Back home from this trip. Posting now to get my emotions under check with what's going on in Omaha currently.
Day 1 was an uneventful trip from Katy, TX to Amarillo, TX.
Day 2 was, well, much more eventful. We left Amarillo early and headed toward Dumas and Dalhart before making our way to New Mexico. I had made this trip many years ago, but did not recall Raton, New Mexico being such a nice view. We came down the Raton pass into Colorado, stopped for a photo at the "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign - and shortly after getting back on the road I noticed the temperature gauge in my Sequoia was fully set to "H". Holy hell. We coasted into Trinidad, CO. The cap on the coolant reservoir blew away. Ran into a fellow from Vernon, TX who recommended some silver stuff (forget the actual name of the product) and additional coolant, and to let that seal up any micro-holes that were likely in the radiator. I'm not at all an engine dude, so if this was a bad thing to do, I'd have never known. But for reasons that I don't know, this "fix" did allow us to proceed up to Manitou Springs (after probably a couple of hours of sticking around Trinidad and letting the engine start operating more normally). Never saw the temperature gauge at an abnormal setting again on the trip, nor did the Check Engine light come on again.
Day 3 was a mixed bag. We had to reorganize our schedule to handle the Sequoia. We found a shop in Manitou Springs to take it to. My wife is a frugal woman. She did not like the quote of ~$500, which sounded about right to me. I went ahead with the work, but had to explain to the guy that we needed it ASAP as we were scheduled to depart Manitou Springs the next morning. I was happy he was able to accommodate us. With that out of the way, we got on the Cog Railway for a trip up to the summit of Pikes Peak. I had been here when I was in high school in the early 80s, but had no recollection of the Cog. On that trip we got on a tour bus to the top. This time, the Cog was it, and I must say, it was a neat way to scale the mountain. I took lots of photos. And as I expected, it was cold enough at the top to warrant a hoodie.
Day 4 required alterations to our itinerary. Originally we would go to Georgetown to ride the Loop Railroad, then head up US Highway 40 to Granby, then US Highway 34 into Rocky Mountain NP and ultimately to Estes Park, CO. After our vehicular issues, I was not going to put that thing through the trip on 34. We rescheduled the railroad to Saturday and got the Sequoia from the shop before heading to Garden of the Gods. I'd been here before, but didn't really explore the area as much as I should have way back in high school. Nice scenery and some decent hikes to be had. We then went into Colorado Springs for the Museum of World War II Aviation. As a warbird nut, I loved this place. First time I'd ever seen a F7F Tigercat, and they had 2 of them. The tour through the restoration facility was awesome. They are currently restoring an SB2C Helldiver to airworthiness, which will be only the second such dive bomber to take to the skies since the 1940s. We probably spent a couple of hours at the museum before heading up I-25 toward southern Denver. Took the loop around to the west of Denver (passed near Columbine for reference). In Boulder, I laughed at the University of Colorado because I'm still ticked at the 1995 game. My wife was somewhat white knuckled during the drive up US Highway 36 into Estes Park with all the hairpin turns. But of what a view we saw when we came down that last rise and saw the lake with the Stanley Hotel clearly visible in the distance, and beyond that the snow-capped peaks of what I think was the Continental Divide.
Day 5 was always going to be a free day with only one activity scheduled. We spent much of the day exploring Estes Park. Ate lunch at Penelope's - I had a fire burger with ghost peppers, which I handled just fine until the last bite. Yikes, those peppers are hot. We were amazed at the number of elk we saw wandering the streets and even blocking traffic. In Houston those mofos would have been road kill. We spent the evening at the Stanley Hotel on the Night Tour. Lots of ghost stories were told, and we even saw some photographic "evidence" of said ghosts. I put that in quotes because those pictures could easily have been faked. But who knows? As a fan of The Shining, I had to wander through the hedge maze. The maze is not the same as depicted in the movie - the hedges are roughly 4' tall, not the 12' hedges the movie showed. They were just tall enough that I couldn't see exactly where to go, but I got through that thing easily anyway.
Day 6 was Rocky Mountain National Park. I've only made it to a handful of national parks - Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Mesa Verde, Guadalupe Mountains, and Great Smoky Mountains, but RMNP is the most stunning I've been to. We did the hiker's shuttle into the park, then hopped on the in-park bus to Sprague Lake. We did the first of our 3 hikes there. This was a first for all of us, so our hikes are not intended to wow anyone. After Sprague, we headed up to Bear Lake and hiked that one. I thought we were done, but my wife wanted to hike to the falls (her words). We talked to a local at the entrance to the Bear Lake hike, who said we were looking for Alberta Falls. It was downhill for a good while, but to get to the top of the falls was the most strenuous part of the day. Of my group (wife and daughter), I was the only one who made it all the way to the top. I was breathing pretty heavily, but that view was worth it. When we started back, we went to Glacier Gorge rather than the Bear Lake entry point. We were a bit worried about not making it in time for the last departure of the hiker's shuttle (at 6PM), but made it for the 5:15PM departure. Spent the evening in a hot tub recuperating my sore legs and hips.
Day 7 was another free day where we did some shopping in Estes Park, had a massive ice cream cone, and just generally relaxed.
Day 8 had us leaving Estes Park along the same route we took to get there. We hit I-70 west to Georgetown, CO and road the railroad. I guess that was an old boyhood wish to be able to ride an actual steam locomotive, so I had a big grin on my face for most of that ride. Lots of great scenery there as well. Also they had some humorous stuff along the ride, with Bigfoot cutouts hiding among the trees. We rode the first train ride of the morning, so we were out of Georgetown by noon and went right through Denver and did not stop until we hit Russell, KS. Russell was interesting as they were rather proud to be the boyhood homes of not one, but two former US Senators (Bob Dole and Arlen Specter). My wife got us a place to stay at an RV park (nope, we don't currently own an RV). They had a spare RV that we could stay in for the night. There was a burger joint about a quarter mile away from the RV park, where I got to snarf down a big juicy burger while watching the Fightin' Texas Aggies beat the Deliverance squad from Tennessee in game 1.
Day 9 was a long travel day from Russel, KS to Van Alstyne, TX, where we stayed with our oldest and new grandson.
Today was Day 10, the return to Katy, TX.
