Monday, March 31, 2025

A Drive through Glenwood Canyon to Vail, Colorado


In last week's blog post, I showed a drive we took last September from the westernmost part of Colorado on Interstate 70 East, through Grand Junction and Palisade, Colorado--click here-- to read that post. This week, the journey continues as we drive east and pass through Glenwood Canyon to Vail.



Glenwood Canyon is a rugged, scenic 12.5-mile (20 km) canyon in western Colorado in the United States. Its walls climb as high as 1,300 feet (400 m) above the Colorado River. It is the largest such canyon on the Upper Colorado.



 

As my husband drove, I took photos of the scenery.




The canyon's geology is interesting. It was formed relatively recently in the Pleistocene era by the rapid cutting of the Colorado down through layers of sedimentary rock. The upper layers of the canyon are sandstone. Sections of the lower canyon walls are made of Cambrian rock. 





Although there was a rough road along Glenwood Canyon since pioneers days for horses and wagons, the final link of the construction of  I-70 through Glenwood Canyon has been hailed as an engineering marvel!  Construction through Glenwood Canyon began in 1980 and was completed in 1992.  As you can see in the photo above, the highway going west at a narrow portion of the canyon is elevated, while going east continues to traverse along the river. Great care taken to incorporate the interstate improvements into the fragile canyon environment while leaving as much of the flora and fauna intact as possible.



Please click on  the above photo 2x to enlarge it to read the information about Glenwood Canyon's I-70 road construction. 




A few years after we moved to Colorado, my husband and I spent our anniversary in Glenwood Springs. On the way home, I saw this sign for Hanging Lake. I asked my husband if we could stop at this trailhead, as I saw many beautiful photos of the area on social media and wanted to see if we could hike up to Hanging Lake.  




It took us--mostly me--two hours to hike up the steep trail to Hanging Lake and another two hours to go back down, but we did see this magnificent lake and the spectacular waterfall, which was another 200 feet above it!

You can read more about this experience at this link



We passed beautiful scenery...




...and ranches along the drive.


We continued driving east, gaining elevation... 


...and began to see fall foliage.

Soon, we approached Vail, which is at 8,150 feet (2,480 m) above sea level.

Vail is home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado.  The town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the numerous events the city hosts annually




The mountains surrounding Vail were ablaze with golden Aspen trees!


In October, these mountains would be full of snow, but in September, they were displaying full fall glory!




Vail Pass was named after Charles Vail, the highway engineer who routed U.S. Highway 6 through the Eagle Valley in 1940. It eventually became Interstate 70. Seibert, a New England native, served in the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division during World War II, which trained at Camp Hale, 14 miles south of Vail between Red Cliff and Leadville. 

 I blogged about the 10th Mountain Division and Camp Hale in this post.

Seibert, with other former members of the 10th Mountain Division, returned to Colorado after World War II with the intention of opening a ski resort. During training for ski troopers at Camp Hale, he bivouacked on Vail Mountain and identified it as an ideal ski mountain. By 1969, Vail had developed into the most popular ski resort in the state.



We continued driving east across the Rocky Mountains towards the Denver area, anticipating another two-hour drive to return home. 

We had a wonderful vacation and enjoyed seeing this part of Colorado again during the fall, and it was fun to take you along with us in this reminiscence! 

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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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