First Stop in Colorado—Pueblo

Our first stop on our return to Colorado was Pueblo.  One day we walked a trail in nearby Lake Pueblo State Park.  We loved the trunks on these old juniper trees. 

We also enjoyed some of the spring wildflowers.  This is globe mallow.

If I remember correctly, this is a pasque flower.

The sky was blue so Lake Pueblo was beautiful.

Wednesday we got our exercise walking on the Riverwalk in downtown Pueblo.  There are numerous bronze statues along the way.  This American Bald Eagle is impressive.

This mosaic shows the course of the Arkansas River.  The Riverwalk follows the original course of the river before it was diverted following a flood in 1921.

An island in the river features statues of animals described by the explorer Zebulon Pike, who followed the river into what is now Colorado.  Pikes Peak, a 14,114 ft high mountain, is named after Pike.

This plaque shows the cooperation between the people of the community and the Colorado Fuel and Iron steel plant in town.  That plant has been sold and is now named Evraz Pueblo.

These bronze birds are easier to see in the reflection than the metal sculptures, at least in this photo.

Bronze statues of young children are popular in many places.  Perhaps they are all designed by the same artist.  We found several along the Riverwalk.

There is also this American Indian.

And a cowboy on his horse and a longhorn steer,

 

I love this young boy getting ready to sail his boat.  But somehow, I think this one will sink.

Another of two children.

A massive buffalo.  These animals once were widely present in Colorado and others plains states.  They are the mascot of the University of Colorado—John’s and my alma mater.  Our son Eric also received a degree from CU and our granddaughter Kylie is a student at CU.

An interesting artistic wall along the Riverwalk.

Iris and other spring flowers.

A mare and her newborn foal are depicted in these statues.

We had been on the Riverwalk before, but we enjoyed it just as much this time.  Originally we planned to travel in Texas this Spring and would have seen the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Instead, we got to enjoy the one in Pueblo.

The River

Four major rivers have their headwaters in our home state of Colorado: Rio Grande, Arkansas, Platte and Colorado. We have camped or hiked at the headwaters of both the Rio Grande and the Colorado, camped along the Arkansas in Arkansas where it is the route of major river barge traffic, walked along the Rio Grande in New Mexico and experienced it in Texas where it is the international border with Mexico.

We have rafted on the Colorado in Grand County near where we lived in the 1980s and in Glenwood Canyon.  We have seen the beautiful work it did in creating the Grand Canyon. The river supplies water to 7 states and Mexico and we know there is not always enough to go around. So we were surprised at how much water there was in the riverbed at Laughlin. This was our first glimpse of the waterway.

The water is amazingly clear.

Several of the casinos in Laughlin are on the waterfront and there is a Riverwalk giving people access to a view of the river and the casinos. One casino had murals depicting the history of the area and the Colorado River is prominent in many of them.

Here are a couple of views of the river showing a scenic cruise boat and the marina.

In other places, there is a lot of green along the trail.

The Riverwalk was a good place to get away from the traffic while getting some exercise.