Friday, August 31, 2018, Move to Springer, NM


Today's drive was pretty straightforward, south on I-25 to Springer, NM. It was 255.4 miles (90,294.6 total) from our beautiful site in Cherry Creek State Park.

I had hoped we were going to miss a lot of mountain climbing, but then, Colorado is pretty famous for its mountains. It was pretty level until we neared the NM border. Then we climbed up and over Raton Pass at 7,834 ft from somewhere around 6,200 ft. I shifted to 4th and tried to keep the RPMs around 2,000, but near the top of the pass the temperature jumped up and the alarms started blaring. Fortunately, there was a convenient shoulder so I stopped to let things cool for a while. When I started up the hill again I was much more conservative. This time I stayed in 3rd gear (and quite a bit slower) and the temperature behaved, staying around 195 degrees. I hope that someday I will be able to say I know how to drive a big diesel pusher, but for now, I guess I have to say I'm still learning.




Our site was a pull-thru (only $18 a night) and since we were only here for the night and we had nowhere to explore we did not even unhook our toad. I don't think we even extended our slides for the night. 


Sam and I saw five or six deer grazing while he took me on his late afternoon walk. We had to wait until the rain stopped but the clouds meant we enjoyed a colorful sunset. I loved watching the deer effortlessly jumping over the fences that were presumably there to keep them out of the fields.



Unfortunately, we were so close to the road I could not simply pull out to the left the next morning. Instead, I had to turn to the right and make a huge loop through some muddy roads to exit the park. It was certainly one of our shorter stays, but AZ and the "Fall Special" (four months for $995 at Val Vista Villages in Mesa) was calling to us so we headed out early.

Thursday, August 30, 2018, Denver Museum of Nature and Science


The Denver Museum of Nature and Science was another great science museum open to us through the ASTC program. Even the drive from Cherry Creek park was painless - I was expecting traffic headaches that just never materialized.


One of the first sections of the museum we encountered presented Gems and Minerals. I think we could almost have spent our entire afternoon in this one area. 

Some exhibits recreated the caves where the minerals were found. I think their curators must have spent time at Disney learning how to bring the environments to life in the museum. It looked like they brought entire sections of caves inside for display. Unfortunately, the low lighting to recreate the feel of the caves meant our pictures never adequately captured their fantastic work.

  A horizontal slice of a stalagmite (calcite or aragonite).

Pyrite, nicknamed "fool's gold," is a common mineral and a source of sulfur (S) for use in gunpowder, sulfur dioxide for making paper, and sulfuric acid for lead-acid batteries.
Huanzala Mine, Peru

We really liked the way the displays were grouped and presented. I believe there must be a nearly infinite combination of minerals and gems. The colors and shapes were absolutely fascinating. Below is one of at least two dozen cases. We needed an entire day just to study everything in the displays, but we had so much more museum to explore! We had to breeze by a lot snapping a few pictures here and there.



 Mesolite Crystals - found in cavities in volcanic rocks at Poona, India.  Mesolite is a sodium, calcium, aluminum silicate that belongs to the zeolite group of minerals.

 Quartz - var. Agate
Fairburn, Custer County, South Dakota 1952

The next stop was the Space Odyssey with many exhibits manned by volunteers who seemed able to answer just about any question the hordes of kids could think to ask. It was a bit frantic and I was anxious to see what else was ahead, so we spent very little time in space before moving on. 

The lounge on the third floor was a nice place to catch our breath and study the museum map to make sure we didn't miss anything important. The view looking towards the capitol was nice with the Rockies in the background. 


Spratlen Family Lounge, dedicated 2002, generously donated by Mr. and Mrs. F. P. "Budd" Spratlen III.

From the rooftop deck, the view was even more impressive. City Park in the foreground looked like another place we will have to explore. I've decided we will definitely have to make another stop in Denver sometime soon.







Most of the exhibits on the second floor displayed an array of animals in their natural settings. The dioramas were so well done it was often difficult to see where the foreground ended and the painted background started. Huge rooms were devoted to North American wildlife, the Edge of the Wild, Bears and Sea Mammals, Australia and the South Pacific Islands.



The lighting on the manatees was in motion creating the illusion of waves overhead  - you could believe you were looking into an aquarium!



The diorama below really impressed me. I never could determine how the fleeing prey were suspended. Notice the dust kicked up as the running hooves contact the ground. So, will the cheetah catch them or will he tire first?


Other exhibits on the second floor included North American Indian Culture, Expedition Health (an interactive collection delving into the human body) and the "Discovery Zone" where patrons were dazzled with mind-bending puzzles, riddles and illusions.

We had a lot more to see but hunger got the best of us so we took a few minutes to grab a bite to eat in the T-Rex Deli - nothing too fancy, but good and reasonably priced. It was also a chance to lets our legs take a break.

On the third floor, we took a "Prehistoric Journey" where we saw lots of old bones, a workshop where volunteers were working to expose actual dinosaur bones from a dig in Madagascar and more dioramas depicting scenes as they might have been millions of years ago.




 Stygimoloch spinifer - bony-headed dinosaurs


We had to quickly run through collections of mummies and artifacts from ancient Egypt, displays of Birds of the Americas, Rare Birds, Botswana, Africa and display dedicated to the natural wonders of the state of Colorado.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018, Colorado State Capitol, Larimer Square, Big Blue Bear, Union Station, Denver, CO


You know I'm not too thrilled with large cities, but our trek downtown to Denver's Capitol building area was really not bad. We found free parking on the street right in front of the home of the "Unsinkable Molly Brown". We didn't take the time for a tour which I'm sure would have been interesting and opted instead to head straight for the Capitol.


Colorado's state Capitol was a beautiful, classic structure with a newly refurbished, glistening gold dome.



That's right, I'm sitting on the step exactly one mile above sea level, unless it's the one behind me or one of the four that have, at various times, been declared to be exactly one mile high.


Back inside we joined our tour group and Bob, our docent, gave us the history of the building and the art inside.










High above the Capitol's rotunda, we were allowed to wander around the viewing deck to study the cityscape in all directions.





Close by, we explored Larimer Square where there was some fascination with cats. Little cat statues were everywhere.









I do not know the reason for the Big Blue Bear that stands three stories tall as he peeks into the civic center, but I will admit he was pretty cool!






We saw a lot but we missed even more - Denver will definitely require another visit.