Sunday, March 23, 2025

A Scenic Drive Through Beautiful Mesa County, Colorado

Last fall, my husband and I drove Southwest to Durango, Colorado, where we took a round-trip ride on the historic Durango to Silverton Railroad (click here to see that post). On the way back towards Denver, we decided to drive a bit north to pick up Interstate 70 in Grand Junction, Colorado. As we drove east, we saw the most amazing scenery!


Grand Junction is located in Mesa County in Colorado. It is the most populous county in western Colorado, and the 11th most populous in the state.


The topography of this county was so unique!



Mt. Garfield reminded me of an Egyptian Pyramid!

Mt. Garfield is the high point of the Book Cliffs, east-northeast of Grand Junction, and overlooking the town of Palisade. The mountain was named after President James Garfield a year after Garfield's death. The mountain's geology is composed of Mesaverde Group overlaying Mancos Shale.




Palisade is known for its peach orchards and wine vineyards. The local climate provides a 182-day growing season, with an average 78 percent of sunshine, which makes Palisade "The Peach Capital of Colorado."  




Every summer residents of Colorado looks forward to buying the large ultra-sweet peaches.
I shared many of my favorite Paliside Peach recipes in this post.




Palisade lies on the north side of the Colorado River, 11 miles (18 km) east of Grand Junction,



 The river was flowing fully last fall and was a beautiful shade of blue.


The climate in Mesa County is relatively mild by Colorado standards. It has a semi-arid climate, with warm summers and mild winters. Average temperatures in the summer range from the low- to mid-90s (32.22 C) while winter temperatures usually range between 40 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 to 10C). The area typically receives less than 12 inches of precipitation annually, mainly in the form of snowfall during the winter months.





I was in awe of the scenery!


The contrast between the bright blue sky and the large stone mountains was so beautiful!



As we continued driving east we approached  Glenwood Canyon.

Glenwood Canyon is a rugged scenic 12.5 mi (20 km) canyon, and its walls climb as high as 1,300 feet (400 m) above the Colorado River. It is the largest canyon in the Upper Colorado.  
Eight years ago, my husband and I drove to the Glenwood Canyon area for a few days to celebrate an anniversary. We hiked over 1,000 feet high to visit Hanging Lake--click here to see that post--to this day it is one of the most magnificent places we have seen in Colorado!  We are so happy that we accomplished that hike on a whim.


There are many more places we would like to visit in Mesa County, Colorado, and hope to return there in the near future to see the Colorado National Monument area, and perhaps be able to pick a few peaches from a Palisade peach tree!


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Sunday, March 16, 2025

The Perfect Landing

 

Mt Blue Sky

This month, my husband has been going for Cardiac Exercise Rehabilitation in a cardiology center in our Colorado Front Range area a few times a week, following the coronary bypass surgery he had in January. He's been doing well and building up stamina and strength as he continues to heal. I often accompany him, and sit in the center's lounge and read a book. 



One day last week, after his exercise session, we decided to go to a restaurant at the nearby Centennial Airport for lunch, called The Perfect Landing. We heard they had a delicious menu and a nice view of some of the takeoffs and landings of the local air traffic.



We weren't disappointed! It was exciting to watch the jets and smaller planes take off or land while we dined.


My husband had the Corn Flake Crusted Crispy Walleye Fish on a Baugette (top photo in the collage), and I had the Maine Lobster Roll on a Portuguese Split Bun (bottom in the collage above)  Both were 
delicious!
 
My husband has been advised to eat a Mediterranean Diet post-op. and we have been eating that way very vigilantly, so this was a rare treat and the first time we dined out since his surgery.



Another treat was seeing the magnificent snow-capped Rocky Mountains in the distance from the restaurant windows!  March is usually Colorado's snowiest month and happily, the mountains have been getting large snowfalls while our front range area has not seen excessive snow.


A view of the distant Rocky Mountains from Denver International Airport, east on the Colorado plains. Quite a different view!


The local deer have been enjoying the warmer days that we've had lately.


Relaxing in the sun and dreaming of Spring!

PS: Thank you to all who commented on last week's post about my attending the PBS Antique Roadshow last May! See that post on this link. I received the following information follow-up this week about the three episodes that will be shown soon and the special antiques that the appraisers discovered:

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Sunday, March 9, 2025

I Attended the PBS Antique Roadshow!

 

Please click on the photo to enlarge it.

Last year, my daughter and I were excited to hear that the PBS ANTIQUE ROADSHOW was coming to the Denver Botanic Gardens in the Chatfield Farms extension in Littleton Colorado! To attend the show, we entered a ticket lottery and kept our fingers crossed that we would receive tickets. Happily, my daughter won two tickets! Naively, we thought we would be sitting in an audience like many of the television shows we attended in New York, but when the tickets arrived we were told we had to bring an antique for evaluation to be admitted. That led to a search throughout our possessions as neither of us collects antiques, and we did not think we had any valuable family heirlooms. Finally, we both found something we thought might be interesting and looked forward to attending the show.



The day of the show taping was May 29,2024, on a beautiful spring day. The TV airing of the show will begin this month.

From their website: "Part adventure, part history lesson, and part treasure hunt, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW marks its 29th season in 2025. A 22-time Emmy® Award nominee and former Critics' Choice Award-nominee, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is PBS's most-watched ongoing series!"
 

The location was perfect!

It is managed in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is a 700-acre native plant refuge and working farm located along the banks of Deer Creek in southern Jefferson County. Chatfield Farms is home to historical buildings dating back to the 1800s, 2.5 miles of nature trails, and numerous wildflower gardens.


When we arrived there was already a long line of people waiting to enter.


When we entered the grounds we saw that tents were set up throughout the farm, serving different purposes.



We entered a triage tent where we showed the items we brought. We were told what categories our items were classified as and were given a map to show us where to queue up next. 



We waited in the "Decorative Arts and Silver" line, as I had an object determined to be of that nature. The line was very long and it took us over two hours to slowly advance to the tent. Many people had umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun. We enjoyed seeing what items others on the line brought and conversing with those around us. In a few instances, a film crew took videos of the line and asked us to cheer for the camera.




All the QR codes displayed on the placards are still functioning if you'd like to see the information they lead to on the ANTIQUE ROADSHOW website.




We were finally close to the appraisers' tent!





This is the object I brought to be appraised. It is an Eastern Orthodox religious icon that once belonged to my maternal grandmother, who had immigrated from Ukraine in the early 1900s. Although it is a dear possession for me for that reason, the appraiser unfortunately told me it did not have great value otherwise. 



Guests with interesting or valuable antiques were directed to various filming locations where they would be interviewed and told by another professional appraiser what their items were worth. That is the most exciting part of the televised show, to see what treasures were discovered, and how much the experts said they were worth!




The next line my daughter and I waited on was "Sports Memorabilia," and, thankfully, that line was much shorter!




This is what I brought--a signed photograph of  Mickey Mantle, a famous New York Yankee Baseball star from 1951–1968. When I was twelve years old I wrote a fan letter to Mantle, as he was one of my favorite baseball players and I was thrilled to get this photograph as a reply. I kept it all these years! The appraiser was a very nice man who was from the NY area and he liked the photograph very much, but he told me that there are many "fraud" photos and other signed things in the sports memorabilia world. And that I needed to have to signature authenticated through a service such as Beckett, experts in doing this.  He said with certification I could probably sell it to a collector if I wished. My daughter brought her collectible, a Yankee Baseball player Derek Jeter's rookie card, and he gave her the same advice.



My daughter and I were happy to have had the experience of seeing how the PBS ANTIQUE ROADSHOW was conducted and viewing many of the wonderful objects that others brought to be appraised, As we walked toward the exit we spied a lucky someone being interviewed under the trees. The episodes showing the Antique Roadshow in the Denver Botanic Chatfield Farms on Littleton will be aired on PBS on March 24, 2025-hour one, and also on March 31, hour 2, and April 7, hour 3. To see a slideshow of photos from the Littleton filming on the ANTIQUE ROADSHOW website click here.
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Sunday, March 2, 2025

Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs


A Beautiful view of 14,107-foot (4,299.83 m) Pikes Peak from the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.



 As I have written in my past few blog posts, my best friend Rosemary visited us last March from Brooklyn, New York, and we spent a few days showing her our favorite Colorado sites. We went to Red Rocks Amphitheater, and walked along giant red rocks onto its stage, drove along the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway through canyons and mountain valleys, spent an afternoon admiring the beautiful snow-covered mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park, and on our last day together we drove down to visit the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.


As Garden of the Gods is a National Natural Landmark and is one of our favorite places to visit I have blogged about it many times, as you can read in sequence on this blog tab. We always begin with a visit to the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center to enjoy its interesting exhibits.


The "Kissing Camels" Formation

We drove around the 1,367 acres of the park to admire the outstanding geologic features of the park. There are magnificent ancient sedimentary beds of deep red, pink, and white sandstone, conglomerates, and limestones that were deposited horizontally but have now been tilted vertically by the immense mountain-building forces caused by the uplift of the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak massif. You can read about the history of the park on this link.











This is a photo of Rosemary and me at the Balanced Rock formation, which is at 6,286 feet (1915.9 M) elevation in the park. Doesn't it look like the rock could topple over at any minute? It is a favorite photo spot for all visitors.



A close-up


There are so many beautiful rock formations in the park


We enjoyed stopping to admire many views during our visit.



Please click on the photo above to enlarge it in order to read the placard.

We stopped briefly in the nearby town of Manitou Springs to show Rosemary the iconic mineral springs.



Please click on the photo above to enlarge it to read the placard--March is Women's History Month!

Manitou Springs is an interesting and historical town--I wrote a blog post about it a few years ago which you can read here.

It was time to drive back to our town where we were going out to a goodbye dinner with Rosemary as she was flying back home the next morning. We wanted to show her so much more, but it will have to wait until her next visit which will hopefully happen very soon!

I can also be found on

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