Royal Gorge, Colorado

August 12 - 14

The 12th was a traveling day and a long one at that. We left Moab with sad faces around 8:00 AM with a 400 mile drive ahead of us.  This drive included one really big mountain crossing. It's been a while since we have traveled, and it was so much fun to be back in the Newell riding along. There was not a significant amount of interstate driving on this leg and there really hasn't been a lot of interstate driving in a while. The interstates here are much more spread out and scarce than in the east, another different thing! I should have started a list of major east and west differences. I wonder what number I would be on now??

Our destination of Canon City, Colorado, is about ten minutes from the Royal Gorge and an hour from Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak. However, the drive to Canon City was  memorable, especially with crossing Monarch Pass. Although the Newell did run hot, there was ample space at the summit of the pass to pull over and cool down for a while. Oh! It can not go unmentioned the LACK of guardrails on this road. There were some, don't get me wrong, but there were plenty of incredibly terrifying drop offs. Although even with a guardrail, I'm sure the Newell would tumble over it like it wasn't even there. I did spend the majority of the time on Monarch Pass leaning towards the middle of the coach (ha, like that will help) with my own internal temperature rising as well! 

The beautiful Blue Mesa Lake. Dad had been here before years ago on his BMW motorcycle. 

The water is so low!

W for West with the Whites, of course. 

Monarch Pass

Drop off - whew a guardrail.  

Just in case the snow is so deep the mile markers all have another one on the top. 

Colorado looks just like the license plate!

We made it to the top!!! Time for a little break. 

In case your brakes stop working. The smaller signs say runaway vehicles only. No kidding!!

We spent part of Monday recuperating from Moab and planning our side trips. Later in the evening, I thought it would be easy enough to drive over to the Royal Gorge Bridge and walk over, no problem. Well, as it turns out (much to my surprise and Dad's as well), that the area is a park owned by Canon City and costs $26.00 per adult to get in for the full day. Any way you budget it, that's expensive. I'm definitely the one who thought it was free. Who am I kidding? After looking at the prices, we realized it was $16.00 for the late day entry which is still pricey considering many of the attractions are already closed. So we were hanging around the kiosk trying to decide what to do when we noticed that part of the sign said "Free entrance next day with validation." So how do we get validated? After watching four or five groups go in, we realized that if you ask for validation, you get the next day free, and if you don't...no free day for you. Seems wrong to not mention the validation especially to internationals, but we did mention it so we had Monday evening and all day Tuesday for $16.00 each. So it pays to think carefully and watch at a facility like this. Included in that entrance fee is the tram ride across the gorge and the incline train as well as the zoo and a few little side shows. Overall, quite a lot to do in the area. 

Finally made it inside. 

The pretty center structure in the park. 

Zoomed WAY IN to photograph the train.

View off the bridge. 

Holding on for dear life. I was pretty shaky when we were on the bridge. It moved too! But not that much. It's over 1,000 feet down to the river below. Yikes. 

Duh. Ha Ha

Holding onto what, air? 

I like the "most modern material and technology." 

Here is the original cable anchor. 

There is the little tram.  We will ride across the gorge on it!

Here is a view of the bridge as we go over the gorge. The tram hardly swayed at all. I was thankful for the very smooth ride. 

We rode in there!

The real question is - when was the last accident??

Well, since we behind on the wildlife sightings, I guess we will just snap the pictures while we are in the zoo. Here is a Big Horn Sheep. 

The cutest little nugget ever! A baby buffalo. 

Buffalo

Just in case you needed the extra reminder. 

Moose or elk? I have been known to get them confused....

The incline train! Our next attraction to ride. 

SO steep down to the Arkansas River.

We took the incline train in and out of the gorge!! It was SO steep. 

At the bottom of the gorge. We saw some rafters who looked like they were having a grand time!

We were the last two on the incline train, so we got a GREAT view going up. 

Here you can see where the train tracks split so the cars can pass each other. 

This was the heaviest hat ever!

I love Tennessee! Each state has a flag on the bridge. 

Early morning sunrise from our campsite at Mountain View RV Resort. Dad has taken all of the early morning pictures!!!

Behind our spot. We need to get this guy some apples. 

Our vacation is getting ready to wrap up as we are planning to be home on August 29th after a successful trip!! What great memories, and thanks for keeping up!!