Back on the Road

It's been awhile since I've updated here.....not alot going on and the internet has been difficult to work with.  I feel somewhat lost without the internet or TV.  We finished up at the ranch on more projects, boy, we could use another few weeks there.  Just alot of maintenance items to keep up with and Jeremy works alot so he's not much help.


View looking down to Cripple Creek



  Tuesday we packed up and headed to Cripple Creek, CO in the Pike's Peak Region.  I've never been to this area so we decided to stay an extra day and be a tourist.  The boom of the Gold Rush days put Cripple Creek on the map.  Buddy and I found a nice out of the way KOA Kampgound.  After setting up we headed into the town of Cripple Creek.  A real western astomphere but now all the hotels are Casino's.  I believe there are 13 here.  They bus in people from Colorado Springs and Pueblo all day and night long. We learned that they have herds of donkey's that roam the streets free.  The town takes care of them.  They were used back in the old days of mining to help haul.  We then found a nice restaurant in one of the oldest hotels there.  Of course, I had my steak dinner.



Main Street in Cripple Creek

 We headed over to another close by town called Victor.  This is one of the largest gold mining towns around and is still operating.  It's kind of odd though, the town itself is not weathly.  This is also the town President Therodore Roosevelt gave a speech to the people from the hotel bacony.  Buddy and Jeremy helped renovate this hotel 9 years ago when they came out here with Richard Wright.  Jeremy also got the shit whipped out of him at one of the local bars.  Guess the local cowboys didn't like inturders.  Jeremy also learned here that he could go to school to be an outfitter.




Hotel as it looks today!



From 14,127 feet

Pike's Peak or Bust!  A 3 1/2 hour train trip up to 14,127 ft.  I can honestly say I PEEED at 14,127 ft.  It was a wonderful ride up and when we did reach the top, it started sleeting.  Only had about 45 minutes to take pictures, pee again and visit gift shop.  We actually left one lady on top.  Guess she didn't believe the conductor that 3:20 was all aboard time and the train was leaving.  We heard later she had hitched a ride from a couple that had driven up the mountain.  We didn't see but a few mule deer on the entire route but the views were aswesome.  Pike's Peak is only ranked the 31st hightest peak in Colorado and derived its fame from it being the furthest east of the big peaks in the Rocky chain and it was the symbol of the 1859 Gold Rush from the slogan of the migration, "Pikes Peak or Bust".



Train that got us there!



Looking up at Pike's Peak

One of the specular rock formations in "The Garden of the Gods"

Finished the train trip and headed a short ways to "Garden of the Gods".  Interesting story behind this Garden.  The surveyor ran across these sandstone formations and told his partner that it would make a "capital place for a beer garden".  His partner said it would be a  perfect place for the Gods to assemble.  So the name remains but the beer garden never materialized.  Only got to take a few pictures there and visit the "Largest" gift shop in Colorado.  We were hungry and tired so we headed to a little shop we found that was suppose to be the "BEST" wines of Colorado and great bison burgers.  I'll give an A+ for the bison lasagne but I really didn't care for the wines.  Guess I'm just spoiled from the Oregon ones.  They had a large selection and a wine tasting, but still, I couldn't get into their grapes.