Drive up to Vail

Let's just start off by saying that Sunday was a day of eatin'! We picked Robyn up at her house in our stylin', and rented, Chevy Cobalt (yes, it was fire-engine red!) and proceeded to the Omelet Parlor on Filmore. This meal would be the first of many food stops for the day. We made it a whole two hours down the road before we pulled over at Bongo Billy's in Buena Vista. What a fun little coffee shop! I have stopped here several times before, but it was never as crowded as it was on this trip. Unlike Philip and Robyn, I paced myself at the Omelet Parlor because I knew Bongo Billy's was on our route. OK, I didn't share that information with Philip or Robyn, so it's not their fault that they filled up on huge country breakfasts.

Neither Robyn or Philip are coffee-drinkers, which makes me wonder why I would take them on a road trip! Anyway, they were good sports and didn't mind me making the coffee stop. I'm not just saying this because I really like Paul and Heather, but I've yet to have a coffee better than the one Paul makes me at their coffee shop (Raven's Nest). The coffee was just so-so at Bongo Billy's, but the atmosphere is great. I tried to maintain moderation, but somehow a slice of chocolate ecstasy cake slid into my order of coffee. No worries, I'd have another 2 hours or so before the next food stop- just enough time to build back up an appetite!

As we cruised north, we drove along what's known as the collegiate range. The peaks of this mountain range are named after the Ivy League institutions of the east coast. Mt. Princeton (14,197 ft), Mt. Yale (14,194 ft), and Mt. Harvard (14,420 ft) loomed above us as we paralleled the Arkansas River. Lots of kayakers and rafters as well as fly-fishermen were out enjoying the beautiful day. Although it was in the 90s down in the Springs, Philip & Robyn were quite excited that it stayed in the 70s for most of our trip up the mountains.


As we twisted and curved our way up and down the mountain passes, Robyn was very happy that she had taken her Dramamine for car sickness. She doesn't do so well with continuous motion!! Just to make sure she was OK, we made a few scenic stops along the way. As we rounded a bend in the road, there were a few cars pulled over taking pictures. Not to be the ones to miss out on great photo ops, we pulled over to check it out. This bridge scene is what we saw.


In this environment, it's not hard to find great places to take pictures. Sometimes a rock right off the side of the road will do! You can see the twisting, winding road over our shoulders that we had just driven up. There were a few cars on the road, but not much traffic which is a great thing on a no-passing, two-laned road! We got the occasional slow Sunday driver and logging truck, but other than that it was smooth sailing until the trip home (more on that in the next post!).


Along the scenic route we took, Philip went above 10,000 ft at Tennessee Pass. Philip had never heard of the Continental Divide. Not surprisingly since it doesn't have much bearing on the Gulf Coast. The Continental Divide is the border from which rainwater will either flow towards rivers to the east or towards the Pacific Ocean to the west. Right next to this sign was a memorial to the soldiers of the 101st Mountain Division who had died in WWII. I have a lot of respect for men who were able to not only traverse mountain ranges, but to do it with full combat gear in the dead of winter. Thank goodness the liberation of Europe wasn't dependent on my ability to fight in winter climates!!!!

From here, we were just a hop, skip & a jump from the ski resort town of Vail. I will fill you in on what we saw and ate in Vail in the next post. Stay tuned!