We decided to do some touring in the area today as rain and snow are predicted for tomorrow. Weather so far has been warm and sunny - changes are coming!

We drove east on I-70 through the Eisenhower Tunnel to Georgetown, a neat old mining town nestled off the Interstate and against the mountains. We walked and shopped, had a cup of coffee and walked a bit more. The museum in the old Hotel De Paris, built by a mysterious Frenchman who called himself Louis Dupuy, was closed on weekdays, unfortunately, but it is late in the year for tourist season.

We stopped in a restaurant, or bar with food served, and had a nice lunch. We then left Georgetown for Central City, going east on the freeway and then north on Highway 119. It was a lovely drive, up the hill from the Interstate, and then through scenic hills. Once we arrived in CC, the streets were torn up and we had to detour around the main part of town, we tried to find parking, but there are many casinos here, and the only parking was in their lots, where you had to have your ticket validated. We were not going to stop in them, so we just drove on through Black Hawk, another large casino area, it is adjacent to Central City. These are the only sanctioned gambling towns in Colorado.

We were on Highway 6 and decided to take it back to the freeway via Idaho Springs. It was another scenic drive, through a canyon and at times following a river. We still had the afternoon before us, so we left the freeway at Highway 40, it would eventually connect with Highway 9 leading back to Dillon, so we were making a loop. No sooner had we started along 40 when we were stopped for quite awhile due to highway construction at the foot of the steep hill leading to Berthoud Pass. We finally were allowed to move, but at a snail's pace up the hill, following the lead car. The road was spectacular climbing up to the pass, we parked and both took photos, unfortunately, John's camera was on the wrong setting and his pictures were no good, but he didn't discover that until later on the drive. The pass is 11,315 elevation.

From the pass, the road heads down the mountain several thousand feet, then on to Winter Park, a very large ski area. Many condos and homes here, in what used to be an isolated area. We were following the Fraser River, the area was scenic, but we were now on the high plains, the taller mountains were more distant. Just past Granby the road turned west and we went through Hot Sulphur Springs and Parshall. We didn't stop, they were working on the highway again!

At Kremmling the road turned south and the scenery changed from high plains to more mountains. We passed a huge reservoir, Green Mountain, we could see lots of cabins on the opposite side. We drove on until we arrived back at the timeshare, Highway 9 brought us directly to Highway 6, which is the road we take to the timeshare.

It was late, dark, and so we ate supper and went to bed, a long day's drive tired us out.