colorado – Northern Loon Travelogue

Denver-Tucson-Denver, Feb-March 2019

Sprinted from Madison to Boulder in one long day. Stayed with Skovrons for 3 nights, then bolted for Tucson. Made it to Albuquerque the first night. Made a lucky find late at night, a hopping brew pub with good food.

The next day, we took I-40 west, then a wandering route through very mountainous territory on Hwy 77/60 in AZ, starting at Holbrook, wending our way through Snowflake, Show Low and Globe, on the way to Oracle. The most direct route, but slow going.

Stayed 3 nights with Keith and Corine, played some p-ball, hiked, golfed, road bikes. This neatly sums up what we did over and over for the next week.

Next stop, a cute Airbnb casita in Tucson, for 4 nights. Visited with Steve and Wendy, lately of Colo Spgs, and Dave and Nancy, of Missoula. Rode our bikes on the Loop trails, hiked.

Last stop – the Birds, of Lafayette. New house near Dove Mountain. Stayed there 3 days. Golf, pickleball, hiking.

One day drive from Tucson to Denver. Went I-10 east to I-25. Routine drive, but long (900 miles).

Made it in good time for the Jeremy and Amanda Gardner wedding. Cast of hundreds, lots of family on multiple sides, a party that lasted four days.

Photos and one video can be seen below. These links should bring you to a “lightbox” view of all the photos in a gallery. Clicking on any thumbnail gets you a larger single view. You can then arrow left and right, or use the on-screen arrows to go left and right.

Hit <esc> to go back to the lightbox view at any time. Close the tab when you’re done viewing, and you’re back to this page.

Gallery #1 is here. Oracle, Airbnb, Bird House.

Gallery #2 is here. Desert Hiking.

Gallery #3 is here. Gardner wedding

Colorado February 2017

Pictures are here

Colorado 2016

Jeremy’s new house

(click)

Bday party pics

Colorado Feb 2015

Another typical spring run to Colorado. We took the Honda, left mid-day on Monday Feb 16, arrived a day later at nephew Jeremy’s house. New place for him, interesting neighborhood just a mile or so to downtown Denver.

Pictures are of his house and surround neighborhood.

The first day there was warm, in the 50’s. To a Cheesehead, 50’s and direct sunlight in Colorado feels like 70F. We walked LoDo, checked out the extensively remodeled Union Station.

2nd day – still warm weather. An obligatory walk in Washington Park.

Much snow was forcast. We lost our good weather for a day or two. Later we learned that Boulder, and much of the Front Range, set all time snow records for February. But in between these blasts, we caught another warm’ish morning and strolled the 17th street strip east of downtown.

More days, more snow, much colder. Another walking tour of LoDo, this time with temps around 15F, and windy.

Jeremy’s house is a virtual doggie day care center. Here’s Joey, Grace’s dog, and Sova (aka Sofa), Cami’s dog.

At some point, we migrated north to Longmont, where our good friends Chuck and Tricia had arranged for us to crash their pad while they were in Florida. It was great to be able to sling our crap all over the place without annoying anyone. Nice sunny house, and Longmont is an interesting, up and coming town. Affordable.

We drove by the Ryssby church, out in the country between Longmont and Boulder. Got married there in 1989.

Snow storms kept coming, we kept dodging them. Walked around a sodden and melting Boulder, temps around 50F, very strong sun. Again, it felt like summer.

A stroll down the Pearl St mall includes the obligatory visit to the Pepper Corn, world’s largest and most complete kitchen store. I could have shot 50 more photos in there . . .

Visited good friend Kathy Cain in Boulder. Her dog Gracie is just a riot. A consumate “fetch the ball” dog.

Colorado Solo Kar Trip

I drove out to Colorado in the Prius to visit friends. It’s been a long, brutal winter here in WI. Eileen is working from our home office and we kept bumping into each other. Between the weather and cabin fever, this trip seemed like a good idea.

I looked up all kinds of folks I never get to see. Slept on at least five different couches – it was a cheap good time. Got lucky with the weather. Half the time it was near or above 60F. My only regret was not bringing a bike.

The first half was in Boulder, second half in Denver. Went through Ft. Collins on the way home. It had been about 13 years since I’d been there!

Many of these pictures were taken just wandering around a few neighborhoods in old Boulder. Your starting price on any of these joints is $1M.