My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
Today we had a wonderful time exploring Loveland and the surrounding area.
We went for a walk across Pinewood dam. You can see in this fascinating video the dam they are buiding nearby. It has an asphalt core.
We stopped to take a break and sit overlooking another beautiful reservoir.
We enjoyed talking and catching up.
Sunday morning we spent exploring some of Dinosaur National Monument. Duke was here in the mid seventies and remembers taking the road to Echo Canyon on the Green River. So we drove the dirt road down to the same spot today. It was an amazing spot and he did a great job demonstrating the echo.
For lunch we had leftover pizza from dinner the night before. Then we drove the length of the park on more dirt roads. It is an absolutely beautiful park. And we didn’t see any other people on the road. It took us a few hours to get back to pavement. But we thoroughly enjoyed the drive.
From Dinosaur National Monument we drove to Loveland to see our friends Rick and Elaine. We went out to dinner at a great local restaurant, Henry’s. As we got there it started to rain. There was lots of thunder and lightning and it rained hard. The rain gauge back at the house said we got 1.6 inches of rain.
Today we drove across Utah, with a few stretch stops, to Dinosaur National Monument. We parked the car and checked out the Quarry Visitor Center, then took the tram up to the Quarry Exhibit Hall. The Exhibit hall is built right over one of the rock faces with hundreds of fossils still in the rock.
Next we took the Fossil Discovery Trail back down to the visitor center.
From Dinosaur National Monument we continue on about an hour to the small town of Rangely, Colorado where we are tonight.
We started a month long U.S. road trip today. It is fun and exciting to be on the road again. We are going to Duke’s 55th High School reunion in Iowa and to my niece’s wedding in Tennessee. If you would like to see our planned itinerary you can see it here.
We drove 405 miles to West Wendover on the Nevada/Utah border. We stopped several times to stretch our legs..
Friday morning in Giverny we had breakfast in our room. We had a baguette and croissants delivered fresh to our door. The OJ, yogurt, jams and butter were already in the fridge.
Around eleven we packed up and then went to see Monet’s grave in the cemetery.
We drove to Orly airport. On the way we stopped for one last picnic lunch. I will miss French bread and cheese!
At Orly we turned in the car, checked in, and then spent a few hours in the lounge waiting for our 6:30 flight. our flight was long but uneventful. We landed in San Francisco at about 9:30. Allison picked us up at the airport. We spent the night in Walnut Creek then drove home the next day.
It was a fantastic trip. We are tired but very glad to be home. Soon Duke will get to work planning the next trip.
