Day 10 - 7/03/2004 - Saturday
- Followed the Colorado River as it ran beside the road.
- Drove through Glenwood Canyon, a beautiful scenic area.
It supposedly was extremely complicated building the highway through
this area without disrupting it; at the time it was the second
most expensive piece of interstate highway. [First was the Baltimore
Ft. McHenry Tunnel. Both probably eclipsed now by the Big Dig].
- Drove through Vail.
- Trying to buy gas, but deceptively all the prices given are for the
low grade 85 Octane variety. [For those wondering why this is weird,
on the East coast you can't buy less than 87 Octane. Upon research
it seems cars with carburetors run fine at high altitude with 85,
which is why it is sold there. But since most modern cars have fuel
injectors this is questionable].
- Went horse riding at the Bar T ranch near Silverthorne. Yes, I rode
a horse. And I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
Here's a self portrait taken while riding [and taking said picture
was harder than it sounds].
- Here's an action shot while riding. My horse's name was Poco.
I was riding behind one of Kristina's sisters, and her horse was easily
distracted and went slowly. Whenever he'd catch up, my horse would
unexpectedly break into a fast trot to catch up too, which sounds silly
and tame now but at the time it was quite exciting.
- If you ever get the chance to go horse riding among the rockies, even
if you've never ridden a horse before, I reccommend you avail yourself
of the opportunity.
- We drove through the Eisenhower Tunnel, the highest point on Interstate
Highway System. It took us under the continental divide.
- On to another 19th century mode of travel, we went on the
Georgetown Loop Railroad. It is a narrow gauge
railroad that loops back on itself in order to make a steep
change in altitude. I rode in a converted sheep car.
- Next we went to the Phoenix Mine
gold mine and
went on a tour given by a former miner. Extremely interesting.
The mine was rich in ore and operated until the 1970s when a drop
in the price of gold made it unprofitable. Even panned for
gold briefly.
- Saw mountain sheep on the side of a mountain.
- Pressed on to Denver. Traveled to the far side of it in search
of a Golden Corral restaraunt.
- Arrive Denver (5013 Miles)
232 miles traveled on Day 10
On to Day 11