Travel Blog

We attended the Colorado Landscaping with Native Plants Conference at the Denver Botanic Garden and a Janis Joplin tribute concert at the Paramount Theater that evening.

After settling into our suite at the Hyatt House on 14th Street in Denver, we proceeded to explore the city.

We spent most of the day in Casper WY and then drove to Denver CO.

After navigating numerous ground blizzards near Gillette WY, we finally made it to Casper WY and a wonderful Venezuelan meal.

We left Torrington WY on the last leg of the trip from Rapid City to Taos and Back-- back to Rapid City.

We drove from Loveland CO to Torrington WY -- a distance of around 140 miles if you were to follow the fastest route -- something we are loathe to do. It took us nearly all day to do it.

We drove from Salida CO to Loveland CO with a side trip up to the highest town in Colorado, (locals said in more ways than one) Alma, in a vain attempt to find bristlecone pines on a maze of mining roads to nowhere. Then back down from Alma to US HWY 285 and north to Loveland.

We took a "lazy day" in Salida to do a little poking around the area -- specifically north toward the line of mountain peaks called "The Collegiate Peaks" -- a ragged long range of peaks, all over 14,000 feet, and some, like "Princeton", named after famous colleges.

We left Taos and drove north to Salida CO, with a stop at The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in southern Colorado and at Russell Lakes State Wildlife Refuge south of Salida CO.