Colorado Springs to Moab

We spent the day transitioning from Colorado Springs to Moab. Pulling a camper behind a car on mountain roads makes this an all day trip.

The natural beauty of the route was great. The route close to Colorado Springs is starting to show fall colors. Moab is pretty much about the rock formations and I am certain I will post more images from this area in the days to come.

About halfway between Colorado Springs and Moab is wine and Colorado peach country. The peach harvest has just finished, but we were able to pick up some fresh fruit and visit a farm.

Queen's Tea at Glen Eyrie

Natasha took us to Queen's Tea at the Glen Eyrie Castle. As I understand the story, Glen Eyrie was the wife of the Colorado Springs city founder and ended up in this foreign land missing Ireland. Her husband who had become quite wealthy built her this residence to provide a bit of her homeland. The grounds and buildings have been developed to promote their historical value.

I should probably search for Queen's Tea online so I know more about what I experienced. I am not exactly a tea fancier, but I do drink tea on occasion and did enjoy the tea options made available to us and the accompanying delicacies.

The castle itself and the grounds were spectacular especially against the background of the mountains.

We have visited some similar historical sites over the years, Somewhere I know I have pictures of the estate of a Hawaiian sugar baron that has been preserved. Ironically, we could not help but note that the Pillsbury house in Minneapolis had recently based razed because there was no one to take it over  so the prime land was desired for development. 

Food blog for a day

This post is intended mostly for those who follow me on Facebook and may have encountered posts by lisado5 as a consequence. Lisado5 is Natalia Provotorova who we call Natasha. She has tried to explain Russian names to me many times, but I can never figure out how it works. They seem to have several names each. They seem to be able to keep the system straight, but I cannot. Many of those I have met seem to sometimes use the same names - e.g., Dima, Natasha. I used to call these folks our Russian friends, but this has not really been accurate for several years so I should describe them as our friends out west.

Natasha is famous among her Instagram and Facebook friends for the pictures of what she makes in the kitchen. She makes amazing things both in taste and appearance. We have been enjoying her treats since we have arrived, but I thought the following picture best described her approach. Yes, it is a picture of her refrigerator.

Maybe your fridge looks like this too, but not ours - very organized and neat. You can see the cake we enjoyed last evening and I am told there are more to come.

Natasha told me I was getting a guest sized piece. She described this as mousse cake with tart cherries and chocolate biscuits. I would say as hobbies go, I am certainly glad this is hers. There has to be a business her somehow. I can imagine sitting in a fancy coffee shop having a piece (smaller) of this cake and a latte.

We had a great evening on the patio retelling old stories and catching up.

Oleg, Lindsey, and Natasha

Big windmills and big corn

As promised yesterday, here is the photograph of corn fields and wind turbines. We have driven through Iowa many times and the number of these turbines keeps growing. We must have observed hundreds as we drove west on Interstate 80.

I have no idea why wind energy has surged in Iowa. We have long been familiar with wind energy as North Dakota has many turbines and the large blades for many of these turbines are manufactured in Grand Forks. North Dakota is windy, but Iowa would be able to feed electricity to larger metropolitan areas.

Iowa knows it has established itself as a leadership role in renewable energy and featured this commitment at this rest area.

Before we hit the large concentration of turbines I found a way to photograph, I saw a large billboard stating “wind is not the answer”. I frequently write in opposition to conservative policies on Facebook, but I did not intend to allow my opposition to bleed over to my travel blog. However, when I followed up on the message from the billboard I found that the things I value continue to draw my attention. I assumed the message originated with farmers promoting alcohol production from corn as an energy source.  It turned out to be a little more complicated and weird.

Starting from zero

Eighteen days is usually not long enough, but we will try to fit in a quick fall road trip to Colorado and Utah. This may sound like a lot of time, but we have to drive about 60 with the camper. I remembered to take a picture of the dash data center so I can demonstrate the time we spend on the road. 

Long days in the car are my favorite way to travel. There is plenty of time to watch the scenery flow by and think. We are heavy into tech so we are switching back and forth between two football games. Both North Dakota and Iowa State are losing. UND is playing #9 Washington so there was no hope for that. Iowa State is losing to Iowa so this game is more disappointing. Wait, I found gopher football. I think we have a winner. 

We also have plenty of cell data to burn so we can do pretty much whatever we want online. I am thinking we will watch Vikings football tomorrow. Of course, the driver will just have to listen. Maybe a glance now and then. 

There is not that much to see in Iowa and Nebraska so tomorrow will offer few photographic opportunities. Maybe a picturesque shot of a big cornfield against the setting sun or a picture of those giant wind turbines would be impressive. Yes, I may have said this to miff our many friends in Iowa and yes, we did spend most of our adult lives living in North Dakota with the exception of those funny hills in the west of the state is about as flat and uniform as it gets. I also have friends in Iowa who take some very nice photos so good photographers can find interesting shots anywhere. We will see.