202x
Day One-
I was up at 6:30 AM, with Margo, per her norm, up before me. The goal was to be on the road by 8:30 AM, and also be at Rifle Falls State Farm in time for a picnic lunch. 8:30 came around, and when I looked over the wheel, sure enough we were on the road. Yeah for us! Then traffic hit once we got on I-76, and it cost us 20 minutes, just crawling until we got past the I-25/US 36 interchange. But, I was in too good a mood to care.
Margo was not. Margo had her second ankle surgery in late April and is still recovering from it. This was to take out the screws that were put in to fuse her ankle back in Oct 2022. She had been limping around on the same ankle since at least this time last year when she started complaining about the ankle pain. Now in addition to a healing ankle, and the realignment of the joint, the doc had to break it when he fused it, to put it in the correct position, has been very uncomfortable if she has to sit for a long period of time. It is a 3 ½ hr drive to Rifle Falls.
But, we were not driving straight through. Knowing Margo’s aversion to eating while in the car, she hates trying to balance all the food, and the reasonably early start with no meal, I thought we would plan a stop for breakfast. I figured some café in one of the mountain towns would be ideal. I decided on The Main Street Restaurant in Idaho Springs. It had pretty good reviews, and was an hour’s driver. While not cutting our drive quite in half, it would still give her a break.
We parked on the lot that was on the next street over. They had an automated pay feature that required you to use your phone and download an app. I finished paying and something did not seem right. It had directed me to another site and had me approve a payment. I had thought I had already done that. I would check on my phone when we got to the restaurant, and there was the payment, and an email from the other website, thanking me for signing up for their service. I was not happy, but there was little I could do about it right now. I would figure out how to cancel when I could get access to my computer.
The food at the restaurant was just OK. The reviews had ranged from “Just OK” to “The Best Breakfast I Have Ever Had” They tended to lean towards pretty good food, which is why I chose it. But, the service was pretty good and the ambiance of the small mountain town helped make it a little special. Margo had the Cinnamon French Toast and I had the Western Omlet. We were back on the road less than an hour later, but back on schedule. It was about 10:30.
It was a 2 ½ hour drive from Idaho Springs to Rifle Falls State Park. We learned many years ago, that a good audiobook would shorten any drive. The scenery along I-70 through the mountains is several orders of magnitude better than the plains of Colorado, but it ends up being a lot of the same thing after a while. An audio distraction helps. Margo and I both like the Stephanie Plum series of books, that Janet Evanovich writes. She tells a good story and is funny, to boot.
But the story did not help Margo’s back. We had to pull over less than an hour into our second leg, so she could stretch out in the back. Margo had anticipated this problem, and had put a bedroll in the back, with the seats down, and luggage all on one side she could stretch out. I don’t think it was that comfortable, but she was better than sitting in the seat.
The drive to the state park was not filled with gorgeous scenery. Sure, we were in the mountains, but our area was more of a hilly park, than mountainous. You could certainly see the mountains, but it felt closer to the eastern plains at times than say, Clear Creek Canyon. There was plenty of dry land pasture, and various lakes, man-made and natural. If Margo had been driving, I could have paid more attention, but as it was I saw mostly a seemingly endless black band stretching out, disappearing over a hill or a bend, and reappearing as we came up on the terminus. The time passed easy enough, and by 12:30 PM, we were there. We were actually on schedule.
We did plan to spend a lot of time here at Rifle Falls State Park. There is not a lot to see and we didn’t have a lot of time. What we did have time for was a nice picnic lunch. Margo had packed all of the goodies for sandwiches, chips, and a dessert of cookies or other snacks. There were a few picnic tables, and we got one a little ways away from the actual falls, but of at least equal importance, it was in the shade.
The falls themselves are a true hidden Colorado gem. They are about 25 minutes north of Rifle, CO, which is a good 3 hours west of Denver. So, you it’s a drive to get there, and often people are trying hard to whatever their mountain destination is and a 1 ½ hour detour, there and back to I-70, is often not in the cards. We dealt ourselves in.
Back to the falls, there are three separate waterfalls each emanating from about the same 80-foot height, that splash down into the rocks below, which reforms into East Rifle Creek. That clinical description does nothing to describe it. It is both loud and relaxing at the same time. The sound of the water pulls you in, and you can’t help but lean on something and watch it cascade, tumble, and run away. I will make sure I post pictures and video first when I get these words up.
Margo went with me only to the point of discovering there were stairs leading to a higher vantage point. Margo does not do stairs. Margo does elevators, none of which had been installed. I can still do stairs and I did up to the next viewing point. I was able to get behind the falls, where there is a nice cave, and took more pictures. There were more stairs, leading to the top of the falls, but these were very rough cut, with no handrails, and I was very hesitant to risk the rest of the trip. So down I went. We were back on our way in about 15 minutes.
Margo was not. Margo had her second ankle surgery in late April and is still recovering from it. This was to take out the screws that were put in to fuse her ankle back in Oct 2022. She had been limping around on the same ankle since at least this time last year when she started complaining about the ankle pain. Now in addition to a healing ankle, and the realignment of the joint, the doc had to break it when he fused it, to put it in the correct position, has been very uncomfortable if she has to sit for a long period of time. It is a 3 ½ hr drive to Rifle Falls.
But, we were not driving straight through. Knowing Margo’s aversion to eating while in the car, she hates trying to balance all the food, and the reasonably early start with no meal, I thought we would plan a stop for breakfast. I figured some café in one of the mountain towns would be ideal. I decided on The Main Street Restaurant in Idaho Springs. It had pretty good reviews, and was an hour’s driver. While not cutting our drive quite in half, it would still give her a break.
We parked on the lot that was on the next street over. They had an automated pay feature that required you to use your phone and download an app. I finished paying and something did not seem right. It had directed me to another site and had me approve a payment. I had thought I had already done that. I would check on my phone when we got to the restaurant, and there was the payment, and an email from the other website, thanking me for signing up for their service. I was not happy, but there was little I could do about it right now. I would figure out how to cancel when I could get access to my computer.
The food at the restaurant was just OK. The reviews had ranged from “Just OK” to “The Best Breakfast I Have Ever Had” They tended to lean towards pretty good food, which is why I chose it. But, the service was pretty good and the ambiance of the small mountain town helped make it a little special. Margo had the Cinnamon French Toast and I had the Western Omlet. We were back on the road less than an hour later, but back on schedule. It was about 10:30.
It was a 2 ½ hour drive from Idaho Springs to Rifle Falls State Park. We learned many years ago, that a good audiobook would shorten any drive. The scenery along I-70 through the mountains is several orders of magnitude better than the plains of Colorado, but it ends up being a lot of the same thing after a while. An audio distraction helps. Margo and I both like the Stephanie Plum series of books, that Janet Evanovich writes. She tells a good story and is funny, to boot.
But the story did not help Margo’s back. We had to pull over less than an hour into our second leg, so she could stretch out in the back. Margo had anticipated this problem, and had put a bedroll in the back, with the seats down, and luggage all on one side she could stretch out. I don’t think it was that comfortable, but she was better than sitting in the seat.
The drive to the state park was not filled with gorgeous scenery. Sure, we were in the mountains, but our area was more of a hilly park, than mountainous. You could certainly see the mountains, but it felt closer to the eastern plains at times than say, Clear Creek Canyon. There was plenty of dry land pasture, and various lakes, man-made and natural. If Margo had been driving, I could have paid more attention, but as it was I saw mostly a seemingly endless black band stretching out, disappearing over a hill or a bend, and reappearing as we came up on the terminus. The time passed easy enough, and by 12:30 PM, we were there. We were actually on schedule.
We did plan to spend a lot of time here at Rifle Falls State Park. There is not a lot to see and we didn’t have a lot of time. What we did have time for was a nice picnic lunch. Margo had packed all of the goodies for sandwiches, chips, and a dessert of cookies or other snacks. There were a few picnic tables, and we got one a little ways away from the actual falls, but of at least equal importance, it was in the shade.
The falls themselves are a true hidden Colorado gem. They are about 25 minutes north of Rifle, CO, which is a good 3 hours west of Denver. So, you it’s a drive to get there, and often people are trying hard to whatever their mountain destination is and a 1 ½ hour detour, there and back to I-70, is often not in the cards. We dealt ourselves in.
Back to the falls, there are three separate waterfalls each emanating from about the same 80-foot height, that splash down into the rocks below, which reforms into East Rifle Creek. That clinical description does nothing to describe it. It is both loud and relaxing at the same time. The sound of the water pulls you in, and you can’t help but lean on something and watch it cascade, tumble, and run away. I will make sure I post pictures and video first when I get these words up.
Margo went with me only to the point of discovering there were stairs leading to a higher vantage point. Margo does not do stairs. Margo does elevators, none of which had been installed. I can still do stairs and I did up to the next viewing point. I was able to get behind the falls, where there is a nice cave, and took more pictures. There were more stairs, leading to the top of the falls, but these were very rough cut, with no handrails, and I was very hesitant to risk the rest of the trip. So down I went. We were back on our way in about 15 minutes.
It was a 40-minute drive to Glenwood Springs and our Best Western Hotel. We have been having very good luck with the chain recently, finding a good price decent location, and free breakfast in our trip to LA and Tennessee. We had a first-floor room, but there were still six steps to negotiate. Not a lot, but that is still about half a flight. We made due. It was still a nice place.
When in Glenwood Springs, you do the hot springs. We had done the springs over by Hotel Colorado at least twice before and wanted to try something different. Iron Mountain Hot Springs is much more manicured and laid back. They have 16 small swimming pool/hot tub type pools, each with a different temp. They ranged from 98 degrees to 108 degrees.
We were there for about 40 minutes and began our journey looking for something at 98 degrees or 100. Margo prefers the cooler temps. I like it hot. It just seems to melt the pains away, and the older I get the more pain ice there is to melt.
We would sit for 5-10 minutes and move to a hotter pool. By the time we got to one at 104 degrees Margo would only put her feet in it. At 108 degrees, their hottest, she wanted nothing to do with it. 108 degrees is hot and you ease into it, but once there it did feel good. It would feel much better if the outside temp was 40 degree cooler, but I was still happy we had taken the plunge, so to speak.
But, after a day of driving, our small adventure at Rifle Springs and a relaxing 40 minutes at the springs we were both very tired. We were back at the hotel by 4:40 PM and decided a nao was in order. I only have the very vaguest of memories when a nap was a punishment. Not today. We effectively made nearly two hours disappear and were up about 6:30 PM
When we got up our attention turned to dinner. There was a gas station nearby, so while we topped off the tank of the Trailblazer we decided on dinner at the Moonlight Restaurant, which was close. We had driven past it twice, and while we knew nothing about it, we were on vacation and having an adventure.
I can’t recall who ordered it, but we were served the second worst chili relleno in our culinary history. Only the one from Pepe’s in Temple City, CA exceeding it. Both were close to inedible. I had a glass of Pinot Noir, my first. It was OK, but as I am a heathen and only like sweet wines, it will probably be my last.
After dinner we stopped at the Kum & Go, the most suggestive name of any national chain in America, for supplies, which did not include condoms. We got to the hotel at about 8:30. Margo started getting ready for bed, and turned the TV on to Boomerang, a cartoon channel that I forgot existed. It was very distracting as I tried to write a couple of emails about our parking lot scam of the this AM. I went to bed about 10:30.
When in Glenwood Springs, you do the hot springs. We had done the springs over by Hotel Colorado at least twice before and wanted to try something different. Iron Mountain Hot Springs is much more manicured and laid back. They have 16 small swimming pool/hot tub type pools, each with a different temp. They ranged from 98 degrees to 108 degrees.
We were there for about 40 minutes and began our journey looking for something at 98 degrees or 100. Margo prefers the cooler temps. I like it hot. It just seems to melt the pains away, and the older I get the more pain ice there is to melt.
We would sit for 5-10 minutes and move to a hotter pool. By the time we got to one at 104 degrees Margo would only put her feet in it. At 108 degrees, their hottest, she wanted nothing to do with it. 108 degrees is hot and you ease into it, but once there it did feel good. It would feel much better if the outside temp was 40 degree cooler, but I was still happy we had taken the plunge, so to speak.
But, after a day of driving, our small adventure at Rifle Springs and a relaxing 40 minutes at the springs we were both very tired. We were back at the hotel by 4:40 PM and decided a nao was in order. I only have the very vaguest of memories when a nap was a punishment. Not today. We effectively made nearly two hours disappear and were up about 6:30 PM
When we got up our attention turned to dinner. There was a gas station nearby, so while we topped off the tank of the Trailblazer we decided on dinner at the Moonlight Restaurant, which was close. We had driven past it twice, and while we knew nothing about it, we were on vacation and having an adventure.
I can’t recall who ordered it, but we were served the second worst chili relleno in our culinary history. Only the one from Pepe’s in Temple City, CA exceeding it. Both were close to inedible. I had a glass of Pinot Noir, my first. It was OK, but as I am a heathen and only like sweet wines, it will probably be my last.
After dinner we stopped at the Kum & Go, the most suggestive name of any national chain in America, for supplies, which did not include condoms. We got to the hotel at about 8:30. Margo started getting ready for bed, and turned the TV on to Boomerang, a cartoon channel that I forgot existed. It was very distracting as I tried to write a couple of emails about our parking lot scam of the this AM. I went to bed about 10:30.
|
|
Day Two
|
|
|
Day Three-
|
|
|
|
|
|
Day Four-
|
|
|
|
|
|
Day Five
|
|
|
|
|
|