Category Archives: Vacation

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Colorado

What can I say about my Colorado vacation to sum it up? First off, Take time to adjust to the altitude. That I suffered from altitude sickness was a complete surprise to me. I grew up in mountains. Granted my childhood mountains were  a bit smaller than 10,000 ft but I still expected it to count. Plus I’ve been to Wyoming and at 8,000 ft I had no problems at all. Maybe age , overall health or just that extra 2,000-4,000 ft tacked on made a difference.

Mount Quandary 2022

Hiking, Skiing

Breckenridge is a beautiful little town but other than the quaintness there isn’t much to do except hike in the summer or ski in the winter. There are few roads and like any area with more winter than summer, road work has to be crammed into those few warm, storm free months. Getting anywhere required patience. The road construction had traffic tangled from just about every direction. 

Lake Dillon 2022

 

Wildlife

Friends who had been to Colorado told me about the abundant wildlife but I didn’t see much of it. Spotted the Moose family a couple of afternoons and there was a beaver lodge. After watching for the little rodents at various times without success I finally concluded the lodge was abandoned. The big horn sheep were no where to be found although I did see one deer and one pronghorn.  The most exciting moment was spotting that big white bird. (I still think it was a whooping crane) I love a mystery and think it would be great if whooping cranes were making their way back to Colorado. 

Colorado Moose 2022

I was warned about bear in the area, not sure if they were grizzly or black bears but I didn’t see any. The dumpsters were always chained shut to keep the animals out of the trash. 

Maybe the lack of wildlife was due to the heat. Temps were in the mid 80’s most days. I was told to expect low 70’s so that could have had the animals looking for shade.

What I missed

Colorado is now checked off my list of states that I’ve gone for vacation but I’m not done with the state yet. It’s huge and now that I know driving in the summer is not a viable option ( unless you like traffic jams)  I’ll need to consider short visits in different areas. 

Breckenridge Gondola 2022

I wasn’t able to get the web site for Rocky Mountain National Park to work. You have to have a reservation now to get in and you have to do it online so I still want to go there. Great Sand Dunes National Park was too far from Breckenridge so I will need a return trip for that. Heading to the south western corner of the state is the Durango and Silverton railroad. That’s a train ride I really want to take. Finally there is Mesa Verde National Park also in the southwestern part of the state.

Back near Denver a side trip to Colorado Springs will let me experience riding the Cog railway up Pike’s Peak. Then take time to visit Garden of the Gods. So much still to see!

So you see I’ve only just scratched the surface of what this state has to offer. 

 

South Park

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South Park Colorado

“Going down to South Park and meet some friends of mine”.  Never thought I’d find myself in the fictional town of South Park but as I drove through the tiny town of Fairplay in the county of South Park Colorado, there they were- Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny!

I was actually heading toward Colorado Springs when I happened upon this little store with the South Park Theme. The store had a unique name too, The Salt Lickin’ Goat.

It was crammed with T-Shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts with a whole display of South Park themed shirts. That was a fun diversion.

RT 285

My plan was to follow 285 to the Garden of the Gods then catch the last ride on the Cog Railroad up Pikes Peak. The geography made a big change as I left Fairplay. I came down out of the mountains and land leveled out. Here were the herds of cattle and ranches with horses. I even saw a blond buffalo. Yup, it was wandering along the fence line. I suspect it belonged to the ranch. I’m driving a hybrid SUV and I can’t help being thankful for that because there is nothing here but open range. No gas stations or shops. The roads that branch off are all dirt roads. 

Wildlife

I don’t know if I can really count that buffalo as “Wildlife”, but I can count the pronghorn that I saw nose to fence. It was just the one antelope and he seemed to be really fixated on the field beyond the fence. I’ve heard that Pronghorns won’t jump fences. They try to crawl under or go through them. Maybe he was contemplating his options.

See the source image

I hadn’t seen many birds other than ravens but as I passed a creek a big white bird took off. It was really a beautiful bird; about the size of a Great Blue Heron, I know I’d never seen one with markings quite like that, so I was excited to look it up.

Whooping Crane

Well, it seems we have a mystery. When I searched for a bird that looked like this one, I found a Whooping Crane.

See the source image

It was an exact match but according to my online sources Whooping Cranes no longer live or migrate through Colorado. So, I saw a bird that shouldn’t be here or I mis-identified it.  Since I was driving and couldn’t get a photo, I guess I have no proof. But between you and me, I’m sure it was a whooping crane!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering. I never made it to the Garden of the God or Pikes Peak. I’ll have to save those stops for my next visit.

Altitude Sickness?

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Is It Really Altitude Sickness???

Altitude Sickness is the real deal! My first day (not counting travel day) and unlike my usual go go go self, my go go has gone gone. I’m headachy and tired in spite of going to bed at 5 pm yesterday. I dragged myself out of bed for a shower and went in search of breakfast. The restaurant in the lodge is only open for the Happy Hour and the dinner crowd.  Maybe I’m just hungry.

Wendy’s Again

I drove through downtown Breckenridge but didn’t see any open restaurants. I retraced my steps from the drive in and located another Wendy’s. A bacon, egg and cheese biscuit later and I still didn’t feel any better.  Maybe I did have a touch of Altitude Sickness. The little convenience store next to Wendy’s was advertising oxygen so maybe this is common for us sea level types.

City Market

I don’t want to have to search for breakfast every day, so I stopped at City Market in Downtown Breckenridge to pick up some basics. I made sure to get a 12 pack of bottled water while I was at it. Then I returned to the condo and went back to bed.

Bullwinkle

When I finally started moving again around 1:30 it was still hard to catch my breath, but the headache was subsiding. I decided to drive down to check out the gondola. It goes right over the road when it swings up the mountain. I plan to ride it before I leave but I’m waiting for my system to acclimate before I add another 2000 ft to my altitude. I never got there.

As I rounded a corner, I saw a couple of cars pulled over and the occupants trying to cross the road.  Being the nosey type and having seen this behavior before I pulled over too. Sure enough, this was sure to be the start of a critter jam. There were moose in the field and not just one. At least 2 males with impressive antlers, one juvenile male and a female. Of course, I didn’t have the camera with me. Just my ancient cell phone.

Seeing those moose was the best boost I could have gotten.  You can be sure that my good camera & lens will be in the car the rest of the week!

Raining Fire

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I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky

To all the John Denver Fans out there, I have now experienced the “Raining Fire in the Sky”.

Turns out I was really close to Breckenridge when I stopped for my lunch at Wendy’s. As I poked along through the construction traffic the sky opened up with a tremendous BANG! Rain came down in a deluge, but the most amazing part was the lightening! I could see the lightning strikes hitting the mountains. 

It wasn’t like on the east coast with flashes followed by rumbles and grumbles of thunder. No this was Thor on a rampage. Lightning bolts rained down and the thunder cracked. The storm was intense. In Boston it would have had folks pulling off to the side of the road but here it was just business as usual!

The Lodge by the Blue

It was during a lull in this storm that I spotted my goal, the Lodge by the Blue. The rain didn’t let up for long, so I waited out the worst of it in my car.  Check in isn’t until 4 pm but I gave it a shot even though it was only 3:30. By now I had a mild headache which I chalked up to lack of sleep. the long drive and minimal food (except for the Wendy’s stop). It never occurred to me that I might have some mild altitude sickness. 

As I checked in my host pointed out that I was now at 10,000 feet. Another guest who lives in Colorado offered to help me with my bags as I was on the 3rd floor (no elevator) and he felt strongly that I probably was suffering from the altitude. 

Dragging those suitcases upstairs did seem awfully hard and I was out of breath by the time I got my door unlocked. I did notice my hand was shaking so I just bailed for the bed. No dinner for me tonight, just sleep.

The Lodge By The Blue

Finally a Travel Day

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It’s a Travel Day!

 

My long-postponed vacation to Colorado is finally off the ground- literally. I spent last week finalizing the care for my kitties for my “great escape”.  I wouldn’t be honest with you if I said I was looking forward to this trip because I’m not. The time at home has made me quite a couch potato. My travel urge is pretty low. I’ve gotten used to hanging at home with the cats. But this vacation has been planned since COVID in 2020 shut down the world. It’s paid for so I really can’t justify backing out now. 

My Travel Starts at 3 AM

Part of the reason I am less than thrilled about the travel is the hassle just getting to the airport has become. I used to fly out of TF Green in RI but somewhere along the line they got more expensive than Logan Airport in Boston.  The recommended arrival time for domestic flights is 2 hours before boarding. My flight leaves at 7 am which means arriving at 5 am. So, I bundle myself and my bags into my car for the 45-minute drive to the Logan Express bus in Braintree. It’s $7.00 a day for parking there. Much cheaper than the parking at Logan but I need to allow time for the bus trip from Braintree to Logan so another (recommended) hour there. Not much sleep to start my travel day.

TSA Pre Check

I still have my TSA pre check status so getting through security is slightly less of an issue than for those that have to go through the regular security. It still doesn’t keep me from being pulled out for a pat down. My artificial hip lights up my whole left side so even though I warn the TSA agents what to expect they still have to clear me. At least the woman I had this time was friendly and even showed me what the screen showed her. All I can say is I am quite colorful!

Delta

I’m flying on Delta and although I didn’t spring for first class, it’s only a 4-hour flight, I did get a non-stop to Denver and opted for their new Comfort Plus cabin. I really lucked out too as I was the only one in that row! The plane was brand new, just put in service in June. It had huge roomy overhead bins so plenty of room for carry-on bags. The seats are larger and lots of leg room. At least on this plane I can say the Comfort + was worth every penny!

I remember one of my last trips on Delta when we had a crazy, rude flight attendant. She was verbally abusive to a couple that just wanted to change seats to sit together and at one point threw the cabin phone against the plane wall. It was the only time I ever filed a complaint. This time it was completely different. The crew were all super nice and friendly.  In any case they worked hard to accommodate seat changes for a family traveling with a tiny infant and it was all done without any drama, and everyone was happy. Quite the change! 

If there was one negative, I’d have to say that its they made the bathroom even smaller. Hard to believe that is even possible but I barely had room to turn around in it! 

On Time Arrival

We took off on time and arrived about 20 minutes early in Denver. By the time I made my way to baggage claim our luggage was circling the carousel. All I needed now was my rental car and a map and by Mountain time it was only 10 am! How perfect was that!?