Denver, Thursday, January 23, 2020

We arrive at Eppley Airfield, having been picked up by our travel mates, Howie and Lee Needelman for a short hop from chilly, snowy Omaha to colorful Colorado. A quick and uneventful flight in our economy (steerage) seats. Upon arrival at Stapleton Airport, we walk for miles to the baggage claim area. One good thing about the long walk is that, when we arrive at the carousel, our luggage has also arrived.

Next we head to the train stop for our senior price tickets and the train ride into downtown Denver, headed for Union Station. A pleasant but not speedy ride and we disembark. From there we walk a few blocks and pick up the free Mall transit bus to take us a few miles down the 16th Street Mall to the civic Center station. Alighting, we walk the four blocks to our hotel for the stay - The Art Hotel.

This property, adjacent to the Art Museum, near the State Capitol Building and the Library, is smack in the middle of central Denver. The hotel is a smallish (165 room) modern hotel with very acceptable rooms and a restaurant.lobby.bar on the fourth floor. We drop our luggage and head to the bar for an afternoon cocktail and a bite of hors d’oevres.

We decide to go see a movie and land a Lyft ride to the nearby movie theatre, settling in for the movie 1917. We all recommend this Oscar nominated film to any. Truly a mind opening look at World War I.

Next, we walk to the nearby Brown Place Hotel, Denver’s iconic hotel, founded in 1892. It’s stunning lobby and chandelier are amazing. We dine in the Ships Tavern Pub on sandwiches and chips with accompanying wine and beer.

We then head back for the 15 minute walk back to our Hotel and are down for the count by 10:00.

ON TO TUCSON - June 10, 2019

Well, Wednesday started auspiciously with yours truly losing track of the time change and hence up at 5:15 AM local time in Colorado Springs. My error was quickly noted, so I hopped in the shower and searched out coffee while the better looking portion of our duo caught up on not needed beauty sleep. LaQuinta breakfast, although standard fare of powdered scrambled eggs, sausage, bagels, home fries, waffles, fruit, etc. was above average and very tasty. We wolfed it down, stoked up on coffee and hit the next door gas station before ramping on the I-25 South by 8:30. Traffic was heavy, but not unduly so.

We were quickly through the city and headed south to Walsenburg, where we dropped off the freeway and turned west on CO 64 towards our westbound artery of US 164. We switched drivers somewhere in the middle of the state (Pagosa Springs,) and continued westward towards Mesa Verde. In Mancos, we gassed up and switched drivers again, arriving at Mesa Verde National Park around 3:00 PM.

As we already had a firm reservation at the Far View Hotel on property, we began a couple of loop drives to look at the archeological sites of the Puebla Ancestral Peoples (formerly referred to as Anasazi) and marvelled at the ecology of the high desert area. We drove, then walked, drove then walked. What we found was that we flatlanders (old and not in very good shape) take quite a while to become accustomed to the thin atmosphere. Likewise, even though the humidity is low, the sun is still very hot. Luckily we brought hats. Deb was happy to be viewing things that were older than she is!

Around 6:00 we checked into the hotel with a gorgeous view to the north overlooking the arroyos. We had our cocktails on our balcony and at 7:45 headed to the restaurant for our dinner reservation. Dinner was less than spectacular - a house salad and “ancient” grains risotto for Deb and house made chips and a cheese tortellini and mushroom dish. Deb had a local Cinsault wine that was quite good, and I a local porter beer that was also good. However the $100.00 price tag was not.

We walked back to our room and sat on the balcony waiting sunset and the star show in the clear, unlighted sky. Gorgeous! The park was wonderful, the scenery and weather were spectacular, so we agreed to overlook the food issue as we were captives. We did find later that the lounge next door served hamburgers and fries, a much better choice and one we will recommend in the future.

Tomorrow we head on to Phoenix. 

ON TO TUCSON - 6/9/2019

Tuesday’s Start

The dawn broke in Omaha with a short rain, the temperature still moderate, but threatening to soar. Deb and I rousted out and I started preparing the car. Deb stepped out of the shower to the ringing phone. Clients wanting to go ahead and book the huge cruise they had discussed the day before. She talked them through it, sitting in her bathrobe, contacted the cruise line, booked the trip and then called the client back to explain the necessary info, along the way explaining to one of the couples how she needed to get her passport updated immediately. Directions to the passport office were given.

Before she could finish the phone rang again with another client wanting to book their cruise. That done, she finished up and got dressed, two major bookings completed and another small crisis solved.

We loaded the sleek Toyota Avalon sedan that was the purpose of this trip, and headed out at 10:30, about 2 hours behind our intended departure. We texted our traveling partners, Tom, Kevin & Liam (TKL) to let them know of our late departure. They were only about 15 minutes ahead of us so not so bad. (By the way, Liam is the wonderful black Scotty Terrier who is the third person of this trio moving to Tucson.)

As we reached Kearney on I-80, traffic slowed to a crawl and we learned that Kearney received 8.5 inches of rain overnight, causing the Platte to overflow, flood parts of the city, and cause the closing of the main exit into Kearney. The flooded banks of the Platte continued on, past Lexington and further as we traveled west.

We passed TKL just west of Kearney and agreed to stop for gas, a stretch and driver change in Gothenburg.

After Gothenburg, with Deb now in our driver’s seat, we continued our western run. Just west of Ogallala, we dropped onto I-76 for the run towards Denver. Having made this trip before, and given the time of day, we opted to avoid the traffic around Denver, getting off the freeway at Ft. Morgan, dropping due south on US 71, then at Limon to US 24 on our run into Colorado Springs. Tom had told us in Gothenburg that he had booked at LaQuinta in Colorado Springs, so we made the call and secured a room. Who knew there were multiple LaQuinta hotels in Colorado Springs?

We arrived around 6:30 (7:30 body time due to time change) and settled into our room after a 9 hour drive. We texted TKL and learned they were still 30 minutes out. Not sure if they stayed on the freeway the entire way or made a second Liam stop. 

As we had polished off our sandwiches for dinner, we opted to stay in and dine on a snack of goldfish crackers and red wine. How haute cuisine we are. We walked around the hotel grounds a bit to stretch our legs, marvelled at the 14% humidity and fell into bed around 10:00, tired but glad to be on the road again.

Tomorrow we separate from TKL as they continue direct to Tucson and we head across Colorado towards Mesa Verde National Park for a look see.