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We arrived at Colorado Springs yesterday (10th Sept), where we stayed the night. Springs is wonderful and great for shopping and restaurants. Today we set off for our 230 mile drive to Montrose. This took us quite some time as the views are spectacular and you just have to keep stopping to take photographs and admire the scenery. I have never, ever been anywhere so beautiful in my life! The mountain land is so very fertile and green and full of wildlife. Our drive along the US 50 took us over the highest point which is 11,312 feet!!!! Let me tell you that the high altitude certainly affects you!!!! It is really wierd to experience it - the weather is red hot with not a single cloud in the sky, yet the air is cold at this altitude. Also the air is thin and it makes you feel really wierd, a kind of pressure on your head and your stomach starts to churn somewhat! I can't quite believe that I have stepped this high on foot! The mountains, rivers and creeks are just so remarkeably outstanding. We are staying at Montrose which is over on the West side of Colorado. This is approximately around 7000 feet high! Tomorrow we are spending the day at the Black Canyon National Park, which is the most famous national park in Colorado. We are off in search of the bears!!!! I have posted some pictures which we took along our drive over here and will update again tomorrow evening with more blog and pictures.
Day 2 - Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, Colorado
We have spent the whole day in this breathtaking national park, with the most glorious views you could ever encounter and wildlife that you only see in zoos. The weather has been hot and we have been at both the top and bottom of the canyon. It is that beatiful that I cannot describe in words. The drive down to the bottom of the canyon is 16% gradiant and very frightening - even the breaks on the car smelled real bad when we reached the bottom! The rocks and cliffs are a real experience to take in. It really is in my opinion one of the most beautiful parts of the the world. Take a look at our photos. Tomorrow we drive just over 300 miles via the Grand Junction and the Colorado River back to Colorado Springs, so we are hoping for some more spectacular photo opportunities and views of wildlife. Will update our pictures and blog again tomorrow evening (Monday).
Day 3 - We have driven approx 312 miles back to Colorado Springs - via Grand Junction and the Colorado River through the Rocky mountains. The Colorado River is really spectacular as it can be as still as a mill pond in one place and yet 50 yards further can boast the most amazing rapids ever, it's so very beautiful. We had a brilliant drive and just had to keep stopping off at different places to take in the views. We drove over the Rocky Mountains and our highest peak ever was a stunning 11,539 feet high!!!!!! We don't ever think that we will ever beat that now and it is so very wierd to be that high up! We could almost touch the ski slopes! The villages we passed through along this route are geared up for snow skiers with quaint swiss like villages and towns. There is no snow as yet, but everything is in place along the roads for the first snow fall as it is cold enough at night at that altitude to start snowing now. It is very difficult to describe what this high altitude feels like - the air is very thin and it makes you feel very exhausted and tierd with pressure and headache symptoms and a sicky feeling in your stomach. We have been very lucky here in Colorado as there are a lot of wildfires up in Boulder which is in Northern Colorado, so we have not been affected. We also missed the explosion in San Francisco which was 2 miles west of where we were staying there. Here in Colorado we have seen the 'controlled burns' in the fields to prevent wildfires - it is 86 degrees farenheight here so you can understand when you see the landscape why the wildfires start. We have seen much wildlife again today including a fox and many spectacular birds, which we have got some amazing pictures of. I think there is one of everything here in Colorado except elephants!!! There are all kinds of snakes, spiders, bears, wolves coyote and all other kinds of creatures. We are back in Colorado Springs and tomorrow (Tuesday) we fly to Tenessee, Memphis via Dallas, Texas. Will update our blog and photo gallery when we go 'Walking in Memphis'!!!! And of course Gracelands!
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