Touring by car, and a convoy to Salida

 Yesterday we drove from Denver to Rocky Mountain National Park and back in the Nissan Sentra that Jane rented after she arrived Monday.  The long and winding road that leads to the Alpine Visitor Center offers breathtaking views of the snow capped mountains and deep valleys between the peaks. I must say that I found the driving fairly stressful. Though we were in a car and the road is in great shape, there’s something unnerving about the combination of the never-ending series of curves, the cliff-like drop offs at the right edge of the paved surface to the right, or the high snow banks that are perfectly perpendicular to the road. While the passenger can enjoy the scenery, the driver must remain intensely focused on the task at hand; “scenery, what scenery”. 

As we arrived at the summit, the rain turned to sleet and the temperature nose-dived to not much above very cold.  We stayed long enough to take a few pictures and visit the gift shop.

The trip back to Denver was longer than the ride up to the Alpine Visitor Center but it felt much easier. We  took a taxi to dinner at a very good Italian restaurant across the street from Denver’s landmark Union Station.

While the place was quite noisy, the appetizers, main dishes, Jane’s tiramisu, and the Sicilian Etna wine were all excellent. Here are a couple of pictures of our appetizers.

We left the Peterson B&B, that we both loved and would recommend to anyone visiting Denver, and began our two vehicle convoy to Salida, Colorado. And yes, because I was riding my motorcycle with Jane driving the chase car behind me, we encountered some rain, again! But the scenery, with the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies all around us at times or the vast high plains at others, is well worth the long ride.

We stopped for lunch at a good pizza place on Main Street in Bona Vista, a wide Main Street like you see in many towns in this part of the USA.

And now we’re in Salida which is located on the Arkansas River, and where they are celebrating the 75th FIBArk Whitewater Festival, and where the sun is peeking through the clouds. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.