June 30, 2014 Travel to Wheatland Wyoming

This morning we packed up, hooked up, and were on our way north.

Interesting:

We are on the plains now – with a strong headwind .  The topography changed every 20 miles or so from flat:

To rolling hills:

These rocks just appeared – strange:

Buffalo cutout on the hill:

And into Wyoming:

We stopped at the rest area/visitor center at MM-4.  Beautiful center with lots of parking plus an RV dump and water fill – we used both.  From there, we stopped at exit 7 and filled with gas at Flying J. 

Back on the road – snow fences – oh-oh:

Roads that roll with the rolling hills – LOL!:

Another cutout – cowboy on a horse facing his dog:

Even more changes:

The Laramie Mountains in front of us:

We arrived in Wheatland, Wyoming and are staying at their city park – donation only:

Our site (with electric too):

They have a water spigot near us (the fifth wheel in the picture is filling with water) and a dump station at the other end of the park.  We had hoped to stay here until after the holiday but not sure if we could after seeing this sign:

Will see!

After setting up we took a walk around the park and then a ride around the little town – cute   We also found another Moose Lodge and stopped in for their Happy Hour – another good time.

Tomorrow we will be doing some sightseeing so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:

Routes Traveled:

Colorado: Pratt Street; SR-66; I-25

Wyoming: I-25; W. Mariposa Highway; 16th Street; Cole Street: 8th Street

June 26-29, 2014 Our time in Longmont Colorado

So what have we been up to?

Well, on Thursday 26th, we met up with Bruce and Sue and went to Golden for the Coors Brewery Tour.

A little info:

More information here: http://www.millercoors.com/Who-We-Are.aspx

We parked and then had to wait for the shuttle (almost an hour – popular tour).  The line for the shuttle:

This is what greeted us as we left the shuttle:

The tour is a self guided audio tour with various stations throughout the plant.  There are employees at some of the stations to answer any questions.  There is taste testing halfway thru the tour and then at the end of the tour.

At registration, we were given our audio guides and a wrist band saying we were over 21 – yes, we were carded .

One of the stops – various Coors Brands – I was surprised by some of them:

And away we went.  I am leaving out the brew process (lots of info on the internet) but I am posting some of the areas that I found interesting.

The kettles – they were HUGE!:

There was a lot of information in that area so we did spend some time learning about the process and the different craft beers.  Most of the kettle processes are controlled from this room:

We made our way down various hallways with information about Coors and a halfway stop for taste testing –

The packaging area:

Bobbi, this one is for you –:

The end of our tour as we headed to the bar for more taste testing:

So what did I try: Batch 19 and Banquet – Both yummy!

We made a quick stop to the gift shop and then outside to the shuttle – this is the water used in many of their processes:

The shuttle dropped us off at the parking lot and we decided to walk into town and get something to eat (based on recommendations from the folks we talked to at the brewery.

The entrance to historic Golden:

We had a great dinner on the outside patio of Woody’s Wood Fired Pizza Restaurant – YUM!

And at the end of the evening we said our “see you laters” to Bruce and Sue.  Hopefully our paths will cross again later in the summer.

Wednesday, 27th

Our adventures today took us first to Boulder to the Salvation Army.  I am slowly going thru all my stuff in the motorhome and getting rid of things/clothes that I do not like or use anymore.  While there, we did see a piece of furniture for the motorhome – see later in the blog.

Our next stop was Red Rocks Park in Morrison, Colorado.  In 1974, my girlfriend and I did a trip to see Colorado and one day coming out of the mountains, we saw this long line of cars going into Red Rocks.  Of course, being young, we got in line.  Long story short, it was a John Denver concert and we ended up getting scalper tickets for third row seats.  So I wanted to come back and sit in that third row again.

Red Rock Park consists of an amphitheater and a park with trails, overlooks, museum, and nice scenery. (Free to enter – ) 

Our first view:

Heading to the amphitheater parking lot – we had to go thru the tunnel:

We parked the car and took the back trail:

The amphitheater – check out that view.  Imagine sitting here in 1974 having John Denver sing: Rocky Mountain High – oh my!

I went to the third row and walked in to sit and….. was literally yelled at to get “behind the rope”.  No amount of begging and pleading helped – .  Bummer.  Apparently there is a concert coming up and the first 20 rows are blocked.  Still not sure why since this was 11 AM in the morning and the concert wasn’t until 8 PM.  Oh well!

The top of the amphitheater – those rocks are huge!:

We had lunch at the grill, then went into their museum.  Check out the date – exactly 40 years ago! 

We made our way to the parking lot and saw one of the CCC statues.  These statues are in various places in the US as a dedication to the hard work of the Civilian Conservation Corps.  We have seen a few of these on our travels.  I truly admire all the work these young men did.

More info can be found here:

http://www.ccclegacy.org/CCC_Statue_List.html

This is statue number 27:

We continued our ride through the park:

The theatre is among those rocks:

Views from one of the overlooks:

The Dakota Hogback:

These beautiful white wildflowers were everywhere:

We continued on the road as it wove around the rock formations:

Awesome, isn’t it.

We continued our adventure by driving around Golden.  In 1976, I lived here for a while looking for work.  Tried to find where but could not.  Lots of changes in 38 years.

What a nostalgic kind of day for me.

Saturday, 28th

In the morning, I did the laundry while Andy changed the oil on the motorhome.  After lunch, we headed back to Boulder to the Salvation Army to pick up a nice lateral file cabinet.   We have some plans to do remodeling and this was just what we have been looking for.  Yea!   So the rest of the afternoon we spent cleaning it up, securing to the floor, and transferring files.  It looks pretty nice!

Sunday, 29th

I spent most of the day cleaning and cooking (yes, one of my cooking moods again), and grocery shopping while Andy did some repacking and cleaning up outside.

Late afternoon, we had dinner with our neighbor Tim at a nice Mexican restaurant by the lodge – walking distance.  What a wonderful time.

We have had a nice time in Longmont, but, alas, it is time for us to continue our journey.  Tomorrow we are headed to Wyoming to stay tuned and enjoy today.