Day Three: Santa Fe to Denver

We made it! I'm writing this from Denver.

The ride from Santa Fe to Denver was uneventful. After having breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and then headed down to Old Town Santa Fe. We parked the car, pulled on our caps and gloves, and toured the area by foot. There are a lot of historical sites to see. And even more shops to spend money. Our destination was the Loretto Chapel, known for it's spiral staircase. It's a quick tour, but very impressive. If interested, check out their website at www.lorettochapel.com.

On the way out of town we stopped at Whole Foods, picked up a salad for lunch and then headed out of town at 10:35 am. We made good time on the road. The countryside on Interstate 25 between Santa Fe and the Colorado state line is attractive, but not as exciting as previous days, rolling hills with low growing pines. The Rockies begin to rise to the West and as we traveled north the peaks became increasingly whiter. We made it to Trinidad, Colorado around 1 pm. Gassed up and then stopped at a rest area to eat. The weather was a beautiful 75 degrees. One observation at the rest area...trucker's and people our age.

With 200 miles to go, I picked up the driving and headed toward Colorado Springs. Wow! Has this area grown! The interstate has been widened and houses are everywhere. Some day there will be nonstop houses from Colorado Springs to Denver. We got into the Denver area around 5, just in time for the rush hour. But Kristin gave us directions to Arvada using the new 470 which loops around Denver missing the gridlocked downtown area and we were knocking at their door at 5:30. Nadia and her girls arrived a few minutes later. Barb and David followed shortly after. Kristin made a wonderful dinner and we spent the evening catching up. No set plans for Wednesday. But I'm sure we'll find something to do. Will keep you posted.