A Very Long Drive...Denver to Utah...

Tuesday, July 28th we left Denver and drove along I-70 all the way to Utah. In Utah we would take I-15 north to Tremonton. It was a gorgeous drive. A couple of brief rain showers but they didn't dampen our spirits about getting to drive these roads. It would take us 8-9 hours to complete this leg of our trip. 

I will post lots of pictures of this drive. Remember that I took almost all of these pictures from my passenger seat in the car as we were driving. There may be some reflections on the glass from things in the car or spots from the windows. They all fit my view of this drive from my car seat. I wanted them to be that way. Hope you enjoy them.

In the center of this picture of downtown Denver is a tall building that was our Jacob's favorite when we lived in Denver. It is hard to tell from the picture but the top is curved and one half of the top is taller than the other half. This picture was taken to let Jake know his building was still there.

First view of the mountains. It was a cloudy day and we were very happy to get this first clear view of the mountain range outside of Denver. Denver is the Mile High city at the base of the Rocky Mountains. On the east side it is flat and goes out into the plains. Always loved this view of the Rocky Mountains and it always oriented us as it was on the west side of Denver.

Claude and I really got a chuckle out of this sign as we left the Denver area.

Outside of Denver there is a land formation called the Hogback. Claude attended Red Rocks University and Metropolitan State University while we lived in Denver. He was majoring in Land Use. One of his classes taught us about the Hog Back which is where the Rocky Mountains lifted up and you see a slanted ridge of rock and earth clearly where this happened. The next three pictures show a bit of the Hog Back. The first is the cut through the Hog Back for I-70. The second is looking to the right and the third is looking to the left along the Hog Back. 

Splendid view back at Denver just before driving through the Hog Back.

This house on top of the mountain is shaped like a space ship. It was actually used in a movie. I think it was a James Bond movie but don't quote me on that. This was always a favorite view for our kids.

We were sad to see they are carving away at the mountain between this point on I-70 and Golden, Colorado.

Now the pictures are the drive on I-70 through the mountains of Colorado. Enjoy!!

Living in Colorado means a lot more snow to drive in. The lights over the side of the road are actually an area for truckers to pull off to the side of the road to install the chains on the tires of their trucks to be able to more safely climb the mountains. 

This is a runaway truck ramp. It is not uncommon to find a sign indicating you will have a steep grade and truckers need to get in a lower gear to handle that. One time we even saw one that stated a 10% grade was coming up. That is a lot. If the trucks brakes get hot and they can't use them, the runaway ramps are there for the trucker to run his truck up on to slow it down and let the brakes cool down. 

Ski runs on the side of the mountain.

Ski Runs.

Claude's shoulder has been hurting him for quite a while. Definitely before we left on this trip. Driving was not helping that at all. Luckily I brought two of my little car pillows I made for a car years ago. I usually keep four of them in the trunk. But for this trip I only brought two. Claude would use one of them for the entire trip to support his arm and keep his shoulder from hurting. To me it looked like he was sitting in a nice arm chair!

I love this red color in the rock. It is iron. 

We traveled through several tunnels. In our heads we could hear our three kids screaming the entire length of each tunnel. A fun family tradition. 

I watched the outside temperature as we drove through one of the canyons. It was 89 degrees, then 64 degrees, then 94 degrees, and finally back to 88 degrees. You should always take a jacket when going into the mountains. Thus goeth the lesson.

Leaving Colorado. Entering Utah.

Payson Utah Temple.

One of the things you find in Utah is huge letters on the sides of the mountains. These letter are the initial of the school at the bottom of that mountain. It could be a high school but in this case the 'Y' is for Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.

When I was a child and we traveled out west each summer, we always looked for the spires of the Salt Lake City Temple. They towered above everything. The capital was a big building but it was not right by the temple so the temple stood out. This trip I had to work to get a picture of the Salt Lake Temple spires on the Salt Lake City skyline. Look to the left of center at the base of a very tall white building. 

The last two pictures are of the fault line in the Wasatch Mountains along the Salt Lake Valley. I think of it as a stretch mark on the mountains. Claude says this is a pretty good description. This runs for a long distance along these mountains. Yike!!

We made it to Tremonton and the Hampton Inn. This would be our home away from home for a good while. This is our first time staying in a hotel when we visit Bonnie. The Hampton Inn was very well prepared to keep us safe from Covid-19. When I checked in I was asked if I would want room service during our stay. We would be in this room from Tuesday evening through Sunday evening, checking out on Monday morning. I assured them we did not need any room service. This meant it was only Claude and I in this room during our stay. No one else would enter. When we got to the door of Room 113, there was a tape over the lock on the door connecting the door to the door jam. This was to let you know the room was sanitized and then sealed. No one had entered since it was cleaned. The other things was the breakfast buffet. These are a big deal now with hotels. We were told there would be something out for breakfast but it would be individually wrapped. Claude went down Thursday morning while I finished getting ready for the day and checked out breakfast. Turned out to be crumb cakes in cellophane like you buy in a box of 6 or 8. There was a sign over them that said one per guest. No breakfast buffet for us this entire trip. Too big a risk with the corona virus. 

After checking into our hotel, we drove out to Thatcher and visited with Cordell and Bonnie. 

This was a good day of travel. Lovely scenery. We did see mountain goats. We didn't see many snow fences. I determined there must be more of them in Wyoming than in southern Colorado. We enjoyed being in this part of the country again. Mountains feed my hubby's soul.