and hopefully some information. We heard about the extreme winds last night, someone said oh yes there was snow at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and so forth. So we tried to call Kanab in Utah where we were going to stay. Neither of our cell phones would work, I lost $1.00 in the pay phone, and finally after 3 tries with her phone card Genevieve got the motel. They said it had not rained or snowed and was clear for the moment but rain was expected. We tried to call Page but no luck so we decided to go anyway. We made it safe and sound to Kanab but we sure had some weather experiences along the way. We had rain off and on - sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. One time it was so heavy I could barely see out the window - the wipers just weren’t fast enough. We had a lot of wind and several sandstorms. I was afraid of the sand because it can pit the car but I think it is all right. It was all pretty low to the ground and was never high enough to be blinding. But it was really something. We continued to see such spectacular scenery - I can’t begin to describe it. It certainly match the Grand Canyon in many ways. In Kanab there was no rain but they sure talked ab out the wind. I hope the storm has moved east so that we can travel easily tomorrow. This town is really hoping tonight - they have a greyhound convention and a Corvette Rally in town - the Corvette people were all at the restaurant we went to but we were served quickly and had a delicious steak dinner. The greyhound people are all out walking their dogs - some as many as four at a time. What an adventure we had today.

Friday April 30 Today we left a little later - about 8:30 but the weather was just perfect - warm, clear, and not windy. We drove through Zion National Park - what another spectacular place that is. We just drove the main road and stopped at the Visitor’s center and walked for a while along the Virgin River. It was all so beautiful. Then we continued on to St. George. the area was beautiful with green and neat farms and ranches, well cared for homes and towns. We enjoyed the sights We ate lunch at the visitor’s center that was in Nevada - just across the border from Arizona. The town of Mesquete was just a gambling town in the middle of the desert -rather large with about 3 casinos and that was it. It is hard to imagine that people would actually live in an area like that. We drove the freeway past and around Las Vegas - what an awful place. The buildings we could see from the freeway where huge and bizarre. They were continuing to build many communities and homes and where they think they are going to get the water I don’t know. The traffic was awful - certainly as bad as Los Angles - much worse than the SF freeways. But we finally got out and continued on the long, ugly, and boring highway to Barstow. Lots of trucks - lots of speeding cars passing us and lots of sun. First time on this trip we have been hot! We arrived in Barstow - checked in our motel and went out for a good dinner. We had an extra hour because of the time change so we had a leisurely evening. Tomorrow we will be in Santa Maria. We drove 355 miles today - not too bad.

Saturday May 1 We left Barstow about 8 AM and headed for Santa Maria. The drive from Barstow to about the middle of the state was probably the ugliest part of the drive this week. The traffic wasn’t too bad and we didn’t stop much - just for gas and at the rest stops. We drove 267 miles to Pat’s arriving about 1:00. We visited with Pat and Dan for a while and went to see their new home in Grover Beach. They are in the middle of redoing the floors so we couldn’t stay there and I decided to go on home to Menlo Park I drove the 215 miles to MP in about 3 and a half hours - little traffic and I wasn’t tired so I only stopped once. I drove for a total of 482 miles today. I’m impressed that I could do it. I arrived home about 8:00 and started facing the ordeal of being home again.

Genevieve and I drove a total of 1534 miles. I drove a total of 3486 in the three weeks I was gone. Regarding costs I figure that on the average it costs $100 per night for gas and motel so if two are driving together and splitting it that is $50 a night (plus food). The number of miles a day depends on if two are sharing the driving and how many stops are made.

The Rest of Our Trip in Colorado after burying Mother’s ashes

7/25/06 in Manzanola, Co

Following are some comments about the rest of our Trip. 7/25/06 Before we went to Manzanola we drove for about an hour through the Comanche National Grasslands. It is just a place I have heard about because of its good birding so I wanted to see it for myself. It was fun to stop and walk along the Santa Fe trail and try to imagine what it looked like for the early settlers.

After our lunch with our cousins Barbara and I headed for Bent’s Old Fort. The original fort was built 1833. The current fort is a reconstruction because the original burned down. It was interesting to walk through the fort and imagine how busy it once was as a major trade post and the only major “white” settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements.

We then continued on to Las Animas where we spent the night. After checking in our motel we drove around the area checking out birding spots. We went to Boggsville which is a partly restored home and ranch where Kit Carson lived at the end of his life. The house was closed but when the caretaker saw us he opened it for us and we had a nice visit. We also spent some time at the John Martin Reservoir. It was interesting country but at 100 degrees much to hot for birds let alone people. I didn’t take any photos of this area. We ate dinner at the motel restaurant which seemed to be the place the locals ate. Las Animas was not much of a town.

7/26/06 In the morning we continued driving east on highway 50 to the town of Lamar which was a much larger and more active city than Las Animas. We checked out the old train depot which had some interesting things to see - some of which I took photos of which follow. One thing of interest to me was the Madonna of the Trail Monument. There are twelve Madonna monuments in twelve states to mark the National Old Trails from Pennsylvania to California. This one was dedicated in 1928.

We then continued on to Granada. During WW II Camp Amache was located here - an interment camp for the West Coast Japanese. It was a very moving experience to walk around the remaining foundations and think of all the people imprisoned here. It was at the time the largest city in Colorado.

After Granada we turned North and drove to Kit Carson along Highway 287. We first visited the Big Timbers Museum - a small town museum with a lot of artifacts from residents from the past 150 years. At one roadside information stop we saw a impressive statue. It was of three women representing the early Pioneer women - Caucasian, Mexican, Indian. The artist Shalah Perkins is a ranching woman who lives in the area. I really fell in love with it and would love to have a copy - but a little out of my reach.

So we continued to the town of Kit Carson and shortly after turned west and headed towards Colorado Springs. It started clouding up and eventually we had lots of lightning and some rain. It was nice to have it a bit cooler. It had been 100 degrees or more all three days we were in Colorado. We did notice how green the fields and farms were - which is surprising in the high prairie. Some of course was from irrigation but some was from the recent rains. We drove past many farms and enjoyed the scenery, some of it most unexpected. One large farm had Zebras on it, plus ostriches and some type of African Antelope - possibly a Kudu. No indication of why or for what purpose, maybe just a hobby.

We eventually arrived in Colorado Springs and checked into our motel and rested a bit. Then we went downtown and met Kenneth for dinner. Had a good dinner and a nice visit.

We left the next morning - Barbara for Phoenix and Penelope for San Jose. We both felt good about the experience as we felt Mother would have liked what we did - so may she now rest in peace.

written and printed byPenelope Bowen 7/30/06