In this edition we are just back from the IPMS National Convention in Loveland CO. There are plenty of sites describing the Nats, so I'll just post links.
Contest Gallery Page - http://www.ipmsusa3.org/gallery/v/events/2013NATS/
(BTW- I was on the photography team for the website) ;)
The Convention - http://www.ipmsusa2013.com/
The Club - http://ipmsusa.org/index.htm
As usual we have always taken some extra time to do the tourist thing around the convention city. The convention hotels weren't in Loveland proper, but just to the east of Rte. 25. The Nats was in the Convention Center attached to the Embassy Suites, but because I procrastinated in making reservations, we stayed down the block at the Holiday Inn Express. The hotel was a very nice, clean place so no worries. Good breakfast was served every morning. There was also a restaurant nearby for the locals called The Breakfast Club. A travel book I read a long time ago said for the local flavor go to where the locals eat and avoid the national chains. So this is what we try to do when we can, and we ate there twice. There were a number of terrific restaurants nearby like Nordy's BBQ, The Boot Grill, and Bonefish to name a few.
Getting to the hotel later than expected, we just grabbed something quick to eat we got our bearings of the immediate vacinity. The next morning we were up early (2 hr. time difference really did matter) We headed off to Greeley. Our aim was the Greeley Freight Station Museum. But not reading the website close enough to see that the Place was closed Mondays and Tuesdays, we needed another option. Nearby was the Ranger Station for the Pawnee National Grasslands. It was a very nice little museum filled with artifacts from the Grasslands - -
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| (click images to see them larger) |
After a chat and a look around, the Ranger gave us a map and directions to the two sections of the Grasslands. The western part is a giant loop around and it's used mostly for birdwatching. The eastern part contains the natural monument Twin Buttes.
Once there at the starting point we realized that the the trip so far was pretty long and that did we really want to loop around looking for a possibility of seeing birds or should we press on to the Twin Buttes? We chose the latter.
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| The starting point for the weatern part. |
Above is an example of the wide open spaces. I can only imagine 200+ years ago, when nearly the entire midwest was one open space.
We then got back in the car and continued east looking for the Twin Buttes. We were probably in the car another 1.5 hrs, the last 45 minutes or so was on a dirt road. All the roads off the main route were dirt roads!? Finally we made it! And were treated with an awesome view of the Buttes and the surrounding scenery - -
We spent at least an hour enjoying the views and the tranquility; we had the whole place to ourselves the entire time. Deb and Peter took one of the trails to get a little closer to the Buttes (not that much) and while they hiked I looked around and noticed one of these boulders. There were a few of them around and they were used to direct people and cars. But this one I noticed had the ripples throughout. These were the ancient ripples of a prehistoric tidal area. So if the rocks were from here, it indicates that at one time this whole place was at the edge of that inland sea we read about.
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