Travel to Telluride

 The scenery along the route from Montrose to Telluride is spectacular.  Only the skies hazy with smoke from several wildfires limited the beauty.

The forest and rock formations are great.

 

Unfortunately, some unknown (so far) problem is causing large stands of Aspen to die.  

There are sharp peaks.

And long smoky vistas of other mountains.

In places, we had a good look at the different colors of stone in these mountains.

Telluride is right in the middle of these mountains at an elevation of 8750 feet above sea level.  This is a view along one of the side streets.  I was standing on Main Street.

We could tell where the ski trails are in the winter.  Notice how steep the roofs are.  It helps the snow to quickly slide off the buildings, rather than drifting on the roof and causing damage.

I love the paint job on this house and the attractive front porch.

This is a galloping goose. Signs like these marked the bus stop where people could wait for the rail-riding vehicle that traveled through town and between the mountain towns decades ago.

  

This is a galloping goose.

There is something about the thin mountain air that really helps flower baskets to thrive.  Aren’t these beautiful?

This sign tells a little about the mining past of Telluride.

More Hiking

Colorado is an absolutely beautiful state. Much of that beauty is found within the numerous National Monuments and National Parks in our state. Yesterday, we drove 17 miles out of Montrose to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  Here you can see why it is called the Black Canyon.  Not only is the canyon carved out by the Gunnison River deep--meaning not much light reaches the lower part of the canyon.  In addition, much of the rock that the river cut through is a dark color.

Look at how narrow the canyon is.  Part of the canyon is 2,250 feet deep and it ranges from only 40 feet up to 1,100 feet wide.

This picturesque tree is on the canyon rim.

These steep canyon walls are quite popular with experienced rock climbers!  We hiked on the Rim Trail and Upland Trail, but I would never--now or in the past--have considered rock climbing.

The river continues to erode the rock walls, sometimes separating the rocks into narrow  outcrops.  We could look into the canyon for several overlooks.

A selfie of us with the canyon in the background.  I took off my hat.  Isn’t my white hat hair great?

 

Hiking In the Monument

 We had a great hike on the Liberty Cap Trail in Colorado National Monument.  The rock formations and scenery remind us a lot of Utah.  We will be seeing a lot of this scenery in the next month or two. The Liberty Cap Trail is 7 miles long, with the first 5.5 miles crossing Monument Mesa through Pinon-Juniper forest and sagebrush flats.  Then it drops steeply into Grand Valley.  We didn't go nearly that far, walking probably 2 miles+ out and then returning.

These rock formations are massive.  We were happy to see trails that went between them, not up and over.

The sheer walls occur when sections of rock break off.  The colors are referred to as desert varnish, staining from water running down from the top.

I really like the various colors from gray-brown  of the sage bush to the green of pinon and juniper to the light-colored slash across the rocks. 

The trunk and branches of this dead tree are so interesting.  These tree skeletons are thin twisted fibers of wood.

A view from the road as we drove to our trailhead.

Looking up one of the canyons.

Family on the Western Slope

We have a niece and nephew living on Colorado's Western Slope.  Visiting them has been an important part of the time we are spending here.

One day we visited Becky and Thad in Grand Junction.  Becky has lots of chickens.

In addition to raising chickens, she has a huge vegetable garden.  There are several varieties of squash.  I think this is butternut.

This is a patty pan squash.  I have seen them when watching Food Network shows, but we had never eaten them.

So Becky picked a couple for us.  Boy, are they every good!

Just look at all the tomato plants in front of where Becky is standing.  There are also pea and bean plants. 

 

We moved on to Montrose where we visited our nephew Blake and Julie.  They, too, have chickens.

They also grow flowers and vegetables.  

I

I know this is a zinnia.  I can't name the two flowers above.

These are very hot peppers, we were told.

I think this is a tomatillo plant, but I'm not sure.

We managed a selfie of the four of us.

Look at the beautiful reflections on Blake and Julie's pond.

Returning to Our Past

Sunday we returned to Castle Rock where John grew up and where we lived with our two sons from 1976 through mid-1984. We were operating Andrews Funeral Home, which we had just purchased from John's parents. The building housed both our home and the business, as well as an apartment. Our years there were challenging and filled with wonderful opportunities. We taught about death and grief all over Colorado. 

 

We sold the funeral home in 1984 to Loyce and Mattie Caldwell and Bob Gibson and moved to Wisconsin where John attended Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary.  They sold the business to a larger corporation and now it is operated by Dignity Funeral Homes.  The original building was constructed in the late 1800s as the Carlson Frink Creamery.  In  1920 it was purchased by Sam Livingston and converted into a funeral home.  Dignity plans call for the old building to be demolished and a new modern funeral home constructed there.  We were invited to spend time in the structure that was the Andrews family home from 1938 to 1984.  John's sister, Cindy, her daughter Tina and granddaughter Kelsey and our son Eric, wife Liz, and children Kylie and John also came.

We shared so many memories and stories as we looked at every nook and cranny of the building.

This is the chapel.  It hasn't changed a whole lot.  The chairs have different upholstery and the room is often used for meals and refreshments following funerals.

This was the office when we were there.

Many family gatherings, especially for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner, were held in this room, our dining room.  Cindy's first comment was, "You finally got rid of the wall paper!"  Now it's the office.

This fireplace was the centerpiece of our family room--minus the cremation urns, of course.

Eric enjoyed showing his family his old bedroom.  Our friend Chuck Bowman is standing in front of what was once John's bedroom.  Chuck grew up about a block away from our funeral home and got his start in the funeral home business there.  Today he owns a funeral home with his daughter and son-in-law in Kansas and he is the immediate past-president of the National Funeral Directors Association.

Our formal living  room still looks comfortable, though the furniture is new.

  Chuck and John.

All of us, Cindy, Eric, John and I, lived in this house.

It was so good to explore our old home and share stories of our time there.   I am grateful for the opportunity to see it one more time before it is torn down.