Crash

Greeting from the road once again. This is part 2 of a vacation that I have been taking with my family in Colorado. Part 2 takes place in Georgetown and in Glenwood Springs. On Tuesday July 29th, we left the Denver area and drove to Glenwood Springs. On the way we stopped at Georgetown and did the Loop Railroad. It is a short Railroad that loops its way up the valley between Georgetown and Silver Plume. Carter and Cara seemed more interested in the Chipmunks or ground squirrels than the train. We made it to Glenwood Springs after quite a few “how much further is Glenwood Springs” questions from Carter.


Carter next to Clear Creek at the Georgetown Loop Railroad






Cara on the Georgetown Loop Railroad





Wednesday the 30th was a busy day. We went to Hanging Lake in the morning. We barely beat the big rush. At the lower elevation, Pops was able to hike Nana (Mom) into the ground. It is a beautiful hike, but it is the most popular hike in Glenwood Canyon. So the trail is overused. There were a lot of people going up as we were going down.





Hanging Lake









Spouting Rock











After lunch, it was naptime for Cara and Pops. Carter, Stacy, Jim, and I went on a raft trip through Glenwood Canyon on the Colorado River. The first 20 minutes of the trip had some cool rapids with names like Maneater and Tombstone. The rest of the trip was mainly a float trip. Carter rode on the raft for a little while. He got knocked back into boat when we hit a rapid that had a good bump. We all went for a swim when we were at the deepest spot on the Colorado River. It is supposed to be 80 feet deep there. Later in the trip Jim and I went floating down river through some small rapids. The water was cold there and didn’t taste too good. No pictures from the rafting trip. Nobody had their camera for obvious reasons. We went to Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company for dinner. The Garfield Amber Ale won the taste test. We ended up getting a couple of growlers of it.

On Thursday the 31st, everybody went on a bike ride through Glenwood Canyon. We rented bikes in Glenwood Springs and got shuttled to the other end of the canyon. We then rode downhill (for the most part) on the bike path through the canyon. It was a 16 mile trip. The trip became a little more of an adventure than we would have liked. Nana’s bicycle skills were not too good. She could not figure out the gears and the hand brakes. Plus she was too shaky. The first injury of the day was when Pops looked back to check on Nana. He lost balance and scraped up his arm against the wall. The ride was beautiful. The interstate was noisy, but the architecture of the interstate was interesting in regards to how it was built to have a limited impact to the canyon. The ride took a turn for the worse about half way through the ride. I was riding along when I heard a crash behind me. I turned around to see my mom lying on the ground with her head up against the wall and a bike on top of her. She was not moving. Needless to say I was real scared. When I got to her, she was saying she was alright and had started to move. The accident happen when she was being passed. She got nervous and lost control. She had a bunch of scrapes and abrasions. She would eventually have a lot of bruises and a black eye. Her glasses were bent out of shape. Being the trooper that she is, she got up and finished the bike ride. We tried to get to get her to cut it short, but she refused. When she got to the bike rental place, she asked if she should do one of her famous crash landings. And then unintentionally, she did one. She got a few more bruises and abrasions, but she was alright. After that adventure, we went back to our hotel and knocked off a growler of Garfield Amber.


The bike ride through Glenwood Canyon





Underneath the I-70 on the bike path in Glenwood Canyon





And that ends the adventures in Glenwood Springs. The next day we went to Estes Park. Stay tuned for Part 3…