Denver Road Trip Pt. 3

We decided to take two days to return home.  The route was undecided until the morning of departure.  I kinda wanted to drive through Estes Park, but the thought of a million campers, etc., clogging the road had me anxious.  So we chose to drive old Route 40 over the mountains and drop down into Steamboat Springs for the night.

The morning gave us perfect weather for a convertible drive through the mountains and up across Bethoud Pass, and point of the continental divide (click the Wikipedia link for more info on this).  And the obligatory pics...

This was a really nice drive, not too much traffic, and we passed through several ski towns and a couple western towns.  Over the mountains, down through the valleys, and up over Rabbit Ears Pass until the long descent into Steamboat Springs.  Once we arrived in Steamboat, we had plenty of time to explore downtown and spend way too much money at the infamous FM Light.  I've always loved Steamboat Springs since the days of the classic sports car races.  Steamboat has always seemed to survive development a little better than other ski town/resort areas.  A pic from a bridge over the Yampa...

The next day was a bit of a slog...  the desolation of western Colorado, a quick tour of Dinosaur National Park (deserving of much more time and exploration), then lots of traffic from Vernal to SLC.  But all in all, a fun trip.  Good to see Denver again after a long absence.  Rare do I get there since the passing of my mother and my good friends.  But then they do have dispensaries...