johnboystravelblog

I am spending two nights in Breckenridge, a ski town about two hours west of Denver.  My youngest brother, David, spent the winter of the year he graduated college working at a ski shop in Breckenridge.

This is the view from the interstate at the Breckenridge exit looking south.

And this is a typical scene on the main street in town.

When my friend Shawn learned I was going to be staying in Breckenridge she told me I needed to go to a little French bakery in town and order “Little Nuns,” which are basically three small eclairs, Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear size, stacked like a snowman.  Well, I found the bakery but they had no idea what I was talking about, so of course I opted for beignets instead!

Trust me, they weren’t nearly as good as they look.  They need to send their staff to New Orleans to learn how to make a proper beignet.  I struggled to eat them both, as they really weren’t even as good as the doughnuts I get at home.  As Trump would say, “Sad”.

I texted my brother to see if he wanted me to get him anything while I was here.  He replied “Nothing from Breck other than a piece of property on Peak 6, please. Preferably ski-in, ski-out”.  Well, I checked and they had just sold the last one, so I got him a magnet.

After getting off the dreaded interstate I started driving north on a section of what is known as the “Million Dollar Highway”.  I quickly came to the small towns of Century City and Black Hawk, which are comprised mainly of quaint little casinos.  This one obviously caught my eye (and for those of you who don’t know me, I live in Durham, North Carolina, a tobacco town and the place where the movie “Bull Durham” was filmed).

I’ll post pictures from Century City tomorrow.  It is really a cute little town.

 

 

 

 

I had passed this church yesterday on the way down to Breckenridge but the sun was in a better spot as I drove by today so I stopped again to get better pictures.  Technically this is the Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel in Allenspark, Colorado, just south of Estes Park.  Pope John Paul II visited the church while in Denver in 1993.  He enjoyed a hike in the nearby woods, and also visited the St. Malo Retreat and Conference Center which was adjacent to the church.

The Conference Center burned in November 2011.  A major rock slide destroyed most of the property around the church in 2013 and it was forced to close.  It is now a construction site as the State of Colorado has taken over the property and is renovating the building.

 

Shortly before getting to Estes Park I noticed this sign next to the highway.  I briefly thought of crashing the wedding but I already had a very busy day planned, it occurred to me that both Justin and Raylynn are both probably 1/3 my age, and they’d probably make me dance.  If I had known what was coming up next I would have danced like no one was watching….

 

My plan for the day was to drive north from Breckenridge on the Million Dollar Highway up to Estes Park, go through Rocky Mountain National Park from east to west one last time, attend the production of “Newsies” at the Repertory Theatre in Grand Lake outside the west entrance to the Park and return to Breckenridge in the wee hours of the morning.  Well, everything was going along swimmingly until mid-day when I created a but of a dilemma for myself while trying to pull off the highway for a photo op.

Go grab a drink, I feel another amusing JohnBoy story coming on…..

As I approached Estes Park on Route 7 I got a quick glimpse of the town in the valley before me.  I thought, hmmmm, that would make a great picture, and started looking for a safe place to pull off the road.  The first two pullouts already had vehicles parked in them.  The third was empty so I slowed down and signaled to the two vehicles behind me that I intended to pull off the road.

Before actually pulling off I noticed that there was a considerable drop off between the road surface and the parking area, which was mostly dirt.  Rather than bottom out the chassis of the car I drove to the end of the pullout where the drop off wasn’t as steep.  I could only get 2 wheels off the pavement but that at least gave the cars behind me a chance to pull around.  I put the car in reverse and proceeded to back up into the pullout area.

Next thing I know the front of the car went up, then went down and I heard the distinctive sound of metal on rock.  I was stuck.  Fortunately I was completely off the highway, and I was also fortunate to be in a spot where I could use my cell phone.  After assessing the situation and making one brief attempt to extricate myself, I called AAA.

As you can see, many other folks have bottomed out exiting the highway.

This was the best way I could think of to demonstrate how steep the drop off was.  That is a 16 oz. water bottle.

I put the rock to the left behind the tire to try and get traction backing up.  It didn’t help.

The car was at an elevation of 8,881 feet.  The bottom of my right front tire was at 8,880.

The source of the problem.

Well, long story short, it took AAA 3 HOURS to get there, even though the towing company was only 6 miles away (and it was only 7 miles to Estes Park).  Apparently Bob’s Towing is the only company they use in Estes Park.  I became increasingly frustrated at the beautiful day slipping away.  When the tow truck finally got there it took all of 4 minutes to hook up to my car and pull it backwards off the rock.

I had called my nephew while all this was going on and alerted him that I may not make it to the show.  When I determined that there was no damage to the car (other than a piece of plastic dislodged underneath the engine, merely cosmetic) I drove in to Estes Park, filled the tank with gas and returned to Breckenridge.

 

I mean catch up is a bitch.

Posted a few more things from earlier in the trip last night, but still have a serious backlog.  Have been in Rocky Mountain Park each of the last three days and continue to add to the list of pictures which I will get around to posting eventually.  Will go up to the Park for the final time this trip in just a little while (writing this at 718a local time, Saturday).

Moved the JohnBoy roadshow from Fort Collins to Breckenridge, Colorado yesterday evening and will be here one more night before heading further south to Colorado Springs for 4 nights.

Weather out here in Colorado has been spectacular.  I should have mentioned in the ominous “Winter is coming…” post the other day that that was an isolated incident.  The weather in Colorado is extremely changeable.  Conditions can improve or deteriorate VERY quickly.  Rain may occur near you, if not right where you are.  This time of year it rains a little just about every afternoon.  Temperatures at high elevation are brisk and there is often a stiff wind, but down below it is very pleasant.

The Colorado air is clear and refreshing.  Temperatures since I left Idaho have been much more agreeable.  I have the sunroof open every morning and evening (but shut it mid-day so I don’t burn my bald spot!)  The risk of wildfires in southern Wyoming and where I’ve been so far in Colorado is relatively low compared to where I’ve been the past few weeks.

In the interest of full disclosure, I had been debating ever since this happened whether I would share this story or not.  I really do feel bad about it, but after the day I tried to save the dazed and confused hawk who was laying by the side of a busy road (which I consider a yang moment for me even though he perished at the hand of another) I guess I’d better unload this yin moment which happened about 2 weeks ago.

This is a dove, the International symbol of peace.  They are attractive birds which making charming cooing sounds.

(Photo credit: tpwd.texas.gov)

I’ve also determined that they are not the brightest or fastest animals on the planet.

Here’s what happened.  After having spent the night in La Grande, Oregon I had driven south to the town of Baker City with the intent of making a scenic loop west of the highway.  As you may recall from an earlier post, I had to abandon that plan due to a wildfire along that loop road which would have forced me to backtrack.  I decided to take a shorter, more direct scenic road back towards La Grande.  That road took me to the little town of Haines.

As I was driving along I noticed some doves in the road ahead of me.  Generally birds will fly away before you get to them so while I probably lifted off the gas slightly as a gut reaction, I proceeded.  Well, as the doves took flight one of them decided he must have dropped his house keys in the road and turned right around and landed in front of me.  He misjudged my closing rate and poof… he was toast.  There were feathers everywhere.

It made me think of a conversation I had with a woman when I was at Crater Lake National Park, where we were discussing the suicidal butterflies.  Her remark was “If God had wanted them to live longer He’d have given them bigger brains”.

 

Back when I was staying in Boise I made two trips north to the town of McCall, which is about 2 hours away.  McCall is on the northern end of one of my scenic roads.  I also had to pass through it on my way to the portions of Hell’s Canyon I had been expecting to see originally.

McCall is a town of about 3,000 people located on the southern shore of Payette Lake.  It is a resort town and the lake is a popular site for various forms of recreation.

Before I even got to the lake I was struck but the extremely colorful display of wildflowers which were located on the corners of major intersections outside of town.  They consisted of probably the most impressive variety I have ever seen.

Another thing which impressed me about McCall was the flag system they used in town at intersections where pedestrians have the right-of-way.  There were flag stations on each corner and when you wanted to cross the street you removed a flag and used it to indicate to drivers that you were crossing.  You then put it back in the flag station on the other side of the street.  Pretty clever.  I have never seen that system used before.

And there was another reason I wanted to visit McCall.  As many of you know, I am a big NASCAR race fan.  There is a driver named Brian Scott who had competed in the upper eschelon series of NASCAR (Truck, Xfinity and Cup) for several years.  He was almost always sponsored by Shore Lodge in McCall Idaho.  Well as it turns out, his family OWNS Shore Lodge.  Oh, and he and his family are descendents of the Albertson family which founded the Albertsons grocery store chain, the second largest in the United States after Kroger.  So that’s why little Brian can go racing on weekends.  Daddy has deep pockets.  It’s the same reason Paul Menard, who’s father owns the Menards hardware store chain (like Home Depot and Lowes) and is the wealthiest person in Wisconsin, races.

Nevertheless, Shore Lodge is a beautiful vacation spot.

And inside Shore Lodge was this amazing aquarium.

 

I figured it was about time I let you meet my traveling companions which are allowing me to traverse and document this incredible journey.

This is my Motorola Turbo Android smartphone which provides the majority of the photos you have seen.  It takes excellent quality full frame pictures.

And this is my Canon PowerShot SX 530 HS digital camera.  I acquired it about halfway through my visit to Yellowstone when I became disenchanted with the quality of the zoom pictures my smartphone was taking.

And I couldn’t get to some of the venues I have seen without the aid of my 3rd GPS unit, a Magellan RoadMate 5322LM.

She’s currently on probation, though, and may very soon suffer the same fate as my first two GPS units which were both tossed out the driver’s window when I got frustrated with them. It’s not looking good…

After spending the night in Rexburg, Idaho I headed north towards the town of Island Park to find my first scenic road of the day.  As I drove north I could see the Grand Teton mountain range to the east, silhouetted by the morning sun.

When I turned off the main road I entered Harriman State Park where I would soon find Mesa Falls.  After parking near the Visitor Center I took a walkway out to the falls.  It allowed me to get up close and personal with the peak of the Upper Falls.  You will see the walkway at the bottom of the first picture.

This is all taking place on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River.  The Falls drop 114 feet, the height of a 10 story building.  At maximum flow, over 2.6 billion gallons of water flow over the Falls each day.

The Upper Falls were following by an Intermediate Falls….

…. and then I had to drive further down the road to another overlook where I could see the Lower Falls well below where I was standing.