EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Colorado
Distance - 480 Miles
Time - 9 Hours
When I was growing up, Mom, Papa, and I
would drive out to eastern Kansas twice a year to see Papa's family
at Thanksgiving and Memorial Day. I have a lot of fond memories of
going to movies at the little Astro Theater, eating by the train
tracks at the Wagon Wheel, bumping along the brick-paved roads, and
watching folks “drag main” on a Saturday night, so I was really
looking forward to going to visit my Aunt Jan who now lives most of
the year in Marysville.
But when I woke up on Friday morning I
had a bit of a shock when I rolled out of bed and glanced out the
window and stopped in my tracks – white! Snow! Colorado, really? I
had planned on leaving a little late in the morning anyway, so I
crossed my fingers, giggled at the puppies romping in the backyard,
and sat down with my coffee to catch up on the blog and hope that the
snow didn't continue. Lo and behold, the weather did that classic
Colorado thing and after an hour the sun had come out; by the time I
left at 10 there were hardly any clouds left in the sky and the
streets were even dry.
The GPS (aka “Martha”) sent me from
I-70 onto US-36, rolling along the gentle hills through the farmland
of Eastern Colorado and right into more of the same as I crossed the
state border to Kansas and Central Time. Driving on curving two lane
highways through mountains and forests and coastlines is exhilarating
and exciting, a bit of a fun mental and almost physical challenge.
Driving on a straight two lane highway through farmland is decidedly
different, more calm and soothing, a chance to relax a little and
enjoy the feeling of just moving and being on the road. Instead of
terrain or landscape transitions, the weather was the biggest change
- from snowy fields under sunny clear skies; to clear fields of
stubble and wisps of clouds; to gathering billows of slate gray
darkening the landscape; to torrents of rain and even a stretch of
pretty strong hail; to clearing rainbow skies and gentle purple and
rose sunset clouds as I topped the “new” bridge over the train
tracks and arrived in Marysville.
It was so nice to stay with Jan in
the same comfy, welcoming house I've been visiting for so many years.
I'm not entirely sure when it was built, but it does have the feeling
of an older house, built maybe 40 or 50 years ago. The living room is full of comfy sitting chairs for a crowd, the upstairs has rooms and beds for the whole family. My favorite is one built as an addition onto another bedroom, it's a tiny room just big enough for the bed and a lamp, but is essentially a glassed in patio so you feel almost like you're sleeping outside in the tree - it's too cold to be out there this time of year but it's a fun place to stay in the summer!
We stayed up ridiculously late watching tv and talking, so the next morning I slept in and we had a late breakfast before taking some time to go around town to see the war memorial, main street, cemetery, and go grocery shopping. Finally stopping in one place for more than a night gave me a chance to clean out and reorganize the car - the past few weeks had resulted in a pretty ridiculous state of disarray. I hadn't realized how much of a difference it would make but I guess it does make sense that organizing the only place that is truly "mine" right now would leave me feeling surprisingly happy and accomplished. There was an adorable kitten who decided to come help us and seemed quite happy to try and climb into the car - a travel companion? She had a collar so we assumed that she had a home to go back to, but boy was she friendly and cute!
We went to the Wagon Wheel for dinner, a Marysville visit tradition. It used to be right next to the train tracks before they diverted the tracks and built an overpass to avoid the inevitable moments when, for example, an ambulance was on one side of the train and the hospital was on the other. Now they've got a nice memorial to the Pony Express riders where the tracks used to be. The restaurant has been remodeled since I last visited but the menus are still printed as "newspapers" and the serving sizes are still giant - it's nice to have some things that don't change ;)
We stayed up ridiculously late watching tv and talking, so the next morning I slept in and we had a late breakfast before taking some time to go around town to see the war memorial, main street, cemetery, and go grocery shopping. Finally stopping in one place for more than a night gave me a chance to clean out and reorganize the car - the past few weeks had resulted in a pretty ridiculous state of disarray. I hadn't realized how much of a difference it would make but I guess it does make sense that organizing the only place that is truly "mine" right now would leave me feeling surprisingly happy and accomplished. There was an adorable kitten who decided to come help us and seemed quite happy to try and climb into the car - a travel companion? She had a collar so we assumed that she had a home to go back to, but boy was she friendly and cute!
We went to the Wagon Wheel for dinner, a Marysville visit tradition. It used to be right next to the train tracks before they diverted the tracks and built an overpass to avoid the inevitable moments when, for example, an ambulance was on one side of the train and the hospital was on the other. Now they've got a nice memorial to the Pony Express riders where the tracks used to be. The restaurant has been remodeled since I last visited but the menus are still printed as "newspapers" and the serving sizes are still giant - it's nice to have some things that don't change ;)
8 am
9 am ;)
Poor Oliver has been having a lot of cold mornings recently
Eastern Colorado
Getting away from the snowy fields
Heading into the rain in western Kansas
Prairie sunset
Nola the cat - she's so cute but won't talk to strangers so I just had to admire her fluffy tail from afar
Lucy had no such issues with snuggling, if I was sitting without something on my lap, she was there
Kitten!
A Rolls Royce is a big deal here in Marysville and requires a picture, especially parked in front of the Wagon Wheel
New sign! It's the little things here in a small town
This is a "salad" - I left with a to-go box completely full of enough cheese and tortilla strips to top another two salads the next day!
Driving around the edge of town
Have you ever seen rectangular power line poles? Neither had we!
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