Memorial Day BBQ

Arvada, CO

Francis making himself at home

Visiting

We were invited to Arvada, CO to visit with friends on Memorial Day.  We took the morning to catch up on some daily life stuff and headed over in the afternoon.  We had a great time catching up with them and the BBQ was great.  I even got to sample a bit from their whiskey collection.  It was a really nice day.

They had a fantastic selection so I had to take a photo.

Yesterday was the day we arrived in Denver.  Check it out here.

Home Base, Denver Colorado

 Denver, CO

Our front door

Our new home for a month in Denver

We have made it to Denver Colorado for our month long stay.  We are staying here.  Don't try to book it because it is fully booked through April 2023 apparently (I just looked it up).  Our drive from Silverthrone was only about 1h15m and took us through the Eisenhower Johnson Memorial Tunnel (The Johnson, Eastbound side to be precise).  I didn't get photos because I was driving but you can look it up.  It's a really cool tunnel that takes you through The Rocky Mountains and under The Continental Divide.  We arrived at our Airbnb and moments after unloading the van we were treated to a thunderstorm.  It's our first thunderstorm of this trip.  Our Airbnb is very comfortable and appears to have everything we need.  Our day was mostly getting settled and then figuring out what free TV services we get.  Turns out we get Apple+, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.  I have a list of things I want to watch from all of these services so yay!  We also took a walk through our neighborhood with Francis and stopped by a new brewery, Baere Brewing Company.  We had a pint and enjoyed the patio and then picked up a 4 pack to go.

Wide open spaces for Francis to dance in the living room

A gas range for all of our cooking needs

A breakfast nook that we will use for dinner too

A king size bed

Francis got settled more quickly than we did

Our list of goals for Denver (I just learned how to spell Capitol vs capital.

The cute neighborhood we are in

More cuteness

A local movie theater we may go to

Stickers!

Beer we bought for when we visit our Star Wars IPA fan friends

Now it's time to settle in and experience Denver.  I also have a lot of highway logging to do.  I haven't logged Utah, Colorado, or Wyoming yet.

My CA highway map is looking pretty good.

Check out yesterday's adventure here.

Camping in Utah and Colorado

 Craig, CO

Enjoying the calm before the storm that missed us at Elkhead Reservoir State Park CO 

Canyon Rim Campground, Flaming Gorge Utah

The drive from Grand Junction CO to our campsite at Canyon Rim Campground was a really nice drive.  We passed through Northwest Colorado and then North East Utah.  We visited our last county in Utah, Daggett County, and stayed the night.  The campground was really fantastic.  We were far from everyone and a short walk to the canyon rim.  We set up camp and then did the 2 mile loop along the rim, to the visitors center and then back to the campsite.  

Hello from the awesome canyon rim overlook

There were interpretative signs along our walk

The beginnings of a pine cone

Nature is art

The canyon and reservoir are beautiful

Our secluded site

The next morning I got up early to use the restroom and noticed the sun was just rising so I grabbed my camera and went to the overlook to get some sunrise shots.  The sunrise was okay but the views of the Bighorn Sheep were better.  I watched them for a bit as they grazed on the cliffs edge and practiced their headbutting and then went to get my big camera and wake up Donna.  We headed back to the rim and watched the sheep for a bit more before heading back to camp and making coffee and eating breakfast.  While we ate the sheep passed through our site.  It was only fair, we watched them eat and then they watched us eat.  It was a great experience.

The so so sunrise

The adult sat and watched me

The juveniles grazed and practiced head butting and being dominant.

Breakfast and Coffee

The Sheep grazing in our campsite

After packing we drove north out the top of Utah and into Wyoming.  The drive was only somewhat scenic until we cut back down into Colorado.  The Colorado drive was really pretty.  We drove by herds of Pronghorn.  It was our second horned mammal species of the day!  We were expecting our campsite at Elkhorn Reservoir State Park to be just a convenient place to spend the night but when we got there we were pleasantly surprised.

Elkhorn Reservoir State Park, CO

Elkhorn Reservoir ended up being really great.  Our site was off by itself, there was a great shaded cover over the picnic table, and the weather was PERFECT.  After setting up camp we sat and watched 4 species of swallows fly around us.  It was so relaxing.  A breeze to our back kept it from being too hot or too cold.  Dinner was great and the bird show continued until dark.

We drove over this cool bridge leaving Utah

We stopped at a rest stop on I-80 in Wyoming

We passed through 2 areas of roadwork.  Winter has just ended in this area.

Donna and Francis enjoying the weather and the bird show

Donna took glamor shots of Francis on our walk while I was trying to scare up more bird species

More bird show, you can see a swallow just above Donna's head

Impressive clouds just before bed

The next morning we got up and made coffee, packed up, and took a walk.  I ended up getting a Sage Thrasher which was a new bird for me.  The drive to Silverthorne CO was nice.  We closed out the Northwest corner of Colorado and passed over a 9000+ft. pass.

Coffee Coffee Coffeeeee!

Simple rules to follow and yet people still couldn't follow the leash rule

The morning bird show

Donna grabbed a photo of the sign on the way out

Now we are in our hotel room in Silverthorne, CO.  We do a short 1h15m drive to Denver today and check into our Airbnb.  We already have dinner plans with friends, tickets to a day game at Coors Field, and reservations for a tour of the Coors Brewing Facility in Golden, CO.  It's going to be an action packed month.  I can't wait to share it with you all.

Our County Collecting Progress

Utah is complete!

Colorado is just over half done with more to come on this trip

Our US Progress together.  See a larger key for the colors below.  6 State complete and only 2711 counties to go!

The key to the colors

Yesterday we were on the road too. See the photos here.

Made It To Silverthorne CO

Silverthorne CO

Here is a photo of Francis enjoying a lunch break. We are in Silverthorne Colorado and headed to Denver tomorrow. I will share about our previous 2 days in the morning. 

Yesterday we were in western Colorado.  Check out the post here.

Arriving A Day Early In Grand Junction, CO

 Grand Junction, CO

Delta Colorado in Delta County (a new county for us on this trip)

Grand Junction, CO a day early

We are ahead of schedule!  😁 I mentioned in the last post that we left Capital Reef early because we were sleeping in a parking lot.  We booked a 2nd night in Grand Junction and did the drive a day early.  We checked into the Home2 Suites Hilton and settled in.  We used the extra day in Grand Junction to explore the city more than we would have been able to and take a road trip to grab some extra counties in Western Colorado.  Grand Junction is a lot more happening than we thought it would be.  There is a great downtown with food and drink as well as DIY shops and bookstores.  We were a bit disappointed with their dog policies on patios.  We took Francis to a brewery and they asked that we tie him up outside so we left.  It seemed that this was the law even though the brewery didn't serve food.  Different than many places we have been to in the past.

We got great roasted chicken at Pollo Asado

I took a few cans to go from Monumental Beer Works (I didn't try to bring Francis to this one)

I turned Francis into Art in our room

We saw this Mountain Lion at Ridgway State Park in Ridgway CO

The State Park has a great nature trail

It overlooked a reservoir

This was our first Colorado State Park and it was great!

Public art in the Downtown area

They are big into mountain biking here

More public art

They are so sporty here they skate and bike at the same time!

Our road trip took us up to The Dallas Divide.  It was a really beautiful drive and we got 3 bonus counties we weren't counting on getting.  The Purple Counties are new this year.

We had planned on getting Mesa and Delta.

We have 2 more camping nights and 1 more hotel night until we land in Denver for a Month starting Sunday.  We are getting close and we are looking forward to settling down for a month.

Yesterday we were in Capitol Reef National Park.  Check it out here.