Time in Canon City

Since sometime in the late 1960s, we have had family living in Canon City.  That is when John's parents bought a funeral home there.  Each time we return to Colorado in the summer, part of our time is spent there.

This year we started with lunch at the Village Inn with our brother-in-law John and  brother Tim.

One evening we saw a great sunset from our campground.


 

One day we went on the River Walk along the Arkansas River as it cuts through the city.

We saw a couple of deer.

The family gathered at brother-in-law John's home on Sunday for a pot luck lunch.  These 2 fellows are nephew Mark's sons Cody and Alex (I think).

Nephew Mark and great-nephew Jarid.

Niece Megan and her son Devin and his wife Jasmine and their son Bentley.

John talking to nephew Mike.

Tim and his grandson Bentley as John looks on.

From left nephew Andy, brother-in-law John and friend Nancy, niece Kim, brother Tim and John.

We had a good day catching up with many members of our family.  Hopefully, we will see more family before the end of our visit in Colorado.

Exploring Salida

Salida is a popular town in the southwest part of Colorado.  We stayed in an RV park in nearby Howard--a mistake--but we enjoyed visiting Salida where we did our daily walks, as well as grocery shopping and laundry.  There are a lot of really attractive restored buildings in the downtown area.

We also saw some curious--or odd--sights in town.

Monarch Ski Area is nearby and old skis have been used in creative ways.

I have no idea what this is up on a pole.

This care was unusual, to say the least.

Making this wooden bicycle would have been a lot of work--and creative.

The Arkansas River runs through town. We walked along the River Trail and we saw rafters and kayakers.

Hiking in Creede

Creede was established in a small opening amid rugged and beautiful rocky hills.

At the far end of the town, the opening in the rocks that you see below lead into a canyon cut by a stream. Caves were cut into the rock walls in the miners' hunt for silver ore.  Today those caves house the community center and meeting rooms.

We walked through the narrow part of the canyon where the caves are found and it opened into more beautiful views.

After a short walk we came to evidence of mining and a mill to process the ore.

This is the small stream flowing through the canyon.  To the left above the stream you can see the supporting structure for a rail line to bring the processed ore out of the canyon.

Here are more of the mining structures and what I think are called slag piles from all the rock brought our in the mining operation.

We had hiked up the canyon on a previous visit and it was good to see and appreciate these mountains and their history again.

Creede

We enjoyed time walking around Creede when we were parked there earlier this month.  We saw this small garden, complete with a mural and a young girl walking on the stone wall.  She reminded us of our granddaughter Kylie who used to balance on a wall near our home in Centennial.

The were flowers blooming everywhere in downtown Creede.

There were also a number of interesting sculptures, like this long-legged bird.




Our RV resort, Mountain Views at River's Edge, is beautiful.  We enjoyed walking around there, too.  Love this small lake and the reflections.

These sculptures are scattered around the resort.

The antler light fixture in the meeting hall is really impressive.

We will definitely stay there again, if we are in the area.

A Trip Over Wolf Creek Pass

After a few days at Bayfield, we drove over Wolf Creek Pass to the silver mining town of Creede, sitting 8800 feet above sea level. We passed by Chimney Rock.

The scenery was magnificent.

Anyone who is familiar with the Colorado mountains knows that all this dead trees indicate pine beetle attacks. Over decades, forest fires have been suppressed and the forests have become very dense and not too healthy. That gave the pine beetles a chance to come In and kill the trees.

There were more beautiful sights as we got closer to Creede.

Amenities 2

Full hookups—check
50 amp—check
Ambience and space—forget about it

Black Bear RV in Howard has what we need, just not what we like.
Amazing what we will do to meet those needs.

It’s All About the Amenities

We began camping in a tent. We packed a Coleman stove, a gas lantern, charcoal, matches, an ice chest and ice. Daily, we bought more ice.

Then we moved up to a Coleman tent trailer. Everything was the same except we could plug in to 120 volt electric and use lights and a small forced air furnace.

A few years later we decided we needed more space and more insulation. We bought a 26 ft Komfort 5th wheel. We now had everything we needed—at least for a while. We had 30 amp electric, air conditioning, forced air heat, propane stove and oven AND A TOILET AND SINK!

Enjoying all those amenities, over the years we bought longer RVs with slides and then 50 amp electric with 2 air conditioners. We really enjoy all these comforts of home. For six years, the 5th wheel was our home—we lived in it full time.

We now have a 28-ft Airstream with 50 amp service, USB ports, 2 air conditioners, a propane stove and electric convection oven. We don't live in it full time. We still enjoy all the comforts of home, even without slides.

But recently we learned there are certain amenities we really don't want to live without. Since we like to stay cool in summer, we can run both A/Cs at once. Or we can use one A/C and the oven. We might even be able to use all 3 at once but I haven't tried. The only place I sometimes expect to have only 30 amp service is in some state park campgrounds.

So when the full hook-up site we had reserved in Bayfield only had 30 amp electric service, I was dismayed (to say the least). I didn't realize there were sites there that didn't have both 30 and 50 amp on every electric pedestal.

We did survive, of course. But I knew we could only run one A/C at a time and I doubted I could bake and air condition at the same time. It was a pain to keep thinking—do we have the power to use this?—every time we turned on something.

This hasn't been our only lack of amenities, unfortunately. Our Dometic refrigerator isn't cooling well, so we are supplementing it with an ice chest and daily trips to buy ice.

And we have added one more amenity to our (almost) must have list. Good cell service or good WiFi. When we were still working, going out in the trailer was a way to disconnect and not be available to anyone else for a few days. Today we don't have to get away. And we enjoy the internet to keep up our finances, read blogs, research anything and everything, recipes, contact with family, making reservations.

I know, I know, we are spoiled. But in our old age we really want all the comforts of home, wherever we are.

Sent from my iPad

Driving Narrow, Winding, Beautiful Million Dollar Highway

We drove over the Million Dollar Highway in western Colorado twice in the past week, once to visit Silverton from Ouray and then, with the trailer, moving from Ouray to Bayfield. 

Why is it called the Million Dollar Highway?   I thought it was because that is how much it cost to build. Google tells me it is because of the views.  And they are impressive.

Much of the highway is narrow with lots of curves and no shoulder or guardrail.  It is certainly not for the faint-of-heart and must be really difficult for the many Texans who come to Colorado in the summer.

Last winter brought lots of snow and there were numerous avalanches along the highway.  Here we could see the trees knocked down and the dirt left from the snow that came down the mountain.

This view from our GPS shows us what the road ahead looks like.

The hillsides are often very green.

This is a view of part of the San Juan Mountains.

This area of Colorado saw lots of silver mining in the 1800s.  There is still some evidence of the mining buildings.

As if the GPS view wasn't bad enough, look at this sign--a 10 mph curve.  And obeying the speed limit is a very good idea.

Another spectacular view.

More evidence of avalanches.

Beautiful red mountain.

We both grew up in Colorado and were often in the mountains.  Since we no longer live here, it is sos good to spend a lot of time enjoying those mountains during this summer's travels.