Kremmling, Colorado

Good morning, my friends. Well, I told Mike I should have named this trip the Forty-niners trip...49 states, 49 years married. We knew there were no good restaurants ("good," meaning the kind of place you go for a celebration) in Kremmling, and so we decided to have a celebratory breakfast yesterday morning. We started with mimosas, and then moved on to breakfast. Mike had Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict. I had a really gorpy Caramel Apple Hotcake. Mine sounded better on the menu than it tasted in my mouth, but no matter. It was a nice way to celebrate. We asked our server to take our picture. Here are two people who are much older in appearance than we are in our minds.

We went to breakfast early enough that we could take short naps before we needed to check out of the park and hit the road. 

On down the road, we passed through a tunnel right away...and you know how excited we get about tunnels.

We passed through the small town of Idaho Springs, which was founded in 1859 by prospectors during the early days of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, the town was at the center of the region's mining district throughout the late nineteenth century. 

On January 5, 1859, prospector George A. Jackson discovered placer gold at the present site of Idaho Springs, where Chicago Creek empties into Clear Creek. It was the first substantial gold discovery in Colorado. Jackson, a Missouri native with experience in the California gold fields, was drawn to the area by clouds of steam rising from some nearby hot springs. Jackson kept his find secret for several months, but after he paid for some supplies with gold dust, others rushed to Jackson's diggings. The location was originally known as "Jackson's Diggings." Once the location became a permanent settlement, it was variously called "Sacramento City," "Idahoe," "Idaho," "Idaho City," and finally "Idaho Springs."

We drove through some diverse terrain to arrive in Kremmling. At times, we drove through rocky canyons that had been blasted out in order to make way for the road.

This being a historic mining district, we saw some abandoned mine equipment along the way. You can see some mining equipment on the left side of the image below.

And, of course, mountains. Colorado is a beautiful state for many reasons, but its mountains are spectacular.

Look at this pointy peak.

Here, we thought we might be seeing ski runs, but I think those are actually places where avalanches have taken out the trees. We saw this on our first visit to Taylor Park Reservoir several years back.

Oh, but the best tunnel was yet to come. I think this might be the third time we've passed through the Eisenhower Tunnel.

The Eisenhower Tunnel is a dual-bore, four-lane vehicular tunnel approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of Denver, Colorado. The tunnel carries Interstate 70 under the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. With a maximum elevation of 11,158 feet (3,401 m) above sea level, it is one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world. The tunnel is the longest mountain tunnel and highest point on the Interstate Highway System. Opened in 1973, the westbound bore is named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the U.S. President for whom the Interstate system is also named. The eastbound bore was completed in 1979 and is named for Edwin C. Johnson, a governor and U.S. Senator who lobbied for an Interstate Highway to be built across Colorado.

Okay, here we go. 

The Eisenhower Memorial Bore (westbound tunnel) is 1.693 miles (2.72 km) long, while the Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Bore (eastbound tunnel) is 1.697 miles (2.73 km) long. The tunnels are sloped with a 1.64% grade, with an elevation of 11,013 feet (3,357 m) at the east portal and 11,158 feet (3,401 m) at the west portal.

At its dedication, the Eisenhower Tunnel was the highest vehicular tunnel in the world. While it remains the highest vehicular tunnel in the US, and longest mountain tunnel and highest point on the Interstate Highway System, higher tunnels have since been constructed elsewhere, such as the Fenghuoshan Tunnel, a rail tunnel in China. 

The tunnel bores measure 48 ft × 40 ft (15 m × 12 m). The traveled portion is a rectangular shape just over 16 ft (4.9 m) tall. The space above this is used for forced air ventilation while the space below the roadway is used for drainage.

Okay, and you know I'm going to say it, so say it with me: Oh look! It's the light at the end of the tunnel!

Yeah...that joke never gets old. You might disagree.

Coming out the other side, we could see the small town of Silverthorne, Colorado. 

The town was named for Judge Marshall Silverthorn who served as the judge of the miners' court in Breckenridge. The judge first came to town as a prospector and claimed a section of the Blue River in 1881. After patenting his claim in April 1882, he was disappointed to find the gold to be sparse and the claim a poor bet. The land passed to his daughters on his death in 1887 and was then sold several times to various mining companies. 

At the turn-off to Silverthorne, we left the interstate highway and headed up Colorado Hwy 9. We paralleled the Blue River all the way.

Now, I want you to notice the fence in this next image. It's a deer fence. Both sides of the road were fenced nearly all the way to Kremmling from Silverthorne.

We passed by a few barns.

See...there's the fence again.

Eventually, we came to this wildlife crossing so that deer (and other animals) can get across the highway. This stretch of road was approximately 30 miles, and we passed under two of these.

Soon enough, the town of Kremmling came into view.

We crossed over the Colorado River for the first time this trip.

And then, we reached our final destination.

It was a quiet night. I despaired at the wind when we arrived with gusts up to 30 mph, but it died down before dinner, and we slept well. We'll be heading for Jenson, Utah, later this morning, where we'll stay for two nights in order to drive the Harpers Corner Scenic Drive in Dinosaur National Monument tomorrow. You might recall we tried to do this on our last visit to Dinosaur National Monument, but it was too far away from where we stayed in Vernal. I'm afraid I didn't plan this stop very well, and we're still a good distance away from the beginning of the drive, but we will persevere. We're tough that way...and besides we're old. These opportunities don't come along every day, and so the time is now.

By planning shorter driving days for this trip, it has given us the luxury of slow mornings. This morning is such a morning. I should have a little time to work on my slow-stitching before we get on our way. For now, I'm going to have a bite to eat. 

Thanks to those of you who have wished us a happy anniversary. We had a nice day...an easy day...and those are the best kinds of days.