Day 15 - Driving from Grand Junction, CO to North Platte, NE.
With almost 8 hours of driving, plus a time zone change, we got on the road early. We were excited to drive Interstate 70 and see "the most beautiful 12 miles of Interstate in America".
Our first stop of the day was for a letterbox in Glenwood Springs - at the historical Hotel Colorado. What a quaint mountain resort town!
Next stop - No Name Rest Area (loved the name!!) for a scenic view and a letterbox hunt. No Name is the actual name of the community! It was a wonderful stop with so much beauty! We loved witnessing a large number of rafts floating by on the Colorado River.
We got back on the road and WOW!, we weren't disappointed! The No Name Tunnels (just before the Rest Area exit) were the start of the 12 mile "beautiful" stretch of interstate. The only downfalls to driving that day - construction and overcast skies.
We stopped in Eagle River for lunch, gas & to hunt for a letterbox. We were successful with 2 of the 3, unfortunately, no letterbox. Alex, Maddie & I walked down to the river (Eagle River) to enjoy the view while Matt looked for the box. The beauty and serenity of the area will be etched in my mind for years. The laughter of the girls as they tried to skip stones across the water - it is something I won't soon forget. It was a great stop!
We climbed and descended massive mountain passes with awesome views at every turn! The ski resort towns were impressive to say the least, as were the bike paths running alongside the interstate and the ski resorts that we could see off in the distance.
Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel
We drove past Vail and Copper Mountain then stopped at Frisco for another letterbox. Driving through Frisco, we decided that we liked driving BY the towns better than driving THROUGH them! So many tourists! People on foot, on bikes, on segways, in cars...it felt like a Dr. Seuss rhyme! We made our way through town to the Frisco Cemetery to look for the letterbox. So thankful that Matt found it since it took a bit of time and lots of stress to get there!
The drive from Frisco to Denver was pretty crazy. Lots and lots of traffic that would just come to a stop at any given time. No warning - from 70 down to 0 in no time. All the while careening down a mountain! It was extremely stressful and frankly, a bit scary.
What a neat waterwheel and waterfall right beside I-70! After looking it up, it is called the Charlie Tayler Waterwheel, right outside Idaho Springs. I was pretty surprised that my picture wasn't more blurry - we came up on it pretty quickly and I grabbed the camera to get a shot.
We decided to stop in Arvada (near Denver) to run in to a Dollar Tree and get some snacks. Everyone had their own money to spend and, oh boy, did we ever get candy/snacks!! It was a fun stop and much needed to get out and stretch out legs, use the restroom and fill up with gas. From this point, we still had almost 4 hours of driving until we reached North Platte.
Saying goodbye to the mountains, we continued East out of Denver and headed towards Nebraska. We witnessed a few rain/storm clouds off in the distance, luckily, we didn't get wet.
Matt had a suggestion early on in the day. He wanted to re-create our "Welcome to Colorado" picture from 2015. While we drove, I was able to pull up the picture from 5 years prior and showed the kids so we could do our best to re-create it. I love how the kids embraced the idea! Kaitee loaned Maddie her hip bag. Will found some sunglasses and a long piece of grass. Not too shabby!
We pulled in to North Platte just in time for a late dinner (we got to sit inside at a Dairy Queen! We will never take eating inside a restaurant for granted again! It was so nice to have that option!)
Driving to our hotel, we could see / feel the storm around us brewing. It never really amounted to anything, but Kaitee and Matt sat outside for an hour or two, enjoying the beauty of the storm. Our hotel was right next to the Veteran's Memorial - it was very well done, very moving (especially with the calm before the storm feel in the atmosphere).
We were tired from sitting in the van all day - ready to get some sleep! We were looking forward to Day 16 - driving home!
Favorites from the Day:
Maddie - Driving through the Tunnels in the Mountains
Kaitee - Sitting outside with Matt, looking at the Memorial and watching the storm/sky
Alex - No Name Rest Area and finding the letterbox there (with Matt)
Will - eating at Dairy Queen and our hotel for the night (he said he felt like a Bed & Breakfast)
Matt - No Name Rest Area (Letterbox), I-70 Scenery and visiting the Memorial that night
Becki - No Name Rest Area and I-70 Scenery
