The Artists

 There are a lot of artists here in our little mountain town. Some are professionals and others just enjoy art  as a hobby. I got a call one evening from a gal that is a member of a small art group, that go out together once a week to either paint are draw in locations all over these mountains. Seems they wanted to come on our property and sketch our views on a day that were headed to buy groceries in Gunnison and attend my physical therapy, but I told them to come on anyway.

Only a couple of people were still around when we finally got home.

Kathy was sketching our southern view,

which you have all seen. I think she did a very good job.

I have never seen this”read more” on my posts before?

Cough Cough

Our view to the south usually looks like this.

Although, if the wind is blowing from the north....it looks like this. Colorado usually has at least a couple of forest fires in the summer. This year we have had four....and they are still burning. The largest one is a ways north of us, but the smoke travels for miles, making impossible to go hiking....or even outside for that matter. Happy to report it is clear today.

 

Who Feeds the Pets?

 

I think there is no doubt who is feeding the pets at my daughter’s house! 

Finally Home

 

Never thought the road home would end, but it finally did. Tom and I had some wonderful conversations on these barren stretches of road through northern Nevada and Utah. Wish we could have solved the world’s problems..but guess we didn’t.

We are finally back in Colorado enjoying the glorious mountains and our abundant wildlife.

There always seems to be some critter about,

and sometimes more than one,

or a whole flock.

I can’t complain about being bored, especially when you spot something like a Western Tanager.

Pulled this close up off of the Internet, so you could get a better look. Isn’t he a colorful bird?

Hope you are having a nice week...would have said wonderful, but that probably doesn’t describe any of our weeks these days....Janey

Hmmm What Are These ?

 My last few posts have been about our drive through northern Utah and Nevada on our way to California.

I truly wanted to find a different way back to Colorado since I enjoy discovering new places....but my husband who is a bit more practical convinced me that the way we had come was the shortest way to get home... so we retraced our same  route.

One thing I haven’t mentioned that I saw when driving across the salt flats of Utah were these unusual canals with blue water in them. I was anxious to find out more about them.

Not my photo

Seems other people are interested in them too....and even make a special trip to kayak and canoe in these beautiful blue canals.

So, if you are thinking this would be a fun outing, don’t do it!

These canals are private property owned by a company that is harvesting potassium compounds from the salt flats and there is also no place to park except on the shoulder of a busy interstate highway.The trip home was not as tedious as I thought it would be....

Stay tuned and I will post a few pictures of the animals I have come across since our return....Janey

Back on the Road

 I guess I haven't finished posting about our return trip from California.

The last evening we stayed at a resort on Lake Tahoe that was smack dab on the state line of California and Nevada. To be honest it was only one foot into California...so you could take three steps next door where there was legal gambling...which we didn't do. Not that I am against gambling...just don't like to lose hard earned money!

 

Leaving Lake Tahoe we drove a short distance to Carson City (on map) and headed on up to US 80 ready to take on the desert again. We were pleasantly surprised when we got to Elko, NV where we pulled off for gas and food.

The Welcome Center in Elko is a beautiful log cabin village.

Back at the turn of the 20th century a man named Valentine Walther built a large log home about 60 miles south of Elko on a ranch he named Sherman. It became the post office, stage stop, community center, and school. The home and all of the out buildings were donated to the Elko Chamber of Commerce and moved to Elko in 1995.

 

One of the hand full of other buildings on the property was a cute little one room school house.

So if you ever find yourself on US 80 going across Nevada, be sure and stop in Elko. The town park with shade trees and picnic tables are also on the property with the welcome center.

South Lake Tahoe

 On our return from visiting Tom’s sister we stayed over one night at a resort on South Lake Tahoe. The beautiful lake is right on the border of California and Nevada.

 

I didn’t take a lot of pictures except of Emerald Bay, where you can drive up a winding road to a lookout point which gives you a view of the small island in the center.

After taking the usual tourist photos we drove over to the other side of the bay,

and walked down steep trail to the edge of the water,

where a hidden Castle also known as Vikingsholm appears.

Vikingsholm  was designed by a Swedish architect in 1929 for a wealthy woman by the name of Lora Knight.

 

Folks assume that Mrs. Knight, a divorced woman , was Scandinavian, but not so, she was born in the state of Illinois,

 

and was just very fond of the Scandinavian architecture.You normally can tour the 38 room castle in the summer but due to the current situation, it was closed. To learn more about this Scandinavian Castle go to Vikingsholm.com . I haven’t figured out how to link on this new blogger format?

The lake starts only footsteps from the structure and there is no doubt why Mrs. Knight wanted to spend the remaining summers of her life here.
The only downside to hiking down to the castle, it is hike back up huff huff!

We are now headed back east to Colorado.

We Made It

 The second day of our drive from Colorado to California was a long one,

but we felt it was well worth the trip. Tom was able to see his only remaining sibling  who is in failing health. We have been back now for two weeks and thankful that no one contracted the horrible virus because of our gamble.I hope all of you are being careful and are in good health.

Stay tuned...we stopped in beautiful South Lake Tahoe on our return.

Roll the Dice

 After crossing over the miles and miles of salt and sand we finally came to the Nevada border. Don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t  this.

You would have thought we were in Las Vegas! There were casinos after casinos!

Wendover isn’t a very big town, but you can gamble till your hearts delight.

I could only imagine how all of those neon signs looked flashing out over the desert at night.

I will post again as we continue westward...

What Is This?

 Traveling thru the Bonneville Salt flats in northern Utah all of a sudden this appeared.

My first thought was that it was a camouflaged cell tower. Thinking about it later, I like so many others turned to the Internet. Seems it is a sculpture, donated by a Swedish artist In 1986. Standing 87 ft. high it is constructed of ceramic tiles, welding rods, and native minerals and rocks.

Salt

 Traveling west out of Salt Lake City, Utah, I thought we would leave the salt behind us...but not so.

For what seemed like 300 hundred miles we experienced the Salt Flats when in reality it was hard to tell where the salt from Salt Lake ended and the salt flats began not to mention the miles and miles of desert. Crusty salt as far as the eye could see. I found it very interesting since I had never seen it....well for awhile.

Keep your eyes open!. Some clever person had inserted this in the landscape.

and maybe the same person thought this would be clever. Watching for these things certainly broke up the monotony of the landscape.

 

Don't know why, but I wasn't expecting this. I had seen news reels in school about the Bonneville Salt Flats but never given much thought to where they were.

You see out on the Utah Salt Flats they try and set land speed records of all types of cars and motorcycles.

 

and have for a very long time. I wish we had gone over and toured the facility..but we didn't.

Come back and I will show you the most surprising thing I saw on the flats.....

Traveling Across the Desert

My last post had us passing through Olathe, Colorado on a road trip to California. Heading on north to Grand Junction, Colorado we then turned northwest crossing over into northern Utah where the terrain changed drastically.

We were happy to have an air conditioned car as the temperature seemed go up the further we got into the desert.

The rest stops all warned us of scorpions and snakes, but the views were spectacular and I was in awe of the rock formations that continued to change.

We ventured up and down steep hills 

and around hairpin curves.

Our destination was Salt Lake City, Utah for the night. We had reservations at a motel just west of the metropolitan area so that we would be past the morning commuters. As you can see by the map we had a long second day ahead of us.

Before we leave Salt Lake though. I must say something about the Great Salt Lake. On the trip map above this one you can see the lake which is just northwest of the city. I was amazed by it's size! It is the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere and the 8th largest lake in the world.

They were harvesting salt from the lake. The company who was doing this particular sight was the company that I buy my table salt from, Morton Salt.. Excuse the bad photo. The speed limit was 80 MPH and Tom was interested in putting some miles behind us. More to come on our long hot road trip...

Road Trip

I know, I know, we shouldn’t be taking a road trip during this pandemic, especially not to California, but Tom’s  only sibling an older sister lives there and he may not get another chance to see her. So, being extremely careful, masks disinfectant wipes, and hand sanitizer in tow we headed out on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. 

Not far from our little mountain town to the west lies a vast valley where many fruits and vegetables are grown.

 

When we arrived in the tiny town of Olathe, Co. there was no doubt where we were as there were corn fields as far as you could see. You see Olathe is famous for their delicious corn. So naturally I ask Tom to pull over so I could take a picture of the corn stalks. I know many countries don’t eat corn, but instead feed it to their livestock, but if you have ever tasted Olathe corn...it could possibly change your mind.

Every once in awhile, right beside the corn fields you would see a field of huge beautiful sunflowers. Naturally I wanted a picture of these too. Poor Tom, but hey he has gotten use to me yelling stop!

Why the sunflowers in corn country you ask. Well, maybe you didn’t but I will tell you anyway. The corn crop leaves an excess of nitrogen in the soil and the farmers use to plant soybeans in rotation with the corn to neutralize the soil, but soybeans can be problematic, so sunflowers apparently are. the answer, and it is a crop that has  many commercial uses. I certainly think they are a great choice. They were like a breath of fresh air...I finally did get back in the car and we continued our long trek west.....more on that later.