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These types of unexpected, warm and friendly encounters with kind local people are highlights of any trip and one of the main reasons we love to travel to different lands. Fantastic scenery and generously helpful natives. What more could any traveller want?
From Montrose CO we drove to Gateway CO (see point "R" on our route map). which is close to the State of Utah. We're meeting up again with Mike and Chris Paulick for a three day stay in the Gateway Canyon Resort. Mike was super keen about us visiting this resort which was obviously a place very close to his own heart. In due course we had managed to talk Mike and Chris into joining us there. For scenic reasons Ron and Karen had suggested we take a dirt road to Nucla and then pick up a paved road which would bring us into Gateway from the south. The dirt road to Nuclar was in good condition and we pretty much had it to ourselves. We drove through a lot of aspen forest with a thick undercover of various ferns. Every now and then the forest opened up briefly to provide us with elevated views over the valley below. It was all very pretty.
The scenery around here is very similar to what we've experienced in Utah and parts of Arizona on previous trips to the US. Lynn and I are both feeling rather nostalgic as we drive through magnificent red canyons on the approaches to Gateway. As usual we're blessed with a spectacular sunny day and vivid blue skies.
Gateway Canyons is a very high quality but also low key and casual resort. We can see why Mike likes it so much. We're shown to our room and are very impressed with its size, quality fit-out, spectacular view and our own plunge pool in a private courtyard. I reckon we'll be able to handle three days of this !!
Everywhere we looked there was an arresting view of a magnificent craggy butte to both awe and humble the viewer.
Although we're in the middle of a desert, the resort's gardens and lawns are magnificent. Lynn and I have always had an attachment to desert flora and the flowers, shrubs and ground cover here in the resort would have to be about the best we've ever encountered.
The four of us went to the Gateway Auto Museum which is within the grounds of Gateway Canyon Resort. I've been to at least a handful of top notch auto museums in Australia and elsewhere but these exhibits were superior to any I've seen in other museums. The restoration work and the lighting were simply superb. I photographed a small sample and included them below. The museum displays illustrate over a century of automotive history in America from the 1906 Cadillac Model H Coupe to the first special 2006 Chip Foose Mustang Stallion, and a historic NASCAR Chevrolet raced by driver Jimmie Johnson. Each vehicle was chosen for its unique impact on auto design, engineering, industry or culture.
Our self guided tour began in the Open Road Theatre with a video featuring the legendary Walter Cronkite speaking on the American Automobile and its place in society. Then we saw a brief video clip showing the acquisition of the Auto Museum’s own $3.24 million dollar version of the “Mona Lisa” – the 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 Concept Car. This historic car is joined by another one-of-kind car, the 1954 DeSoto Adventurer II by Ghia. They were presented along with other rare and unique vehicles that included a Cunningham, a Duesenberg, an Auburn and a Cord.
The
very absolute last web page of our Rocky Mountains adventure vacation
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