Friday, September 16, 2011

WHAT’S AT THE TOP OF THAT MOUNTAIN?

Well, we didn’t drive to the top of the mountain first thing.  On the way to Mount Evans, we visited Red Rock Amphitheater.  Such a beautiful sight for this venue.  Lots of concerts are held here, like Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson, and many others.  No, we didn’t get to see or hear a concert while there.  I only knew about it because I’ve seen some concerts on T.V. at that location.  It is truly spectacular.


Donna
Me standing in front of some of the big red rocks


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The view of the seats to the stage from the left side with beautiful mountains in the background.


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Seats and state from the right. 

Can you just imagine sitting on those seats in the mountains surrounded by beautiful red rocks and great music?  Someday  . . . .


After a refreshing stop at the Red Rock Amphitheater, we drove to Idaho Springs, ate a sandwich at Quiznos, then headed for Mount Evans.  With an altitude of 14,130 feet, the temperature changed from 88 degrees at the bottom to about 40 degrees at the top.  Yes, we brought our jackets and we used them!  The road was pretty narrow but paved all the way up to the top.  There were hairpin curves and steep drop offs on one side the entire way.  It was only 28 miles long, but it took an hour and one-half to get to the top.  Driving slow was the only option.


There are several “life zones” which were clearly visible by the change in trees and vegetation to the lack of both near the top.  Here's a Smilebox slide show of our Mount Evans excursion.  Just click on the arrow below.

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You can probably tell that I was excited about seeing the mountain goats.  I took many more pictures of them but didn't put them all in my slide show.  There were some baby goats as well, called "kids", but we weren't able to get a shot of them because of the traffic jam created by the goat herd sighting.


By the time we got back to the hotel room, we were exhausted and hungry so we ordered room service.  The pizza and antipasti salad were just about the best Italian food I'd ever eaten.  Wish I had more.  We ate it so fast, I forgot to get a picture of it.


My next blog entry will have quilt stuff for those of you who are tired of all the other non-quilt stuff.  We visited the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, Colorado the next day.  So nice . . .

2 comments:

  1. What fabulous photos, thanks for sharing your wonderul trip. Amazing scenery, love the goats LOL!!!!

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  2. The first picture in this blog post is awesome, with the photo of the tree in the left, the awesome rock formation and then you - well done! I've been taking some photography classes and the composition of this really struck me!

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Hey, leave me a comment so I know that I'm not talking to just myself!