On The Road Again (Part 1) - Southwestern Roadtrip

Day 1 and Day 2

It takes two days to drive to Denver....it's almost 1200 miles.  The first day we drove from home to Richfield, Utah.  There's a lot of "wide-open spaces".  After Bakersfield, you climb over Tehachapi Pass where there are fields of windmills "harvesting" the wind for electricity.  On to Mojave, then a long stretch of nothing until you get to Barstow.  Along that stretch you pass Edwards Airforce Base, where many of the pilots that later became astronauts trained.  And the little wide spot of Boron - famous for the "20-mule team". 

Past Barstow you hook up with Interstate 15 which heads on out of California into Nevada.  Primm, Nevada sits on the border and is a mini Las Vegas with casinos, restaurants, motels and golf courses straddling the Interstate. 

Then on into Las Vegas - I-15 goes right through the famous "Strip" and since we hit a traffic jam, I took a few photos of the huge casinos while sitting in the car. 

The Luxor

New York, New York

On through Vegas still on I-15 cutting through Nevada, and a little part of Arizona before entering Utah.  Through St. George, Utah heading north passing through Cedar City, catching I-70 and finally stopping for the night at Richfield, Utah.  About 680 miles for the day!  And 4 states!

Day 2 we head out of Richfield and take a scenic loop on Highway 24 that takes us through Capitol Reef National Park, hooking back up with I-70 near Green River, Utah.

Back on I-70 we head east into Colorado - crossing the Colorado River as we pass Grand Junction and head for Glenwood Springs.  We discover that we're about a week late for aspen viewing, but the scenery is beautiful, just the same.  Eastward we drive through the Rocky Mountains, passing the ski towns of Vail and Copper Mountain. 

We drive through the Eisenhower Tunnel, dropping down past Georgetown and Idaho Springs, and finally spy Denver sprawled out below us.  Into Denver to meet up with my daughter, Kristen at one of our favorite pizza places - Bonnie Brae.  Another long day - we're ready for bed. 

3 Days in Denver next.