Nearing home - 412 miles to go

This is our last post for this trip of Biblical proportions - 42 days on the road, 18 states, countless National Park passport stamps for Matthew, 8,400 miles so far.  It's been a really memorable trip but everyone is feeling ready to be home.  Today's our last day on the road!
 
Colorado Notes

After leaving Estes  Park we drove south and east to Denver.  We drove through Boulder.  This was beautiful scenery, with steep canyons and lots of rocks.  We passed a 100 mile bicycle race.  In fact, it seemed that there were hundreds of cyclists on the road in addition to the people in the race.  I think being active is part of the Colorado ethos.

Denver is the capital of the state.  Another capitol building.

Once we were out of Denver about the only thing to see were huge farms.  It's hard to see in the pictures, but we saw many fields with multiple combines working in a row.

Kansas

We moved through Kansas pretty quickly even though there is SO much to see.  We we intent on getting home as soon as possible so we had to bypass such attractions as the Eisenhower home and Presidential Library.  Also, Kansas has the home town of Bob Dole and Arlen Spector (same town).  I wonder if they will remove Spector from the billboard since he's changed parties (senator from Pennsylvania).  And one town had a sign for the annual meal loaf festival.  Wow!  No wonder Dorthy and Toto took flight!

We drove through Topeka, capital of Kansas.

Missouri

Matthew, we're not in Kansas any more...

At St. Louis we stopped at the Gateway Arch.  This is a national monument (completed in 1965) and so Matthew got another passport stamp.  The Arch is to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase and the great push to the west.  It was fitting for us to wrap up our trip here since we started at the places in North Dakota where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804.  Later in our trip we saw the headwaters of the Missouri River, which Lewis and Clark also visited.  We also went to Great Falls, which caused them great problems.  And, at the border of Washington and Oregon we crossed the Columbia River, which they took to the Pacific.  They had started their great expedition at St. Louis so it's fitting for us to end ours here.

We've really enjoyed the trip and we have lots of memories.  Thanks for reading our blog!

Rocky Mountain National Park

It's Sunday, July 18 and a lot has happened since our last post.

We drove from Salt Lake City to Estes Park, Colorado, in one day.  The road quickly rises as we left SLC.  We never got tired of looking at the mountainous terrain.  Most of the drive is through southern Wyoming which is a pretty desolate place. 

We noticed a number of windmill farms.  It's good to see more use of "green" technology.

We passed through Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming.  Another state capitol building for our collection.

Day One in RMNP

We took a drive that goes through the park, east to west, crossing a high mountain ridge (about 12,000 feet) and the continental divide.  We ran into some traffic delays because of construction and some medical problem (we had to wait for an ambulance).

At the construction site we saw something that gives new meaning to "portable" toilet.  I hope it has good brakes!

While driving at the higher elevations we saw herds of elk.  This was a spectacular sight.  And we saw other assorted wildlife.

Day Two in RMNP

Saturday.  Beth has read that RMNP is one of the most frequently visited parks in the NP system and the weekends are especially busy.  Here is the scene at the entrance gate on the Saturday we where there.

We drove to a "park and ride" lot where we could get a bus to some hiking trails.  We did a short, flat hike around Bear Lake (elevation of about 9,500) and then a longer hike to other lakes that where higher in the canyon.  It was a hot sunny day and the trail went up quite a bit (425 feet), but our efforts were rewarded with some beautiful scenery.

After hiking we drove around a little to find some big horn sheep but didn't succeed.  At one viewing place a ranger told us a small herd had been there about two hours before us.  Everywhere we drove there were lots and lots of cars and people. 

Matthew got another Junior Ranger badge, his 12th on this trip!

While driving around the town of Estes Park we found the historic Stanley Hotel.  Bill and his family stayed here during our trip to RMNP about 43 years ago!

Today we continue our drive home, with stops in Kansas (not sure we'll go through the capital) and St. Louis.