Dinner on the Table at 6

October 2010

In September the hubs and I took a spur of the moment road trip to Colorado. We were just wanting to get away and enjoy the quiet, slower paced, less traveled roads and towns in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. We decided to eat at only locals joints....no chain restaurants. We'd bypass all the crowded attractions and bask in all the beauty of the rivers, mountains and natural surroundings this state has to offer. We all know Colorado is known for it's white water rafting, ski resorts, Pike's Peak, Royal Gorge and Rocky mountains. As we drove through the towns of Pueblo, Canon City, Buena Vista, Florence, Ft. Lyon, LaVista and many more we kept seeing the same familiar sites in each town. Prisons, prisons, and more prisons! Canon City has 7 total including the Colorado State Penitentiay. You can even drive up Skyline Drive.....a perilously narrow, single lane, one way road winding 3 miles up and then down a mountainside built by prisoners at the turn of the century. Hubs didn't want to go but I insisted. No safety rails, anxiety attack, tears... equal.....bad idea! From Canon City, we took a short drive to Florence which has 4 federal prisons. Located there is the highest security federal prison in the United States nicknamed the Alcatraz of the Rockies. It houses the Unabomber, 911 conspirators, Olympic Park bamber, World Trade Center bomber, Al Qaeda conspirators, John Walker( the American Taliban) and Terry Nichols( the Oklahoma City bombing conspirator. Tim McVeigh was there before his execution for that bombing. From there we traveled to Buena Vista and as we approached the small town......yep! there it was...a huge prison. Traveling to Ft. Lyon I spotted a sign that pointed to a National Cemetary. Wanting to drive through we approached the entrance to what was an early 1900's VA complex now turned into a ...yep..you guessed it....a state prison. There are so many prisons and penitentiaries along the highways of Colorado it makes you wonder if you really want to pitch a tent right there next to the river, or pull your camper up into the woods in the mountains, or hike along the never ending trails. If there are that many criminals that they need that many prisons I'd be leary to go to far off the beaten path. Oh and did I mention we decided to set out on this road trip with no reservations on Labor Day weekend. And did I mention we drove 80 miles one dark night seeing only NO VACANCY signs in each town at each motel. And did I mention we had cell phone service just sporadically in those mountains. But never fear....our youngest daughter came to our rescue and called around and found us a motel. A motel up Monarch Pass where there was no cell phone service. We would not be able to call until the next day and tell her we made it up the pass to the motel. A motel that had a sign outside advertising biker rate specials......5 nights for $195. There were plenty bikers there taking advantage of the special in the off season just hanging around outside near midnight. At this time of night we were just glad to have a place to sleep. We showered and slide under the moose print sheets in our 1970's decor laden room. As we lay in bed talking about all the prisons in Colorado and the eery feeling of the motel, the hubs got up an shoved a chair under the doorknob of the door. Oh ...and did I mention our daughter said the internet picture of the motel looked like the motel in The Shining!!
I love adventure and sometimes you have to lay aside well executed planned vacations and go with the wind and see where it takes you. You never know what you might see and what you might learn.