Animals in the Park

Animals..........yep, but we'll get to them in a second. First let's see what it looks like up on Old La Veta Pass. You probably remember the ole pickup, it has been in many of the pictures over the last 8 or 9 years.


Anyway, the view from the old pass is great..........so why in the world anyone would even consider trashing it is beyond me. But, I guess it must have happened or the county wouldn't have felt the need for the sign.


Now it is time for the animals. The area around La Veta (Colorado) had only 1/3 of their average snowfall last winter and the spring and summer have been dry. Food is scarce and some of the smaller streams have dried up. We've had deer parading through the camp ground fairly regularly. They are munching on everything from the townies shrubbery to whatever grass is available in the fields.


We also have a family of four bears visiting our RV park, momma, poppa, and two cubs. There is a scarcity of natural bear food because of the dry conditions. This has made the bears bolder than normal, especially the cubs. The cubs have been parading through the campground during the early evening, during daylight and while people are out and about. They seem to get bold day by day. That may sound cute or adorable, but momma is always lurking close by and if anything should endanger her cubs she would be there in seconds. The offending dog, cat, or human might not fare so well.


The pictures of the cubs were taken while they romped within 10 feet of the door on my camper.


They eventually moved onto the next play area and pushed on this motorhome. There were some scratch marks where they had been, I am calling them claw marks!!!


The cubs finally had exhausted their allotted playtime. Momma then recovered her playful cubs and guided them back into some protective cover.....but they'll be back, they raid the bear proof dumpster several time a day. By the way, the dumpster is more human proof than bear proof. It takes momma bear half as long to get into it as it takes me.


That's my story and I am stickin' to it!!!!!!!!

Trail Ridge Road

Although this posting is about driving over Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, you have to enter through Estes Park. Estes Park is a very popular little tourist town, especially as the gateway to RMNP.

Besides RMNP, Estes Park also has the world famous Stanley Hotel. This hotel was opened in 1909 and is an absolute marvel, well, you can see that. Beyond being a wonderful tourist stop it is also a movie icon. Do you remember the movie "The Shinning", story written by Stephen King? The hotel was the center point of the movie. Click here to see more about the >>> Stanley Hotel.


Now let us proceed into Rocky Mountain National Park.....after waiting in line of course. RMNP is one of the most visited parks in the country and there is always a line to get in.


We hadn't been in long before we were in another line, waiting at a wild animal crossing. These are minotaurs, half horse, half human. If you thought minotaurs were mythical, just take a careful look around almost any national park, where they are a protected species.


Trail Ridge Road runs through the park, exiting to Grand Lake. During the drive you reach altitudes above 12,000 feet. Much of the drive is above treeline in the alpine tundra. The drive is a scenic marvel.

I have driven across Trail Ridge Road at least 20 times over the last 35 years. This is the first time that I have seen elk herds lounging alongside the road. They all had their photogenic side pointed in my direction.




Enlarge this picture and look carefully at the left most standing elk. She has on a collar. Many of the elk in the park are tagged or collared by the naturalist rangers so that they can be tracked and studied.




Here is just scenery, in its most magnificent form. A mountain landscape above treeline. There is an alpine lake just left of center. If you can't see it, then enlarge the picture by clicking on it.


Hope you enjoyed the elk, I enjoyed being there to take their pictures for you. If you would like to know more, follow this link to >>> Rocky Mountain National Park.

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

We stopped in Steamboat Springs for a few days, a ski town in the winter, but just a fun outdoors place in the summer. For those non-skiers, the green stripes running down the mountain are the ski runs.


The weather, as is typical for most of Colorado in the summer, was stupendous. Although it rained every day we where there, the storms are short and the sun returns.


We took a hike, with friends, to view the Fish Creek Falls....


which look like this from a distance....


and like this up close......


and see, we really were there!!!


We also took a ride on the Alpine Sleds. The runs drop for thousands of feet and the sleds can attain speeds in excess to 120 mph.........oppps, gross exaggeration, but it sounds much more exciting my way.


We also saw rafters.......


kayakers.......


and fly fishermen......

and the best part of seeing all these outdoor ethusiats in action was that we did it from the patio of a micro-brewery while drinking beer and eating nachos. That probably has something to do with the every increasing size of my waist.

Dallas Divide...again

This summer Sharon and I are traveling around the state of Colorado, participating in arts and crafts shows. I tried to get us into 5 shows this summer, but we were turned down at one. I guess we just weren't crafty enough, but with only 4 shows we have even more time to move about and seek out old friends. By the way, changing our target audience from those at little craft bazaars to those at larger and more prestigious shows has been a good choice, so far. We are definitely finding folks looking for some of our more pricey "art".

But my blog is for tales of our travels and not an advertisement for our jewelry. So, on to the more important issue, what we are seeing.

As we were making a look-see trip to Telluride we crossed the Dallas Divide. I have published pictures before of this area before, which never fails to take my breath away. I guess it does that to Ralph Lauren (clothes) also, because he owns a 100,000 acre ranch that runs along a 7 mile stretch of the highway. This is definitely some of Colorado's finest.

This is a picture across some of LR's land. Here it is almost August and there is still a lot of snow clinging to the mountains. There was an above average snowfall last winter. It looks to me like the snow you see may last until this years winter snows starts, usually with the first snows fall on the higher elevations by mid-September.


While leaning against Ralph's fence to get my pictures, a pair of marmots popped out and began to play. One was roly poly and then there was this guy who is pretty skinny for a marmot. As I moved into position to get a few good shots, the big one went into hiding but this guy seemed to more into being photographed.


He just kinda stretched out and let me click away.


This one is just a shorty to let you know we are still out here. We are in Montrose now, but leaving tomorrow for the eastern slopes. Since the Coors brewery (last blog) we spent some time in Steamboat Springs. I will get around to putting those pictures up soon, as well as another picture or two of Golden (home to Coors brewery).

Golden, Colorado

Since we are staying in Golden, Colorado, we thought we should visit the historic downtown area. So here we go, looking down one of the main streets.


And this is a shot down Clear Creek, which runs right through downtown. Gold was discovered along this creek and that was the reason the town of Golden came into existence. It was known as the Gateway to Gold.......or something like that, sorry not to be more accurate but I am distracted. Do you see that???? There is some kind of large building down stream....what could that be??? Omigod, that writing looks like "Coors"!!!!


Well, wasn't that interesting, a brewery is here in this town. No biggy, I think we'll just hop a tour bus and see what all is in this town.... This tour guide is really skipping by most of the scenic and historic parts of town. She seems hung up on talking about some guy named Adolph with a last name like Kerrs or something.


Oh, she must have meant Coors, Adolph Coors. I think we have been shanghaied, look where she is making us get off the bus........ the driver is now telling us that the only way she will take us back to our truck is if we agree to take a tour of the Coors plant.......


Okay, as you can see, I gave in and am now on the tour. These are copper kettles where they cook stuff.....


and this is the control room where they control the cooking of the stuff......


and this is the package line, where they package stuff......I couldn't see a control room so I guess this is out of control........


and this is.....oh, no, they're making Sharon drink the "demon beer" (fresh from the bottling line)........oh, there is some for me too........well, then that's okay.......


and look at this, there's a bar at the end of the tour......they call it a "tasting room", but I know a bar when I see one........well now maybe this isn't turning out so bad after all....


Please know that no barleys are injured or killed during the manufacture of Coors beers, they are however, thoroughly fermented!!!!!!!!


Coors and Miller merged in 2008 to become MillerCoors. If you would like some factual information about them (rather than the bull I just wrote) follow the link.

The La Veta Train to Fir

Last winter we took a ride on a railway in Globe, Arizona. That railroad had been restored by Golden Spike Train Excursions. The ride we took in La Veta, Colorado, was on trains and cars restored by the Rio Grande Scenic Railroads, a sister company.

Overall these companies do a very nice job of providing an enjoyable day. This ride out of La Veta was about a 90 minute trip out and the same back. At and average speed of about 12 mph, this only made for a 17 mile ride each way. We ended up at the top of La Veta Pass at 9,400 feet, where we were entertained by an outdoor folk/western concert. Food was available, but we opted for our own peanut and jelly sandwiches. The food served at the top was a plate of barbecue that looked good, but was small and $12. I preferred my PB&J.

We left La Veta at 10:15am, arrived at the top at about noon, and returned to La Veta by 5:30pm. Little ran on time, the train was supposed to leave at 10am and return at 5pm. There was a lot of "hurry up and wait" and sometimes it seemed like the train crew had not been kept in the loop as to what was happening.

BUT, for a senior ticket price of $20 each, I could not bring myself to complain. Besides the concert was actually quite good.

The engine was diesel/electric, the cars were nicely restored and refitted, and the car staff were all very nice and helpful.


Here we unload at the top, in the hurry up and wait mode.


As you can see by the tilt to the umbrellas, the wind and rain were coming in parallel to the ground. Even though the weather was frequently "NOT" our friend during the concert, few got up to seek a sheltered vantage point. A credit to the entertainers.


At the top we were met by a steam train coming up from Alamosa (on the opposite side of the pass). Not to worry, there is a siding there specifically so the two trains can pass (as long as the engineers are in a mood for chicken).


The guy in this pic was great. I think his name was McCulloch (or something close). Folk music buffs should know him, he has 34 albums in circulation. He did half the show by himself and was thoroughly entertaining.


.......and of course the Colorado countryside was as beautiful as ever.


I give these folks a thumbs up on all fronts, despite some of the problems I mentioned. You would be hard pressed to spend a day as nice as this one any where else for $20 a head ($30 if you aren't blessed with the title "Senior").

If you hanker for more information, try these links:

More on the town of La Veta, Colorado.

About the train ride and the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad.

Abilene, Kansas

Do you recognize this man???


How about this????


And what do they have to do with Abilene, Kansas........well, Abilene is probably best know its wild cowboy days and as the northern terminus of the Chisholm Trail. That was the famous cattle trail from Texas. Abilene was the end point where the cows were loaded onto railroad cars for the ride back east (where they became steak).

Okay, the next best known point of interest about Abilene is probably Dwight David Eisenhower, known to most as "Ike", and also as the 34th President of the United States. He served two terms between 1953 to 1961. The statue is of the great man himself, and the seal is the Great Seal of the United States of America. See the link at the end of the blog that will take you to more information on Ike.

This was the Eisenhower family home from 1896 to 1946.


The Eisenhower Library.


The Eisenhower Museum.


The Meditation Chapel where Ike and Mamie lie in rest.


The beautiful fountain and pool that are in front of the Meditation Chapel.


Just a thought. Ike may have been the closest thing to an actual leader of the free world ever known. He was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II, the largest military force ever organized under the control of one man.

Ya know........"I Like Ike" still. I can remember his campaign even though I was only seven years old. I guess the man made and impression on me, and I was strongly reminded during our brief visit to Abilene.

More about Ike >>> Eisenhower Archives & Library
I am not wild about the way this site is organized and I found it a bit confusing to navigate through, but it has a wealth of information.

Or possibly you are more interested in the Chisholm Trail.
Google it or try this site >>>>> Along the Chisholm Trail