Games

This week we have a house full of kids and grandkids

Here they are playing Scattergories around the fire pit. Even though it looks a bit staged...it wasn't.

Don't feel too sorry for me. Tom's girls are good cooks. Brought all of the ingredients and have done the cooking. I did make some banana bread, two batches of chocolate chip cookies and fudge....which are all gone. I will be headed to the grocery store this morning and to also pick up another grandchild at the airport.

Our Town

I like this picture taken by one of my husband's hiking buddies. It shows that Lake City is in a deep Valley surrounded by mountain peaks. Our house is halfway up one of those mountains.

The Hiking Club

Every Thursday my husband is like a little Boy Scout preparing for camp. For it is the day that the hiking club heads up a trail.

I know, I know, I should be going too....and I have on occasion.

He loves it when he arrives above tree line and can see in all directions.

They usually only stay on top long enough to eat the lunch they have packed, and then start  down before our usual afternoon thunderstorm arrives.

If you are ever in town you are welcome to hike along with the group.

What Are These Guys Doing?

One of the places we take our guests is Windy Point....where you can see all of the mountain tops that surround our little town.

There are usually other folks taking in the view...but I could not figure out what these guys were doing? So I ask. Seems they were taking a photo of this motorcycle for a magazine cover. You never know what you will encounter when you get out and scout about.

Let's Go On A Picnic

One thing I always love to do when guests are here is take a long drive and end with a picnic.

One of my favorite drives is what I call the Cebolla Creek road up the mountain from here to the east. It is really County Road 50, but since the Cebolla Creek runs it;s length...that is what I prefer to call it.

 As you can see it was a beautiful day.

there are numerous photo ops along the way.

I especially like this old barn.

There are a couple of campgrounds along the way with picnic tables..

This one I like is just over a small bridge crossing Cebolla Creek.

We are without guests at the moment but have several kids and grandkids arriving on the weekend.!

The Old Mill & Another Moose

After spotting the Bald Eagle, see previous post, we continued south to show our guest the beautiful trail head at Cataract Trail.

Along the way we passed the remains of the old mining town of Sherman. Sherman was founded in about 1880 and eventually grew to around 300 inhabitants. Above are the remains of what was the Black Wonder Mill.

The town died due to not only the devaluation of silver but because of a devastating flood. Amazing that the stone foundation has stood the test of time.

On our way home we passed the lake again where we spotted the eagle, and there was a young bull moose having lunch. Nice day.

The Eagle

One of the things that I love about being in the mountains during the summer is that we are surrounded by wildlife.

We have two bald eagles living out at the lake. I know where their nest is on one side of the lake, and when and where they eat on the other side of the lake. This was my best shot yesterday.

At Last

Last night, after dinner, I was determined to show our latest guests that we really do have a lot of moose in the area

and there one was...a young bull moose!

Coming Home

This little mining town in Colorado was a bit late getting train service. A branch of the Denver Rio Grande arrived here in 1899. 

This is a poster (of ours) of that little train coming into town. There was a very high bridge over the river logically called the high bridge. If you look closley you can see the passengers out enjoying the view. The last train pulled out of here in the early thirtys. Several years ago the town located the caboose and restored it.

Well now they have found another car. They could tell by the number on it, which matched up with old photos, that is was on the last train that pulled out of here. Passenger loads had dropped back then so they made the car a combination passenger/cargo. It has been delivered to our museum and will be restored, and from what I hear will be a costly project.

The Wildlife

On my previous post I shared some of the wild flowers that we saw when driving our guests through the San Juan Mountains on a jaunt hoping to spot wildlife.

We did spot a large herd of sheep. While these are not really wild life, they are free to roam the hills

guarded only by a couple of (very smart) dogs and one sheep herder who lives all summer in a small trailer.

At one of the four lakes of Deer Lakes. I spotted a Golden Mantle Squirrel eating a flower,

and I hesitate to even show you this blurry zoom of what you may think is a dog but is actually a beaver. We will be out investigating again soon as we have more guests arriving today.

Flowers

We took our most recent guests for a drive, hoping to see some wildlife,

but what we saw was a lot of wildflowers. I believe this is Fire Weed.

I am not sure what this is, but it seems to be hearty....growing right out of the rocks.

Not a lot of flowers here. I just liked the tree trunk.

The Beavers have been busy.

Nature amazes me with it's many colors.

Throw in the mountains, abundance of water around here, and it makes for a nice drive.

The Bear Dance

You really have to pay attention so as not to miss what is going on in this little town

I happened to read thta the Red Sky Drum group of the Ute Tribe would be in town to preform the Bear Dance.

Apparently legend has it that two brothers went out to hunt game. One became tired and asked to stay behind to rest. He was leaning up against a tree when a bear appeared. That bear instructed the young brave how to do the Bear Dance....showing respect to the bears. He was to return to his tribe and teach the others.

We were then taught the dance and had fun marching around to the drum beat.
Always something to do around here!

The Backyard

In this little mountain town we have a music venue called The Back Yard. It is located behind a gas station. Sounds very primitive but it is  a wonderful place to attend a concert. There is the wall of a cliff behind the stage that is great for bouncing the music back out into the crowd.

The most recent concert we attended was a tribute to the late John Denver. Chris Collins not only looks a bit like Denver but her sounds very much like him. Oops I caught his eyes closed.

Chris has a groupie (I guess that is what you call them) who had come all the way from Japan to hear him. She was a huge John Denver fan and I guess she catches as many of Chris Collins performances as she can. I went back to talk to her. Her English was limited and my Japanese was not existent....but she seemed to appreciate that I would stop and try to talk to her.

As I turned to go away. She opened her hand and offered me a little origami crane...I guess as a gesture of friendship. I love meeting interesting people...Oh and the concert was terrific!

Old

On our return from Santa Fe, New Mexico

I spotted this old car parked in front of a liquor store in the dusty little town of Estrella, Colorado. I guess it was there to catch your eye...which it did.

The Plaza

Santa Fe was formed as a Spanish Colony in 1610 making it the second oldest city in the US. New Mexico did not become a U.S. state until 1910, Santa Fe being it's capitol city. Although small compared to other U.S. cities, with  a population of  only around 83,000, it is major tourist destination. The center of the town and activity is the Central Plaza, surrounded by Indian markets, gift shops and restaurants.

We found it to be a relaxing spot to be in the early evening. A place to sit on a shaded bench and enjoy an ice cream cone.

The activities seemed to change from hour to hour. Here a street musician was entertaining the crowd.

Another time, we all of a sudden heard the sounds of an approaching mariachi band.

Of all things, it was a wedding party.

Seems it is a tradition to come out of the church and march all the way around the plaza to music. Reminds me of the wedding marches I have heard about in New Orleans.

So if you are ever in Santa Fe, don't forget to take the time to sit and enjoy it's Central Plaza.

Dog Bar

I had walked by it several times before noticing it.

The little sketch below the water faucet. It was along the path we walked several times a day from where we were staying in Santa Fe to the center of town.

Pausing for a moment I also noticed the mail box that was lower on the wall than usual. Seems it was a Doggie Bar. The owner of this little gift shop puts treats inside for visiting dogs and apparently they are also welcome to have a drink from the faucet. Very thoughtful in the warm southwest climate.

Flowers

I spoke of the flowers on our recent trip to Santa Fe.

I think that the Adobe walls make the perfect backdrop for flowers. This is the corner of my niece's apartment. Some sort of plant with blue berries was growing up the walls.

On the short  walk to town there were several yards with Holley Hocks.

There were however many more patches of Russian Sage

It must be easy to grow in the dry dessert climate, so I am thinking of planting some on the east side of our cabin. Another bonus is that the deer don't like them. I understand that not matter what season you visit Santa Fe, there will be some sort of flower blooming.

4th of July

The fourth of July Holiday is a big deal around here.

The day starts out with a parade. Everyone turns out for it and a lot of people are part of it.

We do have a lot of folks along parade route. Many set out their chairs to save their places the night before. It seems everyone that has a dog brings them along!

After the parade there are old fashioned games and races in our small town park.

Tom  and  I headed for the hot dog booth, where he was a griller for a couple of hours and I tended to condiment table.

That evening we had friends over...again for hot dogs (a tradition). We usually view fireworks from our deck, but due to the fire danger (there are several burning in our state) they were cancelled.

Oh the pretty cake was made by my friend Betty.

 So, that is how we celebrate the 4th of July here in Lake City, Colorado,

and I feel sure there were very similar celebrations across the county.