2017 Western Trip - Day Nine

The major part of today was again taken up by travel. But before we hit the road, we visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. The museum was both interesting and a little disappointing - it was interesting because it traced the life history of the artist, from her birth in Wisconsin through her life in NYC and her wedding in Clifton Park, NJ to her settling in New Mexico.  It was disappointing in that not many of her iconic works were displayed, perhaps because they are in other museums? In any case, it was worth the visit.

It took us about 5 hours to drive north from Santa Fe, NM to Frisco, CO.  While long, the trip was by no means dull. It was also one of contrasts: when we left Santa Fe, the temperature was in the 80s; when we reached Frisco, (altitude 10,000 ft+) it was in the 40s. For almost the entire way it was very windy.

Much of the route was through desert land, partly transformed for agriculture by acres of irrigated fields. But some of the fields had just been plowed and the wind picked up the loose soil into mini-dust storms - a little like driving through a brown fog. As the route began to increase in elevation there were beautiful pine forests, and soon the snow-covered mountains came into view. We crossed one major summit before descending into Frisco.

Frisco is near the Breckenridge Ski area and is a relatively new town charmingly made to look 1900's vintage chic. After checking in to our Holiday Inn, we took a quick tour of the town - one long main street dotted with bars, restaurants, ski apparel shops and antique stores. We found a little shop serving German and Italian sausages, so we feasted on a sampler of four sausages and warm German potato salad. It was a nice contrast to the last few days of Mexican fare.

Tomorrow we will check out the western side of the Rocky Mountain National Park and then, because the road through the park is still closed because of the snow, we will travel around the south end to stay near the eastern entrance to the park.