Out of Oklahoma and into Colorado!

Start this one off with a BANG - what a fine view coming into Trinidad Colorado.

But first let me say a few last things about Oklahoma. We stopped at Black Mesa Oklahoma which is in the very furthest western corner of the state and stayed the night. This part of Oklahoma is a little different and we saw some very pretty things. If you are wondering why we didn't go to Texas - we have already been a few times thus wanted to skip it to see something new. This is the same for New Mexico and Arizona. This trip is about getting to the ones we have missed. Black Mesa State Park in Oklahoma was the very last stop in Oklahoma. Great wildlife.

It was a nice park to spend a night and day. There is a small lake or more like wide stream. Antelope and Big Horn Sheep are what we saw here along with this lovely bird - it appears to me to be a flicker but I am not a bird expert. We really enjoyed seeing the antelope and the park is home to unusual rocks - hmm. Rocks, I like rocks.

We took the nature trail in the park that went around some areas birds like to visit. There was a lot of plant life and lovely rock formations but we didn't see any birds in that area although there are a lot of small birds that were present at the campsite. We made a mistake here by letting the dog off the leash. We didn't see the danger as she rarely wanders off trail (unlike me) and since I went up to this rocky area shown below, so did she and got into a lot of very hurtful cactus stickers. Buddy had to carry her back to the car where I had tweezers to pull them all out. We learned our lesson and we won't be letting her off leash again save in dog parks. 

We left for Trinidad the next day as it was the biggest town closest to us so that we could replace a turn signal bulb. These are some final pictures of Oklahoma. I want to stress again that while we would try not to return because we are not flat landers, it has its own beauty and we are glad we saw it. We were unprepared to encounter the side affects of seeing vast open amounts of flat land and what that does to your brain. The monotony of it fatigued us both and tired our eyes. We did not think it would be different than the flat nature of the desert but it most certainly is.

Our plan was to head due north into Colorado and then into Trinidad. Garmin had other plans. Some of our most interesting adventures have been when Garmin led the way - backroads off side roads and once we wound up in someones driveway because Garmin had it wrong but it is always interesting. Garmin led us south into New Mexico before turning north into Colorado but we got to see this and that was a treat indeed. I took a video of the very long train but won't embed it here since it is pretty big and I know some of you may have limited access. If you want to see it, let me know. I love trains.

Note the long extinct volcano.

And then it happened, just a couple turns and there we were!

Trinidad is just over the line in Colorado. Its claim to fame is being the sex reassignment city of the world or so says Wikipedia. It is an old coal mining town rich in history and while it has its remnants of coal mining days, it is a very well kept town. In the downtown area the sidewalks are lined with brick with Trinidad stamped into them. It is obvious they take pride in their town - as well they should. It is nestled at the foot of the Spanish Peaks on the Santa Fe Trail. The state park there is outstandingly lovely with views of the mountain. Just a heads up that in Colorado, the state parks are a little different as there are pay showers and one must make a reservation in advance. If there is an empty place, you may camp for 2 nights but must make a reservation immediately if staying longer and you cannot make a reservation at the park, you must do it on the internet or over the phone. We found that a little off putting but considering the beauty of the park, just a small thing.

Please enjoy the pictures from Trinidad Colorado - elevation is just over 6,000 feet.

This is the view from the campground itself. The moon was so bright no flashlight was necessary and I noticed Orion was just to the right of the moon higher in the sky than I was used to. The stars at night were just breathtaking - by all means, go if you can.

Here are some pictures of the mountains and a couple of shots of the town. We were so pleased to be back in the mountains again.

There are multiple rows of old coke ovens that are in the small town next to Trinidad. There are some abandoned homes obviously from the coal days and some abandoned churches and we saw a couple old cars from the 40s sitting in fields. Instead of mining now they are drilling for methane - I believe they are fracking but am not positive. 

We both are keeping well and actually better than I expected. However, today was a bad day for me. I am going to blame it on elevation and not enough rest. It's hard to rest when there is so much to see. The next blog will contain stuff about Colorado Springs Garden of the Gods. So much beauty and we are blessed and thankful to see it. 

I leave you with a funny story. We were getting some groceries at a Safeway....

The last Safeway we were in was in Hawaii and the cash card was declined because it had been flagged as possibly compromised - just Buddys card. Yep, happened again here at this Safeway. No problems, just used mine but we thought it an odd coincidence. In both cases a purchase at Walmart prior to Safeway had flagged the card. I called the number on the back of the card and they fixed it right up.

On the way to Colorado Springs a rock hit the windshield so I used the cellphone to look up and call a windshield repair company and they will be here today to fix it - what did we do before cellphones when travelling? We survived but this way surely makes it easier - Garmin makes it entertaining. One note about Garmin though - because we all have a GPS now, a good map is nearly impossible to find. We have a RandMcNally and a National Geographic but our favorite map is no longer printed and we go with the last one we have of 2011. I am very partial to a detailed printed map - I like seeing more than 5 inches of map at a time and knowing the geography of what is around me.

We are on Mountain Time - 2 hours behind the east coast. Being in the mountains, the sun slips behind the peaks early and although the sun isn't down, what I call shadow time comes early and lasts a couple hours before the sun actually sets. It is lovely.

We can see why people love it here!