No Show in Colorado

Back in January, I called my sister Gaylyna and told her I had bought two tickets to see Shane Smith & the Saints at Red Rocks Amphitheater for their show there in May.

I wasn’t sure she would be able to go, but figured if she couldn’t and I couldn’t find anyone else to go, I could probably sell the extra ticket. She called me back a few days later and told me she was onboard.

The original plan was to make a mad dash to Utah first and visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and cut back to Denver for the show on Tuesday, May 7^th. Four months of planning and that was revised to just stay visit three parks in Colorado, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison, oh and a day long train excursion from Durango to Silverton.

Well, we saw what we set out to see, except the show at Red Rocks.

Playlist for all of my YouTube Videos from the trip

 Thursday, May 2, 2024

I drove from Smithville, TX to my sister’s house in Skiatook, OK. Along the way I stopped by and had lunch with one of my favorite uncles (and people), Uncle James who now resides near Dallas. It was great to catch up with him for a bit, he’s had a tough road health wise the last few years and seems stronger than when I saw him at Christmas.

Friday, May 3, 2024

After Gaylyna got her kids off to school, and husband off to work, we left Skiatook and headed west towards Raton, New Mexico, our stop for the night.

Along the way we stopped at the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge in Jet Oklahoma. I remember going there when I was a we lad with my grandparents, parents, and brother possibly 1979. I found a couple of pictures from that trip. I remember stopping in a little town and us buying the bucket and shovel I am holding in the picture.

And here are some Gaylyna and I took.

In Raton, we stayed at the Raton Pass Motor Inn. The owner was cool at check in, and the rooms all have a theme. Our room was the Santa Fe Trail room, complete with a creepy picture Gaylyna thought would haunt us at some point during the night. 

Great Salt Plains Photo Album

Raton, NM Photo Album

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Great Sand Dunes National Park

We left Raton and headed for Colorado, with the first stop at Great Sand Dunes National Park. You’re just driving along looking at a mountain range and bam, there is a whole lot of sand in front of the mountain. During the trip to the visitor center, a ranger mentioned a road being shut down near Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We took note as we had hotel reservations in Gunnison.  This is foreshadowing for something to come later in our trip.

Treasure Falls/ San Juan National Forest

The first 50 miles or so from Great Sand Dunes National Park heading west is not real exciting, a lot of flat sandy, fields.  After stopping for lunch in Del Norte, the road took us southwest through some beautiful scenery, we saw a few snowflakes, and made a few stops, including Treasure Falls which is not far from Pagosa Springs, CO. Gaylyna hiked the trail up to the falls, I admired it from the roadside view.

Durango, Colorado

After getting checked in at our hotel and refreshing a bit, we went into downtown Durango and had dinner at the Diamond Belle Saloon, which is located inside the Straiter Hotel. According to their website, Louis Lamour used to rent a room above the saloon while writing some of his books. The night we were there, championship ragtime piano player Adam Swanson was entertaining with his talents.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel.

Sunday, May 5, 2024
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

The original trip plan had us going to Mesa Verde on Sunday morning and spending the day exploring there, before heading to Moab, UT.  I had been hearing about the Durango train for a few years, and after looking at their schedule realized we would need a full day to devote to it, so we changed plans and decided to not go on to Moab, so we could do the train, and still have time on the trip to see Mesa Verde without feeling rushed. I’m glad we did.

The trip we took was a steam train from Durango to Silverton, which takes 3.5 hours each way, with a stop in Silverton. I’ll let the pictures and video speak to if it was worth an all-day commitment (it was).  Along the route, a gentlemen kept popping up flying a Colorado flag, and he became the where is Waldo of the trip, with everyone wondering where he would be spotted next. 

In Silverton, we ate lunch in the building of a former brothel, Natalia’s 1912 Restaurant. It was basically the first we walked to that was open, and their first weekend open for the season.

After lunch, I didn’t go too far away from there and looked at a shop across the street and was also able to get a good look at a Galloping Goose. Gaylyna walked further around town.

Gaylyna called to let me know she had met Colorado flag man and had taken a picture with him. His name is Curtis Williams.

She then came back over to where I was waiting for the return trip on the train, and Curtis ended up over there too, so I was able to get my picture with him as well and talked to him for a few minutes. We told him we had been trying to find him on social media on the train ride up, he said he wasn’t on social media, but said he was going to get his grandkids to help get him set up. He really did add to the experience that day, and just for the fun of doing it, and entertaining people.

The train ride back was a little chilly, but we survived, we had the same seats on the return trip, and the scenery was great facing west, but for the east side view is the better of the two options, with better looks at the Animus River. We saw Curtis several more times on the ride back, including as we pulled into the train station in Durango.

Mesa Verde National Park

The drive from Durango to Far View Lodge, our lodging for the night inside of Mesa Verde NP, took about an hour and 20 minutes. The drive into Mesa Verde is quite spectacular. By the time we arrived at Far View Lodge, the sun had gone down, it was dark.

Monday, May 6, 2024

Early in the morning I looked out and could see stars visibly. Mesa Verde is known for being a dark skies park, with great views of the park at night. I tried to get a few pictures of the night sky, but it had snowed during the night, so our patio area was cold and icy, guess I could have put some shoes on.

We drove around the park for a bit before the only breakfast place opened at 7AM. Gaylyna had cleaned the snow off the car windows before we left our room.

After breakfast we spent several hours exploring the overlooks and trails where you can see the cliff dwelling sites. It’s remarkable to think of people 800-900 years ago, carving out cities inside the side of cliffs.  We headed out of the park a little after noon, with a stop at the visitor center on the way out.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

After lunch in Cortez, Colorado we headed towards the south rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It took about 4 hours to get there, and we arrived just after the visitor center shutdown for the day. However, we were able to drive the scenic route and made several stops along the way. Gaylyna did a few quick hikes. We drove as far as the road would take us, then turned around and headed out and towards our stop for the night, Grand Junction.

Remember earlier I mentioned foreshadowing. The original plan was for us to stay in Gunnison for the night, but due to construction on a bridge to get there, the road was shut down. The good news is we found out about it beforehand and were able to adjust our plans. The bad news is because of changing our plans, it affected our plans for the next day. The drive to Grand Junction was scenic, we saw the Grand Mesa on the way.  We made it to Grand Junction a little before 8PM.

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Breakfast was had at Denny’s, they were short staffed, but the three ladies working were doing their best to take care of a full restaurant. We weren’t in any hurry, a four-hour drive to Denver was in front of us, we would get there by noon, chill out around Denver, check into our hotel, and make it to Red Rocks by 5PM to get a good parking spot, and enjoy the concert. 

Well… about halfway to Denver, we ran into heavy snow and ice in Vail. I-70 came to a complete stop, and we mostly sat in the same spot for over 2 hours, by this time it was after noon. Eventually they cleared the road enough for us to turn around and head back in the other direction. Google maps started saying our estimated time of arrival in Denver would be after 6PM. We could make the concert in time with no more delays, but that didn’t seem likely being the route we were diverted too was literally through the mountains as well, the roads were sanded and plowed a little better in some spots, but it was stop and go, and treacherous driving in direction, cars sliding off the roads and into each other. At one point I didn’t think we were going to make it through the day without being in some kind of accident.  Google led us to the town of Leadville, looking at the map now it was obvious we should have turned to go back north before Leadville, but that’s not what Google said at the time. We stopped at a store there to use the facilities and get some snacks and food, as well as clean the ice and snow off the windows.  After leaving the town, Google led us in a big circle back to the same store.  Finally, we figured out we needed to go back in the direction we originally came from. We saw more cars that had slid off the road, along with blowing snow coming in spurts making the driving even more fun. A couple of thoughts, a person should have a road atlas or physical map no doubt, but the map also wouldn’t have shown if roads were closed. With that said, I am getting a Road Atlas like my grandad and dad always kept in the car.

We made it back to I-70 and there were only a few cars on the road, but snowplows were out, so we drove slowly. The roads were bad until about 30 miles west of Denver. Then the sun was out, and skies were clear, but it was close to 7PM we were wiped. We had already decided to forget the concert. Could we have made it? Probably so, I was bummed about it, but also needed to decompress after being in the car for 10 hours. Before we ran into the snowstorm, we both remarked how great of a trip we had even before going to the concert. Which we did. If the road had not been shut down to our original hotel in Gunnison, we probably would have made it just fine in time for the show, but in the grand scheme of things, getting through the snowstorm safe with no damage to life or property is nothing to complain about. Shane Smith and the Saints are based out of Austin, Texas, and I am sure I’ll be able to see them soon, just not at Red Rocks this year. Next year though….

They streamed the show on YouTube, so we were able to enjoy the show from the warmth of the hotel room.

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

We decided to go visit Red Rocks before heading back east. First, we had breakfast at a cool restaurant in Morrison called The Cow An Eatery, it is just a few miles away from Red Rocks.

I think going to Red Rocks and taking in the scenery helped provide closure for missing the show. We stayed long enough for the Trading Post gift shop to open and bought some souvenirs. Also there were some signs left over from a tailgate party the day before. Gaylyna grabbed it for me.

I saw a hat I liked but didn’t like for $40. Gaylyna ended up buying it for me for my birthday.

We headed east and stayed in Salina, Kansas for the night, and drove the rest of the way to Gaylyna’s on Thursday morning.

I would love to do a trip with all my siblings, but it’s hard to get the logistics of that between jobs, family, and money to all line up at the same time.

The trip was a lot of fun, and I am glad Gaylyna, and I were able to create the memories.

“Your life is a canvas, you paint some everyday
And when you think you’ve got it all figured out in your head
You know the Man’s got your final say
And look back on all your memories, if we go our separate ways
Don’t forget your life’s a canvas, we might get painted back someday”
-Lyrics from ‘Canvas’ -Shane Smith & The Saints