Dobbs' Desert Trek 2010

We enjoyed a beautiful drive today from Rifle to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Not many pictures of the beautiful drive along a narrow canyon, since it was hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. The Colorado River kept us company the whole way through the gorge portion of the drive, often showing off with wild rapids and whitewater. There was also a bike path along the highway with many dedicated bikers - Colorado is big for bikers evidently - we've seen so many people training on all sorts of terrain. Today's off-highway route also included several ski resort towns and driving over several peaks. We crossed the Continental Divide (again) via the Hoosier Pass - how appropriate!


We met up with our Indiana friends, the Becker family, at Garden of the Gods, which is a city park at the edge of Colorado Springs. This park is basically a beautiful and unique landscape to explore - much like a state park in many ways, with a visitor's center, informative movie, and hiking trails. The geology of the area is beautiful - sort of like scooping up some of Utah's monument valley and dumping it amid the trees and hills of Colorado Springs. The beautiful green trees and the sharp blue skies were bonuses that made the red rocks really "pop!"


Seeing red rocks once more helped put off my ultimate red rock withdrawal. I don't dread going home, but I will miss the desert. I'm going to load up lots of desert photos for my digital frame to warm me in the winter to come. Hard to let go and head for home, work, and thunderstorms.

Hopefully we'll sleep well tonight, but as I listen to the people next door I suspect I should have paid the $40 more dollars for the La Quinta across town. Oh well. So much more to say about today and some leftover from yesterday, but it's been a long day and we have Driving to do tomorrow! I put the rest of today's pictures up on the slideshow, as usual, but I won't post them all here. Until tomorrow . . .