After breakfast, we stopped to look for fossils at a road cut, north of Moab, before turning off to slowly wind up the canyon, along the Colorado River, on Hwy. 128. The drive is curvy and scenic, and we stopped for photos along the way, and at Fischer Towers to watch a couple climbers top out.
As we exited the canyon, drawing nearer the Colorado state line, Gail spotted a huge buck deer in the brush. We sat and watched him a while, then as we drove on I remarked that it would be great if I could show her an antelope or two since the sage-dotted hills seemed like just the right habitat. No sooner did I say it then I spotted two antelope lying in the brush.
As she watched I got out of the truck and whistled, hoping to scare them up so she could look. They didn’t move, so I walked toward them, and flushed a fox out of a bush about 50 feet in front of me.
We stopped for gas in Grand Junction, where I felt really great about paying $1.99 a gallon for gas… until we passed a Sinclair with gas at $1.87. I could not believe it myself, and actually took a photo.
I remember back during the election when people were going around putting up Post-It notes blaming Obama for the higher gas prices, as if the president alone can do anything about it.
I notice the same idiots have memory loss now; they should be posting notes thanking Obama for the lower gas prices.
We drove up into Colorado, eventually turning off I-70 at Glenwood Springs, a really nice looking, old time mountain town fit into a valley, and headed up to Aspen.
Aspen sits at 7900 feet elevation; there is snow on the ground and it is cold. But it is a beautiful area, surrounded by high peaks.
We are staying at the St. Moritz Lodge, which turns out to be a real disappointment of a place. It is not the old, sort of worn out feel of the place; chipped tiles in the bathroom and corroded sinks. It is the fact that “high season” supposedly starts on Thanksgiving Day, and since we are here on Sunday there is no breakfast provided. Wine and cookie afternoon reception? Nope. Steam room? Nope, it is filled with guys repairing skis. Hot pool and hot tub? Well… if you want to pull the cover back yourself…
In consolation, however, they did have coffee in the lobby at 6AM, and we got seven (7) plastic cups in the bathroom.
We walked into town, trying to not slip on the ice in the dark, and ate at a little Italian restaurant where I had a fair gnocci, Gail had a small pizza, and we split one bottle of San Pellengrino water.
The tab was over $60.
I refer you to the exact same meal, with better food and a full litre of wine, water, coffee and dessert, in actual Italy: Sant’ Angelo on the island of Ischia, where the total bill was €25 ($27.50).
Crazy.
And this is why we can afford to travel in Europe so extensively. We just don’t eat out here in the US, and the meal savings alone more than pay for our airfare and rooms.
We looked around a little more, then walked back to the room wishing we had stayed down in Glenwood Springs where the hot springs were actually in use, and the steam caves open.