Introduction, July 4 – 10, 2021
This is the beginning of a six-part series on our trip through Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.
Kristi and I decided to take a trip this summer. As much as we like to explore, and as often as we take all of those day trips, we are not vacationers. We hadn’t had a real vacation in 14 years!
Part of the problem is that we seldom know what to do with ourselves unless there is a set itinerary, and only then if it’s not composed of the usual tasks that people find entertaining: camping, skiing, scuba diving, hiking, cruises, to name a few. (Actually, I enjoy hiking, but Kristi mostly does not.) Anyway, we are probably tied for the spot of Most Boring Person in the World.
So, what do two boring people do when they go on vacation? Pretty much anything anyone might do when they are NOT on vacation. That, and seeking out and enjoying beautiful scenery.
Which brings us to the topic of WHERE exactly we went on vacation. The ultimate goal was to visit Caprock Canyon and Palo Duro Canyon State Parks in the Texas Panhandle–just to drive through, not to stay because remember, we are not campers.
Any trip to the Panhandle naturally tends to route us through the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, and that means a visit with our son! (The best part of the trip!)
There’s a lot of ground to cover between the Metroplex and those canyons, though, so how do we fill our time? Well, another interest of ours is visiting old, ornate county courthouses, and that route happens to have a good number of them along it.
Now, Palo Duro Canyon is near Amarillo. And what’s in Amarillo? The Cadillac Ranch! We do enjoy visiting those sorts of kitschy sites, and the Cadillac Ranch is a Rite of American Passage, in a way.
And since we’re just a stone’s throw away, why not add a few days to the trip and visit Colorado while we’re at it?
OK, great! We’re going to Colorado, so why not go a little further and visit Wyoming? Ah, I see. That’s taking it a bit too far in the time allotted. OK, Colorado, then we’re done.
Here’s what we had so far:
- Metroplex, visit son.
- Courthouses
- Canyons
- Cadillac Ranch
- Colorado
- Home
But, as I stated above, we are not vacationers. Visiting courthouses and driving through the Panhandle canyons is easy enough for us to comprehend, but what about Colorado? Neither of us had been there (except one time that I changed flights in Denver), and we had no idea what to do that would engage our interests.
Kristi started looking for things to do. She found the Royal Gorge Route Railroad and bought us a couple of tickets. She also expressed interest in visting Pike’s Peak and Garden of the Gods. I pulled up Google Maps and started looking around to see what we might find in those areas. I soon realized something very important about Colorado: even though relative to Texas it is a smaller state, nothing is located in a straight line from anything else in the western half, which significantly impacts travel times. But that’s part of its charm, I suppose–those squiggly roads are through beautiful mountains. And one of those squiggly roads is Rampart Range Road, which starts at Garden of the Gods. I’d found us a dirt road to explore!
So, now we had a few things to do in Colorado. Or, so we thought. Could we manage Pike’s Peak, Garden of the Gods, Royal Gorge, and driving Rampart Range Road before we had to head back home? We’ll wing it, we thought. If we could do one or two things, then that would be good enough.
I’m going to end Part I here. No pictures this time. But I will say that the drive along the portion of TX-75 that parallels I-45 between Madisonville, Texas and Streetman, Texas is a very pretty alternative to driving the Interstate.