Letter 28 On to Colorado
Monday, September 8 saw us leaving the beautiful Cottonwood Canyon east of Salt Lake City. We took Highway 80 east and up a 10 mile climb to the ski area where the Olympics were held several years ago. In our last letter Fred reported it would be about a 20 mile uphill climb. He’s glad he was wrong. It wasn’t a bad stretch. We drove behind a slow moving truck and made it just fine. We counted 6 ski slope areas and the ski jump ramps. With all those and the four in both Cottonwood Canyons it seems Salt Lake City would really be the place to ski. Of course, we have no idea how conditions are compared to other places.
From there we took US Hwy 40 across the northern part of Utah. Some of it looked like west Texas or Oklahoma. We stopped for the night at
Steinaker State Park, seven miles north of Vernal, UT. We were so impressed with the town’s flowers we missed the highway turn to go to the State Park. We made the turn on the second trip thru town. They have miles of petunias in hanging baskets and planters. We asked who watered them and were told the city keeps them watered. This is desert country and for that many flowers to be blooming was impressive. Don’t tell us Waxahachie or Duncanville couldn’t do the same thing. See more information tomorrow.
The road north to the park was very arid, rolling and uninteresting. The park is on a lake and has two layers of camping spots. The pretty ones are close to the lake and under large cottonwood trees, but they do not have hookups. After being without for 6 nights we felt we needed electricity to charge our batteries. It’s too bad the pretty campgrounds don’t have hookups, but such is life. You win some and you lose some.
This campground is such a contrast to the last forest camp in cottonwood canyon. That one had a mountain stream, trees and lots of foliage. This one is dry and sandy, but we had a beautiful sunset that we could see and a half moon. We missed that in last spot. That’s one of the nice things about camping, just move and your whole landscape changes.
Tuesday, September 9, we drove into town to piddle around. While there we went to the city hall to find out about
the petunias. We were told
1. They have a population of fewer than 10,000 people and entered “American in Bloom” contest for small cities. They were the first to win the award in the West. For more info on the award to http://www.americainbloom.org/
2. There are 3 miles of planters and hanging baskets along HWY 40 in their town. Others are scattered in the town and even at the state park.
3. The plants are started at “Basic Nursery Garden Center,” 3150 N. Vernal Ave, Box 310, Vernal Utah 84078. They are the “Wave” Variety of Petunias. They hold up to Heat, dry weather and wind better than other varieties. The city employees even go to the nursery to help with the planting. They are planted in round cardboard fiber planters. 11 plants in each planter.
4. The businesses buy the round concrete planters, and then the city inserts the cardboard ones already planted. Saves water. When they started they had dirt in the concrete, but it took too much water, so they started the cardboard inserts.
5. There are over 1000 planters and 340 hanging baskets.
6. The nursery said there were 30-40,000 plants!
7. The city has a special watering truck with right hand drive and a wand. Two employees water the plants. One from the truck, the other gets the harder to reach plants.
8. They water every night when traffic doesn’t interfere; they fertilize twice a week and use systemic bug killer twice a season.
9. The street Superintendent for Vernal is Glade Allred, 435-789-6924. He was on vacation for about two weeks.
10. Go to http://www.vernalcity.org/photogallery/bloom.htm to see their pictures.
Wednesday, September 10, we moved across sagebrush and rolling hills into northwest Colorado following US Highway 40. We passed up three entrances to Dinasour National Monument. At Steamboat Springs we stopped to have repair work to the propane hoses and regulator. Stagecoach State Park was our home for the night, on Stagecoach Lake south of Steamboat Springs. As we started parking a rain shower showed up and even a little hail. After setting up we met several other campers. They were from San Antonio, Albuquerque and Minnesota. We are anxious about Hurricane Ike pointed toward Rockport, TX and our family there.
Thursday, September 11, we didn’t have internet or cell service and would have liked to talk to our family about Ike. We woke up to a gentle rain and overcast skies and maybe some new snow on the mountain to the west. We drove to the little town of Oak Creek and washed. Two Amish ladies and three children were washing. Their husbands were Elk hunting and the two families are tent camping. One of the ladies has 15 children! We were surprised about the hunting and how they arrived here from Missouri. Well, they have a driver who brought them out – a retired policemen and non-Amish friend. They come each year. We also wondered about them using electricity to wash and dry their clothes. Olivia had a hard time with them camping in those long dresses, long puffed sleeves, aprons, and bonnets. Guess it would be like the women in the wagon trains.
This whole area seems to be ELK country.
Also in the laundromat was our camp host. They both like to fish at the lake by the State Park, so Fred bought a fishing license so he could bank fish. The hosts also told us of a good place to eat Mexican Food so we split a chicken enchilada dinner for lunch, so Fred can fish all he wants before dark.
Sure enough when we arrived back at the camp ground the wind was blowing a gale. Fred had time to read all the fishing regulations. The sky is overcast with sprinkles now and then. Then the wind really started blowing. The temperature is about 50 degrees. We decided IKE had jumped all the way up here.
Friday, Sept 12, we decided with the bad weather to go ahead and move to Loveland and Boyd Lake State Park. We drove north of Rocky Mountain State Park along Hwy 14 and down the Cache de la Poudre River and Canyon.
At the top of the pass it had snowed. 
The trees had snow on them. It was very pretty. The canyon drive was also pretty including
a tunnel. This was a long day for us and we were glad to get parked.
Saturday, Sept 13, was prep day for visitors. We went to the grocery store then cleaned house. It was a beautiful day with a view of the Rocky Mountains.
Sunday, September 14 was another cloudy day as we packed up for the drive to Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Big Thompson Canyon was just as pretty as it has always been and as we neared Estes Park the sun came out.
We skirted the town of Estes Park and arrived in time for church at the First United Methodist Church of Estes Park. They had a social, coffee time then blinked the lights when time for church to start. We were introduced as visitors along with about 20 others. Their membership is higher in the summer than in the winter and have they have lots of visitors. They asked us to stand and they brought a microphone to each for us to introduce ourselves. Along with children’s church they had “noisy” collection for the “Heffer” project. The children actually passed the tin containers so when everyone dropped their coins in, it was noisy! It was so cute and educational for the children. We think they do this once a month. The sanctuary ceiling was made of lightly stained aspen planks and the altar was glass to be able to see the mountains. It was a spectacular view.
It was also on the side of the hill and hard to take a picture but we tried. On the way to the campground we saw several herds of elk and
a nicely posed bull.
We checked into our reserved site (A60) at the Moraine Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park and it is lovely. Has ponderosa pine trees, a long level pad and
a view of Long’s Peak.
View from the roadway. We do have to walk a few feet to see it, but close enough. We will be here until Friday when we go into Denver to see family and friends.
For comments please contact:
Olivia@bobheck.com or fredharrington@yahoo.com
Monday, September 8 saw us leaving the beautiful Cottonwood Canyon east of Salt Lake City. We took Highway 80 east and up a 10 mile climb to the ski area where the Olympics were held several years ago. In our last letter Fred reported it would be about a 20 mile uphill climb. He’s glad he was wrong. It wasn’t a bad stretch. We drove behind a slow moving truck and made it just fine. We counted 6 ski slope areas and the ski jump ramps. With all those and the four in both Cottonwood Canyons it seems Salt Lake City would really be the place to ski. Of course, we have no idea how conditions are compared to other places.
From there we took US Hwy 40 across the northern part of Utah. Some of it looked like west Texas or Oklahoma. We stopped for the night at
Steinaker State Park, seven miles north of Vernal, UT. We were so impressed with the town’s flowers we missed the highway turn to go to the State Park. We made the turn on the second trip thru town. They have miles of petunias in hanging baskets and planters. We asked who watered them and were told the city keeps them watered. This is desert country and for that many flowers to be blooming was impressive. Don’t tell us Waxahachie or Duncanville couldn’t do the same thing. See more information tomorrow.The road north to the park was very arid, rolling and uninteresting. The park is on a lake and has two layers of camping spots. The pretty ones are close to the lake and under large cottonwood trees, but they do not have hookups. After being without for 6 nights we felt we needed electricity to charge our batteries. It’s too bad the pretty campgrounds don’t have hookups, but such is life. You win some and you lose some.
This campground is such a contrast to the last forest camp in cottonwood canyon. That one had a mountain stream, trees and lots of foliage. This one is dry and sandy, but we had a beautiful sunset that we could see and a half moon. We missed that in last spot. That’s one of the nice things about camping, just move and your whole landscape changes.
Tuesday, September 9, we drove into town to piddle around. While there we went to the city hall to find out about
the petunias. We were told 1. They have a population of fewer than 10,000 people and entered “American in Bloom” contest for small cities. They were the first to win the award in the West. For more info on the award to http://www.americainbloom.org/
2. There are 3 miles of planters and hanging baskets along HWY 40 in their town. Others are scattered in the town and even at the state park.
3. The plants are started at “Basic Nursery Garden Center,” 3150 N. Vernal Ave, Box 310, Vernal Utah 84078. They are the “Wave” Variety of Petunias. They hold up to Heat, dry weather and wind better than other varieties. The city employees even go to the nursery to help with the planting. They are planted in round cardboard fiber planters. 11 plants in each planter.
4. The businesses buy the round concrete planters, and then the city inserts the cardboard ones already planted. Saves water. When they started they had dirt in the concrete, but it took too much water, so they started the cardboard inserts.
5. There are over 1000 planters and 340 hanging baskets.
6. The nursery said there were 30-40,000 plants!
7. The city has a special watering truck with right hand drive and a wand. Two employees water the plants. One from the truck, the other gets the harder to reach plants.
8. They water every night when traffic doesn’t interfere; they fertilize twice a week and use systemic bug killer twice a season.
9. The street Superintendent for Vernal is Glade Allred, 435-789-6924. He was on vacation for about two weeks.
10. Go to http://www.vernalcity.org/photogallery/bloom.htm to see their pictures.
Wednesday, September 10, we moved across sagebrush and rolling hills into northwest Colorado following US Highway 40. We passed up three entrances to Dinasour National Monument. At Steamboat Springs we stopped to have repair work to the propane hoses and regulator. Stagecoach State Park was our home for the night, on Stagecoach Lake south of Steamboat Springs. As we started parking a rain shower showed up and even a little hail. After setting up we met several other campers. They were from San Antonio, Albuquerque and Minnesota. We are anxious about Hurricane Ike pointed toward Rockport, TX and our family there.
Thursday, September 11, we didn’t have internet or cell service and would have liked to talk to our family about Ike. We woke up to a gentle rain and overcast skies and maybe some new snow on the mountain to the west. We drove to the little town of Oak Creek and washed. Two Amish ladies and three children were washing. Their husbands were Elk hunting and the two families are tent camping. One of the ladies has 15 children! We were surprised about the hunting and how they arrived here from Missouri. Well, they have a driver who brought them out – a retired policemen and non-Amish friend. They come each year. We also wondered about them using electricity to wash and dry their clothes. Olivia had a hard time with them camping in those long dresses, long puffed sleeves, aprons, and bonnets. Guess it would be like the women in the wagon trains.
This whole area seems to be ELK country.
Also in the laundromat was our camp host. They both like to fish at the lake by the State Park, so Fred bought a fishing license so he could bank fish. The hosts also told us of a good place to eat Mexican Food so we split a chicken enchilada dinner for lunch, so Fred can fish all he wants before dark.
Sure enough when we arrived back at the camp ground the wind was blowing a gale. Fred had time to read all the fishing regulations. The sky is overcast with sprinkles now and then. Then the wind really started blowing. The temperature is about 50 degrees. We decided IKE had jumped all the way up here.
Friday, Sept 12, we decided with the bad weather to go ahead and move to Loveland and Boyd Lake State Park. We drove north of Rocky Mountain State Park along Hwy 14 and down the Cache de la Poudre River and Canyon.
At the top of the pass it had snowed. The trees had snow on them. It was very pretty. The canyon drive was also pretty includinga tunnel. This was a long day for us and we were glad to get parked.Saturday, Sept 13, was prep day for visitors. We went to the grocery store then cleaned house. It was a beautiful day with a view of the Rocky Mountains.
Sunday, September 14 was another cloudy day as we packed up for the drive to Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Big Thompson Canyon was just as pretty as it has always been and as we neared Estes Park the sun came out.We skirted the town of Estes Park and arrived in time for church at the First United Methodist Church of Estes Park. They had a social, coffee time then blinked the lights when time for church to start. We were introduced as visitors along with about 20 others. Their membership is higher in the summer than in the winter and have they have lots of visitors. They asked us to stand and they brought a microphone to each for us to introduce ourselves. Along with children’s church they had “noisy” collection for the “Heffer” project. The children actually passed the tin containers so when everyone dropped their coins in, it was noisy! It was so cute and educational for the children. We think they do this once a month. The sanctuary ceiling was made of lightly stained aspen planks and the altar was glass to be able to see the mountains. It was a spectacular view.
It was also on the side of the hill and hard to take a picture but we tried. On the way to the campground we saw several herds of elk anda nicely posed bull.We checked into our reserved site (A60) at the Moraine Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park and it is lovely. Has ponderosa pine trees, a long level pad and
a view of Long’s Peak.View from the roadway. We do have to walk a few feet to see it, but close enough. We will be here until Friday when we go into Denver to see family and friends.For comments please contact:
Olivia@bobheck.com or fredharrington@yahoo.com
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