{"id":957,"date":"2012-06-08T08:38:52","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T13:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=957"},"modified":"2012-06-08T08:38:52","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T13:38:52","slug":"vacation-day-16-wagons-eastward-ho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=957","title":{"rendered":"Vacation Day 16: Wagons Eastward Ho!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Addendum:\u00a0 Added a paragraph below on Rick and the swallows.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
And\u2026.Rich woke up today.<\/div>\n

Yesterday, we had a long driving day.\u00a0 Rich had wanted to stop and see the Colorado National Monument Park just outside of Grand Junction.\u00a0 We decided that since our drive today was shorter, we would take the time to go through the park.\u00a0 This meant we would get into our destination later, but we hoped it would be worth it.\u00a0 And I think it was.<\/p>\n

We stopped by the Village Inn for breakfast.\u00a0 We\u2019ve eaten at this chain before while in Colorado.\u00a0 They serve a pretty good choice for breakfast.\u00a0 Today, our waitress seemed to be overwhelmed.\u00a0 We got coffee and finally got breakfast, which was as good as always.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We pulled up to the booth at the park entrance to find a very baby-faced young man.\u00a0 When did they start letting 12 year olds man the park booths?\u00a0 Man, am I getting old when I admit that I just said that.\u00a0 He took our pass and Rich\u2019s license.\u00a0 He was totally amazed that we were from Illinois.\u00a0 You would think he sees visitors from all over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We drove up the winding road to the Visitor\u2019s Center.\u00a0 We seem to do winding roads a lot on the trip.\u00a0 The ranger at the center had all kinds of helpful information.\u00a0 We picked a trail to walk and figured out how to see the park in the time we had.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We walked down to the cliff face on the Window trail.\u00a0 This took us out to an overlook where you could see most of the park\u2019s famous formations.\u00a0 It was really beautiful and you could see the Colorado River winding its way through the valley just outside of the park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The heat of the day was coming on and it was really dusty.\u00a0 We returned to the Visitor\u2019s Center to fill up our water bottles and continue the drive around the park.\u00a0 We hit most of the major views, but most had trails that you had to walk to see anything. After the second one, I stayed with the car while the guys hiked out onto the cliffside.<\/p>\n

Along the way, we were walking with the same people as they drove to the same stops we did.\u00a0 There was a young couple with Arizona plates.\u00a0 From their voices, I assumed they were Middle Eastern and probably tourists as well.\u00a0 Another couple had Illinois plates on their car.\u00a0 I assumed they were from Illinois and asked where they were from.\u00a0 In a dismissive tone, she answered back that they were from Ohio.\u00a0 The Colorado couple was full of helpful information though.\u00a0 They lived in the area and hiked here regularly.<\/p>\n

ADDED LATER:\u00a0
\nAt one of the formations, Rick was standing at the railing on the cliff edge.\u00a0 A swallow suddenly swoped by him and he jumped.\u00a0 He said that it sounded like a jet going by him.\u00a0 I waited for one to go by me and sure enough, it had quite the high speed sound.\u00a0 I think they were checking us out for the bugs that they were eating.\u00a0 They go so fast and it was a little disconcerting to hear the swoosh.<\/p>\n

We finished our tour of the park and headed back to Grand Junction to fill up our gas tank.\u00a0 Then it was back onto 70 East and toward Denver.\u00a0 Through this part of 70, you go through all of the ski resort areas.\u00a0 It is beautiful, green, and winding.\u00a0 There were lots of expensive looking resorts and houses hanging on the hillsides as we drove by.<\/p>\n

The speed limits here go up and down, depending upon how bad the authorities think the road is.\u00a0 Some of the curves deserve the 40 MPH set on them.\u00a0 But as always, I love driving these types of roads.\u00a0 They are so much fun.\u00a0 But maybe not so much for Rich.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other cool thing is all of the tunnels that you go through.\u00a0 They had to get you through the mountain somehow.\u00a0 This was the most expensive section of road to build.\u00a0 Most of it is really just one long bridge to get you over the river and onto the side of the mountain.<\/p>\n

We stopped in at the rest area above Denver.\u00a0 The elevation here is a little over 10,000 feet.\u00a0 Let me tell you how hard it can be to breath at that altitude!\u00a0 And some people want to go higher?\u00a0 This was our second time at the rest stop.\u00a0 The first time, Rick was about 6 and there was snow lying on the ground in July that he played in.\u00a0 No snow this time though.<\/p>\n

We headed down into Denver for dinner.\u00a0 Rich has this place that he loves to go to.\u00a0 It\u2019s called G\u00fcnter Toody\u2019s.\u00a0 It\u2019s a 50s style diner with chrome and the wait staff dresses in 50s style clothes.\u00a0 As soon as we walk in, we hear someone shout out, \u201cWhat\u2019s shaking, bacon?\u201d\u00a0 Yep, it\u2019s still G\u00fcnter Toody\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the fun things is the way they treat you here.\u00a0 The first time, the waitress was snapping gum and telling us to eat our broccoli.\u00a0 Today, Bob was slouching on the seat beside Rick to take our order.\u00a0 Every once in a while, an announcement came over the PA for something silly, like “Bob, your double parked.”\u00a0 It\u2019s like a running commentary for the guests.<\/p>\n

The food is really, really good here though.\u00a0 Rick got a Jalapeno burger and I got the meatloaf sandwich.\u00a0 Rich got the Gunter burger with a side of Elvis fries.\u00a0 The fries are covered with sausage gravy and then topped with cheese. Rich said it was like country style poutine.\u00a0 In Nova Scotia, poutine was fries with brown gravy and cheese.\u00a0 He had enough fat in that to carry him into next week!<\/p>\n

Leaving out of Denver, we were racing in front of a big set of storms just to the north of us.\u00a0 At one point, the radar on Weatherbug was showing purple in the center with a hook pattern.\u00a0 We were pretty sure a tornado was going to overtake us.\u00a0 We managed to keep ahead of it since it was moving pretty slowly.\u00a0 We only had a little rain now and then.<\/p>\n

When we got settled at the hotel, the\u00a0TV news was talking about the tornados that landed and the hail that fell in several areas.\u00a0 Luckily, the watches and warnings didn’t stretch into our part of Nebraska.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sunset with the storm turned out to be pretty spectacular when we arrived at the hotel.\u00a0 Everyone was out trying to capture it.\u00a0 Rich said it wouldn\u2019t show up on film, so I didn\u2019t try to get a picture myself.<\/p>\n

So that was pretty much our day.\u00a0 We move on to Iowa tomorrow for one last night out before reaching home again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Here is my Rose pose at the cliff edge in Colorado National Monument Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
A shot of Rick and Rich at Book Cliff Overlook with the canyon behind them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
I have a theme going in a lot of our hiking picures. I walk slower so the guys are always ahead of me. I usually get a picture of them. This was no exception.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
There was a really cool arch formation at one of the cliffs. I just had to include it here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Addendum:\u00a0 Added a paragraph below on Rick and the swallows. \u00a0 And\u2026.Rich woke up today. Yesterday, we had a long driving day.\u00a0 Rich had wanted to stop and see the Colorado National Monument Park just outside of Grand Junction.\u00a0 We decided that since our drive today was shorter, we would take the time to go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}