Day #22, Santa Fe to Albuquerque NM

Saturday Oct 31, 2009 - Today we traveled from Santa Fe to Albuquerque (that's 62 miles). First we looked up the LDS Temple and then rode the tram up the mountain.
The following pictures show what we saw on the road to Albuquerque.

We visited the Albuquerque Temple. It's up on a hill looking down on all of Albuquerque.

Then we went to ride the "longest tram in the world. The ride up took about 15 minutes to go up. The weather was beautiful.

Here you can see that Nina made it all the way to the top. She was even looking out and down for the entire ride. I think she is getting braver and braver.

These are pictures as we were driving around Albuquerque. I liked the couple at the bottom walking their dogs.

Day #21, Santa Fe

Friday Oct 29, 2009 - Today we just toured around Santa Fe.
First we went to the State Capital building. It is round with a flat top. There are glass panels in the center of the building that gives it the appearance of a dome.

Then we went to the Cathedral near the Down Town Plaza. There were other churches in the area also.

The following are pictures from while we were driving around down town Santa Fe.

The following houses were in a housing development just out side of town.

More picture while driving around Santa Fe. The a furniture store named "Jackalope Furniture"

Day #20, Taos to Santa Fe NM

Thursday Oct 29, 2009 - Traveled between Taos and Santa Fe. My back was feeling a lot better so we could travel. Nina drove and I sat in the passenger set and took pictures. I don't think I am as dedicated to the job as Nina is.
The following is what we saw between Taos and Santa Fe. I liked the house with the flag and Camel Rock.

When we got to Santa Fe the sun was out, it was cold, and then later it snowed hard. We just cannot seem to get away from the snow.

Day #19, Taos NM (Sick)

Wednesday Oct 28, 2009 - Today I got sick. I went down to breakfast and was placing some apple juice on the table when a sharp pain went down my back. I was just able to make it back to the room. Apparently I have pinched my sciatica nerve in my back. I have been flat on my back for most of the day in a great deal of pain. We hope to move on the Santa Fe tomorrow, but we will just wait and see how I am feeling tomorrow.
The picture below shows how I have been feeling today. (in jail)

This is the room we spent the entire day.

The weather outside was not too good for traveling. There was snow all the way from Taos to Santa Fe. The temperature got down to the low 20's. We're hoping for a better day tomarrow.

Day #18, Taos NM

Tuesday Oct 27, 2009 - Today was Taos day.
We first went to the "Taos Pueblo". Which is over 1000 years old. It is still being lived in, therefore it has been lived in continuously for 1000 yrs.

They practice both their Indian religion and the Catholic religion in the Pueblo. The building in the lower right was bombed by US troops killing 150 people after the Indians were involved in an uprising where the Governor was killed.

This is the St. Francisco de Assisi Church in down town Taos. This is the Catholic church used by the people in town.

These are pictures from our travels around Taos.

Animials for the day. I found a friend at the Taos Pueblo. Nina spotted a cat as we left the Pueblo. There were about 30 dogs and one lone cat. Then it looked like a hunter had a good hunt.

Day #17, Pueblo CO to Taos NM

Monday Oct 26, 2009 - Today we traveled from Pueblo CO to Taos NM (205 miles) over a mountain pass with lots of snow. I had hoped that we had left the snow in Wyoming.
It was a beautiful drive. The snow in the trees looked like a Christmas Card. By the time we got to Taos the snow was gone.

Most of the buildings in Taos are of the adobe style.

Even the McDonald's building looks like an adobe building.

We went to see another bridge. This one was a real bridge used to handle traffic. While I walked out on the bridge to take pictures, Nina volunteered to stay back at the car and do some shopping at the jewelry counters.

Day #16, Colorado Springs to Pueblo Co.

Sunday Oct 25, 2009 - Today we traveled from Colorado Springs, Co. to Pueblo, Co. via "Royal Gorge Bridge.
Things we saw on the road.

Royal Gorge Bridge was built as a tourist attraction. We first rode the tram across the gorge. This is about 1500 ft above the river below. The temperature was about 35 degrees with wind and rain. It was oh, so cold. In spite of all that, there were rafters going down the river.

Then we went over and rode the Incline Railway to the bottom of the gorge. Nina made it all the way on both rides.

Day #15, Colorado Springs

Saturday Oct 24, 2009 - Today we went up Pikes Peak and visited the Air Force Academy.
The following are misc photos around the Colorado Springs. Some are fine some are strange.

There is a "Cog Train" that runs up Pikes Peak. It takes about 1 1/2 hours round trip. This time the trip was a little short because the snow on top was so bad that the trains could not get to the top.

You can see there is plenty of snow at the top. They ran a snowplow before our train but they could not get above 11,500 ft. That put us about the tree line and gave us a great view.

Next we went to the Air Force Academy. They have a great campus on a hug piece of land. The church building is still the center piece of the academy. They have 4 separate chapels in the one building. One for Catholic, one for Protestant, one for Jewish and one for Buddhist.

Day #14, Denver to Colorado Springs

Friday Oct 23, 2009 - Today we traveled from Denver to Colorado Springs (That's 92 miles).
This is what we saw between the 2 towns.

We went to an area called the Garden of the Gods. It is a park donated to the city of Colorado Springs as long as they would not charge for access to the area. There are some amazing big rocks. The upper left photo is Nina coming to pick me up after my hike.

Then we went to a small town named Manitou Springs. They are having "coffin races" down their main street tomorrow. We were going there tomorrow to ride the "Cog Train" up Pikes Peak but because of the "coffin races" we will be waiting until the next day.

Day #13, Denver

Thursday Oct 22, 2009 - We toured around Denver today. When we woke up this morning there was no snow outside our windows but by the time we got to the Temple there was lots of snow.
Check out the Denver Temple below in snow. The rest of the day the weather was just great.

Then we went to the center of Denver to the Plaza. The city building is at one end and the state capital is at the other end, city center is east and the museums are to the west. It is a very impressive area of Denver.

We had lunch with the fishes. We went to the Aquarium Restaurant and had lunch while watching the fish.

Then more travels around Denver. That's a 40ft bear looking into the Convention Center. The animal for the day is a squirrel. The theme park is in the center of Denver but at this time of the year it is very closed.

After all that the real excitement started. We went shopping at Joann's for a thingy for Nina to do at nights or when I need to take a nap.

Day #12, Cheyenne Wy to Denver Co

Wednesday Oct 21, 2009 - We drove from Cheyenne to Denver via Nebraska. Nina wanted to go to Nebraska so we could count an additional state visited. This added 100 miles to the trip but we got to see the "Our Lady of Peace" statue.
The many states we visited today are shown below. Out of Wy into Ne out of Ne into Wy out of Wy into Co. Wow, that's a lot of states in one day.

The "Our lady of Peace" statue is over 5 stories tall and has 14 smaller statues located around it showing Christ's story. It was located in Pine Bluffs Wy. This is a very small town located about 50 miles east of Cheyenne.

Then we got to Denver Co. We drove around for a while. We had a chance to see down town Denver and then we found the Bronco's Stadium. Nina did found one lighthouse in Denver. Why Denver needs a lighthouse know one will ever know.

Day #11, Cheyenne

Tuesday Oct 20, 2009 - We toured around Cheyenne today.
We went to the state capital building, saw strange motel signs, trains and President Lincoln is a big deal in Cheyenne area.

They have a large museum dedicated to the Rodeo in Cheyenne. They have a very big rodeo here in the summer. Check out the cool cowboy & cowgirl in the photo.

Cheyenne has boots, boots & more boots.

Day #10, Rawlins Wy to Cheyenne Wy

Monday Oct 19, 2009 - We traveled from Rawlins Wy to Cheyenne Wy (159 miles). We saw small towns, wind turbines, old buildings and a lot of wide open spaces.
We tried to go the State Penitentiary in Rawlins but they had it closed to decorate for a special Halloween showing. So we headed for Cheyenne.

On our way we went through Hanna, Medicine Bow, Rock River, Bosler and Laramie. Most of the towns looked like the pictures below.

Laramie was a lot bigger and we found a place to have lunch.

Then we got to Cheyenne. Drove around and got our bearings in preparation for our tour of Cheyenne tomorrow.

The animal for today was a dead deer in the back of this pickup. It is deer season here and there are lots of hunters everywhere you go.

Day #9, Casper Wy to Rawlins Wy

Sunday Oct 18, 2009 - On our travels from Casper to Rawlins we saw dams, handcarts, deer, rocks and Rawlins.
They have a deep little canyon named Fremont Canyon. There is a 3 mile tunnel running from here to the Dam. It looked like we could have driven into the tunnel.

Then we found the Pathfinder dam. It was at a beautiful site. It is amazing the different kind of dams they get built.

The we went to the Mormon Handcart display, Martin's Cove. The LDS Church bought a ranch were Martin's Cove was located. It is a working ranch with over500,000 acreas, 1000 cattle and most of the work is done by elder missionaries. We talked with a missionary couple that had served with Roger & Gaye.

Animal of the day was many deer at the handcart display.

Then we pulled into Rawlins. Nina was impressed with the drive-up liquor stores.