Life's an Adventure

Feb 16, near Moab, Utah, looking back at mountains passed

     This adventure, which might be named Life (in “Retirement”), called us to travel cross country the last half of February, not the time of year a sane person would normally choose to traverse the Rockies, Cascades, or even the Alleghenies. However, son Daniel having flown to Seattle months earlier had successfully found employment and consequently was wishing for his car (which he’d packed up and left in our drive). Aware that finding positions in the Northwest, an area favored by many and especially by the IT world, would not be easy, we’d all decided to delay on getting the car there. Now all excited about the new job and realizing this was not a good time for Daniel to take time off, the two retirees decided they’d be able to deliver the car. No great rush getting there and what about trying Amtrak for the return!  O.K. All aboard…

     Now we’re back home. Time to debrief, memory aided by 219 images imported from the main camera along with a few dozen from the cell phone device. 

             But, first, since some friends are asking—a short verdict on Amtrak: 1) great for viewing the landscape, 2) pretty good for photographing (if you can snap quickly and avoid glare on windows), and 3) adequate sleeping accommodations. Would we do it again? Probably, but let’s withhold judgment to allow for recovery time. We are already wondering about taking a trip planned in segments where we could ride the train for a day, get off at an interesting stop to spend the night in a hotel (and then maybe take a day or so visiting the place or something nearby), and then continue on the train for the next segment. 

Meanwhile, we can play with the images from the Seattle trip and share some reflections about travel. What’s the favorite spot between home and there? Moab. An unplanned, unexpected jewel. Due to snowy weather and icy road conditions we scrapped the tentative route that would have skirted Denver to the north then going west through Wyoming. Another option of circling Denver and taking Interstate 70 directly west through the Rockies also looked like trouble due to a new storm promising additional snow and ice. Instead, we settled on a route further south that the incoming storm would miss. This choice would take us to Pueblo, Colorado, and then venture west on Route 50, still taking us through the mountains at Monarch Pass (elevation 11,312 feet)--intimidating but reported as passable. 

        It worked. The only slow-down came on that Sunday morning with a back-up of cars trying to turn into the ski area near Monarch. So we were taking big sighs of relief while rejoining 70 at Grand Junction, and the relief turned into delight as we detoured onto the scenic drive, Highway 128, going south to Moab where we stayed overnight. As Life sometimes offers: not on the plan but available when attentive to the present moment.

Feb 15 along the Colorado River

        Then, early Monday morning, we thrilled with the sunrise 

in Arches National Park taking a couple of hours there 

before returning to Interstate 70 and hours later back on Highway 50 to Ely, Nevada.

One more view from Arches National Park