Dylin's Gr8 #8

It was a busy day today. In the morning, we visited with Penny to get a tutorial on how to make bias binding for the edge of the quilt.  Burke's got his eye on Miss Penny.
I drove down to Sugar Land and picked up Aedin, Dylin and Olsin after school. Then when we got to their house I gave Dylin her birthday present but forgot my camera so unfortunately I don't have any photos. Sneed and I went to the Astros game. When we got home Annemarie and Burke were playing.

Part of Dylin's cupcake birthday cake. Annemarie, Brett, and Burke went down for the birthday dinner celebration.  Mmmm, it was ever so good. ~ Annemarie and I worked some more on the strip quilt calling it quits around midnight.

Astros Last Game of the Season

Last game of the season and the Astros lost, but that was no big deal. They weren't in contention for anything except the team with the worst record so maybe they could get the first pick in the draft.  The win did enable the Cards to get closer to a wild card playoff for the World Series though.

Former Astro Lance Berkman in right field. Glad to see him doing so well. Astros thanked the fans but the sponsors didn't contribute anything as giveaways for the last game.

Burke and Annemarie

You'll just have to believe me that Brett is here...this is a working vacation for him so we don't see him much during the day. Then at night Annemarie and I are closeted up in my workroom doing crafty things. Made up for not taking any photos yesterday....

Cute take off on "There's an app for that" (guess that really applies to I-Phone geeks) ~ First time in the hanging swing. What is this contraption I'm in?

Evidently A and B value their Apples more than I do my Dell. Burke's first time on a computer.

Annemarie and I stayed up 'til after 1 putting this top of a strip quilt together. Taylor purchased some fabric for us to make two baby quilts for baby showers she will be attending next month.

ABB arrive and a surprise visit too

I wasn't sure what time Annemarie, Brett, and Burke would be arriving so I was surprised when she called and said they would be here around 1030AM. It was so wonderful welcoming Burke to TX for the first time. He's such a sweetheart. So I got to spend some time with them before going to the Y.

While I was gone, the phone rang and Annemarie answered it. The person on the other end said, "Is this Anne or Annemarie?" Imagine Annemarie's surprise to find out that it was Patsy who lived across the street from us and moved to the Phillipines about 10 years ago. She was in town with her daughter and granddaughter and wanted to visit. Annemarie asked her to come around 2. I was surprised when I got home to hear about the impending visit.



 Patsy is holding Burke. Next to her is her daughter Daysha and Lela, 4 years old, is in my lap.

Shortly after Patsy and family left, Sneed got home from work. Burke reacquaints himself with Papa Sneed.

  Brett was working upstairs. Annemarie and I played with Burke and I can't believe we didn't take picture one of him by himself!!

Devastation by FIRE

Don't know if this cowboy is harkening people to the Ford dealer or ringing the bell to announce dinner's ready at the Underwood's Cafeteria. ~ It had to happen. Sneed decided that this little black bear will now be Cy's mascot.

Traveling on Highway 6 which is on the western side of the town of Batrop that suffered so much damage from the recent fires in the area. Over 1500 homes were lost. The bright green is not grass, it's sprayed grass that the state hopes will germinate and rejuvenate the area. The fire was on both sides of the road.  In the last photo, one can see the swath that was cut to try and stop the fire.

Sunrise...Sunset

We're homeward bound and on the road by 5AM Mountain time. We knew that as soon as we crossed the TX state border, we'd photograph another 10 courthouses which slows down our overall daily mileage as it's a lot of stop and go driving through small towns. 

Morning has broken. This old coot was sitting in the McDonald's we stopped at for breakfast in Trinidad, CO. Sneed said that's what he's going to look like when he retires. sigh. In the parking lot, this poor elk didn't duck at the right time. Really a big fellow in the back of a not very large pickup truck. But, hey, it's hunting season, right?

Finally got some up close and personal shots of these Prong Horn Antelopes, the only antelopes in North America

Welcome to Clayton, NM, home of Charmayne James. This dragon? was in the center of town.

Always a welcome sight...State Sweet State aka Home Sweet Home



Even the cowboys are bigger in Texas

 

Large farm equipment has to pull off the road so one may pass. ~ Cal Farley's Boys' Ranch is north of Amarillo. ~ The long and winding road with which we are familiar. ~ Farm equipment for sale.

 

The famed Cadillac Ranch located outside of Amarillo on I-40. Quite a sight to see. We added our bit of grafitti which will probably not be visible in six months.

Tulia is located on the southern route of the Ozark Trail. The marker is one of two in TX in its original location. Distances to St Louis and El Paso are on the marker as they were on the original marker. ~ The seat of Garza County was named after C. W. Post, the cereal manufacturer who founded the town in 1907 to demonstrate his economic ideas. ~ The Garza theater, now known as Tower, was one of the first movie theaters in West Texas featuring silent films.
A bit of interesting trivia...Garza County is directly North of Borden County. The county and town are named for Gail Borden, TX patriot, surveyor, editor, trustee of group that founded Baylor University, inventor of condensed milk and founder of Borden Foods. So one may have breakfast on the border of cereal and milk.

And now, day is done.

Oh my gosh, What a Gorge, a Royal Gorge!

The time has passed by so quickly and today is the last day of the tour. We have seen and learned about so many new things. Today is no exception. We are traveling to the Royal Gorge Bridge, the highest suspension bridge in the world since it was built in 1929. That is until 2003 when it was surpassed in height by a bridge built in China; however, it is still the highest bridge in North America. The engineering feat was completed in 6 months for $350,000. Today's cost would exceed $15 million!! It was built as a tourist attraction to be enjoyed either by car or on foot. After seeing the bridge up close, well as close as we wanted to get because to really get near enough to touch it you had to pay (yep, we've got expensive cars, but we still value the dollar). Anyway, further on down the road we were boarding the Royal Gorge Railway for a luncheon and view of the bridge from underneath. A nice leisurely 2 hour ride. Afterwards, we had to put the pedal to the metal to get back to Colorado Springs, check in to the hotel, and drive back out to the Flying W Ranch for the evening's farewell dinner and entertainment.

Seems one can't pass a river or stream without seeing someone fly fishing

No sooner did we hang a left through the rocks than we had to turn right back through them. I like the way the sky and rock formations are mirrored in the bonnet of Cypress.

Here it is, the Royal Gorge Bridge, suspended 955' above the Arkansas River.  That's quite a drop!

One can also float (oar) along the river - a familiar scene we saw from the train several times.

Cool, the cup is made from corn, but I didn't want to butter it and eat it. Whaddya know. Another fisherman.

In the photo on the left, one can see the huge pipeline which carried water to the town of Canon City about 12 miles from the bridge itself. I love it when you can see another part of the train from where one is sitting.

We left Vail and traveled on Highway 24 - Top of the Rockies Scenic & Historic Byway - to Camp Hale and the 10th Mountain Division Memorial, places that Sandy talked about last night. Our midway destination was Leadville where we visited the National Mining Hall of Fame. Afterwards, we took a short drive to Valhalla, Marcy and John's home in the mountains, where we were treated to a delightful catered lunch. Then we moseyed to Salida where we had dinner at the Laughing Ladies Cafe and overnighted.

The National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum is the premier showcase of American mining and the only Federally Chartered mining museum in the country. One can walk through an underground hard rock mine replica and a prospector's cave among many other exhibits. I was intrigued with the beautiful penmanship on the stock. Don't see that taught anymore.

Santa Barbara is a busy lady being the Patron Saint of miners, architects, seafarers, and artillery men.

Some interesting houses in Leadville, and the last one in Salida

Seen (scenes) along the highway

John and Marcy's lovely mountain home. Sneed stands next to a metal elk in the yard. Behind to the left is a small chapel.



We toured around Salida before dinner taking a road that led way up a pine tree laden mountainside. We saw a lady on a ladder that was resting on a pine tree. Further along, we saw a few more people on ladders as well. When we turned around to go back, I asked Sneed to stop so we could inquire of the lady what in the world she was doing. Her voice was a lilting Scandinavian. She explained that she was picking pine nuts. The nuts are dried and then split open for the pine nuts that we eat with salads, etc. Who would have thought, eh? You learn something new everyday

Before dinner we were treated to a demonstration by glass artist, Brice Turnball. I bought the glass object on the right thinking it looked Christmasy. You know, the red and green. Now that I have it home, what was I thinking? Must have been momentary weakness.

We ate dinner at the Laughing Ladies Cafe. Had an excellent salad that would have sufficed as the whole meal had it been a choice.

Freewheeling through the mountains

Since we were spending another night in Vail, after our al fresco breakfast at Vail Pass, elevation 10,617 feet, we were free to drive one of two options...roundtrip to Steamboat Springs, or roundtrip to Georgetown. We chose the first, and arrived back in time to also visit the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail before the evening entertainment.

John and Marcy, our tour hosts, at Vail Pass. In the other photo I am in the background with the pink hat.

What better way to see the scenery than following a 1936 4 1/4 Litre Bentley down the road. Sneed saw this bucket that was used for strip mining in the Edna Mine from 1975-1996. This bucket, along with 4 others, was used to remove the overburden - 60-110 feet of rock and dirt. Empty it would weigh approximately 40 tons! When the mine closed in 1996, it was estimated there was at least 8 million tons of coal left in the mountain.

Beaver dams Sneed noticed as we drove along...I had no idea what to look for when he said, "Did you see the beaver dams?"

Flowers at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens - the highest botanical gardens in the world

We were treated to a wine and cheese reception at the Colorado Ski Museum. Bentley Denver hosted the event. Afterwards we were entertained by Sandy Treat, a member of the 10th Mountain Division, as he recounted the story of this amazing ski troop during WW II. As I had never heard of the division, the talk was very enlightening and informative.

Fossils, Flowers, and Fairplay, CO

We had to pack up and leave Colorado Springs this morning. We're on our way to Vail where we will spend the night. But this is a tour so there will be a few stops along the way. First on the agenda today is a visit to Florissant Fossil Bend National Monument. A park attendant gave us a very informative talk about the area.


Robert is standing in front of a pine tree that has sprouted forth from the decay of another tree. The far right is one of the fossilized trees on the grounds.



This diagram compares the size of Redwood trees with different tall items. Check out how small a person is in comparison. Mind-boggling, isn't it.

Charlotte Hill, a homesteader here in the late 1800s, raised 7 children, ranched with her husband, and pursued her avocation of collecting fossils. She also was the first to have a 2 story home in the area. Her finds included the famous Prodyras persephone butterfly, one of the most remarkable butterfly finds ever found. Photo on the right shows the butterfly which is now housed in Harvard's collection. 



A reproduction of the homestead about 1/4 mile from the Florissant Beds.



I took advantage of the many walks that dotted the area and found lovely wildflowers and a curious Prarie Dog as well.

On the road to our next stop in Fairplay, Colorado.

Another photo op, this time the cars were the subject, at South Park City, an authentic restoration of a Colorado mining boom town.

We had lunch at the Valiton Hotel which had been shuttered in 2008 and recently reopened faithful to its previous decor. At South Park City, Peggi waits at the train station checking her watch once again wondering about the lateness of the train. Anne is taken aback as she sees light after a trip down in the mine.

Imagine my surprise to see our china pattern displayed. The cat was not the primitive ore crusher; however, it was omnipresent wherever one turned and was quite the attraction for all of us photographers. On our ride out of town, this dog doesn't seem to be very impressed that we are driving a Bentley. = )



This wasn't the only inside out curve we experienced on our drive to Vail. Between two of these signs along the road we noticed a very light sprinkling of snow.

In Vail, we dined at the Vail Chophouse, a closed event for our group only. After dinner, whilst enjoying our dessert, Rick Spitzer, an author and photographer extraordinaire, talked about the 14,000' passes in Colorado. I got an autographed copy of  his  book, Colorado Mountain Passes.