Good Ol' Rocky Top

The landscape of America is so diverse. I am fortunate I've seen hills and valleys and both sea shores in my various travels through at least 36 of the 50 states. I might have to recount. My favorite landscape is the mountains – not so much the Green Mountains of Vermont or the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but he Rocky Mountains. And hopefully the those in Alaska. 

And in close competition is the rock formations and various color schemes found in area like the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Sedona and other canyon areas in the desert Southwest.

When we were flying out to Phoenix, we saw a bit of each. After I work up from my flight nap, that is. Since we were up at 4 a.m., I zonked out quickly on the plane. But suddenly I awoke and turned to Raylene and said, "We should be seeing mountains at some point."

I literally pushed up the window blind and this was our view! Whew. Timing!

So I want to share some of those Rocky top scenes since we don't always get God's view. 

See the juxtaposition of red desert and granite mountains? So cool.

And what's the deal with the crop circles? Is it secret code to aliens?

Of course I had to look it up and of course there was an answer on the internet. They're from irrigation systems that pivot in a circle.

Crack-a-lackin'! Is it sand or a river?

And this little mountainous area popped up in the middle of nowhere. Reminded me of pictures of craters on the moon.

I bet the river running through that horizontal "crack" in this picture is gorgeous to kayak on!

Desert sands. Reminds of Red Sands Beach right here at Lake Wazeecha. But bigger.

And we landed in the populous desert area with mountains in the distance.

There's so much to see in this beautiful country – from the ground up. Thanks for flying with Robyn's EyeView Tours! ha.

Rocky Mountain Memories

After sorting through hundreds of photos from our long weekend in Colorado, here is a vacation scrapbook in a nutshell. A rather large nutshell, but you get the picture (or pictures) anyway...

Exit to Pete and Dawn's place!

Our lodging for the weekend! You can see the mountains and Denver from every room.

View off the deck of our bedroom.

Our co-host Rudy.

Our co-hostess Annie. They. Are. So. Fluffy!!

Walking the dogs down (and back up) the Apex Trail. That's the one Dawn and I ran later that weekend.

Time to rest for the evening while the guys play!

Evenings were made for cribbage, which these two have been playing together since high school. Isn't that board beautiful? Pete made that. Nice!

OK, I did have one trip to Wal-Mart... Only because it was so pretty with its log cabin look and metal roof. (Looked the same inside, by the way.)

Bison Lookout near their house but we were unsuccessful.

The only buffalo I saw. Dang.

Speaking of Buffalo... Our first view of the Rockies came while visiting Buffalo Bill's grave and museum site, just up the road from "our home."

His grave marker.

 

I guess people make wishes there and toss coins. Maybe they're wishing they don't get caught by a posse and strung up somewhere? Who knows?

Beautiful sight for at least one person we know! Just down the "hill" from Lookout Mountain.

Other interesting sights: Haven't seen a speed limit sign with "darkness hours" on it for a long time.

Driving by a pot shop. No, we did not stop.

Saw plenty of deer and elk, thankfully not on the road. The "No Bicycling" sign is significant since we saw bicyclists just about everywhere, including these ultra-athletes pedaling up the mountain roads. Wow. Crazy.

 Speaking of elk... Saw plenty at Elk Fest in Estes Park, as I previously mentioned. Check out the gang hanging around downtown!

After Elk Fest, we headed into Rocky Mountain National Park. View from a prairie in the canyons.

Hairpin turns were fine as long as there was a guard rail!

Due to snow-covered roads, we were limited on how far up we could go in Rocky Mountain National Park. Still could take some pretty pictures and selfies, though.

The UW-Whitewater grad is very serious about people his sweatshirt. Ask him about it. :)

Our hitching post.

 

Funky clouds over the mountains.

Trees can grow out of rocks but Robyn can't grow anything!

Just as we were leaving the park, this big guy was sitting by the exit.

He stopped traffic... for photographers anyway! How cool is that?

When we trekked over to Evergreen on Sunday, we stopped at Little Bear, a bar allegedly frequented by Willie Nelson.

The Red-Headed Stranger did not make an appearance that day. But we did see lots of license plates (which Carter the collector would love) ...

And bras... hanging from stage where previous patrons had let loose.

Checking out the the Red Rocks concert arena area.

It's like we are in a Flintstones episode.

Left-side seating with stage below.

Right-side seating with stage in lower left. How funky.

Appropriately named Table Mountain in the distance.

From this sideline view, you can see Denver way in the background, too.

I mean waaaay off.

Caught the end of a free concert that day.

Fred and Wilma.

Besides running down and up the mountain that day, we had steps to deal with here and at our next stop!

The Mother Cabrini Shrine was a statue of Jesus located up on a hill. A very, very tall hill.

A few "rest stops" along the way.

Almost there...

Beautiful.

Our last day... All aboard for Pikes Peak!!

Heading up the mountain.

Pretty scenery on the way up.

OMG. Where does the track go??

Whatever you do, don't look down!

Quit leaning to the left. I don't want us to tip over now!

Vegetation just sort of stops as we near the summit.

Still pretty views though.

Two other trains on their way down are coming our way. What do we do??

Give the conductor a timeout in the Switch Box until she gets them on the right track.

View of sheep or mountain goats or something while we wait.

View out "my" side was prettier.

Jim and I were glad we didn't drive up. There are 150 hairpin turns and it would take just as long getting up the mountain. Plus, we'd probably burn out the brakes on the way down!

We made it! Thank you, Little Engine that Could!

Our fellow train passengers took a picture for us. Should have waited for the school kids to get done first.

Oh well, good thing there was another sign in back.

Did you know this view inspired the "America the Beautiful" song? We didn't either.

The view up top. Don't ask what we're looking at. We were just trying not to get blown off the Peak.

Chilly with snow on the ground!

Minus 14 degrees with the windchill. Why did I even bother curling my hair that morning?

Another view from up top.

One final pretty look on the way back down.

Random ridge of rocks that I thought was cool. I suspect from an airplane, it looks like a dinosaur napping.

 

Going through rocks to get where we need to go! Funky.

Almost back to Pete and Dawn's and we see this just down the road from their house.

 

This dude peeked out from behind them and strutted his stuff for the camera.

Then, just like when I try to take a picture of Carter, he was uncooperative and stuck his tongue out at me. The nerve!

I much prefer this "wild" animal. By the end of our stay, Rudy stopped growling at us and let me snuggle with him on the couch. He's. So. Fluffy!

I already miss Pete and Dawn... and the kids!! They. Are. So. Fluffly!!

And one final look from our bedroom deck. Goodnight and goodbye from Denver!