Jim Kallinen Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 (edited) We left on June June 13th our 19th wedding Anniversary expecting to drive 500 miles to Gorden,NEfor our first night. Turned out the motel I had booked had overbooked and we were left without aa room for the night. So we pushed on and Stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Alliance,NE. Muchnicer and adding the days drive up 579 miles. June 14th we were booked at the Mountain View Hotelin Centennial,WY. Historic old Hotel, was really nice till 2:30am when the Church next door startedplaying piped music for an hour. We were up early and headed over the Snowy Range Road HWY130 WY.Climbing up over 10,675ft. Plenty of Snow left up here. Snowy range WyomingNext morning after heading over the Snowy Range we were heading for weeks destination in Colorado outat Granby Ranch on the 16th green of the head waters Golf Course. This place was incredibly beautiful.Could wake up to this place the rest of my life easily. We took a side trip up to Grand Lake to killsome time since we could not check in till 4pm. Trip to Granby,CO from Centennial,WYSpent the next day getting unpacked and relaxing at the house since weekends in the mountains of Coloradothe weekend warriors from Denver take over and the place is a Zoo, Granby Ranch is really cool since theyopen up the Ski hill to Mountain Bikers in Summer and have some awesome courses set-up. Downhill and Cross-Country Mountain BikingHere is the home we rented for the week. 150 Fairview Drive, Ski & Golf ParadiseMonday took us our first trip up into the really high country of Rocky Mountain National Park. $20 and you get a7 day Pass to enter the park. Great deal. We drove up Trail Ridge road and drove over 2/3rds of the way over to EastesPark before the Crowds drove back west. But it was an incredible drive, Most scenic mountain drive we had ever seen. Rocky Mountain National Park 6-17-2013Tuesday the 18th we decided to take a road trip down to Silverthorne, Dillon and Frisco in the heart of Summit CountyColorado Ski Country. Was a beautiful drive and we took a new route home over Ute pass that was cool when at the topof the pass we stopped to pictures and discovered a UH-1 helicopter delivering telephone poles to a crew on the groundhigh up mountain slope getting ready to set it. Have video of it and will add it when ready. Road trip to Silverthorne,Dillon & FriscoOn Thursday we decided to make the trip over the top on Trail Ridge road down into Estes park for the day. Talk about anight and day traffic situation from western to eastern sides of the park. Was real Zoo in Estes Park and hung out fora couple hours walking the River Walk and exploring the shops. My wife loved it, my son and me could not wait to get outof town and back up the Mountain. Another beautiful mountain drive day. Trip over the top and back to Estes Park,COSaturday was our last day at Granby Ranch and we headed north to Laramie,WY for a stay at the AmericInn. Nice Hotel butvery busy this time of year just off I80. Trip from Granby Ranch to Laramie 6-22-2013We took our time coming home planning 5 nights to drive back to MN. Really did want to return home.From Laramie, WY we wenton down to Scottsbluff,NE and my 2006 Honda Odyssey Surprised us with the best mileage it ever recorded. 31mpg. Then againit was all downhill and we were fully loaded with the AC running the trip. Laramie to Scottsbluff journeyFrom Scottsbluff,NE we decided to head north into the southern Black Hills, never seen the southern Black Hillsso we booked a night at the Hot Springs,SD USA Stay Hotel. Another really nice Hotel. We explored the area hada good time. Scottsbluff to Hot Springs,SDEarly the next morning we took off for the drive to Murdo,SD and stopping along way at Ellsworth AFB South DakotaAir & Space Museum. Morning light was awesome and we there in time to watch a B1 bomber taxi out and takeoff on amission. Talk about LOUD. Had never heard to full Military power takeoff of a B1 before. Was AWESOME. Hot Springs to Murdo,SDWhile Staying the night at the Best Western In Murdo,SD we decided to wait till early morning the next dayto tour the Pioneer Auto Show Museum, even meeting the owner who my son happens to his brother who works ourHigh School he goes to after finding out where we were from. Even gave him a couple free frisbees and Hat. Pioneer Auto Museum,Murdo,SD Our Final night was spent in Mitchell, SD at the Holiday Inn Express with waterpark. My son loved it. Cabelaswas next door and Walmart,Menards and we ate supper at Whiskey Creek Steakhouse, awesome food. Next morningwe drove the final 236 miles back home. Stopping in Sioux Falls at Falls park and again in MN at Redrock Dellspark to take photos of the falls. Falls park, Soiux Falls,SD and Redrock Dells.MNMany of the shots taken during this trip were taken in HDR format. High Dynamic range photos that use 3 images to makeone shot using Photomatix software to make the shot merge into one.Used my GoPro HD Hero2 on one drive over the top of Trail Ridge Road. Here is the video sped up by 300% downto 7 minutes versus 23 minutes. https://vimeo.com/69338538 Edited July 17, 2013 by Jim Kallinen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpilotx Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Hi Jim, I followed your trip - at least a little bit - on your facebook account, and it definitely looked like a good one !For me its also always a joy to see impressions from other mountain ranges (I love mountains) than our European Alps ... as it shows the great diversity of the mountains around our planet. With a little luck (well its planned, but life has always some uncertainties) I will spend some time in our Alps in August and begin of September. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kallinen Posted July 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Andras, I really love following your Alpine mountain adventures on Flickr and facebook. That is what prompted me to plan this trip. Been a long time since I was last out there in 1982Working for a Cable TV firm. Never had a lot time to get up into the mountains, but when did, it was awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ntr09 Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Awesome trip Jim! Really nice photography. -NR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpilotx Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Andras, I really love following your Alpine mountain adventures on Flickr and facebook. That is what prompted me to plan this trip.Wow, now you surprise me Jim ... I never thought that my pictures can have this "effect" :-) but of course I am glad to hear.I really hope, that my plans will work in August, because if the do, then they might yield some more, nice pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kallinen Posted July 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 I hope you get the time to go, I am taking my son along on a trip to Northern Minnesta along Lake Superior for a week in Grand Marais. We willbe going mountain biking and taking a sailing day trip and maybe a charter fishing trip. And if time allows a Float plane ride along the shore.We are scheduled August 17th to the 24th. He turns 17 on the 20th . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpilotx Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 Hi Jim, My first trip is over ... and it was ... quite nice (even if weather was far from perfect): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kallinen Posted August 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 Beautiful pictures Andras. Sorry the weather was not as nice. Loving that Sony you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubajuan_new Posted August 17, 2013 Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 You guys just took me away for a holiday Great pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hueyman Posted August 17, 2013 Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 Nice pictures ! And glad to see you're a Met' fan too ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpilotx Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 Jim, here is part two :-) (we ended up somewhere else than originally planned, but it we did not regret) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kallinen Posted September 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 WOW, those are great photos Andras. I checked them out on your flickr page in a full screen slideshow. Beautiful region around Lake Como. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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