Aspen Leaves and Mining Towns

Yesterday we drove to the mountains between Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek. The aspen trees painted the hillsides with gold and orange.















These colors never last long so we are glad we had the opportunity to see them this year. It has been several years since we last had the time or opportunity to see them. We could see the nearby hillsides well, but the longer vistas are covered with a haze of smoke. Fires in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Washington are really filling the Colorado skies.



The smoke makes the sun glow red in the morning and evening. When I take a picture of it, the sun shines through and the smoke looks red.



Cripple Creek and the nearby mining towns of Victor and Goldfield are important to me because this is where my mother grew up. This sign at the edge of Cripple Creek is new.



A tourist train operates in town and this engine is named Goldfield, for the town where my mother was born.



Buildings in town were constructed right next to one another. This shows what is left when one building is torn down.



Some of the buildings have been spruced up, usually to house one of the casinos. This is the home of the Brass Ass.



This sign is very appropriate for one of the richest gold mining districts in the country.



We walked through a combination antique store and ice cream parlor. We saw this old advertising sign.



Anybody need a foot bath?



This is the high school my mother graduated from in Victor, about 7 miles beyond Cripple Creek. You can also see some of the smoke in the picture.



A few people still live in nearby Goldfield, but this house has seen better days.



The day was both a beautiful drive and a walk down memory lane.