August 09


It was Fall in the Rockies...
when we roamed around there in 2008. I had been there many times before. And we had our base camp made up in Wheat Ridge at the friendly Prospect RV Park. From there we did great tours north into the Rocky Mountain National Park, through the South Platte River Valley and to the highest Mountain Road in the U.S. But most scenic were the developing colors of the fall. This colorful frenzy is topped off by the first snow on the highest tops. But travelers should also be warned to drive up the mountains as weather conditions can change rapidly. Severe snowstorms can develop at any time during the year, but are most common from the end of September throughout the winter months.

Estes Park at the foot of the Rocky Mountain Park

From by-gone days a hotel still waiting for guests
coming through the South Platte River Valley

We are always checking on weather forecasts looking at wind speeds, and developing cold fronts before making it through the mountains. Several times we have started very early in the morning on either side of the I-70 in order to be faster than the coming storm.

The U.S. Post Office in the old mining town of Georgetown

Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 up from Denver

Yet, the Rockies are remaining a favorite area for us, and we will always return to the area.

At the summit of the Old Fall River Road high above Estes Park

August 07
A new week...again
And here we go again... with a new week. And if I shall believe the weather forecast it's gonna rain a few days.
That will slow me down outside, but maybe I can find something sensible to do in the house.


This morning the RCMP-Constable showed up and had a good look at our cargo trailer. Then he went off investigating whether our neighbourhood had seen or heard anything. (it turned out nobody did) 


And since the rain started around 2pm I moved inside and snooped around on the Internet, which, with increasing rainfall, got slower and slower. But it seems it quickened up again so I at least can write today's blog. 


But what can I write when nothing happened. Well, I will take you on a journey to Southern Colorado and visit the 

The Mesa Verde National Park

From Moab, Utah we had moved our camp to the town of Blanding. One of the first days we do a day trip over to the Colorado and the Mesa Verde National Park. I had visited the park many years ago, but without Bea.  Over small country roads we got to Cortez, named after the Spanish Conqueror who was driven by the idea of finding the "Golden Cities of Cibola". (of course he never did find the Gold as it never existed)

With our year-round National Park Pass we gain access to the park and drive up the mountainous road to the main park attractions, the ancient dwellings of the Anazasi, the "Ancient Ones".












As we get up into the park we realize that mighty forest fires have ravaged the park. I can hardly recognize anything from my first visit 12 years ago.

Approximately 600 of the over 4700 archeological sites found in Mesa Verde National Park are cliff dwellings. Other sites include mesa top pueblos, farming terraces, towers, reservoirs, and check dams. a Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. Today, the park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.

July 29

The Garden of the Gods

While being in the Denver area in 2008 we went to see the Garden of the Gods at Colorado Springs. It is a short and easy trip down I-25, before one has to turn to the west and getting into the Park. There is no admission fee, and one can either walk or drive around the ring road. But I will say that a walk would definitely be an asset. The park has a special history as well.

Park History
By the 1870's, the railroads had forged their way west. In 1871, General William Jackson Palmer founded Colorado Springs while extending the lines of his Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. In 1879, General Palmer repeatedly urged his friend, Charles Elliott Perkins, the head of the Burlington Railroad, to establish a home in the Garden of the Gods and to build his railroad from Chicago to Colorado Springs. Although the Burlington never reached Colorado Springs directly, Perkins did purchase two-hundred and forty acres in the Garden of the Gods for a summer home in 1879. He later added to the property but never built on it, preferring to leave his wonderland in its natural state for the enjoyment of the public. Perkins died in 1907 before he made arrangements for the land to become a public park, although it had been open to the public for years. In 1909, Perkins' children, knowing their father's feeling for the Garden of the Gods, conveyed his four-hundred eighty acres to the City of Colorado Springs. It would be known forever as the Garden of the Gods "where it shall remain free to the public, where no intoxicating liquors shall be manufactured, sold, or dispensed, where no building or structure shall be erected except those necessary to properly care for, protect, and maintain the area as a public park."
How the park was named...
It was August of 1859 when two surveyors started out from Denver City to begin a townsite, soon to be called Colorado City. While exploring nearby locations, they came upon a beautiful area of sandstone formations. M. S. Beach, who related this incident, suggested that it would be a "capital place for a beer garden" when the country grew up. His companion, Rufus Cable, a "young and poetic man", exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods." It has been so called ever since.