Sunday, July 24, 2005
On Tuesday July 19, we got up at 0400 and drove our sleepy selves to the Las Vegas airport intending a flight to Colorado Springs, CO. We weren’t certain that there would be any space on any Colorado bound flights, (impromptu trip as it was) so we had a back-up plan to drive up to the national parks in southern Utah, just in case. Fortunately we were given seats on the second flight out to Phoenix and connected easily out of PHX to Colorado Springs.
I’ve never been to Colorado so only had television or book images in mind. My husband was raised south of Denver in Littleton and Castle Rock, so made an excellent tour guide. He’d not been to Colorado though for quite a few years so it was nice for him to visit and see it through our eyes.
Pike's Peak from Colorado Springs
We arrived by 11:30am, picked up our rental car and headed out to Pikes Peak. It’s not quite like the mountains I’m accustomed to in Washington State. From Seattle, at sea level, Mt. Rainier absolutely towers over everything around. Pikes Peak, although only 300 feet shorter in elevation than Mt. Rainier, just peeks out slightly higher than the surrounding mountains. It is quite beautiful though looking up at it from Colorado Springs at just under 6000 feet. We drove the dirt road all the way to the summit and were greeted by an awesome panoramic view. I’ve never been at 14,110 feet so jumped out of the car with excitement and to my absolute amazement, I felt I might be having a heart attack. Of course there is only half as much oxygen up there as down below but I’ve never actually experienced that. There is the sensation of getting winded easily, but I felt as though my chest was being crushed. I found it quite painful and my heart pounded nearly out-of-control. Kelsey only got winded so I was a bit concerned about my reaction. There must have been a zillion little biting bugs up there but the view was spectacular. We left a few bucks in their gift shop (I can’t imagine large trucks bringing all the food and gifts up there, but they do) and walked around the summit checking out the unobstructed view. There’s a turn-of-the-century cogwheel train that brings you up and back from the valley. That would be a blast to do someday.
Joshua; The Summiting Gnome Joshua and I at Pike's Peak Summit
Cog Wheel Train on Pike's Summit
Cog Wheel Trains Descending Summit
We drove down and had to have our brakes checked at about 11,000 feet. At the bottom we turned left and drove though breath-taking scenery heading west. (I took for granted that the mountains were always to the east back home but the opposite was the case here) We stopped in a wide valley and visited with a Buffalo. It seemed just as it should be except it was nearly alone. We talked about the supposed "miles" of buffalo in the old days.
Give me a home where the buffalo roam....
Following along the Arkansas River and eventually Crossing Independence Pass to Aspen reminded me of the North Cascades Highway in Washington, but this was over 12,000 feet high at the top. Again, my heart greatly hurt. It seemed every time we got higher than 9000 feet my chest suffered. (I plan to read up on altitude sickness to see if this is a normal symptom) When we pulled in to Aspen, at about 8000 feet, Little Josh was quietly sobbing and rubbing his eyes. Thinking he was tired and hungry I kept telling him that we were almost there but no sooner than we pulled in to town, the poor little guy got terribly sick. I was afraid it might be altitude sickness but I think it was due to all the winding turns. His car seat was quite low and looking out of the sides just showed the tops of the trees. I felt so bad for him. We stopped for the night in one of the lodges and Kelsey picked us up provisions and a very nice dinner that we ate in our condo. Josh felt better quickly. I understand the hype about Aspen now and would have to agree. It's a beautiful setting for a town. The people there reminded me very much of my home up in the San Juan Islands--very laid back. I would love to spend more time there.
Aspen Ski Runs
We had a good night’s sleep and enjoyed the morning walking around town. We had many more miles to cover so headed west again to Glenwood Springs and then up the canyon of the Colorado River heading east. We stopped to watch the rafters (ah, the good ol’ days) and let Josh throw rocks in the water. Funny, we left 123-degree Las Vegas hoping for cool mountains but we greeted by record temps in Colorado too. Oh well-- 105 is tolerable compared to what we have here at home. We took several side trips in old towns along the way and passed through Vail. The ski runs were great but it doesn’t have the character that Aspen has. We ate in Frisco, which is just outside of Breckenridge ski resort. Kelsey showed me their condo and a cabin that he helped build years ago. Breckenridge has retained the mining town character and I would like to have spent more time there too.
We chose to go under a pass through a long tunnel heading towards Denver. Joshua appreciated that. We stopped in Georgetown, another old mining town dating back to 1859 (elevation 8,519 feet) and broused through the old building and shops. This area was my favorite of the trip. We drove down I-70 through Idaho Springs, another 19th century town, and ended up in Littleton for the night.
Central City Opera House
Devil's Gate Bridge-Georgetown Loop Railroad
The next morning Kelsey showed us his old stomping grounds. We saw everywhere he’d lived and he shared many memories with us. We eventually found ourselves back in the mountains following the South Platte River through "The Chutes"--a set of rapids through a narrow rock canyon. We kept heading north until reaching Red Rocks Amphitheater.
Debbie below "The Chutes" of the South Platte River
By then, we decided to head back up to Georgetown to ride the narrow-gauge railway up to a mine. We wanted to do it the day before but missed it for the second time in two days. We decided to spend an additional day in Georgetown because Josh was so excited about he train
http://georgetownlooprr.com/ so we found a great room in town.
http://georgetownmountaininn.com/. It was decorated with pine furniture-- made to feel rustic but very nice and comfortable. The next morning we got up early and bought our tickets for our train ride in the mountains. It sold out for the day shortly after we arrived. Josh loved the ride. It lasted about an hour and a half.
Our next destination, since there were many hours of sunlight left, was Central City and Blackhawk. We drove a long, winding, steep dirt road over a pass that Kelsey knew of as a short cut there. Many mining remnants dotted the hillsides along the way. The mountains in this area are covered in mine tailings and tunnels. Some of these mines are in such steep and rugged hills that I can't imagine how they got up there. Central City and Blackhawk are mining towns too. It was quiet there because they were in the process of gutting many of the buildings to make casinos. Fortunately they were staying true to the old 19th century character. The oldest church in Colorado was still standing and being used here. Kelsey was upset about Central City because it used to be more remote and quaint, but they were remodeling accurately and needed the income to stay alive. I guess you can't blame them. I really enjoyed these two towns. If you know me, you know I love ghost towns and mining towns and seek them out where ever I can find them. I had no idea that they were so plentiful in the mountains of Colorado.
We headed out again and went through the town of Golden, passing the huge Coors plant. We skirted Denver proper and went south to Colorado Springs to stay the night. We found ourselves in a bit of a bind as there was a large military unit just back from Iraq and there didn’t seem to be a room in town. We finally found one and paid about a year’s salary for it. In the morning, we turned in our car with 900 additional miles on it and sat at the airport for 3 long hours trying to get on a flight out. We finally gave up as every flight of the day was being weight restricted and passengers bumped. We rented another car opting for a flight out of the Denver airport. We drove through Parker, where Kelsey had been a police officer, and ate at a little truck stop east of the new airport. There was a humungous storm surrounding the airport with quarter sized raindrops and lightening bolts striking the ground all around us. The sky was very dark and Kelsey warned me about tornadoes. Yikes! I hadn’t fully realized how flat it is once you get out of the mountains there. That’s the first time I’ve seen the "Plains". I wouldn’t want to live there. When we finally got to the airport, (really nice airport by the way) there were tornado fallout shelter signs all over. Pretty weird for this northwest native!
We caught the 9:30 PM flight direct to Vegas and Josh was a trooper. He never complained in 900 miles of being strapped in a car. He hardly complained when he was very sick. We got home at 10:30PM Pacific Time and Josh stayed up for an hour playing with his toys.
Today is Joshua’s 2nd birthday and we are lying pretty low. Joshua and I plan to head to Canada next week but I think we’ll enjoy a few more days here at home.
