ON THE ROAD AGAIN.

       (CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE)

View our Route taken here.: Green North, Blue South.

WE SET OFF FROM DENVER AT 5.00AM TOWARDS GRANBY & THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK ON A HOLIDAY OF A LIFETIME. IT'S STIFLING AT 97 DEGREES F. & DRIVING ON THE HIGHEST SINGLE LANE ROAD IN THE USA , OVER 12000 FOOT ABOVE SEA LEVEL

  

a cute Marmot see him move here.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLR__rL6mE8 

The Alpine Visitors centre

Some Rocky Mountain Critters. some big some small . ( and some in uniform)

  Elk everywhere : Excited by our first serious encounter with Elk, we drove back to have another look. It was at this point we pulled over to let through a fast moving  Sheriffs car (obviously on an emergency). Much to our dismay it was us  he was after. ..... Apparently even if  there is no other traffic  within 10 miles of you, STOP MEANS STOP. Linda had inadvertantly gone through a stop sign. Much grovelling on a mega scale ensued as a frustrated cop muttering about  'bloody English'  got back in his car & drove off. 

SOOO CUTE !

A CHIPPY 

                                                                                                            More good shots by Linda

of The Clark’s Nutcracker. It has a special pouch under its tongue in which it carries pine seeds long distances to cache them. Depending upon the species of pine seed, this pouch will hold from 28 and 90 seeds. A group of nutcrackers has many collective nouns, including a "ballet", "booby", "jar", and "suite" of nutcrackers

check this out in full size

'ESTES PARK' AT THE GATEWAY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN N/PARK

THE STANLEY HOTEL: For Anyone who saw the movie "The Shining" or perhaps read the book by Stephen King  will be all too familiar. Stephen King stayed in room 217 while writing the book. It is listed in the worlds 'top 10' famous hotel rooms & is rumored to be one of the most haunted . (Here's Johnny ! )

                    

pretty ! Flowers aren't bad either

 ELK  RELAXING AT HOME IN A GARDEN

BACK ON THE ROAD TO CHEYENNE

'Union Pacific' Locos alongside. the road.

Enlarge picture & you'll see them

CHEYENNE

The City of Cheyenne had its beginning in 1867, when the Union Pacific Railroad came through on its way to the west coast. The town was named for an Indian tribe that roamed the area the largest family of Indians on the North American Continent). Settlement came so fast that the nickname "Magic City of the Plains" was adopted.


   Main Street with Capital Building centre.

Driving through Cheyenne

 Union Pacific Train Station & Museum

It turns out that these boots are all over the state, with most of them in Cheyenne, the capitol city. Artists are asked to paint them so that each one is unique. It's a cool idea that other cities have done with other objects,

The Huge Wrangler store by the Square

* OLD CHEYENNE

STATE CAPITAL BUILDING

A replica of the Liberty Bell at the state capital building

Even in retirement, Old Number 4004 remains an imposing sight.  The world's largest steam locomotive, this powerful coal-fired engine was designed to pull a 3600-ton train over steep grades between Cheyenne, WY and Ogden, Utah.  The 4004 is one of the eight remaining Big Boys on display throughout the country.

'BIG BOY' and train 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Enjoyed a couple of Buds at the 'Eagle's Nest' accross the road from our Motel

Scottsbluff & the Old Oregon trail Nebraska.

  

Scottsbluff


A TYPICAL BNSF FREIGHT TRAIN ROLLING THROUGH SCOTTSBLUFF.   IT WENT ON  & ON & ON.  (This sound we heard frequently at nights) video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY4EGxdxiAo 

  

THE OREGON TRAIL

There were several reasons why people were willing to risk the long journey to Oregon. Emigrants stressed the importance of escaping from the fever-infested swamps of Missouri and Mississippi. The bad climate seems to have been the motive that has induced many of them to set out.

Stories also circulated about the high quality of the crops that could be grown in Oregon. Potential emigrants were told that wheat "grew as tall as a man, with each stalk sprouting seven kernels", clover was so dense that the "farmer could barely get into the field to harvest it" and turnips were "five feet tall".   The entire journey was over 2,000 miles.

 Our picture  taken from a distance shows Chimney Rock, it was one of the best known landmarks on the Oregon and Mormon Trails. Approximately 350, 000 pioneers passed by Chimney Rock. Fur trader Warren A. Ferris left the oldest known written description of Chimney Rock. On May 26, 1830, his party reached " ‘Nose Mountain,’ or as it is more commonly called, the ‘Chimney,’ a singular mound, which has the form of an inverted funnel."

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and before anyone asks, I'm not in this picture

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Driving through the Pass   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAAosQpXxqI 

  MITCHELL PASS: LEFT. SENTINEL ROCK, RIGHT . EAGLE ROCK

DOME ROCK

Eagle Rock

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The Rebecca Winters' gravesite is one of the few graves of the 6,000 Latter-day Saint pioneers who died while making the journey across the plains to the West. She was traveling in the James C. Snow Company in 1852 when an outbreak of cholera took her life. William F. Reynolds inscribed her name and age onto a discarded iron tyre. It reads, "Rebecca Winters - Age 50." Several individuals traveling west made mention of the grave as they passed it while traveling through the area.

In 1902, when surveyors were planning the Burlington Railroad through the area, the grave with the iron tyre was again discovered. The railroad decided to redirect the rail line out of respect for this noble pioneer mother who died on the plains. Also, the railroad constructed a small fence around the grave to help protect it the old iron tyre is still in place.