Salida, CO (07-29-20)

We were finally able to get to Salida, and managed to get a full week, so we can take our time exploring.

The down town area is really cool with some streets closed off to allow for outdoor dining, and all kinds of ways to play in the river .

We walked around and went in a few stores (limit 4 customers per store) but we didn't eat dinner out.

The guy surfing was the biggest surprise, but there were also rafts, kayaks, tubes, and people just floating down in life jackets. If we get a good weather day we will rent tubes.

Our first full day we packed up lunch and headed towards the town of Buena Vista, another town with excellent access to the river, but our goal was hiking.

We chose the Barbara Whipple trail system - combining 3 trails to make a 3.5 mile loop overlooking the city.

With time to spare we took a scenic drive through the pass in the mountain, as far as cottonwood lake and then turned around.












Several days we just hung out at the trailer, and I took advantage of the time and did some paperwork, organized some pictures and took more pictures of hummingbirds. I haven't gotten my good camera out yet, so these are taken with my phone.  I actually got some nice slo-mo shots but can't put them on the blog.

male Broad tailed hummingbird

male Rufous

After driving an hour north to Buena Vista to hike, for our next hike we drove an hour south to Tunnel Dr. Trail, in Cañon City.

Getting there involved a pretty drive along the Arkansas River where there are quite a few state recreation areas with access to the river.








The hike itself was a really easy 4 mile hike that went through 3 man made tunnels.

The views all along the way of the Arkansas River below were a definite bonus.

With time on our hands we detoured to check out Skyline Drive on the way home. The sign says nothing over 20 ft allowed and we are 23, but the driver didn’t think we would have a problem.













The sheer drop offs, sometimes on BOTH sides of the road made me nervous, but we survived it. I was very happy when we reached the parking area at the top.

Part of the reason for the road is to show off the dinosaur tracks that are preserved in the stone. Apparently this area has a plethora of dinosaur fossils, many of which are in museums all over the world.










After sitting around all day Saturday, we were still feeling lazy on Sunday but we found a hike right down the street that looked interesting, so we pushed ourselves to get moving.

It turns out it was totally worth the effort.

The trail was an easy 3 miles, and the rock formations were awesome to see.

We just wish we had gotten an earlier start, since we had to finish the hike in the rain. At least it was warm out.












The best weather day for tubing was Wednesday - our last day here, but again, it seemed like a lot of effort, plus it was windy. So, anyway, we decided to pass.


We have now stayed at campgrounds near The Animas, San Juan, Rio Grande and Arkansas rivers....kinda neat.

Speaking of the word “kinda”- we saw this along the way and thought it was funny, in a sad sort of way. Many RV parks are open, but most of the amenities are not, or are limited.  Many of the laundry rooms for instance, have signs that limit capacity to one person only, and some places have a sign up sheet.  I like it that way.

MN and MI (09-05-12)

We are now on our way to a Mobile Suites Rally in Michigan. It’s quite a drive from where we are to where we’re going, so some of our days are spent in the truck for hours at a time, trying to put some serious miles behind us. Of course, everything is relative- we don’t like traveling more than 200 miles in a day, so 275 miles sure seems like a lot!  Just ask the cat! We did stop in Duluth for two nights, partly because we couldn't fathom when we would ever come back this way again, so we figured we'd better check it out now!  We actually thought the town was really nice and had a lot to offer, and we packed a lot of adventure into the one day we had there. We started by driving down to the waterfront. Situated on Lake Superior, Duluth is the most inland seaport in the U.S.   Many freighters still come through this way, picking up raw materials.
 

We enjoyed watching the lift bridge open for the sailboats and freighters to go underneath, and were impressed that as the freighter cruised through, someone over a PA system explained to the watching crowds how the lift bridge works and gave the history of the ship that was currently coming through. 

The crew of each vessel gives one long and two short blasts of their massive horn,  as a courtesy salute to the bridge tender.  The bridge tender then blasts his horn in response,  tooting the same message.  Paul grinned as he said that as impressive as they were, he didn't have horn envy (well, actually, we both thought the freighter horn sounded really cool!).

Along the waterfront there are the usual shops, hotels, boat excursions, and a museum of the Army Corp of Engineers.  We headed to that (free) museum to read about the local history of the COE.  This is where I love modern technology.  After the first 20 minutes, I started playing on my cell phone while Paul took his time exploring the exhibits.  


a walking boardwalk right next to the bike path!



Duluth also has several bike trails so we got out the bikes and realized it had been almost a year since we'd ridden them!  That will have to change, although to be fair, it was partly  because of my broken wrist.   After riding the 12 mile round trip trail that follows along Lake Superior for a while we decided that was enough for our first day back at it.

               

On the way back to the trailer, we drove up the local scenic drive, Skyline Drive which gave us a great view of the seaport, then stopped at Walmart to pick up some diesel oil.  Paul chatted with someone the other day who changes his own oil on his F350, so Paul has decided to change ours from now on too.  We'll save about $150-250 a year by doing it ourselves, plus he'll change  the fuel filter too, which will save us even more.