I'm still trying to figure out if Colorado is as great as it seemed, or if the cumulative effect of playing COVID-roulette for two weeks in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and South Dakota are skewing my perspective. Cheryl perfectly captured the denial in those rural states. We didn't know when we crossed the border into Colorado how different things would be, but were quickly relieved after our first stop to learn that the state was taking preventable measures with the use of masks, etc.
(Is it just me, or shouldn't the colorful Colorado sign be colorful???)
First - a quick shout-out to Nebraska golf. We drove an extremely rural and quite beautiful route from Rapid City, South Dakota to Kimball, Nebraska and spent the night at a Harvest Host golf course called Four Winds. What a surprise! We loaded up on ridiculously cheap diesel in Kimball where the sign on the door said "Masks are NOT required," then drove through the one stop light town that is smaller than small. My expectations for golf were at rock bottom and I was just hoping for a decent and safe location to spend the night.
The golf course turned out great! It's not a championship level course, but it was 18 holes of immaculately maintained and fun golf. There were four cars in the lot when we arrived, which seems about right given that it was a sizeable percentage of the entire town's population. We parked quickly, jumped in a cart and played 16 holes before it got dark. A big bonus was they allowed us to bring Max along for his exercise - he ran about six holes then decided riding in the carts wasn't so bad! Golf was $79 for both of us. 😊 Apparently someone donated the land and a trust to maintain the course and the nearby athletic fields because there is no way a town this small could normally support such a venue. The Four Winds Golf Course rocked!
Rolling into Fort Collins, Colorado was such a contrast to the other states we'd recently visited. We knew nothing about the town other than Cheryl had done her usual Yelp due diligence to locate a promising restaurant. She nailed it again with The Colorado Room, which was right next to CSU - and the college town vibe of young, smart, cool people was incredibly fun. The Bahn Mi sandwiches and poutine were easily the best I have ever had! It's a good thing we asked for recommendations, because look where they are hidden down on the menu behind the glasses and Red Bulls...
Then it was on to Denver. I've been to Denver easily 30 times on business and this was Exhibit A in how differently you experience most towns when you're on a business trip. Instead of "exploring" DEN (a/k/a DIA), the Denver Tech center and a Marriott, we dove into a city and fell in love. There is such a laid back, outdoorsy vibe to Denver. The food was great, the people friendly (and wearing masks) and getting up into the Front Range was as scenic as it gets. We hiked at 12,000 feet and experienced what thin air really means, we did a brewery pub crawl, went to three of Guy Fieri's Triple D restaurants in one day, explored downtown and found an amazing gourmet food market, hiked in and around Red Rocks (easily the coolest concert venue ever!), had lunch in Idaho Springs ("where the gold rush began") and hung out and had dinner in the new hipster area of town. Four days was not enough - I already want to go back!
With most destinations, we've been excited to get on the road and explore the next stop. I have to say that Denver is the first place I was reticent to leave. But a drive over the Rocky Mountains was on the schedule and off we went. Climbing to 12,000+ feet on multiple occasions in a 40,000 pound rig is makes for some slow going! Climbing is actually the easy part though since that much weight takes a lot of effort to control on the down slopes. I usually pick a semi and follow them down the mountain and was doing that as we crossed the Vail pass. I'd been paying attention to another semi in my mirror as it kept closing ground much faster than I expected. About 70-80% of the way down, the semi and its trailer started trailing smoke and became fully engulfed in smoke. It was less than 100 yards behind me when we hit an uphill grade that allowed it to pull over. I would have been a mile past by the time I could have stopped to pull over, so we don't know the final outcome, but two Vail fire trucks and their posse were soon headed his way. Cheryl and I are still debating the proper etiquette of giving way to a truck that has lost its brakes. Let's hope we never have to make a final decision on that!
The geology changed in an instant as we descended the west slopes making I-70 a gorgeous drive. Our destination was Grand Junction, Colorado. The Gunnison and Grand River junction is the basis of the city's name - unfortunately the Grand River is now the Colorado River, but no one got around to updating the city's name. Grand Junction is home to Colorado's wine industry - another appellation we have visited that is claiming "wines comparable to Napa." Based on our wine tasting afternoon, let's just say that the marketing is a bit ahead of reality.
Golf in Grand Junction, however, was a hit! The Redlands Mesa Golf Course lives up to its rating as the best public access course in Colorado. The track is so fun and protected by some extremely difficult greens often split into three or four tiers. If approach shots get to the right tier, it can be an easy hole, but a small miss opens the door to a three putt at best.
The highlight of the GJ area is definitely the Colorado National Monument. It's like a mini grand canyon. Smaller in scale, but spectacular to see. I don't know if we got lucky or not but there was virtually no one in the park! We routinely stopped in the middle of the road to take pictures and enjoyed a few hikes down into the canyon with very few people on the trails. It's easily my best experience in a national park!
On to Utah!
(...still no color!!!)
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