Colorado

We have entered a State that we have never seen before.  As we were coming into Colorado from the north the landscape opened up to pastures, corn fields, sugar beet fields and no mountains unless you looked far to the west and viewed the Rockies.  The weather warmed up and the sun was shining.  Clark navigated us to an rv park on the Thompson River just outside of Loveland, CO.

beautiful fall foliage

Thompson River

parked beneath the trees



our home away from home!

October 15th dawned sunny and clear.  We talked to some people from Nebraska and they told us about a town, Estes Park,  north of Loveland, that was very picturesque so this morning we went for a drive.  The drive was winding but worth it.

We ate lunch in Estes Park at Claire's Restaurant which was very good.  Took a tour of the town and came across several young elk resting and browsing by the side of the road. 

Our waitress told us of a famous hotel which allowed visitors for free so we ventured over to have a look.

A few movie makers have used the Stanley Hotel but the most famous is Stephen King's "The Shining" which he wrote while staying at the Stanley.

* if you click on one picture it will let you view them all - try it!


Coming back down from 7300 feet at Estes Park, to 5300 feet at our campsite we took some pictures of the Thompson River and the scenery along it.  The river attracts a lot of fly fisherman and we saw quite a few. 

 



Wyoming

We have been from east to west in Wyoming and south from Yellowstone to the Grand Tetons but this time we traveled the eastern side of Wyoming.



sage brush and rock





some different looking boulders



this was the typical scenery

overlooking the Bozeman Trail

We traveled on I25 from Sheridan to Cheyenne and reached an altitude of 6362 feet.  We did a lot of climbing and then we slowly descended towards Denver.  We are presently at 5100 feet.

There is a vast amount of unarable land but lots of scrub brush, rocks, antelope and deer.

Montana

We have finished with Montana for this year.  The weather wasn't bad but it is definitely starting to cool off.

some fall color

Powder River Basin

very hazy in the distance

We saw some harvested fields, lots of scrub land, rolling hills, lots of pasture land and angus cattle and very little traffic.

some USA prices

gas is $3.749
diesel is $4.139
flu shots - $29.99 and yes, we got ours at the pharmacy in Albertson's grocery store!

...and we have it all in this rv park - next door to the airport, highway and train track - life is good :)  At least the nights are quiet.

First day of our winter trip

....an auspicious start to our trip - front driver's side leveller wouldn't raise.  Clark fixed it for travel with duct tape and wire.  We will get it fixed somewhere warm! 
Left Pincher at 11 and got to Great Falls, MT at 6.  Had a tail wind once we headed south :)
No pics to post but just to let you know we saw 6 elk east of Milk River, saw the aftermath of the prairie fire that headed towards Milk River in September (miles and miles of burnt land) and saw a herd of antelope by Conrad, MT.
The day started out very warm - at 5:00 a.m. it was 12C, by the time we left with the north wind blowing it was down to 5C.  Dreary and overcast all the way along up until Great Falls when the sun blessed us with 5 minutes of sunshine.

Last day before we leave

Traveled west today towards Crowsnest Pass to check out the snow on the mountains. 



picture doesn't do this scene justice



gorgeous pink sky

Wind turbines



Cowley Ridge turbines

looking southwest from Cowley lay by

This scenery will be here when we return and we do enjoy living in southwest Alberta.  Just don't enjoy the snow that much!