So Many Memories

We first came to Southern Colorado to work on genealogy.  I knew that my great grandfather George Polhill had homesteaded in the area and I wanted to learn more about him and this part of our state.  Since then we have returned to Trinidad State Park once and more than a dozen times stayed in Lathrop State Park, including three times as volunteers.

This week, we are staying in LaVeta, a small town about 20 miles away.  But we returned to Lathrop to walk on the trail around Martin Lake on Tuesday.

We saw many of the wildflowers we had become accustomed to in years past.

 

We also saw a snake--probably a bull snake.  One year we came on a rattlesnake as we were showing our granddaughter Kylie around.  Both Kylie and our grandson John spent time with us here.  Sometimes, they even brought their parents, our son Eric and his wife Liz.

I don't know much about geology or geography.  I do know that is thin rock walls are caused by motion in the earth.  Here they show up all over the area.

At  one location, this rock formation called Profile Rock can be seen from mile marker 9 on the Highway of Legends (Hwy 12).  It is said to show profiles of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as well as a train on the trestle.  I don't see the former presidents, I do see the train.

We saw this old barn with a rock wall in the background.

These signs certainly reflect a highway through rural Colorado.

These vistas are part of what made our many stays in the area so appealing.  No wonder my ancestor chose to settle here.

We went over Cuchara Pass at 9995 feet above sea level.

This shows how thin the walls of rock are.

 Of course, we had to go to Charlie's Market in nearby LaVeta.  I always enjoy an ice cream cone there.

Our retirement has included many volunteer assignments in towns in Colorado, Utah, Arkansas, Texas  and Montana. Lathrop State Park in Walsenburg was one of our favorite.  What a trip down memory lane we have had this week.

Riding the Train to LaVeta

Monday we rode the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad out of Alamosa to LaVeta and over LaVeta pass.  We have been on this train several times in the past and always enjoy it.

We had first class tickets in a dome car so we had a good view of the surrounding area.

It may be September but we didn't see fall colors of yellow, orange and red.  Everything was black and white.  Last summer the Spring Creek Fire, which started near Fort Garland, burned over 100,000 acres between June 27 and September 10.  The scenery along our train route was mainly black and white.

There were distant views of the nearby mountain ranges.

But mainly, we saw the contrast of black and white in the burned-out forest.  The patterns were so sad, but also beautiful in their own right.

Just look at all these dead trees! So Sad

It is amazing where trees can grow.

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There were numerous overturned grain cars along the route.  There have been several derailments on this stretch and often the cars are just pushed off the track and down the slope from the track.  Crews come in and salvage what parts they can.

More contrasts of black and white.

There were two stops for photo shoots.  Everyone who wanted to take pictures got off the train, which then backed up before driving by so we could take pictures.

One of the cars on the train was the owners' car.  It was at the rear of the train going up to LaVeta.  It gave us a view of what private rail cars were like during the last century.

We saw glass insulators on old electric poles.

This is the train station in LaVeta.  You can see we were190 miles, by rail, from  Denver.

We had one meal on the train, eggs benedict.  While we explored LaVeta, we bought sandwiches at the deli counter in Charlies, the LaVeta grocery store.  We ate them near the end of the trip serving as our dinner.

We have one more train ride scheduled this week, on the Cumbres and Toltec out of Chama, New Mexico.  Can you tell we are train buffs?  On Monday's trip we took nearly 200 photos during the day.  Wonder how many we will take on Thursday?