Taking A Break

Taking a break-------To join my daughters on a Mother/Daughter trip.

I will return, Janey

Sculptures Everywhere

The last day of our  get away with my sister and her husband was to 

tour the beautiful little downtown of Grand Junction, Colorado where we spent the night.

This is the main street running through town. We had breakfast a  little cafe and then walked both sides of the street.

Back in 1984 a local artist (Dave Davis) proposed that the town implement a year round outdoor free sculpture exhibit. Deemed Art On The Corner it was the first town in the country to have  the amazing exhibit.

I didn't photograph every sculpture since there are at least 100!

Some were quite amazing,

while others are whimsical....

and then there are those incorporated in a fountains.

I have hardly touched the surface of the many attractions in Grand Junction, but it was time for us to depart. If you are ever in Colorado you may want to put this place on your list.

A Quick Overnight

If you have been with me this is a continuation of our trip with my sister and her husband who have been visiting from Texas. We left Lake City very early in the morning for the drive down to Telluride
(a star studded ski resort). From there we pushed on back north a stones throw from the Utah border, through exquisite landscapes of red rock cliffs which included a quick stop at the Gateway Resort where we toured the car museum.

The drive back to Lake City would  have been exhausting, so we made reservations at a cute little 1902 cottage in Grand Junction. Grand Junction is in far western Colorado and is the location of the confluence of the Gunnison and Colorado Rivers. Famous for their fruit growing, they are also acquiring a reputation for their nearby vineyards. Since there were four of us, it was actually cheaper to share this little house which was only four blocks from the center city.

We were very pleased with this  place which had two bedrooms each with ensuite bathrooms.

It is always nice to have a kitchen.

We especially enjoyed the back deck. Even though Grand Junction has higher summer temperatures, it is very dry so sitting out in the evening is always pleasant. We also grilled, having filled and ice chest with steaks and asparagus before leaving home...What a wonderful dinner we had.

Next up: I will show you a few pictures of the cute, nearby downtown.

Gateway's Car Museum

On the recent trip with my sister and her husband, we stopped at the Gateway Resort in far western Colorado not only to walk around the resorts beautiful grounds, but to tour the Car Museum.

It sits at the back of the property and for a small fee you can walk through *John Hendrick's
impressive collection of vintage cars.

Rest assured I did not take a photo of all of the cars. I did this one though because I had never seen anything like it. It is Cadillac's first Coup produced in 1907.

Not sure what this is (sorry) but I liked the orange color. When I first remember cars as a child...seemed to me they were mostly black....This of course is before my time.

I also like Blue..

Here is a car I do remember. It was called a Woody because the panels on the side were actually made of wood. Seems they didn't make these for long as the wood didn't weather well.

I adored convertibles when I was a teenager. So did a lot of girls which is maybe the reason boys liked to drive them?

I never remember a truck painted with these colors.

I wasn't fond of Hot Rods or the boys that drove them.

Of all of the cars Hendricks has, this is his prize possession.
It was a concept car (Olds F88) built by General Motors in 1954. They only made two. Like most concept cars of that time, they were not put into production...but sent to a crusher to be destroyed. Seems a worker smuggled this out piece by piece and reconstructed it. Years later Hendricks won it in a bidding war. It was in the millions. It has its own room in the museum rotating on a pedestal as music plays!

* To read more about Hendricks, the resort and the concept car go HERE

The Little Known Byway

After departing Telluride (previous post) we headed northwest to the small town of Naurita, Colorado which is very near the Utah border. From there we headed north on Colorado Hwy 141 which winds through the most spectacular canyon lands I have ever driven through.

Named the Unaweep/Tabeguache Byway it snakes trough the huge red rock cliffs.

When you think you have seen the most picturesque,another appears.

One of the very few pull outs (points of interest) was a  flume suspended on the side of the cliff. An engineering feat back in 1880 designed to carry water for 133 miles at a 90 foot drop to produce hydraulic pressure for a gold mine. If I remember correctly, it was only used for three years and deemed a failure.

About three quarters along the drive is the Gateway Resort and Ranch. A five star property owned by John Hendricks who owns the Discovery Channel.

The rooms and casitas are one and two story accommodations nestled in beautiful gardens with astonishing views.

Some of you may remember when we stayed here several years ago.

The prices have gotten a bit steep, so we pushed on north to Grand Junction ,Co where we stayed in a cute little Victorian House. ...but not before touring John Hendricks car collection housed on the Gateway property. Next up I will show you some of the Vintage cars.

Some of the photos I need to credit to my talented sister Polly!

On The Road

My sister Polly and her husband have been visiting and the four of us have just returned from a two day trip. Most folks would have taken at least three days to do all of the things we did, or maybe even four, but they didn't have that much time and oh there was so much to see!

We departed at the crack of dawn because we knew we had a long day of driving and picture taking ahead of us.

 We headed to southwestern Colorado, intending our first stop to be Tellurdie, a famous ski resort. When I told my sister that a  U.S. clothes designer had a rather large ranch on our way, she ask me to point it out to her. This is a picture of one of the many entrances into Ralph Lauren's 16,000 acre ranch which runs for miles under the backdrop of the beautiful San Juan mountains.I used Polly's picture instead of mine because mine was awful trying to shoot into the glaring morning sun.

Approaching Telluride you drive into a tight box canyon with pretty red cliffs.

Telluride was a small Victorian mining town that has become a winter playground for the rich and famous. Tom Cruise had a house here and presently Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Seinfeld do. Of course they are up on the ski mountain with large gated resorts. We were down in the little quaint town where many of the historical homes remain.

I of course was more interested in the old homes and pretty gardens

Home after home stopped me in my tracks.

I found that my sister Polly and I seemed to be taking the same pictures, but if you roll back to mine and compare it to this (hers) you will notice that she has a good camera, fancy lenses and a great editing program.

 So I will end this Telluride visit with one of her pictures. We walked both sides of the street before heading back north....not to our place but along a back road that so many people have never seen or even heard of.

If you would enjoy seeing more about Ralph Lauren's ranch go HERE

More to follow!

July-So Far

Hello, don't know about you, but I have had a busy July so far, and gosh we are only one week into it!

Sorry that I have been neglecting my blog.

A hold over from late June our poppies are still blooming all over town.The deer do not like to eat them which is a plus.

They also don't like our native daises.Tom and I take a daily walk and the flowers we come across are so pretty.

The fourth of July festivities(our Independence day) have come and gone. We attended the parade, worked at the Women's club hot dog booth in the park and then had our usual fireworks viewing party on our deck. Twenty eight people.

I apologize for the one and only (awful) picture of the event.

This is a picture of the aftermath of another annual event. We have a big collection of cottonwood trees in town, thanks to our settlers. The cotton blows every year in early July playing havoc with everyones allergies. Yep, that is cottonwood pollen  all over the ground looking a bit like snow !

We do see a lot of wildlife on our morning walks. This fat little critter is a marmot. The miners back in the day called them Whistle Pigs as they make a whistling sound and supposedly taste a bit like pork.....and no we do not eat them these days. This is the courthouse marmot that they have affectionately named Marmoot.

We do have a big deer population. Here five young bucks have made themselves comfortable in someone's yard.

I hope that you are having a good July. I promise to try and pay more attention to this blog and get back around to yours...Janey

Local Artists

One of the first gatherings we attend every summer is an art exhibit by our local artists.

With a little town of under 400 inhabitants, we certainly have a lot of talent, although a few of the artist are summer residents. We were awaiting the arrival of guests this year, and missed the event, so I was happy when I stopped by the art gallery briefly and discovered that the art was still hanging.

A photograph by a local photographer of one of our local inhabitants.

 

A watercolor of a vintage rail car that made regular runs to our town between 1889 and 1933. Notice it was half passenger half cargo. Our museum acquired this little jewel last year....and the town is hoping to raise funds to restore it.

This is a favorite of mine. A pen and ink drawing (with a watercolor wash) of the four historic churches in town. Left to right: Presbyterian, Episcopal, Baptist, and Catholic.

We do have some new local artists in town with 

amazing talent.

I am no art critic, but I think a few of our newest artists are painting museum quality art.

Thanks for visiting... hope you have a wonderful week