Jackson to Denver.
Spent the night in Craig, Colorado not too far out of Wyoming. We were sad to be leaving up there but were soon reassured we had lots more pretty to see. Everything was still spring out there. Cattle with young ones all over the place and those yellow weeds, by the field-full! We passed Bridger NF, Saltriver Pass, Snowwater Stream, Fossil Butte with a historic quarry trail where you could climb the ridge to where this guy mined fossils of fish up there on the mountainside. Passed the JC Penney mother store after Diamondville on the way to Opal (population 96). We turned onto 789 and saw a dozen or so antelope in the field and then it continued that way, with them everywhere. The elevation was climbing, plus 7000 ft now. We saw a marker for the overland trail. We were 63 miles out of Craig when the rain started. This has been a regular occurrence for us since our last day in Washington. But it's been real bad mainly when we are driving and has let up enough for us to do our site seeing without getting drenched. And 40 miles out of Craig the sign said, "Spring Migration. Watch for Wildlife". That put me on the edge of my seat! I only saw deer and antelope though. We got up Sat and headed to Denver and quickly ran into rain and hail. We passed Routt NF at over 9000 ft elev. then just east of Steamboat, we saw lots of snow on roadside. And, of course, some flurries! A little nervous, watching elevation and temp. But they stopped and we left the forest going into Grand County, Co. We saw peaks, luscious valleys with swift flowing rivers and streams. Our next valley was higher up, not so green and had some of that high desert landscape. We came into Krimmer and saw a huge mountain right in front of us! The gps said 2 more hours. Did we have to go through that mountain to get to Denver? Kinda scary thought. We passed a "The Summit, Colorado's Playground" road sign. The rain came bigtime and seemed to intensify once we entered the White River National Forest but it was mostly rain. And the glistening on nature's canvas was brilliant. I love those vibrant spring colors sparkling with fresh raindrops. A ranch called "Mountain Meadows Ranch" and that's what you saw, layered meadows all alongside of a mountain. Then we started seeing houses , or possibly lodges. Well we were coming into Silver Thorne which turned out to be a huge ski resort town. Lodges everywhere, saw the ski runs, 10,000 ft and climbing. We went through the Johnson Tunnel which turned out to be a long (prob over a mile) one into Loveland Basin. We had the chain station pull offs for trucks to stop and put on the chains. We pulled off in Silver Plume Georgetown to check out a Big Horn Sheep viewing site. They had the scopes set up so you could see them across the highway on a hillside. I asked Jeff if that wasn't a frontage road over there that ran alongside of where they were. Well, I didn't expect him to go there, did I? Yup, almost a mile on rocky, mud-hole or rather on small pond filled road. Four wheeling in my CRV again! Never knew we'd be using it as an off road vehicle! It did good! And the sheep were pretty cool too. Got up real close but it made me nervous. My video was all over the place. Back on track and were soon in Denver. We decided to stay sat and sun and leave Memorial Day for Iowa. We'd ruled out going to Rushmore since our time was getting short. We went to see Avengers Age of Ultra after dinner at a seafood restaurant at Bass Pro Shop. Spent Sunday looking around Denver, going by the football stadium, checking out the Comicon crowd that were there for the big weekend and walked through an art show downtown. We went to a small community of Arvada for dinner and a stroll and then drove out to red rocks. It was really nice but getting too dark once we got there. We went back out Monday morning before we left town and climbed up from the top level parking area where we could look down into the amphitheater. Sure would love to be there for a concert someday! I liked the mile-high city and can see why Jeff had told me before he'd like to live there. Next major stop....Renee and Gage in Iowa. Can't wait!