A Quiet Day

 We had a quiet day yesterday with our usual morning walk.

Our streams are still pretty high with continuing snow melt.

With all of the rain we have been having, I am surprised that the water is so clear.

Our walk winds us through the little downtown area where we pass the grounds of the museum.

Our guests were still here yesterday,

but they were having 

anything but  a quiet day. As you can see they had a ball rafting the upper Taylor River!

 

Hello

 We have been busy with guests. Daughter number 2 and family are visiting from Atlanta. They have four young adults in their twenties. Three are still in college.

We all went in a beautiful hike the second day they were here.

Although every day since has been wet and cold. Yes that is a cloud floating along at ground level below Roundtop Mtn.

Yikes. The outdoor temp this morning is 39 degrees! Not much warmer inside. I think we need to turn on the heat. Our group is headed out early to raft the river before the afternoon rains arrive.

Coffee Anyone?

On our morning walk we occasionally stop at our favorite coffee shop .

Meet Mandy, she runs the place. Not only does she run the place, she bakes all of the pastries that they offer and they have the best blueberry muffins I have ever tasted. One day I stopped by  pickup something else, and happened to tell her how good they were. When I was  leaving she ran after me. She had bagged up the three blueberry muffins she had left and said “ here these are for you”.That is just how sweet she is.

One unusual thing about Mandy.

She and her husband live up on the side of a mountain in a yurt similar to this one.  I think, actually know for sure that she is the first person I have ever met who lives in a yurt!

How about ? Do you know anyone who lives in a yurt?

Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover.

On our walk every morning, we run into people we know. Meet Donna, she and her husband Scott have a summer cottage here, and live in Michigan in the winter. When we first met them they told us they both worked for a major U.S. Airline. My first thought was that he was a pilot and she was a flight attendant. Well, not so. They are both captains of wide bodied jets!! Sort of reminded me of an old t.v. show (very old) called What's My Line. It was where three people came out on stage and you were told one was a deep sea driver or maybe some other unusual job. The panel of four people had to guess which one really had that rofession. It really is true " You can't judge a book by it's cover"......... Rant: Since I have been able to blog on my Ipad, I did not bring my laptop this summer. Well Apple's ISO 14.6 automaticly downlowned. Since that happened my dashboard on blogger has changed.I can no longer increase the text size, or center it...

Things Don’t Change

Things dont change and I think that is part of the appeal of this little mountain town. This is not a vintage picture, but one that I took yesterday on our morning walk of our downtown. Also notice that there isnt much of a rush hour at 7:30 in the morning. All of these buildings were built in the late 1800's. Yes the type of business may change. The maroon colored one is the new antique gift shop a good friend has opened.

There were similiar buildings on the opposite side of the street but they were destroyed over a hundred years ago by a fire and never rebuilt. Although it is a much used and much loved park.

Water Water Everywhere

 I have posted pictures of our lake south of town which is where the town gets it’s name..Lake City.

We also have a sizable creek, Henson Creek and it flows into a river The Lake Fork Of The Gunnison River just a couple of blocks from the center of town.  This is the exact spot where this happens..See those trees? Well,

behind them sits a darling, though a bit rustic cabin of some friend of ours. They live here in the summer and on the west coast of Mexico in a little beach town all winter. During the summer the wife runs a little beauty shop and he in addition the cutting hair, and giving massages is a part time Deputy Sheriff . Working just four months out of the year affords them the opportunity of being beach bums all winter.Not a bad life…

Let’s GoTo The Movies!

 Yes we actually have a movie theater in this tiny mountain town.

It is really not much to look at,

despite the original art depicting vintage movie stars. …but you won’t find a friendly more fun place in town. Everyone knows everyone else, so it is a real social gathering.

Phil, the owner always comes down before the show, and gives away door prizes…so hold on to you ticket stub! He also at that time announces  free refills on your popcorn!

The movie we saw was DarK Horse a feel good movie that I highly recommend.

New Additions

 

First new thing I noticed was a bit of green in our yard. Seems something is blooming,

and what’s this? A bit of blue.

Not sure who added these whimsical things in the town park,

Or this family size chaise lounge...Things  sure change every year around here!

Lake Walk

 Since we arrived in the mountains, where we will spend the summer we try to walk every morning.

This morning we drove three miles south to Lake San Cristobal. There is a road that circles the lake, which is paved on one side and dirt on the other. No, we don’t walk  all the way around the lake. That would be over seven miles. We like to walk on the dirt side where there is less traffic.. Usually we wait until it warms up a bit, but this morning we headed out early and it was a crisp 43 degrees.

You don’t have to walk far for the pretty views. That’s red mountain off to the west.

The Lake Fork of the Gunnison River meanders through a marshy are that is full of wildlife. .before emptying into the lake.

Lake San CristobaI is Colorado’s second largest natural lake formed over 800 years ago by a slide that blocked the river. It’s a deep lake, almost 90feet in the center and is also very cold. You will see boating and fishing taking place  but very little swimming. 

Poppies

 On our morning walk yesterday, I am reminded that 

June is when Poppies bloom around town.They certainly add a happy pop of color.

Looking for Lupine

 Several years ago Tom’s nephew and his wife were visiting and we discovered beautiful fields of Lupine blooming while driving  through the mountains.

Field after field were covered in them,

so since we have a patch of Lupine blooming on our property, I figured that the fields we had found at that time would be beautiful. So yesterday we packed a lunch and off we went.

Along the way things were looking promising,

and the views were so pretty, 

but when we got to the area where the fields of Lupine were this is what we found. Apparently they were clearing dead timber everywhere on top.Vast forests  here in Colorado  have been killed by beetles, and it’s a sad sight to see.

An unusual Motel!

 Americans are starting to venture out, but few are traveling aboard on vacation this summer. That means they are on the highways, many of them vacationing in the mountains. Therefore it it not easy to find a hotel or motel on the road, especially if that road leads to the mountains. We like to drive most of the fourteen hours to our destination the first day leaving a shorter drive the second day, but rooms were very scarce in the town where we wanted to overnight. So we ended staying in the tiny town of Monte Vista Co. It’s in the middle of the San Juan Valley famous for being the place where the almost extinct Whooping Cranes summer. Potatoes are grown around  here and even though flat there are mountains off in every direction.

Mount Blanca not far to the east.

 

We ended up staying overnight at a place that I have always been curious about. 

Yes, with speakers in the ceiling you watch what is normally a drive in movie from your room!

The breakfast room where a free breakfast is serve is  quite pretty.

Tired from the long drive we fell asleep before the movie was over.

I got a kick out of the print on the wall.Wonder what Renoir would think of this depiction of The Boat Party...Hollywood style?

Last day of our drive...I had better get ready for the day. See you soon.