Day II - Colorado/Utah

Driving through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado
First off, there is an easier way to get to the blog:

http:/travelingwithmimiandpapa.blogspot.com

Today we saw artifacts more than 3,000 years old and viewed some incredible scenery we had never seen before. So, it was a pretty good day for the old codgers in our drive across Colorado and barely sneaking into Utah. We hit the 1,000 mile mark on the trip already and boy, did we see some new and wonderful sites today.

The morning started off with the King Tut Exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, which in itself is something to see. This Egyptian king, who died mysteriously at the ripe old age of 19, was buried in his own fashionable tomb with all the pomp and circumstance you could ask for. Archeologists discovered his tomb in 1922 and, except for some grave robbing, it was incredibly intact, including his mumified body, which was wrapped in more than 100 yards of linen, placed in two jewelry-cast encasements and then buried in four different boxes, all of solid gold. The Egyptians believed that the Pharaohs would live on in after life so they buried the kings in huge tombs with all their wealth and goods that would fit. No, we didn't see his body, except on video.

It is an interesting exhibit and when you see some of the jewelry, solid gold masks and protective statues for the various gods they worshipped it is rather amazing. The exhibit is not totally complete but there is a lot to see and amazingly interesting when you consider this king was born in 1333 b.c. Anyway, we should have one-hundredth of his wealth and we could build our own golf course....

Then, we headed for the mountains, leaving behind our luxurious suite at the Hyatt. The Rocky Mountains are always fascinating, even the parts we have seen many times. We stopped off in Vail for a late lunch in the village and ran into, unbelievably, an old friend from Steamboat—Bob Milne. It was a huge surprise to both of us and we had a nice visit. Bob was one of the guys on our eightsome golf trips to Arizona during Super Bowl weeks, a trek we made something like 15 years in a row.

We hit some big rainstorms in Vail and heading west but, for us, the scenery was new and incredibly outstanding. The Rockies change so much from one geographic place to another and today, we really saw some walls of rock that literally knocked our socks off. The photo above driving through Glenwood Canyon on the way to Grand Junction doesn't do the scenery justice. The White River National Park canyon is jaw-opening spectacular. The White River has carved its way through this canyon and somehow they put a highway in there to capture the beauty.

We decided not to stay in Grand Junction because it was too early and there isn't much to see and do there. Getting there is something else. The vistas and the mesas are sensational at every turn. Then we hit the Utah line and the landscape changes drastically into rolling hills and rocky cliffs. We took a detour in the evening to Arches National Park, where the Colorado River meanders through some incredible canyons and sheer rock walls. The road gets very narrow and it started getting dark as we drove through these canyons, but it was well worth the detour. We jumped back on I-70 to Green River, arriving pretty late after a long day. Even the Comfort Inn looked good but no bottle of wine or fruit at our door.....

Tomorrow we head for Bryce Canyon and we think it is going to be spectacular. I keep forgetting to take a bunch of photos but will do it starting tomorrow when we check out all the new stuff.

Happy Trails.