by Joni Hauck
(NOTE: Clicking on most photos will show larger view.)

Colorado

Saturday July 24th

Grand Junction to Denver, Colorado

This morning I went out to pack the Kahuna only to discover it had a broken foot. The same tire I had gashed beyond repair which we replaced in Gulf Shores, Mississippi and then had a screw removed and plugged in Cathedral City, California is now flat as a pancake. As I went back into our motel room, Fred was whistling happily in the shower. I hated to start his morning off with bad news, but at least we were at the motel and not stuck on the side of the the interstate somewhere.

It is indeed a small world as I learned when I called the AAA hotline number. The guy that answered, upon hearing I was from Lancaster PA, told me that he had gone to school with Ted Darcus. While I don't know Ted personally, I certainly know of him. Tony, the AAA guy, had lots of nice things to say about Ted. Tony told me what a great role model Ted had been for him during his teen years growing up in Virginia.

Within 20 minutes a guy from the garage had air in our tire and gave us directions to the closest service station. While we grabbed an Egg McMuffin, the guy at the service station put a patch in the tire. He could have definitely taken advantage of our situation, but he only charged us $10.00. There are still nice people in this world.

We have logged 1,500 miles this past week. The scenery of the past few days has been mind boggling. Western Colorado is also very beautiful but we are almost numb from all that we have seen. We are very happy to be arriving in Vail to settle in at a time share for the week. Even though life on the road is great, our one night stands have taken their toll on us both physically and mentally.

Our unit was not ready when we arrived, so we went to the grocery store. It was so exciting to be buying fruit and vegetables for the week. I used to hate going to the grocery store, but today it was a pleasure. We have a kitchen in our time share and plan to take advantage of it.

When we came out of the store, Fred headed for the car and I stood at the doorway studying the receipt. I was going down over each item, frowning, because I thought we had been overcharged. Suddenly, I heard this voice say "Hey, are you going to take all day?". It was Darla. She and Dianne had arrived earlier and explored the town of Vail and just happened to see the Big Kahuna in the parking lot of the store. It was great to see them.

Darla and Dianne had gotten up at 4 A.M. to catch their plane to Denver and were both tired. However, we talked them into going out with us to watch the Phillies game. We were surprised to see the game on all three TV's at Paddy's until we found out that the bartender and his brother, originally from Atlantic City, were both Phillies fans. The Phillies beat the Braves! The Phillies beat the Braves!

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Sunday July 25th

Vail, Colorado

Darla, in her typical style, had reservations made for our activities for the week. Her idea of relaxation is knowing what she is doing everyday. By 8 A.M. she had driven Dianne nuts and called us three times on the phone to see which activities we wanted to participate in. It should be a fun week of golf, hot air ballooning, and biking. Actually, Fred and I think this is great because we just get to go along and don't have to do any of the planning.

In the afternoon, Darla, Dianne and I went into Vail so Darla could shop. We strolled through town, grabbed salads at the market and sat on a bench by the creek to eat. Fred met us at the Austria House at 4. He had stayed back at the time share for some alone time since he had no interest in shopping. Darla and I took advantage of the Mudslide Drink Special which tasted smooth and creamy.

We then wandered up to the center of town where we hit a happy hour at the Ore House. We were having a very mellow time sitting at an outside patio, drinking beers and watching the tourists. We were joined by a friendly rotweiller, who was the epitome of Vail coolness in his hip sunglasses. I commented that I really didn't feel a buzz considering how much I had to drink. Well that was about to change.

After a few beers we headed up to the Red Lion Inn where we grabbed something to eat. Soon after we were finished eating it started to drizzle so we headed inside. I was drinking Rum & diet coke which must have been stronger than I realized. I was on a roll and provided the entertainment for the evening for Fred, Darla and Dianne.(Fred takes over for obvious reasons!)

FRED's Rendition of the evening

We were all a little buzzed by this time but the move indoors seemed to have sent Joni into overdrive. Lets just say she became quite animated. She was on a roll and after she spilled a drink on Darla's nice "gray" shirt the bartender suggested that perhaps she switch to straight Coke. She "politely" responded that she would make the informed decision as to when the switch to the afformentioned beverage would be advisable. (Not exactly in those words.) When she then decided to buy drinks for the throng of people in the tavern the rest of us decided that the evening should take a different turn. We returned to the condo to resume watching the Joni show (wrapping herself in a twirled belt was the encore). It was very entertaining.

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Monday July 26th

Vail, Colorado

Joni takes a break from Journal Writing

The following was penned by Guest Journalist Dianne Snyder living in Scotch Plains, NJ (formerly from Emaus, PA)

Part of Darla's planning involved a hot air balloon ride. We made reservations for bright and early Monday morning through Camelot Balloons for a 6:30 am flight. We were a bit concerned about getting there due to our "extended" happy hour on Sunday night. However, Darla, Joni and myself were ready to go and left the condo at 6am and arrived at the field for our balloon ride.

As we walked towards the balloon, the workers were there beginning to set up the two baskets for today's rides. We meekly walked over to see what we should be doing. After they ignored us for a few minutes, we decided to follow the 3 other older "gentlemen" who appeared to be there for a flight also. We were shown to the coffee and tea which we could sip on while they got the balloons ready. Along came Merlin, the owner of the business who had a great personality to match his burly physique. He chain smoked Camels as he sent up two yellow balloons filled with helium to see how the winds were in the valley.

It was a perfect morning, the sky could not have been bluer, and there were only a few white puffy clouds up above. We went up, up and away with 7 people squeezed into the basket, and the LOUD, hot, heat took us up at a rate of 500 feet per minute. Darla yelled at me (surprise) for taking pictures of the other balloon that took off a few minutes before us. I told her we had plenty of film, so don't worry about it.....As we got up above the trees, she asked for the camera to take some panoramic shots, and I had to tell her not to take them, cause there were only two pictures left....whoops, forgot the other roll of film. Joni came through in the pinch, with her 3 cameras, and we could take as many pictures as we wanted. The flight was peaceful and quiet, except when Merlin would "fire up" the balloon and beautiful, except when Merlin would spit over the side to see which way the wind was blowing. All in all it was a great ride.

Afterward, the real fun would begin. We toasted on champagne, and lots of junk food snacks which was great. Merlin and his helpers proceeded to put on a little skit about how ballooning started, which was very funny and entertaining. We then all got on our knees and had to pick up a paper cup of juice without our hands which finalized our trip. Not sure what the purpose was, but did it anyway....As we were doing this they sprinkled water over our heads - unexpectedly. Darla thought I was spilling my juice on her and made an ugly scour face which was caught on film. Priceless. The event ended with us receiving our "diploma" and a hug from burly Merlin. I got my face stuck in his Mountain Man beard as we awkwardly went for the hug good bye.

Joni again takes over

Darla, Fred and I played golf in the afternoon. Darla was disappointed at the amount of growth around Vail. She hates when golf course have houses built on them, but unfortuantely most do. We could see the gathering clouds in the distance but they stayed away. It was raining over the mountain, but not on us. A beautiful rainbow appeared. We only finished 13 holes when it started to thunder and lightening and rain on us. The course gave us a 9-hole raincheck.

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Tuesday July 27th

Coors Field, Denver, Colorado

Darla and Dianne came down to our unit this morning all concerned about a heat wave that was hitting Denver. They were blabbering excitedly about the heat killing people and we should take separate cars to Denver because Darla can't take the heat and they might have to come back early. Well, we talked them out of that in a hurry. Fred and I were looking forward to a nice relaxed drive to Denver in the back of their rental car and had no intention of driving the BK.

Guest Journalist Dianne gives her descriptive account of our trip to see the Rockies at Coors Field

All four of us hopped into the beast of a rental car which has less power than a moped and headed to Denver. As we headed East, I asked jokingly if they had the ball game tickets. I saw Fred's panicked look through the rear view mirror and knew we'd be turning around to get our game tickets. Fred has a new system and he will now put game tickets in the folder of the city they are visiting .

We had reservations for a tour of Coors Field at Noon. While waiting for the tour to start, the people waiting with us started questioning what the "Joni and Fred's Baseball Adventure" of our T shirts was. This was the beginning of many people showing interest, and Darla and I felt like the roadies with a major concert tour, as the people flocked around Joni and Fred to get any speck of info on their travels. We did meet a nice guy (Andy) and his 13 year old son from Florida who was doing a 6 week tour of ballparks . They were having an excellent time, and it is such a great thing for father and son to do together. They compared ballparks and lodging, etc., and soon it was time for the tour.

Coors Field is beautiful, open and clean. Our tour guide gave us more info than what was necessary, however we did get to go into the Rockies dugout and take pictures as we stood on the warning track. (it was a good thing we did the tour, since our seats for the game were 3 rows from the TOP of the stadium, above the purple seats which represent a mile above sea level.) After the tour, we used our coupons received during the tour at a Micro brewery which is part of the stadium. We all had chicken sandwiches which we regretted the rest of the day, and all complained about it for a few hours.

We wanted to see the home of the Broncos, Mile High Stadium, and had heard that maybe the Broncos had practice there in the afternoon. After getting frustrated at getting there, we arrived and Darla asked the security guard if we could go in and look around. He let us in and it was a bit disappointing, as it looked pretty beat, and the field was worn down from their soccer team playing there.

Fred led us quickly to the car as it was time to see the "tons of bars" surrounding the stadium. After parking what seemed miles away from the stadium , we hit the stretch of bars we were looking for. We finally relaxed and recovered from the heat (with Darla resorting to a cup of ice and actually putting ice cubes on her head, while claiming she had heat stroke) and dollar drafts, we were happy.

As we left to go to the game, the thunder and lightning appeared. There was a half hour rain delay, but we enjoyed ourselves eating the baseball fare and enjoying the attention given to Joni and Fred. We actually were on TV - the Fox Rocky Mountain Network - and we proudly displayed our tee-shirts while Joni waved that infamous Rockies foam finger which had us all annoyed by the third inning....Guess no one back home has access to the Rocky Mountain Network, but I'm sure we looked fine! More people asked about the trip, with the ultimate being a grown man asking to be adopted by Joni and Fred. Fred said he'd gladly trade all three of us in to adopt him, as long as he bought the beer for the rest of the trip....I think he was kidding....

Rockies lost, 8-5 and we talked Joni into leaving after the 7th inning since we had a long trip home.

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Wednesday July 28th

Vail, Colorado

Fred and Darla got hair cuts this morning and Darla found sneakers on sale for $4.00. Darla never bargain shops, but could not wait to brag to Dianne and I. Maybe we will convert her.

Darla's scheduled event for today was an ATV trip. We met Chris, our cute guide, out in front of our hotel at 1:45 for the trip to the mountain. He filled us in on the history of the towns we passed on the drive. One town, was a ghost town due to mining of zinc and sloppy practices that leached the mineral into the water source. Everyone in the town was given 48 hours to leave when the EPA inspected the area back in 1983. You can buy the entire town for $1.00, with a $50 million dollar clean up price tag attached. Sad, but true.

The sky looked threatening, so our guide Chris had us suit up in rain gear. He takes his tours out rain or shine. While we were sitting on our four wheelers looking lovely in our goggles and helmets, he gave us safety instructions. The sky behind him was exploding with bolts of lightning. He told us we would ride in the valley and Darla, the dare devil, questioned him to make sure that if the weather cleared up he would take us up the mountains. We started off and the lightning kept shooting daggers around us. Chris pulled us over and suggested that we go back to wait out the storm. By now it had started to rain and I, for one, was in complete agreement with Chris.

As we stood in the trailer, the storm raged over the mountains. Dianne stood by the door, camera raised to her eye, ready to capture a spectacular shot. She did indeed get a few great shots.

Our ATV trip was cancelled so Chris took us back to our time share. Fred made his wonderful Fettucini creation for dinner which received great accolades from us all. Dianne ate dinner and since it was 8:30 left to go up to bed. (she is an early to bed, early to rise person) Darla gutsed it out and we watched the movie Switchback which was partly filmed on the road we had traveled today with Chris. The movie was scary, about a serial killer, but we did see scenery we recognized.

As we were watching the local news, we were shocked to see a segment on Georgetown, a small town east of Vail. We had stopped there for gas on our way to Denver on Tuesday. The news pictures were unbelievable, showing mudslides so severe that Route 70 was closed. Torrents of rock and mud rushed down the mountain taking everything in its path along for the ride. Fortunately only trees were destroyed, not lives or houses. If that had been Tuesday night, we would have never made it back.

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Thursday July 29th

Vail, Colorado

Darla wanted to spend time on the water so she and Dianne went on a raft trip. They were in a two person blow up raft and of the twenty people on the trip, they were the only two people who tipped over. That must have been a funny sight. Poor Dianne lost her favorite hat.

Fred and I spent the day hanging out. We went for a run and Fred updated the web pages. Later, by teeing off during the twilight rate, we were able to use our 9-hole golf rain check from Monday to play 18 holes. It was raining when we arrived at the golf course and I almost backed out. The weather has been weird all week here. It was sunny every morning and then rained or stormed off and on every afternoon. However, we lucked out and it actually cleared up for us. We did manage to finish, playing hole #18 in the dark.

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Friday July 30th

Vail, Colorado

We asked Dianne to give us a wake up call at 6:30 since she gets up at 4:30 a.m.. As we were getting ready for the day the fire alarm startled us out of our wits. Fred was going to ignore it because a sign posted in the bathroom instructed guests to close their bathroom door when they shower or the fire alarm for the whole building will go off. However, I insisted we leave and instructed Fred to grab the computer while I grabbed our file box of reservations and tickets. We went down to the BK where we met Darla and Dianne. Turns out it was a false alarm although no one from the time share management came to tell us anything. After about ten minutes, we all went back inside.

On the way to meet our guide for our rescheduled ATV ride, we stopped to take pictures of the bridge that was in the movie Switchback. When we arrived at the cabin, we suited up in slickers, helmets and goggles and took off on our four-wheelers to explore the Colorado countryside. Chris, our guide, took us up to 12,000 feet elevation where we could see for miles. Mount Massive, the second largest peak in Colorado was visible. Chris did a great job pointing out landmarks to us. Then, since there were only five of us in the group, Chris took us to "the playground". We had a blast zooming up and down the dusty dirt trails and 8 foot moguls. Upon arriving back at the trailer after our fun 26 mile ride, we laughed at each other as we took off our helmets and goggles. It had been dusty out there on the trail and our faces were caked in dirt.

After lunch in Minturn, we had to say good bye to Darla and Dianne. They were heading into Denver for the night since they had an early flight home tomorrow. We wanted to make a deal and go along, but what's the use when Dianne will be in bed by 8. We could have maybe kept Darla up until 9.

We spent the evening packing (it was great to have actually unpacked for a change) and catching up on bills and mail. Once again, thanks Dad for getting the mail out to us. Good old Dad comes through again.

Fred and I are siting here watching the exciting Phillies/Braves game. We are thrilled whenever we get a chance to see the Phils on TV. The Phillies are up 4 to 0. A fight just broke out when Eddie Perez shoved Paul Bryd as Paul was trying to apologize for hitting him the inning before. Way to go Phillies - final score 9 - 1.

It's good Darla and Dianne were in Denver or they would have been waken out of a sound sleep. We had just gone to bed when the fire alarm started to ring at 11:35 P.M. Fred refused to get up, but I got dressed and went downstairs. The guests had gathered in the lobby, some in pajamas, some looking very grumpy. One family had their sleepy kids wrapped in blankets. Once again, no one from management was around and it took the fire company 25 minutes to get there. Another false alarm, thank goodness. However, I think I have a few things to say to the clerk when we check out tomorrow.

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Saturday July 31st

Vail, Colorado to Estes Park, Colorado

Today we observed the aftermath of the Georgetown mud slides as we traveled Route 70 towards Estes Park. Bulldozers were lined up along the berm of the road and the muddy river was flowing swiftly. We stopped in Georgetown for gas but did not experience any delays. Here is an example of the consumer being gouged. Georgetown, with less than 2,000 people has gas for $1.17 per gallon while Vail, which is a resort town charges $1.47.

Fred suggested we change our planned route so we could go through Boulder. I readily agreed, but out of curiosity asked why. Fred replied, "I don't know. It's somewhere I always wanted to visit. Maybe it's because that is where Mork and Mindy lived."

Actually, Boulder is the home of the University of Colorado so we did stop by and check it out. The college, established in 1876, is a very picturesque campus. As we stood on the rose tinted flagstone patio outside the Student Union Memorial Building, the ceramic tile roofs presented an illustration of continuity. As we gazed across campus, the Ivy growing up the walls of the rose colored flat stone buildings added to the charming old fashioned feel of the campus. We ate our lunch by a soothing waterfall in the middle of campus. When Scruffy and Kramer are ready for college, this is where we will recommend they go.

As we were looking for the main highway out of Boulder to take us toward Estes Park, it started to rain. We somehow got on Route 36 south when we actually wanted north. As is typical in this area, it was 10 miles before the next exit. After turning around, we had no choice but to drive back though the center of Boulder. To increase our fun, we got caught in a rainy Saturday afternoon traffic jam. Boulder is one city that could use better signs to direct us out of towners. It was after 5 when we arrived at the Timberland Lodge in Estes Park.

Our lodge was one of the more interesting places we stayed in. It's aquaint individual cabin, which is nice, but a wee bit cramped. Fred said he felt like he was in a carnival funhouse where you walk to the end of the room and the room gets smaller and smaller. Oh well, it's unique enough to remember years from now.

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Sunday August 1st

Estes Park, Colorado

Fred and I do a good job of balancing each other when it comes to hiking. Our typical exchange goes like this: I suggest an overly ambitious hike and Fred says it's too far or too high. I tone it down just a little and say that we only have to go part way and we can turn around at any time. Fred agrees and then once we are out there we end up hiking the whole thing anyway.

Rocky Mountain National Park gets as many visitors as Yellowstone and is not nearly as large. Signs and brochures at the park warned of traffic jams and delays on the way to Bear Lake which is the most popular destination in the park. We did some research and chose Glacier Basin which was a 25 minute drive in a different direction, and not as popular with the typical tourist.

The BK bumped along on a narrow dirt road that lead to the trail head. We found a parking space and set off for our hike to Ozuel Lake. The trail started out through the woods. It had rained heavily the night before so the air felt crisp and clean. Water droplets hung onto the branches of the trees and glinted in the sunlight. There was a slight chill in the air which you folks from back East enduring the heat wave would welcome. The path wound beside the creek and the sound of the rapidly flowing water provided excellent background music to our swiftly moving feet. The trail was well marked and after a slight uphill climb, we reached a waterfall which was the first stop-off. The bridge and rock formations were crowded with people so we did not linger, but continued on another 200 feet to a rock outcropping. There we were alone to enjoy a sweeping panoramic view of the valley.

After admiring the view as we rested, we continued on our journey to the lake. Blackened trees destroyed by a fire in 1978 were scattered over the hills. The majority of the fire ravaged trees had been knocked over by wind and rain, but amazingly some had braved the elements and still stood tall and proud. The stark blackened trees stood like lonely sentinels guarding the renewed underbrush and rendered an intense contrast to the kaleidoscope of wildflowers growing along the path.

As we reached the summit, the mist was hovering all around. Directly overhead the sun was shining but our view of the glacier covered peaks in the distance was obscured by the ever increasing cloud cover. By the time we reached the lake, five miles after starting our hike, the mist had settled down all around. The mountain lake at an elevation of 10,200 feet (we started at 8,500 ft.) was gorgeous and would have been even more so had the mountains not been hidden behind the cloudy threat of a storm. We enjoyed the scenic beauty but did not stay long as we wanted to beat the storm on the five mile trek back to the car.

On the way down, we stumbled and bumbled as we kept a steady pace. Back at the rock outcropping above the falls, we stopped for a rest and a snack. Fred sprawled out on a rock using the backpack as a pillow and commented that he could see why the pioneers could sleep anywhere. They were so darned tired it didn't matter if bed was a rock. Get up Fred, we still have 1.5 miles to go to beat the rain.

We made it back to the trail head just as the rain began to fall. All told, we had hiked 10 miles with an elevation gain of 1,700 feet.

After quick showers, we took a stroll in downtown Estes Park and I dropped off the disposable camera I had received from my fellow billers at RR Donnelley. Before I left, they gave me a disposable camera with a pre-addressed envelope to send pictures back to work. I was finally able to find a place to get them developed, so they will be on the way shortly. After a snack which substituted as dinner at the Estes Park Brewery, we headed back to our cabin.

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Monday August 2nd

Estes Park, Colorado

Fred and I would make lousy tourists if we had to travel during peak season. Now we know why we always travel during off-season. We had planned to drive through the park today and take a few short hikes. However, we have no patience for traffic jams and the park was so crowded we could hardly stand it. The first place we stopped was congested with tourists on the walkway and worse, ignorant, inconsiderate people were climbing the rocks on the other side of the road. One kid, even kicked a large rock down onto the road, but still kept climbing higher. Signs very specifically asked people not to go off the trails as one human footprint can wipe out a year's worth of natural growth. Some people have no regard for the rules and regulations of the National parks.

We saw glaciers, valleys, peaks, and mule deer on our way to the Visitor Center. At the Visitor Center, the parking lot was full and people were circling around in their cars like sharks ready to pounce on their prey. Every available space became like a full course dinner and we did not get anything to eat. After circling the lot for the third time, we gave up and headed back to the safety of our cabin.

After recuperating from tourist overload, we opted to go back to the park. After all, we were here to experience Rocky Mountain National Park. As we drove back into the park, we were immediately rewarded when we spotted a coyote. I was so excited that I kept stuttering, It's a..., It's a..., It's a .... Fred finally figured out what I was trying to say, but the time we got the camera out, the coyote was gone.

Since it was late afternoon, the tourist count was favorably lower. We parked at Glacier Basin and took the shuttle bus up to Bear Lake and then hiked 3.6 miles back to our car. We were the only two on the bus going up to Bear Lake, but when the bus pulled into the stop, over 150 people were waiting to go back to the parking area. The ranger directing the bus traffic was not doing a very good job since three empty buses were sitting down at the parking area we had just left and all these tired people were waiting at Bear Lake to go back to their cars. We couldn't figure what was going on, but were extremely happy to be doing the exact opposite of all the other tourists.

Our hike was wonderful and traversed two ecozones. When we started out, the forest consisted of birch trees with wild flowers on the forest floor and as we climbed 500 feet, it gave way to pine trees with no undergrowth. As we reached our destination and ascended, the birch trees were once again gracing the forest.

Fred invented a little game along the way. Yesterday, we had tripped over rocks, roots and our own feet many times. Today, within a minute of each other, the same thing happened. Fred decided we should count our stumbles with the loser researching where to have dinner. (We both hate picking places to eat.) Of course, he playfully tried to trip me but I would have none of it. Usually Fred is the stumble bum but today he concentrated on every step and I lost the game.

Dinner was at a place called "The Wheel Bar" in downtown Estes. We picked it because there was a big screen TV where we watched the Showdown at Sherwood Golf Match between David Duval and Tiger Woods. We struck up a conversation with a nice guy named Brad who was from Kansas City. He was on vacation for 10 days and he and his son has been to the Rockies game last Wednesday, so we talked baseball and other stuff.

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