Fossils, Burros, and Good Friends

Day 6 - October 4

Our day began at 3:00 am when our room phone rang. It was our wake-up call which we definitely had not requested. It didn't take us long to drift back to sleep. Of course, Dean slept right through the whole ordeal.

We did get up around 8:30 and found the nearby Starbucks. We needed something to help us fully wake up...coffee for Dean and chia tea latte for Robin. Heading out for another day of adventure, we enjoyed a scenic drive with fall colors just starting to turn in many places.

We drove to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument which is west of Colorado Springs. The movie came first so we knew what we were going to be seeing and experiencing. This area once had redwoods growing before volcanic mudflows buried them long ago. The tree stumps that were buried in the 15 feet deep mud were petrified and the wood was turned to stone. These were very different from the petrified wood we saw in Arizona, yet the process was the same.

It was interesting to see how the larger stumps are being reinforced by strapping metal around them. Even with this added support, the cracks are being monitored as they start to separate from weathering.

We walked one of the trails where different kinds of plants were identified as well as petrified redwoods that were just above the ground or partially buried. It was really neat to see the rings showing the age of these trees. 

One tree stump we saw on the trail was called The Big Stump. It is one of the largest redwood stumps in the fossil bed. This stump is all that remains of a redwood tree that might have stood more than 230 feet tall and 750 years old when the volcanic mudflow buried its base. Before the land was protected, people tried to saw the stump into smaller pieces that could be carried away. One of the saw blades broke off in the stump and is still visible in the stump.

The weather was cool so the walk was very enjoyable until it started to sprinkle on the way back. When we got back inside, we walked through the exhibit of other fossils they have found in this fossil bed. 

We left Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and headed to a nearby quarry that sold some petrified fossils, not from the protected area. One of the owners explained the process to us. Robin really wanted to take some of this rock back to the grandkids to let them discover their own fossils. However, they only sold 5 pound bags of paper shale for $20 each. She showed us how to use a razor blade in order to break apart the layers, one at a time. After the demonstration, we decided against the purchase. 

We spied a herd of llamas or alpacas across the street from the quarry. We weren't sure what they were from a distance. Robin ran across the road in the rain to capture some pictures. 

Cripple Creek was our next destination, which is about 16 miles south. As we drove a little further, we ran across a llama farm. A group of people were walking llamas across a bridge. The llamas were quite large and very furry. 

Finally, we arrived in Cripple Creek. This small western town is known for its burros that run wild in the streets. We wanted to see for ourselves.

The town was very, very small, but had its own fire department and jail. We checked out the jail and had a great time putting Dean in jail, stripes and all. 

We bought burro biscuits before we left the jail so we were prepared to feed the burros. We also bought stuffed burros for the grandkids. The "jailer" told us to check up by the high school because they love to hang out there. Off we went. No burros at the high school. We drove through town and still didn't find any. So we decided to park and look in the little shops up and down Main Street, thinking maybe it was too early in the day for them. We loved the bus stop shelters. They were quite unique.

After a little while with no burros, we found a restaurant called The Red Rooster, which was located in the Imperial Hotel. We ate lunch there and enjoyed the wonderful decor of roosters as well as the food.

It was getting late and we had to get back to Colorado Springs. We took one more drive up and down the streets, but still no burros. We threw the biscuits out the window, knowing that the burros would find them. We only wished the burros had visited.

The clouds were quite spectacular on our way back to the hotel. We kept watching as they changed before our eyes.

As soon as we got back, we cleaned up. We were meeting some of our Space Foundation friends (Janet, Elias, Jen, Bryan and baby Teagan, Chrys, and Bobby) for dinner at Colorado Mountain Brewery. Thank you, Chrys, for organizing our get-together. We were so happy to see everyone. We realized we hadn't taken a picture of the gang right after Bobby left, so he gets a solo shot. He really was there for dinner. Although we have only known these people since 2011, they have become very special friends.

Plans were made to visit the Space Foundation headquarters. We had to tell everyone goodbye, but we would see Elias, Bryan, and Chrys the next day.

We headed back to the hotel, laughing and talking about the fun times we had with our friends. If only Colorado Springs and St. Petersburg were closer together.

Dreaming and Driving to New Heights

Day 5 - October 3

As we left Loveland, we talked about how the people in Colorado really seem to cater to their pets. Everywhere we looked there was a pet natural food store, pet spa, nail salon for pets, restaurants with pet areas, or people pushing their pets in strollers. In fact, we remarked that Colorado pets might be treated better than many people elsewhere. We found this to be quite obvious and very interesting.

We drove south towards Boulder to go to a special museum just for Dean. His dream car has always been a '68 Shelby. When we were in Colorado 5 years ago, we had stumbled across information on the Shelby American Collection museum just north of Boulder. However, it is only open on Saturdays for limited hours and we were not there on a Saturday. So this trip, we planned our timing to make sure we would be there on Saturday so Dean could go. We arrived early so we were there when it opened at 10:00.

Dean was like a kid in a candy store. He looked at all of the cars and memorabilia, trying to explain to Robin the whats and the whys. 

The last one is his dream car...a Shelby Cobra GT 350/500-KR. He left one happy camper! It had been well worth the time spent to make him so happy! Only thing that could have made him happier was driving out in one that he owned.

We left the museum and headed back towards Denver and then on to Mount Evans. Parts of the drive were very foggy. However, other parts were very scenic with lots of fall colors and many interesting sights, including a McDonalds with a Redbox. 

Finally, we reached Mount Evans entrance. Mount Evans is one of Colorado's 14ers, mountains that are over 14,000 feet tall. The temperature posted at the bottom was from 2 hours previously was 34 degrees with a feels like 24 degrees.  

We began our drive up the mountain on a narrow 2 lane road with no pull offs or places to turn around. As we drove, we noticed parts of the asphalt along the edges were crumbling. This was a little unnerving. The view was beautiful when it wasn't foggy as we climbed higher.

We reached a park called Summit Lake Park where there were restrooms available as well as a gorgeous view. We bundled up and took a short walk down to the lake. Of course, someone could not resist making a snowball out of the leftover snow and tossing it at Robin. Fortunately, Dean was not a good shot, not once, but twice. He left evidence of his attempts. We didn't stay there long because it was so cold. We still had to drive to the actual summit yet.

Heading towards the summit, the switchbacks in the road made turns very tight. We finally made it to the top. We got out of the car long enough to get our picture taken and walk through a few of the outside rooms. The temperature was 37 degrees with even a few snowflakes falling.

As we were driving back, we saw a car backed in to a place on the road which was not a pull off. His back tire was partially off the edge and he was still sitting in the car. If he had backed up just a few inches, he would have been off the cliff. The road seemed even narrower on the way back down. It might have had something to do with the fact that the fog had rolled in everywhere so the edge of the road couldn't be seen in lots of places. It was a very scary ride to the bottom.

Notice the asphalt crumbling here. This wasn't as scary since it had ground next to it unlike the cliff side which was right on the edge.

As we got further down the mountain, we did stop at Mount Goliath which was an educational center. We went inside and saw some interesting exhibits. Our favorite was the largest cross section of a Ponderosa Pine. It was huge. What was really cool was that they had metal markers on it identifying what happened in history for many of the rings. They ranged from The Declaration of Independence in 1776 to Neil Armstrong stepping on the Moon in 1969. The fog really rolled in just during the 15 minutes we were inside.

As we got to the bottom, we watched the rangers still allow cars to enter and take the drive up the mountain. However, we read the next day that the mountain had been closed for the season that night. We were really glad we had gotten there mid-afternoon so we were able to still go and see something.

Now we made our way towards Colorado Springs. There were more beautiful fall colors on the way. As the sun began to set, the sights were not as visible. Then the rain started to pour. We drove quite a while in the downpour, barely able to see the brake lights in front of us.

We finally made it into Colorado Springs and we straight to one of our favorite restaurants, Texas T-Bones. They have the best salad that is created especially to your order. Yum! The steaks are good as well.

Once our bellies were full, we went to our hotel, Holiday Inn. Our room was very spacious and nicely decorated. 

We got unpacked and ready for bed. After watching a little television, we drifted off to sleep. Our day had been full, experiencing all kinds of weather and sights.