Sunday, August 22, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
In a little town called Steamboat Spring
On our way to Dinosaur National Monument from Rocky Mountain National Park we stopped at Steamboat Spring, Colorado (in the North Western end of Rockies) for dinner and night halt. Since our plans had changed, we had to stop in this town. But had no idea about the area! We were driving on Highway 40 and stopped for gas outside the town and then came into the town (one main road only). Saw a marmot in one of the parking lot of a building. Madhu took some pictures while I was searching online on the iphone to find some info on food places. "Yelp" gave us a list of restaurant and locations. It is a popular ski resort and summer gateway for tourists. Beautiful town of about 10,000 people nestled in the mountains and Yampa river (a tributary of Colorado river) flows through here. Later I learnt that it is a historic town and played an important role in the history of ranching/cattle rustling and mining industry in the early part of last century. We drove through a big rain storm while looking for a nice local place to eat and came across a fancy looking Indian restaurant near the new ski area. But Sanzari did not want to go to a Indian restaurant and instead we found a really nice cafe in the main downtown area. One of the waitresses there is Nepali. How interesting is that if you go to any little town in the Rockies of Colorado and you will find someone from Nepal! Then came the task of finding a place to stay. Called many motels and did not like the rates they were offering for one night stay. Finally found a motel named Western Lodge and called them. The person who spoke did not sound Indian (no Patel Motel that means:-)). I could not figure out his accent! Anyway, 11 pm at night and headed to the motel. It was pretty much empty. I asked Madhu to go in to check out while we waited in the car. He did and took a while to come back. HE came out and told me that the owner is from Sweden and really nice old man who came to this country in 1969, lived in San Francisco and ran some sort of machine workshop. But in 1990 he and his wife decided to move here to start a motel. The motel is not very fancy in today's standard. Almost felt like a vintage place from the 60s with vintage furnitures and interior. We learned that he and his wife run the motel by themselves. In the morning he told me part of his life story. Very nice and hospitable person but do not get much business because it is not new and fancy!
Next morning we went to a Bagel Shop for breakfast. After that, our kids discovered the river. It looked like this place was great for biking. Most people use bike to move around within town. We hung out along the river for little bit before headed to the Jensen, Utah for Dinosaur bones. It is really nice to find this little town which has quite a bit of stuff to do in the summer including a Summer String and Jazz Music Festival. Wish we had more time there!!
Inside the Western Lodge Motel. I love this chair.
Western Lodge Motel n Steamboat Spring
Western Lodge Motel
Downtown with the Ski Resort in the Background
This is where we had our breakfast
Strings Music Festival in the summer
One of the store front in the downtown
people biking around
lovely flowers
eating breakfast
really nice and friendly cafe
bikes for rent
Nice bike store on the bank of Yampa River
Stores on the river front. This building has a organic food store.
Sanzari taking video of the river with her camera
Yampa River
Busy Sanzari documenting the town
Nilavi happy playing in the water
nice cool water
People were tubing
tubing and canoeing
looking for river rocks
Western Lodge
An older Ski place behind this building. It is supposed to be one of the oldest one in Colorado.
more downtown... a lot of art studios including one with stuff from South Asia named Kali.
DSCN2010
A park for toddlers and preschoolers
At the park
Monday, August 9, 2010
Park Avenue Hike in the Arches National Monument
It was a hot summer late afternoon. Temperature was close to 100 F at the time of the hike. But who can resist the going down to the red rocks when you can see the trail down there! Sanzari was initially hesitant and complaining about the heat but when she saw the train and we walked down she could not stop! She went ahead of every one while Nilavi was not comfortable walking in the sun but wanted to follow her sister and look at the rocks. Madhu was trailing behind for birds and pictures. After a while Nilavi decided to climb back with Madhu and while Sanzari and I went down the trail. She did not want to come back up. Highest Temp that was 40 C.
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