Final day

Wow! What a trip! It's good to finally be home! It was a great trip, but it's nice to sleep in your own bed after being away for so long. Here's how the final day of our trip went:



We started out very early this morning, 5:30am (4:30 Pacific Time), and went to the Four Corners National Monument. It's the only place in the U.S. where you can stand with all four paws each in a different state. Originally, the plan was to do this and go straight home. But like the rest of the trip, there were other things to do and see along the way, so we had to make a few detours. So even though we had been there before, the Grand Canyon only added 30 extra miles to our drive so we just had to stop.



Again, the difference between going straight home after the Grand Canyon and detouring to Hoover Dam and Las Vegas was only a matter of a couple extra miles. In reality, of course, the extra miles were much more because we drove around to look at things, but it was worth it. After all, after over 7000 miles, what did a few extra miles matter? After Vegas, it was just a short four hour drive home. Done that long drive many times, but this time it seemed to just breeze by.

Then finally, after 18 days, 20 hours, 45 minutes and 7334 miles on the road, we finally pulled up to the house at 12:30am on Tuesday morning.

We'd like to thank everyone who checked out the blog and also those who left comments. We had so much fun and enjoyed keeping in touch with everyone through this blog. It was a really fun trip and so nice to get away for so long, but we are very glad to be back home.

Home at last!

Mile 7334

We're finally back home! We will update you all on the activities of our last day on the road in morning. For now... time for sleep...

Final blog from the road?

Mile 6363

We are at the Lost Dog Bar and Lounge in Durango, Colorado for dinner. This might be our last blog from the road, so here it is:

Right after breakfast we took a walk around the town of Glenwood Springs. Although it's pretty touristy, it would be a nice place to come back for a visit. Paid our respects to Doc Holliday at an establishment that is now a store called Summit Canyon Mountaineering. You can check them out by clicking here. Found out at that store that the area is very good for rockclimbing. Sounds like we found a really good reason to come back.



From there we headed south through the Elk Mountains for some more scenic driving. It was really nice, but when we hit the town of Ouray and the San Juan Mountains, that's when it really got good. Apparently, this stretch of the 550 Highway south of the town is known as the "Million Dollar Highway." It is ranked among the most spectacular scenic byways in the United States. Another gem we stumbled onto. In the picture you can see that the beginning of the drive overlooks the town of Ouray. The drive surely ranked among the best of our trip. We have to thank John and Jen for suggesting this route. Fortunately, the storm that had been threatening since we got into the mountains held off until we got past the 6-mile "Million Dollar" part. We pretty much got hammered with rain until we got to Durango. We found some shelter in one of the abandoned mining buildings that are scattered all along that route. Funny, we thought it was going to be another beautiful day because the weather was so nice in Glenwood Springs.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to the Four Corners Monument where the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico come together at a single point. After that we will probably drive straight home since we have seen just about everything else west of that point.

Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Mile 6122

We are blogging from Glenwood Springs, Colorado right now at Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse. Here's the scoop up until now:

While we were in Denver, it had been pretty cloudy the whole time. As we headed west on Interstate 70 into the Rocky Mountains, it turned into a full on downpour. It kind of ruined the view because the clouds were so low... or the mountains were so high. The going was pretty slow because of the weather and twisty mountain route. Guess we had been pretty lucky this trip with practically perfect weather up until now, especially considering what the rest of the nation was going through. So unfortunately we decided to skip Rocky Mountain National Park.


We detoured near Vail and went south to the town of Leadville. It claims to be the highest incorporated city in the nation. Not sure if that's true or not. There was an event going on there called Boom Days, celebrating their old west heritage as a mining town. They had closed off all the streets for it. But unfortunately, it was raining pretty hard so hardly anyone was there. It's sad, because that is probably their big annual tourist event. This town is so isolated, can't imagine that many people get up there very often. So we didn't even get to see any of the town because of the street closures and rain. It's just as well, no dogs are allowed at the event. Not even walking around on the street.

As we headed back to I-70 the rain started to let up and we were treated to some spectacular views. The whole valley west of Vail is gorgeous. But the real treat was Glenwood Canyon. A gap carved out by the Colorado River barely wide enough to accomodate the interstate freeway with vertical rock walls that shoot up hundreds of feet.

At the other end of the Glenwood Canyon was the town of Glenwood Springs where we spent the night. Quite the bustling town considering it was after dark. We had passed through so many towns where nothing was open after 6pm.

This morning we got up early so that we could head back east through the canyon for one more look. There is a nice hiking/biking trail that runs right next to the freeway and sometimes under and over it that we walked on for a bit. Then we turned around and headed back west again to grab breakfast and coffee at Sacred Grounds. We will be home in another day or two probably!

Interesting link:
www.leadvilleboomdays.com