Tuesday July 21 (Glenwood Springs)

I woke up a couple of times during the night but then did not wake until just before 11 am, lol, nothing was spoiling though as it was raining! I got organised and then headed off to catch the Ride Glenwood bus. I travelled through the town and ended up at the Starbucks on the way to Walmart. I spent a few hours there nursing a cup of coffee and catching up on my IPad. Early afternoon the weather lifted and the sun came out. I went to Safeways, bought my supply of sparkling water (yay) and purchased another coffee.

I then caught the Ride Glenwood bus but had decided to ride it to the other end and get off at my stop on the way back. This turned out to be an excellent idea and I was surprised how much further (West) Glenwood extends up the valley. 

I got chatting to the bus driver and he was a mine of information, he also told me that I should go to Maroon Bells, out of Aspen, as it is so beautiful. The forecast for tomorrow is for fine, sunny weather so it would be a good thing to do.

I headed back to the motel, dropped my shopping off and then headed back out to go up the Gondola to the Glenwood Adventure Park. The park is an Adventure Park and there a wide variety of activities including many different, hair raising rides! I was going to do this tomorrow but one has to be flexible with plans, lol!

I was the only one going up, so had a gondola to myself. They travel in threes in continuous motion as the gondolas slow down for people to get on and off but do not stop. There are several groups of threes travelling up and down. 

There were some good views from up top and I decided to go on the Fairy Cave Historic Tour. This lasted nearly an hour and was quite interesting. 

There are any different and interesting formations. In one cave, the lights were turned out and that lead to total blackness. She then turned her blue light onto part of the wall and drew some pictures which the rock held for long enough to see them. 

About two thirds through, we went through a couple of doors and ended up on a ledge outside, lovely views! We saw stalactites, stalagmites, cauliflower and popcorn you cannot eat, as well as many more interesting formations, some that looked like animals.

I finished with dinner at the Lookout Grill, not a bad view to eat dinner over! The rocks across the valley were a beautiful red colour, contrasting so well with the green trees and scrub.

I chatted to a few people during dinner and I stayed on for a while to watch the sun go down behind one of the peaks. Some weather was coming in from the east and eventually we saw a double rainbow. 

On the way down in the Gondola, again I was alone, I caught Glenview Springs in the early evening.I also caught a good view of my motel!!!

Then it was home, make my packed lunch for tomorrow, shower, write my blog and then to bed. Half an hour after I arrived back, there was a thunderstorm and heavy rain, I was lucky!