Monday, we got to spend quite a bit of the day with Thomas and Klara. Klara was born and raised in Crested Butte, CO. Pat, Thomas and I drove up there to have lunch with Klara and then we went to the coffee shop where she works and had a great cup of coffee. That evening, we had a wonderful dinner with them.<\/p>\n
Tuesday we met with Austin for a few minutes before leaving. The photo below was taken as we dropped him off at Western. <\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/div>\nWe then got a quick tour of Hurst Hall where Thomas takes most of his geology classes. The photo below was taken in one of the labs where he was preparing a geology map of one of the oil fields in Wyoming.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/div>\nWe follow our good friend’s full time travels in their email blog. Stevi and Ed post some great photos \u2013 many of which are very artistic. I can’t begin to duplicate their skills, but I thought I had better post something a bit artsy. The photo below is of a rock that has \u201cwater pockets\u201d that look kind of cool. In Capitol Reef, there are whole cliffs covered by what the ranger called water pockets. As I looked for a good reference, I find that the \u201ccreation\u201d of the rock formation resulted from what is called the \u201cWaterpocket Fold\u201d (link)<\/a>. Here is the picture:<\/p>\n I wanted to talk a bit about the formation of the \u201cColorado Plateau\u201d. This plateau is the huge area that contains Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyon Lands. The link above has a pretty good description of the formation of the plateau. Parts of the area were \u201craised\u201d over 7000 feet and millions of years of erosion have formed the beautiful areas that are now National Parks.<\/p>\n Being old is not all bad. When I turned 62, we obtained a \u201cGolden Age Passport\u201d. It gives us free admission to all National Parks. On this trip, we toured five of them. In each of the parks, at the visitor centers, they have wonderful movies that tell about the parks. Most are about 20 minutes long and are very professionally done.<\/p>\n We returned home on Tuesday 9\/3\/13. That was one day short of four weeks. Part of the trip was very hectic (at least for me \u2013 working) and the rest was quite relaxing. We visited some of the most beautiful sights on this planet (at least we think so). <\/p>\n I have to apologize for the late delivery of the final post of this travelogue. Things have been very hectic. I was home for just a few days and then flew to Seattle \u2013 back to the hectic life {grin}<\/p>\n Till next time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello from Gunnison, CO Drafted: Tuesday morning Sept. 3, 2013 (eighth travelogue of this trip).Posted: Tuesday evening Sept. 10, 2013 Sunday we drove from Grand Junction to Gunnison. We are staying at the Rodeway Inn (map). Our stop here is … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-ak1bxYtdgbI\/Ui_Ybe6qaQI\/AAAAAAAAAlU\/0dr5aGatM0E\/s320\/Water+Pockets+in+rocks+Capitol+Reef+%2528Medium%2529.JPG\")
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