Hello from Gunnison, CO

Hello from Gunnison, CO

Drafted:  Tuesday morning Sept. 3, 2013 (eighth travelogue of this trip).
Posted:  Tuesday evening Sept. 10, 2013

Sunday we drove from Grand Junction to Gunnison.  We are staying at the Rodeway Inn (map).  Our stop here is very special – to visit our two grandsons who attend Western State Colorado University (link). It was a fairly short drive and we were able to have a late lunch with Thomas and Austin and their girlfriends (Klara and Kai).  That evening, we went to McDonalds to have an ice cream cone.  The reason I mention this is because both Thomas and Austin work there and both just got promoted to “swing manager”.  About the time we were going to take their picture, the restaurant got very busy {frown}.

Monday,  we got to spend quite a bit of the day with Thomas and Klara.  Klara was born and raised in Crested Butte, CO.   Pat, Thomas and I drove up there to have lunch with Klara and then we went to the coffee shop where she works and had a great cup of coffee.  That evening, we had a wonderful dinner with them.

Tuesday we met with Austin for a few minutes before leaving.  The photo below was taken as we dropped him off at Western. 

We then got a quick tour of  Hurst Hall where Thomas takes most of his geology classes.  The photo below was taken in one of the labs where he was preparing a geology map of one of the oil fields in Wyoming.

We follow our good friend's full time travels in their email blog.  Stevi and Ed post some great photos – many of which are very artistic.  I can't begin to duplicate their skills, but I thought I had better post something a bit artsy.  The photo below is of a rock that has “water pockets” that look kind of cool.  In Capitol Reef, there are whole cliffs covered by what the ranger called water pockets.   As I looked for a good reference, I find that the “creation” of the rock formation resulted from what is called the “Waterpocket Fold” (link).  Here is the picture:

I wanted to talk a bit about the formation of the “Colorado Plateau”.  This plateau is the huge area that contains Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyon Lands.  The link above has a pretty good description of the formation of the plateau.  Parts of the area were “raised” over 7000 feet and millions of years of erosion have formed the beautiful areas that are now National Parks.

Being old is not all bad.  When I turned 62, we obtained a “Golden Age Passport”.  It gives us free admission to all National Parks.  On this trip, we toured five of them.  In each of the parks, at the visitor centers, they have wonderful movies that tell about the parks.   Most are about 20 minutes long and are very professionally done.

We returned home on Tuesday 9/3/13.  That was one day short of four weeks.  Part of the trip was very hectic (at least for me – working) and the rest was quite relaxing.  We visited some of the most beautiful sights on this planet (at least we think so). 

I have to apologize for the late delivery of the final post of this travelogue.  Things have been very hectic.  I was home for just a few days and then flew to Seattle – back to the hectic life {grin}

Till next time.

Hello from Gunnison, CO

Hello from Gunnison, CO

Friday night   February, 24 2011   (First travelogue of this trip).

Hi folks.  As has been the case too much lately, we have not posted to this blog very often.  With rare exception we limit our posts to travel-related dialogue and we have not traveled much in the last few years months.  In a few weeks, our bus travel will begin and then our posting will be more frequent.

This is a very special trip.  I am with my daughter Judy, grandson Thomas and his friend Austin.  Judy refers to Austin as her third son.  Fortunately, they have taken Austin under their wing and will become his legal guardian in the near future.  This trip was to visit two colleges that Thomas has been accepted to. 

Pat is helping with daughter Kelly and the kids while Damon is on a business trip.

We left the Bailey, CO area Thursday morning and traveled to Alamosa to visit Adams State College.  This was mainly a quick visit to get a feeling about the facilities and their program.  It seems like a good school, but it is not Thomas' first choice.

We left Alamosa late in the afternoon and took a short cut route (CO 114) over to Gunnison.  It turned out to be a very scenic drive and the weather was great, albeit cold.  We would not attempt that route in one of the frequent snow storms, but it worked out great for this trip.

We are staying 2 nights in the Super 8 in Gunnison.  If any of you followed our non-bus travels, you know I really do not care for Super 8 motels.  Their idea of a “Super Starter” breakfast is Fruit Loops and toast.  Well, my usual choice of Holiday Inn Express was over $160 and we were not going to pay that kind of money.  As it turns out, this Super 8 seems to be the exception to the rule.  The rooms are the typical lower level affair, but clean.  But the real surprise was that they had a very good hot breakfast!!  Not even a Fruit Loop in the place {grin}.

Today we went to a formal “Preview Day” at Western State College (http://www.western.edu/).  Both Thomas and Austin have been accepted here and it was the school that they were interested in.  All of the attendees today had preregistered for the all day event.

Thomas, Judy and Austin

The day started with a tour, followed by a general presentation by the staff.  Then the parents and students split up.  The parents were treated to some more great informational presentations followed by a question and answer period.

Tour of the campus in the snow

The students rejoined the parents and then the big group split up into academic interest groups.  Our first stop was Natural and Environmental department which includes the Geology curriculum that Thomas is interested in.  It was very informational.  The next session we went to was the athletic department session.  Austin is very good at football and track.  It looks like he might be interested in trying out for the track team.

We were then treated to a great lunch in the student cafeteria.  It is a fantastic buffet offering almost any kind of food that a person would want.  They can eat all the want for that meal.  And it was very tasty food.

The afternoon had more presentations and all of the clubs and societies had booths to show the students what activities are available.

I think I will ring off here and fill in some additional details tomorrow.