Actually the story of this trip started a little earlier in the week when I discovered I was sick.
Omitting
the details, I left Friday morning fatigued and weak, but taking
doxycycline and with doctor's permission - as long as I took it easy
and watched for any worsening symptoms. I figured I had two days
of
just driving to let the drug do its work. And we could always
turn around and just come home if necessary. So away we went.
I mention this only because it does play a part in some of the things we did (or didn't do) on the trip. Friday June 25:
Though I was quite sick when I woke up, I actually felt much better over the course of the day. I took two turns driving (about 90-100 miles each) and also took 2 naps. We drove to North Platte, NE and checked into the Days Inn. (Mistake - I don't mind an old property but this one wasn't clean or kept up well. The beds, however, were comfortable.) We went to the Japanese Tempura restaurant on 6th street for dinner and it was wonderful! I had soft shell crab tempura; John had grilled eel. Very nice. So surprising in Nebraska!
Saturday June 26:
Today
was a better day, health-wise. We tried to find the small Dad's
Pizza place in Lochbuie, CO where we had wonderful Italian Beef in
2002; but sadly "Dad" has passed away and there is a Subway in that
location now. 
At
left is one of our early views of the mountains - taken through the car
window! And at the right, some closer mountains (still through
the window) after we passed Denver. Glenwood Springs, with elevation at 5763, seemed like a good place to get adjusted to the altitude before tackling any real mountain hiking. Just before we got there, we stopped at the Grizzly Creek rest stop on I-70 to scope it out for hiking the next day. Though we were originally thinking about hiking the Grizzly Greek trail (because the Hanging Lake trail is closed this summer), given my questionable health, we now are thinking about the Glenwood Canyon recreation trail instead - it is paved and relatively level.
While walking a little along the creek, we saw an American Dipper (left). These are interesting little birds that usually live near mountain streams; they swim, dive and walk underwater for food. Now that I have a picture of water and a bird, vacation has officially begun!
We got to Glenwood Springs around 3:30 PM, checked in at the Glenwood Motor Inn (highly recommended - it's an older property but has been kept up nicely and was a great value), unloaded our overnight things, then walked down to Two Rivers Park
and along
the Colorado River for a while, taking some pictures, including the
point where it converges with the Roaring Fork River (at right).
Went to the Riviera Supper Club (corner of 7th and Grand – right
across the street from the bottom of the footbridge - I'm not finding a
web site for it) for supper. I was 
actually
hungry and had linguine with spinach and shrimp. John had 3
different appetizers – coconut shrimp; then watermelon salad
(that included feta and kalamata olives with a slightly sweet
vinaigrette dressing) and finally bok choy duck salad. It was as
yummy as it looks. We were quite happy with all of it and neither
of us had room for dessert. I did much better today – only a couple little snoozes in the car, no real sleep. We walked about 2 miles after we got here and another mile to go to supper and back. There is yet hope!
Sunday July 27:
I
felt much better this morning but my neck glands are still hard as a
rock and the swelling has now spread down to the collarbone.
However, I usually trust the overall "feeling" so we hit the
trail around 8:30 AM. We drove to the No Name rest area and
walked the Glenwood Canyon trail up to Grizzly Creek; we stopped
there for a snack and to cool down and then came back - about 5 miles
total. The biking/hiking trail follows the Colorado River, and I-70,
through a beautiful canyon for 16 miles; we just walked a small piece
of it. Of course we could have covered more on a bike (lots of
rentals available quite reasonably - even companies that will shuttle
you to one end so you just have to ride back). But I think we
would have missed some of the details - the flowers, the birds, the
driftwood and rocks. Below, left to right, are: a view along the
walk; the first of many varieties of penstemon that we came to
appreciate; and a Steller's Jay who was interested in sharing our
snacks. 
I would not have guessed a few days ago that I could walk 5 miles today but it really was fine. We went slowly – stopping to take pictures and collect driftwood so it took about 3 hours including the sit down/ snack time. I had a short nap when I got back and then lunch (fruit and sandwiches we made from supplies we brought along).
This afternoon we went off to the Linwood Pioneer Cemetery. First about a mile's walk to the trailhead; the trail up to the cemetery is only about half a mile but very steep.
I discovered the incline DID make a difference but I think the heat
(the temperature was about 90 and felt hotter in the sun) made more
difference. I did stop a couple of times in the shade to try to cool
down but I didn't have any significant breathing problems. We saw
Doc Holliday's memorial (at left - he's buried there somewhere,
but they aren't sure exactly where) and Kid Curry's grave among
others. I found a grave for J. M. Riland who was in Company
H of the 16th Iowa Infantry volunteers during the Civil War – he
actually lived to tell the stories and died here in Glenwood Springs in
1888. I was interested only because he was in the Iowa Infantry - no other connection. Coming DOWN the mountain was, of course, much easier but still very hot and, on the way back to the motel, I led us to the Chocolate Moose Ice Cream Parlor that also sells wine. For $5, John got to sample any wines he wanted to. He had a fun time and bought one bottle to bring home, while I just enjoyed my ice cream cone!
After
relaxing for an hour or so, we went to the Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub for
supper. John did a "tasting" sampler so had a variety of beers.
He had enchiladas and I had grilled mari-mari with veggies and
rice. My fish was good, the rest was rather blah. John's
was "okay." 
He said the sauce was spicy without being too hot and that the corn and black bean salsa was tasty and tangy. Glenwood Springs is a very "walkable" town - they maintain numerous walking paths and pedestrian bridges to help one get around over rivers and railroads. We were not impressed with the Hot Springs (left) which just seemed like a crowded municipal pool with a couple of slides. But we enjoyed the parks, the gardens and some of the art (right).
We
stopped at the Safeway on the way out of Glenwood Springs to restock
some of our food since we were heading to a relatively primitive
campground, far from restaurants. 
That
reminded us why we really CAN'T retire here even though it is a lovely
town. Oh my, I have been very spoiled by food prices in
Iowa! Then we set off along the West Elk Loop (Hwy 82 to 133 to
92) - scenery to make us gasp around every corner. On the left is
Mt. Sopris (taken from the car) that we passed shortly after leaving
Glenwood Springs. We made a couple of stops, including one in
Redstone at the lovely little park we remembered from 2002
(right). Not many city parks have solid marble picnic
benches/tables! (That is explained by its proximity to
Marble, CO where big chunks of marble lie all over the place and
several marble sculpting symposium sessions are held through the
summer.)
Just
after leaving Marble, we came to Hays Creek Falls - first waterfall of
the trip so of course, we had to stop and admire it! Then we
began to climb up towards McClure Pass. The picture on the right
is looking back down into the Crystal River valley we just came from.Below are some more pictures from that morning's drive along the West Elk Loop. Left is just one of the many views I had to capture as we drove along; center are some beaver dams along Lee Creek and to the right is a thriving coal mine (Elk Creek Mine near Somerset). See the long train of coal cars being loaded? I was surprised to see coal mines here as I associate them more with the Appalachians. The importance of mining became clear to us later in the trip when we saw so many towns that had been devastated, some totally abandoned, by the closure of the mines that were their primary source of income.
