For a few years now I wanted to add Mount Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans) to my list of 14ers (primarily because you can drive to it). So, we finally had the opportunity to drive there this year. The access road has been closed for maintenance for the past couple of years, so I believe this was the opening of a new window in time to take the drive.
It was an awesome drive. The road, while safe, had a lot of exposure at various times and the views were spectacular. On the way to the peak we stopped at the visitor center that had interesting displays inside and a really nice set of nature trails out the back.
We walked along the nature trails and in addition to beautiful scenes and views there were awesome Bristlecone Pines which are known to be among the oldest living type of trees on the planet.
Further up the road was a parking area with restrooms and trailheads and mountain goats.
When we got to the parking lot near the peak we saw the observatory as well as the trail that goes up another half mile or so the peak. We headed up the trail and as we got to the top the wind and sleet were hitting us really hard. Nevertheless, we captured a few nice pics and hurried down for some shelter. The people that were just getting to the parking lot at that time were not able to climb to the peak because the precipitation and wind got too strong.
I started creating a blog post for this trip, the old way. There was so much packed into this trip that I would never get that done. So, I’m going with a different approach to make things go faster.
I have separated the trip into 14 locations (listed below), and each location has its own photo album covering that area. The collection of those photo albums can be found on my Adobe site: Mark Pastor – Morocco. This approach allows me to organize photos as I normally do, in Adobe Lightroom. Then I avoid the next steps of converting them and transferring them to this blog site. Instead, I just link to the Adobe photo albums.
It was a 17-day trip, starting in Casablanca and wrapping up in Marrakesh. We covered a lot of territory visiting many cities and locations during that time. We arranged the trip via Intrepid Travel.
Here is a high level view of the path we followed. (Map courtesy of Intrepid.)
Below is a list of the location/albums, each one links to that respective photo album. These are listed in chronological order of when we visited those locations.
Today Leslie and I took advantage of the beautiful autumn weather by riding our bicycles on Leadville’s awesome Mineral Belt Trail. It’s a wonderful 12 mile loop at 10,000 feet elevation and you can see the timing was right for fall colors.
Leslie treated me to a train ride for my birthday (September 7): Denver Union Station to Glenwood Springs. The train travels through the rocky mountains, going through Granby and Winterpark and eventually meeting up with the Colorado River and follows that to Glenwood Springs. The train is the California Zephyr and actually runs between San Francisco and Chicago, so we were on a small part of the whole run. Our trip took about five and a half hours one way. We spent a couple nights in Glenwood Springs at the Maxwell Anderson Hotel (formerly Hotel Denver) which is right across the street from the train station.
We traveled to Glenwood Springs on Sunday. On Monday we rented e-bikes (I’ve never been on one before) and rode along the Colorado River from Glenwood Springs to Dotsero, about a 36-mile round trip. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was awesome. The hot springs pool was a welcome site later that afternoon. For the rest of the time in Glenwood Springs we explored the shops, the eateries and some local trails.
We headed back to Denver on Tuesday. It was a short trip, but a great getaway.
From the TrainFrom the TrainFrom the TrainFrom the Train“Nixon Cloud” from the TrainAlong the Bike PathAlong the Bike PathHot Springs PoolFrom a Local Trail
Leslie and I have never been to the Grand Mesa in Colorado. We have only seen it from the highway many times. According to Wikipedia, “It is the largest flat-topped mountain in the world…reaching an elevation of about 11,000 feet.”
We made reservations at the Grand Mesa Lodge cabins several months ago and were excited to explore the area. We planned to be there for 3 nights, so we basically had 2 days to explore.
Thursday
On the morning of the first full day (Thursday), we took an easy hike along Mesa Lake to Lost Lake. It was a beautiful hike.
After our hike, we had lunch at the lodge. Then we decided to check out this road we saw. It had a sign that said “Observatory 12 Miles”. We didn’t find anyone that could tell us much about what we would find on this road, so we went to find out for ourselves.
The name of the road was “Land’s End Road” 😨
The drive was beautiful! Along the way we discovered the Raber Cow Camp. Most of the abandoned cow camps on the Grand Mesa were thought to be hazardous so the Forest Service tore them down. However, the Raber Cow Camp was spared and was actually renovated in 1993 as an example of what life here was like in the 1940’s and 1950’s, the heydays of cow camp life on Grand Mesa. Winifred Raber, who stayed at the cow camp every summer from the 1930s until 1966, has helped document the history of the camp.
We continued on Land’s End Road and after more wonderfully scenic driving we arrived at the Observatory.
Land’s End Observatory is a Ranger Observatory, built in 1936-37 by the United States Forest Service and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It is marked by simplicity and craftsmanship, appearing to grow out of the earth rather than intrude upon it.
While near the observatory we spotted another road to get there; this one looked like fun, so we took it!
That was an awesome drive! Great job Leslie. The road is a narrow one-vehicle width road near the top, so you have to be pretty careful as you wind around all those switchbacks. It relaxes in width slightly as you make your way down this incredibly fun and beautiful drive.
As we made our way back, the very long way (rather than going back up Land’s End Road), we meandered into the Adobe Badlands. After gawking at the badlands initially we tried to find a place to stop to take pictures, but the narrow road with traffic didn’t allow for it until we got to this place; which was OK but doesn’t truly capture the moon-like landscape we saw along the drive. I would love to go check these out again some day.
Friday
On Friday we decided to take another hike. Thursday’s hike was pretty flat, and we wanted to take a slightly longer hike that had some gain to it. We found the Crag Crest National Recreation Trail.
We opted for the out and back as opposed to the much longer full loop. We were delighted with the fantastic scenery along the way, and the spectacular views once we reached the summit.
Saturday
We had planned to take an indirect route home and stay in Cripple Creek that night, since Leslie had not yet been there. On our drive we passed Black Canyon, and since Mark had never been there, we stopped for a look. Beautiful place.
It was a pretty long driving day with nice stops as mentioned above, and I should also mention Teller County Road 11 which was a short but very fun roller coaster of a road with its blind ups and steep downs. We arrived at our home for the night, Cripple Creek Hospitality House. This was a very nice place to stay, and fun and interesting given its history as a turn of the century (19th to 20th) hospital. That evening we ate in Cripple Creek and Mark checked off one of his bucket list items by finally eating rocky mountain oysters (the easy way… deep fried with cocktail sauce). Yum. 😋
Sunday
Before heading home, we were compelled to visit a nearby town we spotted on the map: Victor. We found Victor to be a wonderfully quaint town. We walked around the town as they were having a Rock and Gem show that morning. We were both taken by the town’s charm and may very well have to visit again sometime soon.
We took a very long and arduous route to home trying to avoid Highway 25. We’ll probably take Highway 25 next time. What a fun quick getaway it was, exploring more of our home state.
I am a lucky man. To take a road trip with Leslie. To enjoy our company, the scenery, the audiobooks, the conversation. To experience the awe and amazement of the places we visited.
Saturday – April 6
The trip started heading south from home, into the northern panhandle of Texas. Across the vast desert as the car dipped into valleys, peering over the crest of the next hill stood massive, giant arms of windmills driven by powerful wind gusts that were a prominent feature of the weather that day.
We stayed in Lubbock that night where I enjoyed Oyster shots at Cancun Mexican Restaurant; highly recommended!
Sunday
The next day we continued on the road to Johnson City where months prior we reserved a yurt for the next three nights. Johnson City because it is right in the path of totality for the eclipse. The yurt because prices at all hotels and b&b’s were 10x their normal as all landlords in the path of totality took full advantage of their geographical happenstance. And besides, Leslie loves to stay in yurts.
Monday
While we appreciated an invite to join a friend and her clan to watch the eclipse, we instead were able to secure tickets at Westcave Winery for some wine, smoked pig, live music and the company of other enthusiasts. That was a ton of fun!
After a wonderful day viewing the eclipse at Westcave Winery, we took a drive to Pedernales Falls State Park. What a beautiful place that was for an afternoon visit.
Tuesday
We were expecting some precipitation on Tuesday so we decided to take a drive to Cedar Point Recreation Area. In the first part of the drive we passed through some beautiful towns such as Llano (not sure how they pronounce that in Texas). It was a beautiful drive but as it continued the promised precipitation showed up… lots of it! I can’t recall ever driving (or pausing) through such a torrential downpour!!
There is a lake out there… somewhere
We headed back to Johnson City to grab lunch at a place where the reviews were good: Pecan Street Brewing. Lunch was excellent.
After lunch we headed back to the yurt where we later enjoyed a lightning storm with more heavy downpour and a DIY spaghetti dinner.
I won’t mention the visit to the hot tub outside the yurt when we decided to go back inside because of the incredible intensity of the lightning and the rain and how the electric combination lock on the door seemed to not be working while we were outside in our bathing suits, in the cold, dark, very stormy night with car keys and phones securely locked inside the yurt so we had no access to them, and we were the only people there in the gated property with no exit capability without our car, and no other shelter than the yurt that we couldn’t get into. Oh, I guess I did mention it.
Wednesday
On to Carlsbad, New Mexico to see bats and caverns. We got to Carlsbad in time to check into our hotel and drive to the amphitheater at the entrance to the caverns to see the sun go down and watch the bats swarm out to the impending darkness to hunt for moths and other tasty morsels. That was very cool.
Thursday
We returned to the caverns Thursday morning for our turn to go explore the underground for ourselves. We returned to the amphitheater and continued on the path that meandered for over a mile, down 750 feet underground, where we intersected another trail that looped for about a mile and a half, completely submerged below the Earth’s surface.
After exploring the caves, we got back in our 4-wheeled vehicle and as Steppenwolf once said, we “head out on the highway”, DIRECTION: Toward White Sands National Park. DESTINATION: Cloudcraft, for the night.
Friday
Cloudcraft was a very nice town. We enjoyed our evening and a one night stay. But, we had business to attend to at White Sands National Park, so in the morning we spent about an hour checking out Cloudcraft and continued our drive to White Sands.
White Sands National Park was spectacular! We started our visit by watching the video on how the geological features were formed. It was very informative, and not too corny; I really liked the video. Outside, the weather was perfect. Once we understood the lay of the land, we decided to venture to the furthest point first. White Sands is the world’s largest gypsum dunefield. A great explanation of how the sand was formed can be found here. Because of how the sand is blown in, this furthest point in to drive offers dunes with almost no vegetation, compared to areas further downwind, as vegetation has more time to settle in there.
As we worked our way back toward the entrance we saw more of the type of vegetation that settles in.
Not to mention a cool Astroid City looking park bench.
On the road again (sung by Willie Nelson – and sometimes me)… We spent that night in Winslow, Arizona – because that’s a place in the other song (if you’re an Eagles fan – not so much for me – but that song is OK). Winslow, because it’s on the way to Las Vegas, where I had to work for four days. Can you say “Vacation Interruptus”?
Saturday – April 13
Yes – we headed to Las Vegas, but before leaving Winslow… we wanted to check out a place Leslie knew about, which is where we should have stayed… but we didn’t. Next time. Introducing, La Posada.
Viva… Las Vegas.
After enjoying our introductory evening by walking the strip, playing a few hands of blackjack, and hopping on the big ferris wheel, we wrapped up the day.
Sunday – Wednesday in Las Vegas
Mark
Worked
Snuck out for a couple dinners with Leslie.
Leslie
Went to the Atomic Museum
Visited the Botanic Gardens
Enjoyed the Cactus Garden/Chocolate Factory
Explored the Bellagio
Ventured into the streets of Las Vegas, and got threatened more than once by the local inhabitants
Wednesday Afternoon
Leslie was able to get tickets to the latest tour of Hoover Dam, and I was able to be done with my work in time to rush out of Las Vegas to go see the Dam. What a fascinating piece of work it is. The project is amazing, and the implications of the dam are complex for many groups of people. Nevertheless, we got the premium tour and learned a lot.
We spent that night at Lake Las Vegas, a very nice place to visit.
Thursday
To begin our trip back to Colorado, we wanted to check out the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. The place is amazing. We saw lots of beautiful geology, petroglyphs and wild life.
There was an eeriness about the place. At times it felt like the rocks were watching us.
We spent the night in Page, Arizona – it was a beautiful evening. We had a great dinner and enjoyed the sunset at Sunset 89 restaurant.
Friday
We got an early start and wanted to check out Glen Canyon Dam. Since we were in Page, it was right there.
Then we headed out to Monument Valley. Stunning!
And on to the City of Mexican Hat and Gooseneck State Park.
And from there we drove, and drove. We thought about visiting one of our favorite haunts, Goblin State Park, but by time we got to Hanksville, the day had already been quite long, so we pushed straight through to Green River, where we spent the last night on the road.
Saturday – April 20
We made it home, safe and sound, early on Saturday.
That was a very fun trip with lots of long driving days.
After missing it for a couple years we returned to the Blossoms of Light show at Denver Botanic Gardens. We started with a warm meal in the restaurant on site to give darkness a bit more time to settle in. The grounds were spectacular as always.
You may have noticed a particular cat in my previous post. That cat was a fellow visitor to the Denver Botanic Gardens where Leslie and I visited last Sunday. We stayed in Denver Saturday because we went to a wedding on Saturday evening and thought it would be a nice treat to not have to drive home after the wedding. It was a good call. There were some great indoor displays, my favorite was Tanya Marcuse: Laws of Nature. The Gardens are preparing for their annual tradition: Blossoms of Light – always fun to see that during the evenings (we have tickets to visit in January).
It was delightful to visit on a non-hectic Sunday morning, exploring the indoor exhibits and the beautiful grounds in their natural state during the cooling climate of this season. Here are a few pictures I took while there>
November turned out to be quite productive for drawing. I found time to complete four new drawings this month, each offering practice and development of techniques. While I don’t feel any of these reach my idea of perfection, I am pleased with how they came out.
Central Park. This was inspired by my first visit to Central Park in New York, just a week prior to creating this drawing.
Lighthouse. This was inspired by a visit to a lighthouse on the Reykjavik peninsula in Iceland.
Jerome Edward Duck. …is really a goose. This was inspired by a photo from a visit to Barr Lake, Colorado a couple years ago.
Ice Cream. I took a photo of an ice cream shop in Estes Park several years ago. Then I saw Goldamere the magic cat while walking around in Denver Botanic Gardens just yesterday. I had to incorporate him in the drawing. (FYI: I made up the cat’s name)
I was nominated to travel to New York to represent my business unit’s products at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) East (NY) trade show. I’ve been to New York several times, but always on business and I have never taken time to take in the city; I was determined to do whatever I could on this work trip to get a better sense of the New York scene.
My first observation – mind you, I just got back from the pristine island of Iceland – was how this was absolutely a concrete jungle. There was tension in my bones as I took in the crowds and the concrete, getting high on second hand pot smoke everywhere I walked, the noises that go on 24/7 along with the construction and everchanging skyline.
View from my room at the Edison Hotel… meh.
OK – that was the first 12 hours. I stayed at the Edison hotel which gave me the opportunity to walk 1.3 miles to the convention center on Wednesday and Thursday – 1.3 miles that I could zig zag around to see what I could see. The Edison hotel is located in what I believe is called the “Theater District”, also very close to Times Square. So, after I arrived I sought out dinner at a close by trattoria (Trattoria Trecolori), and a stroll to see Times Square.
Linguine Nere Alla Monsignore
homemade black (squid ink) linguini with shrimp, scallops, squid, clams, and mussels in our flavorful marinara
On Tuesday morning I took an early (7am) brisk walk to the convention center – focused primarily on staying safe (mostly out of ignorance) and finding my way to the Jacob Javits Convention Center.
I made it early to the convention center, so was there when set up began at 8am and stayed through until closing at 6pm. We had good traffic at the booth, and I was able to reconnect with some old acquaintances I know from the industry.
After a long day I was beat. Walked back to the hotel, and had dinner downstairs at Friedman’s where the wait staff entertains the diners with song – some really good, some REALLY LOUD. After a Manhattan and French Dip I went to my room to relax my achy bones.
Thursday… another early walk to convention center with gorgeous weather. I discovered 46th street and other nice segments of the walk along the way. After another long day (but a couple hours shorter than Wednesday), I moseyed along the Hudson river next to the convention center to see what sights might be there.
I eventually changed direction to continue the stroll toward my hotel. I found an awesome eatery: Yum Yum Too. The service and the food were both excellent, and the area around there offers so much more to explore. This is the point where I decided I want to come back to New York to explore more of this area and many others.
Friday – time to go home. However!… I had a couple hours in the morning before I needed to head to the airport, so I decided to go see Central Park. I’ve never been there and I wanted to gain a first hand perspective. The walk to the park was about three quarters of a mile, and then I strolled for about 30 minutes within the park. I only covered about 25% of the park in that time, so add this to more reason to come back to spend some more time in New York.
I returned from Central Park via Madison Avenue, and had a wonderful Nova Scotia Salmon on Bagel sandwich at the Deli on Madison.
The End
All in all a good trip. The show was good and opened up some new opportunities for me to pursue. I finally got my own taste of New York; enough to lure me back to explore more.
My Fall adventures included a trip to Iceland with friends and family. Seven of us in total signed up months ago for the fun, and before we knew it we were on a plane heading for the geologically active and beautiful country of Iceland.
Saturday October 7, 2023
In addition to the amazing landscapes and cultural experiences, one item on everyone’s list was to see the Northern Lights. We could tell from weeks earlier that weather was going to be quite variable for the trip, as it clearly proved to be, and so aside from a questionable citing of Northern Lights later in the week, Leslie, Matthew and I had the only unquestioned citing while on the plane a couple hours or so before landing in Iceland.
Northern Lights as observed from the Plane
Sunday
Our flight was about 7 hours spanning from 5pm-ish in Denver, Saturday to 6am-ish in Reykjavik on Sunday. After catching our ride to the Storm Hotel to drop off our bags, we walked the streets of Reykjavik in search of a meal and whatever else comes our way.
For dinner that evening we found Reykjavik Kitchen – the food was phenomenal.
(image courtesy of Reykjavik Kitchen)
Monday (Very Rainy)
After getting our cars from the rental car lot, there was lots of driving in very rainy and wet conditions. We drove on the order of 150 miles east along the southern coast and stopped to visit some waterfalls on the way to our hotel. The Seljalandsfoss waterfall is very fun as you can walk on a trail that goes behind the waterfall. It didn’t matter much to us as we got just as wet in the rain as we did behind the waterfall. That didn’t make picture taking very easy.
Then we visited the Skógafoss waterfall where we could walk up to the base or to the top.
Skógafoss waterfall in Skógar
After battling the rain on the road we arrived at our home for the next couple days, the Magma Hotel. The rooms were great, the views were stunning, and the food was delicious.
View from Magma Hotel Room
Tuesday (Extreme Wind)
On Tuesday our plan was to visit a glacier bay, diamond beach, and a hike through a canyon. We were told to expect heavy winds and probable road closures by 2pm, so we took off on our drive early to squeeze in what we could before the wind gods showed their fury. On the road we saw many examples of glacier eruptions (heated waters emerging from the base of the glaciers) causing massive flooding and destruction of highways and bridges.
Trusses from a destroyed highway bridge
We arrived at glacier bay around 11:30am, most of us were in awe of the site, but Anna had the wisdom to beeline it to diamond beach. After gawking at the glaciers several of us started walking to diamond beach. Our walk was interrupted by Icelandic officials yelling panic at us, “leave now! You may not have time to make it back to your hotel!” And so we scurried back to our hotel, and the rest of us never made it to diamond beach.
Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon
Driving was a challenge with the strong winds blowing cars out of their lanes. You would think we would heed the warnings and go straight to our hotel… and pass up these cool photo opps?!
Foss á Síðu
… and then we made it safely to our hotel.
Wednesday
On Wednesday we headed west, visiting various sites including Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, the black sand beaches of Reynisfjara, the basalt columns and rock formations of Reynisdrangar. (Yes, it all sounds very Hobbit-like). We also squeezed in a visit to a school bus that serves coffee and pastries and offers a variety of trinkets.
FjaðrárgljúfurFjaðrárgljúfurFjaðrárgljúfurSokol Beans Cafevolcanic black sand beaches of Reynisfjaravolcanic black sand beaches of ReynisfjaraReynisdrangar basalt columnsHálsanefshellir sea cave and the Garðar cliffHálsanefshellir sea cave and the Garðar cliff
… and on our drive we even saw evidence of Hobbit life.
Rútshellir Cave
Many of the churches we saw had some common architectural themes.
Thursday
We really packed things in on this day. We started our journey early, driving through what looked like would become a major blizzard – fortunately it never got that bad; but there was wind and snow. That did not deter us as we visited the major waterfall of Gullfoss, the Strokkur Geyser of, uh, Geysir, the greenhouse restaurant and stables of Friðheimar, the Þingvellir National Park, the Kerið Crater, and most of all, the home of my favorite meal (deep fried hot dog) at Pylsuvagninn!
GullfossGullfossStrokkur GeyserFriðheimarFriðheimarFriðheimarFriðheimarÞingvellir National ParkKerið CraterKerið Crater
Thanks to Anna and her Googling to find this gem – the crater above.
Pylsuvagninn – Deep Fried Hotdog- best meal of the trip
Thanks again to Anna and Google for finding this awesome dining spot!
Friday
This day was for exploring the peninsula and Reykjavik as desired, follow by sunset at Sky Lagoon. We all started together to visit Seltún Geothermal Area, then some of the group went to Reykjavik while Leslie, Cynthia and I decided to continue our drive around the peninsula.
And one more shout out to Anna and Google for finding the geothermal area below! Lesson: take Google with you to explore new lands.
Seltún Geothermal AreaSeltún Geothermal Area
While Car#1 went back to Reykjavik, Car#2 took a drive around the peninsula where we saw some fishing villages, stumbled into the Brimketill pool, visited the Reykjanes lighthouse, crossed the Bridge Between Continents, and drove past the Reykjanes geothermal power plant that could easily be mistaken for a Mars colony.
BrimketillReykjanes LighthouseBridge Between ContinentsReykjanes Power Plant
Car#1 and Car#2 regrouped for the evening where we went to watch the sunset from Sky Lagoon.
Sky Lagoon at Sunset
After over 2 hours at Sky Lagoon we decided it was time to leave and grab a bite to eat. Google found us Vikinga Pylsur.
Friday dinner – Vikinga Pylsur – yum
Saturday (Heading Home)
But first! A visit to Blue Lagoon – to warm the bodies for a long flight home.
