Our drive yesterday was meandering along the river valleys occasionally climbing but only one major mountain pass. As we passed through the small town of Beauna Vista we noted how aptly it was named. It sits on a high plain with a 14,000 foot mountain close by. The view was beauna .One change that I was interested in was that there was a period when we were driving through a valley of pink granite as opposed to the usual grey. I have taken a photo and if it looks OK I will attach it. The railway lines around here have been closed as the mining has petered out. Thus there are a lot of surplus rail cars which have just been shunted into long rows and abandoned. It makes the place look untidy.
By lunch time we had reached Leadville. This was originally a gold mining town which then became silver/lead mining and now there is a huge molybdenum open cut. The town has an interesting history and some great old buildings once again. This includes a huge opera house. You can take a tour if you have the time but which we decided it was not a priority. We did go into the old Presbyterian Church were a delightful elderly woman gave us the history. It had been abandoned by the church for a larger more modern construction and had fallen into disrepair. Some community minded citizens raised funds to renovate it and it is now a small musical theatre. Interestingly all the seats were still functional and arranged in a semi circle along the length of the church, complete with attachments under the seat for the mens top hats.
We strolled the main street and then moved on to Silverthorne, just a bit west of Denver. We have been to Denver before so chose a new overnight stop. Silverthorne has an Outlet Mall and for the first time since San Francisco I was let loose. We arived early and it was cold and wet so first we had a nap and by the time we headed for the Outlets it had stopped. We were both very restrained and only purchased things that we really wanted. The consequence of this was that overnight I decided that there was something I needed to go back for. This nearly caused a divorce because the Outlets don't open till 10am. Bob was obviously impatient though he suffered my desire as we did not have far to go today. I had made my purchase and we were on the road by 10:10am.
We were travelling through the high plain country again today and were amazed at the number of major rivers that we crossed. This is obviously the headwaters for the following: Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Canadian and the Grizzly Bear Creek which we crossed three times. Add in the Rio Grande and the Arkensas which we met yesterday and we have seen a lot of the American water supply.
We took a break and our usual stroll around a small town called Walden. Once again the buildings hooked us and we were even more amazed when we rounded a corner to find that the county seat ( local govt building) was a palatial 2 stories with imposing Southern style pillars ( also 2 stories high) at the entrance. There must have been a mining history here as well.
We stopped for our usual picnic lunch at a National Parks entry to some walking trails. It was very pleasant sitting in the shade of the pine trees at the tables provided. Sadly many of the pine trees have been decimated by the Pine Beetle. The good thing is that there is distinct evidence of regrowth.
We are in Laramie for the night and intend to go exploring once we have had a cuppa. There is lots of blood and thunder history here. More tomorrow.
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