29 December 2009 - Day Trip to Leadville, Colorado

Breakfast followed by a trip to the laundromat doesn't seem like a great adventure, but try participating in those events with 14 other people and the dynamics change.
The laundromat was actually a fun outing and it was very warm inside the building. There was a play area for the children and a small TV with several children's videos available. That kept the eight children quiet, but the volume of the TV had to be constantly turned down. Well, I guess that is understandable considering that the seven adults playing "Catch Phrase" and were not very quiet. Fortunately, there was only one other person in the place and she preferred to wait outside in her car for some strange reason.
With our clothes clean and dry, we headed out on our day's Great Adventure. We have given this name to the day's activities so we can be flexible in our plans and not stir up a cauldron of disappointment. This day's plan included Leadville, Colorado. Unfortunately, mobilization of the group sometimes takes a little longer than expected, so we arrived rather late in the day. But the drive was beautiful and the roads clear, so we did not have any problems.
I recalled a Mining Museum DH and I had visited several years ago, so we headed in that general direction. Sure enough, it was still there (well, you never know). I wondered aloud if we could get a group rate as everyone headed for the gift shop to explore while I checked on tickets. The very nice lady at the ticket counter told me the museum would be closing in 15 minutes.There was a collective groan of disappoint from the members of our group. The lady looked at us and then suggested we could visit free for the next 15 minutes, but they would have to close promptly. With a flurry of activity that only our group of 15 can produce, we headed out to see all we could in 15 minutes. I led the group to an attraction that I felt certain they would all enjoy, a real mine environment created to give a realistic look at early mining procedures. This is particurlarly informative since we had family members mining in this part of Colorado in the early 1900's. The children went through that area several times before moving on. There was something of interest to everyone and we fanned out to explore more specific areas. There was particular interest in the neon glowing rocks in one of the rooms. I think they may have allotted us a little more than 15 minutes, but we certainly couldn't see it all.
It was icy cold in Leadville, the highest incorporated city in the continental US, but we decided to walk around town anyway. Well, "walk" might be a misnomer. The children were happy to be out and while we tried to maneuver the icy sidewalks and avoided going into the shops with our crew, the children kept running around. clambering up and down the stairs, and burning off energy. We stopped for a few minutes to eat cookies by the car (we never travel with out a few snacks) then re-boarded for the trip home.
Although there is a lot of snow on the ground, we are still waiting for it to snow while we are here..

Prove It To Me

CHESTERTON, Ind. — Two fourth-grade boys mimicking a scene from the movie"A Christmas Story" wound up with their tongues stuck to a frozen flagpole.

A portion of my childhood was spent in Golden, Colorado. We lived on a small hill in a small house that did not have indoor plumbing. We did not live there very long, but I have many memories and stories dating back to that time.

My mother who is a native Texan, should probably have been born in the "Show-Me State." She didn't, and doesn't , believe what people tell her; she always has to see it or prove it for herself. Sometimes I think my dad's goal was to see how ridiculous he could make her look. She fell for it every time.

On this particular day, Mother was pumping water from the outdoor pump. It was the old-fashioned kind that had to be primed and the handle laboriously pumped up and down until the desired amount of water was ejected into a container.
Seeing Mother at work on the pump, my dad warned her, "Don't stick your tongue on the pump or it will freeze to the metal."

I sincerely doubt that Mother had been contemplating the idea, but now she professed her disbelief as she carried the last bucket of water into the house. Then she returned to the pump and put her bare tongue against the metal. Daddy heard the noise and found Mother bent over the pump, tongue frozen to the icy steel, complaining unintelligibly. He poured warm water over her tongue, dislodging it from the metal. If there had been any damage, it wasn't apparent. Mother was still able to give Daddy a piece of her mind.

2/1/08
Well, I knew I didn't have the story completely right, but that was what I remembered. All the while, I was wondering why my dad would have stood there and watched my mother pumping water and carrying it in. She might have needed to do that when he was not around, but he was a bit more chivalrous in his younger years. So, here is Mother's version of the story.......

"I went outside when Dad was pumping water from the old cow-tail pump. I asked him why he was wearing gloves to pump water. He told me to be very careful not to touch the pump with wet hands when it was freezing or my hands would stick to the pump. I told him I thought that was a ridiculous notion. Then I went over and touched my tongue to the pump and found out he was right!"

Colorado or Bust!

Colorado is, as always, beautiful!
The contrast of blue, blue sky with the varying shades of green in the pines is breathtaking. The quaking Aspen and intermittent stormy skies add enough variety to keep me from getting too complacent.
I stopped for a pinic lunch in the midst of all this. Simple fare - an apple and Gouda cheese (I discovered there is no lactose in Gouda or Edam cheese) - eaten while I sat on the back bumper of the car. I was enveloped by the beauty and silence of the mountains. Only an occasional rash of passing vehicles disturbed the quiet, making the silence even more profound when the noise was gone.

I visited some of the places associated with the family name in Buena Vista and Salida, Colorado. The places were not new to me, DH and I had visited them a couple of times before. Sadly, the old school building that DH's father had attended, looked very bad. The bricks are extremely deteriorated all around the base of the building. It appears that it will fall in the near future. The trees that provided climbing joys for several generations, are overgrown and will surely show the wear after this winter's snow and ice. The land (and building?) were donated and reverted to the owners when the place was no longer used for a school.
I passed many deteriorating buildings in the area. I understand the extreme cost of restoring them but what a shame no one documents them.

One of the things I was really looking forward to was dinner at "The Laughing Ladies" in Salida. Unfortunately, they are closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I missed out! Actually, i missed out on two good restaurants because I passed up the one in Buena Vista that serves elk and caribou steaks, thinking I would have dinner at "The Laughing Ladies."
Live and learn. Be sure to stop in if you are ever in the neighborhood.

I spent some time at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison today. It was certainly worth the stop! It might be more impressive arriving from the West but I took a short hike and stood in awe at the majesty of this place. Was tempted to walk down to the creek which is supposed to take only about an hour, but the return is quite arduous and takes about two hours. I had to content myself with the view from above. Sorry I can't post photos from the computer at the hotel.
I headed across the beautiful mountains, moving from mountains, trees, waterfalls, and greenery, across Monarch Pass and the through the tree line, to the red rock formations and desert of Utah. Over all, the same gorgeous blue sky.

I am stopping a little early tonight because the next services are two hours away and because I want to visit "The Valley of the Goblins" tomorrow morning. Somewhere along the way, I missed the "rare freshwater geyser." I can see that I should spend a lot more time in Utah some day. Hmmm.....seems to me I have said that before.