Goodbye Utah, Hello Colorado

It was sad to have to leave Utah, especially the Moab area. But it was also kind of nice to get out of the heat. It was 108 during the day. Greg is the master of finding local swimming holes. I am the master of icecream and other ice cold delicacies!!

We drove to the slick rock area for the sunset. The sunsets were spectacular! The slick rock area is where Jeeps can drive up and down the boulders. It’s pretty intense!

Even the regular road was pretty intense.

I was able to go to the local church in Moab and coincidentally it was the same name as my childhood parish growing up in Plainview.

It’s been great in Utah camping on the BLM land. Very barren and not a lot of luxuries. But atleast they have transgender toilets!

Our trip to Colorado was up and up and up! The jeep was having a very hard time getting up the mountain by Vail, Colorado. Our intention was to drive to Colorado Springs and stay 2 nights. Unfortunately, they closed Interstate 70 because of a huge wrong way accident that killed a lady. So Greg and I got off the interstate and found this AMAZING campsite! This picture doesn’t even do it justice. 

The campground was in a town called Frisco, overlooking the Dillion Redervoir. It was beautiful. I would have loved to have stayed longer but we wanted to see and taste the springs. We drove another couple of hours and set up camp in Chatfield State Park  in Littleton Colorado. We plan on staying here for 3 nights. This campground has electricity and running water including showers. The showers are 50 cents for 3 minutes and then 25 cents each additional minute. I got a ziplock full of quarters! 

After we set up our campsite we headed to Manitou Springs. Had some sampling of Springs throughout the town and did a little sightseeing at the Garden of the Gods. 

We came back to the campsite just in time for a beautiful sunset.

In the morning, we woke up to 2 hot air balloons floating by!! So cool.

We had a peaceful morning with our new found electric. I made an entire pot of coffee!! Drip coffee just like at home!

We decided to head over to the Red Rocks amphitheater area which is an amazing concer venue that they let you hang out at during the day if there’s no concert going on. It’s like a huge stadium hidden between rocks. Holds , I think, 11000. The acoustics are amazing at this place.

They were actually setting up for a concert when we were there. John Denver was a big time performer at this venue in the 70’s. Makes me want to download some of his songs from I tunes. They had a nice display dedicated to him. 

Right up the road from the Red Rock park was the Mother Cabrini Shrine. If you have ever driven on Interstate 70, you may have seen the GIANT JESUS up on the top of a mountain. That’s the shrine, the place is beautiful. And the history behind it is very interesting. I really enjoyed it. We even walked the 373 steps up to the statue. 

There’s tons of info on their website if interested. http://www.mothercabrinishrine.org/about-us/activities

Today’s our last day in Colorado. We decided to go see the Columbine Memorial since we are only a town away. I’m glad we did and I would recommend it to anyone who is in this area. It’s probably one of the best memorials I have ever been to. Very well thought out and put together. It was beautiful.

Afterwards we drove back up the mountains once again to a town called Blackhawk that has like 10 casinos. We had a nice casino buffet and then played some slots. I actually walked away with a few bucks more than I walked in with. I love when that happens!!

We got back to the campground and the ez up that we setup for sun and rain had blown away and was hanging on by one stake. Thankfully it didn’t snap and we were able to pack it up. Afterwards a great horned owl came over and watched over us. We also saw a huge bald eagle today at the campsite! Amazing!!