Summer 2017 Road Trip part 3: Rocky Mountain Highs and Lows

   I have to admit that waking up in a motel room had provided me with a better rest than the previous night in the tent. Granted it was the first time since my Boy Scout days I had camped like that, but we needed a real rest. I got up and dressed, then headed to the office with Natalie to see what was for eats. As it was the first time I'd seen Parachute in the daytime, I was pleased to see it was in a beautiful setting. The morning had a mildly crisp coolness to it. In the office we found cereal and bagels and coffee and juice, great stuff to get started. Afterward, we packed up and headed out. Little did I know that something had gotten left behind.

   A few miles down I 70, we came across a sign for the New Castle Diner, which had a 50s theme to it. Well, the Moore family is all about those! There's something about eating with oldies playing in the background that makes for a pleasant experience, and by golly this sure was!  This was a morning for a Denver omelet, home fries, and English muffin for me. Inside the men's room was a large cardboard cutout of the Lone Ranger and Tonto. We have to return some day!

   After filling up the car at $2.39/gallon and refilling the cooler with ice, we proceeded down I 70 and soon went through Glenwood Springs, an exquisite town situated in a narrow canyon. Vickie and I had once had dinner there on a previous trip. After the town had passed, we entered Glenwood Canyon, a 20-mile long stretch with the Colorado River rushing beside us. There were tight curves, several tunnels, and just everything a road enthusiast dreams of! Needless to say, this was a highlight of the day!

   After the canyon, 70 goes through a long valley of small towns and then enters the resort area of the valley. We stopped in Vail for a bathroom and drink stop, then proceeded to climb to the highest point on the Interstate system!

   Wait! Not so fast there, boy! Traffic began to slow and then eventually stopped.  I'd read that 70 east backs up regularly on Sundays as people living around Denver often head to the mountains for biking, camping, fishing, whatever. Sunday is the day many head back, so slowdowns are expected. After some online searching, we discovered that there was a crash in the Eisenhower Tunnel! After roughly an hour during which I got out of the car to stretch my legs, traffic began to move. After a few minutes, we went through the massive tunnel. I've always been a tunnel person, so this day was a diamond ring to me, despite the delay!

   Coming out of the tunnel, we needed a bathroom break and some food. We got off in Georgetown and entered Cooper's on the Creek. Natalie had some mac n cheese, Vickie had chicken skewers with a really good sweet chili sauce, and I had elk tartare. All were quite good and a needed respite from the road. Turns out, we needed it for what was to come!

   My plan was to get off in Central City, find highway 119, then proceed toward Estes Park. Life is never that simple. Central City is not well marked with highway signs, and we ended up on a local road which turned into a dirt road all the while promising it would lead to 119. Ten miles later, it did. 119 wound around small peaks and foothills for several miles, then turned east toward Boulder. 72 picked up from there, and then finally route 7 took us on a very curvy, steep adventure until we finally reached Estes Park, a beautiful town just to the east of Rocky Mountain National Park.

   Estes Park is a fun town to park in and just walk up and down the main thoroughfare. We got some chocolate from one shop, and world famous taffy from the Estes Park Taffy Shop. We also ate pizza at Bob and Tony's. The pizza was very good with a thick layer of cheese. After some more light shop-scouting for Natalie to spend money, we headed down U.S. 34. 34 is a pleasantly curvy road with the smell of fireplaces burning wood all the way down the road even in June. I had to roll down the window and take it all in.

   34 took us into Loveland, a really sweet little town in a long string of Front Range cities. Vickie lived there for a while so she commented on what had stayed and what had changed. We turned on to U.S. 287 and headed north 10 miles to Fort Collins where we found our Budget Host Inn. A little pricey but hey, it's Colorado! It was there that we discovered that, to our horror, that I'd accidentally left Vickie's pillow in Parachute and took one of theirs! Yep, it was doghouse time for the husband! I am amazed it did not happen earlier because, well, I'm good at being a bumbling hubby at times. I had a dream that night that Vickie forced us at gunpoint to return to Parachute to get the pillow! That's what a pizza dinner does for my dreams.

   In the end, it was a good day. The traffic jam, endless twisty roads to Estes Park, and the pillow loss were unfortunate incidents, but everything else made up for it! Colorado has always been a source of fun for us and I want to come back.