Wednesday, August 27, 2014

August 11,2014

Turning the wrong way

As I drove out of the Motel, "Honey your going the wrong way". Royce is very helpful. he keeps track of the maps and gas mileage and plans where we will stop to eat.

"No dear I am going to show you The Black Canyon to day. Don't you remember the conversation we had with Joe and Kalena last night ?" We talked about seeing The Black Canyon before we leave this time. The drive to the canyon is only about 40-50 miles out of our way and we are not in any hurry, so off we went.

When we checked in at the ranger station in the National Park I found I could buy a senior pass for less money than a one day pass. So now I am good for a while. I have had a golden age pass before, but I don't know where it is. We spent the day looking down into The Black Canyon of The Gunnison River. What an awesome place. It had been years since I had been there and we really enjoyed it. The overlooks are spectacular, each one more awe inspiring than the last. We didn't leave for Utah until 4pm. Next time I would like to drive down to the bottom and see the river and the reservoir.

We stopped in Olathe and bought 2 cases of corn and in Green River we bought 2 water melons to take home and ate dinner at the Tamarack Restaurant. We hit rain in Price and it rained all the way home. I was glad Royce was driving.

We reached Salt Lake City at 10 pm in rain. We had a good trip.

I Want to see the Canyon, the Museum and the Corn Festival again. I am glad I can use visiting my daughter as an excuse.







Tuesday, August 12, 2014

August 10,2014 after corn

Gateway Auto Museum

Sunday after the Olathe Corn Festival my daughter Kalena her husband Joe, Royce and I drove North out of Montrose on High Way 50 toward Grand Junction. We turned off West on a high way that leads to Gateway and Naturita. It is a road none of us had ever been on before. Turned out to be a beautiful drive. High rock cliffs closed in on us in a curvy canyon. The rocks were stunning in height and colors. This opened up to broad meadows with black cattle, every thing was so green. They have had so much rain, the grass was high and the trees and bushes were thick.

44 miles later coming in to the Town of Gateway you could see some remnants of an old town. They have a new convenience store, then down a hill and there is the new Resort. The Resort Property is spread out behind stucco walls, away from the old town. Inside curving roads lead you past manicured lawns, landscaped gardens, Restaurants, a Hotel and the Auto Museum we have come to see. Plenty of parking, not many people out on a Sunday.

You can go on line to see how extensive the collection of cars is. It is marvelous ! The mussel cars are great. Joe found the SS he had as a kid. 100 years of history - one of a kind cars - Jimmy Johnson's Race Car in the Race Shop. It was fun seeing all the old cars, but my favorite was the first one we saw, a big old Buick in the lobby. A convertible, 195 -, really big and beautiful. They trade the cars in and out with some they have in storage, so it may not be in the lobby for long.

Across from the Museum was one of the Restaurants, a Grill. We had BIG Hamburgers and  a chicken Flat Bread with lots of veggies. The waiter was good and turned out to be from Montrose ! He had a roommate and lived in a dorm at the resort. After we ate Kalena and I walked around and looked at the different plants. Quite a few we did not know the names of. We saw Humming Birds, Humming bird Moths and Large Black Bees.

On the way back we stopped in the canyon and read an interpative sign that told us about a seep in the area and another sign about a home site.

Great Day.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

August 9, 2014

Wow this year is running by so fast.

I drove over to Montrose Colorado the 1st. My daughter and her husband were playing in the Red Barn with their new Band "The Blue Crocodiles " ! Fun group, Sax, drums, two guitars, and conga drums. Every one sings off and on, they only play original music and they have a lot of fun and so does the audience. I ate a great hamburger and Royce had a great steak. The Barn has always been a good steak house, it has new owners so we were glad that had not changed.

The next day we went to The Olathe Corn Festival !! This celebrates sweet corn, I have always bought the corn, just never been to the festival. Well honey, it was great. Beautiful park with green grass, live bands all day. all the sweet corn, roasted, with butter, salt and pepper if you want, no charge ! They have a fire breathing dragon made of iron. Farmers love building things out of iron. The sweet corn fresh from the fields, in the husks is packed in ice, and stacked in crates 8-10 feet high. Large men pull a dripping crate down and empty it in to the dragon's mouth, corn, ice and all. Inside the dragon is a conveyer belt and a fire grill 15 feet long by 4 feet with fire licking out the sides. All covered up so it roasts fast. 3-4 minuets and the corn comes out and falls into galvanized tubs. The husks are burned. the tubs are delivered to a big tent to huskers. They peel the husks back run their gloves around to take the silk off, put a wet wipe around the husk end and hand it to you. FREE, want two OK. It is hot and soooo good. the next tent has butter, salt and pepper, me, this corn does not need butter. Then go sit and listen to the bands and soak up some sun. The vendors were fun, good hot dogs, turkey legs, fruit punch, all the fair food. They had craft vendors, Veterans booths, The Democratic Party, tee shirts, all kinds of stuff for sale.Had a great day. Two days later when I left for home I had two cases of sweet corn in my trunk !

We drove into Montrose to Ted's and had a wonderful meal of shrimp, salmon, and prime rib.

Good day.