Colorado – slowly she turned

Heading south from Denver – Twin Lakes, Colorado

May 12, 2019May 23, 2019 Laurie

Sandy and I left on our latest big adventure on Saturday, May 11. My cousin Cherie picked us up at the airport in Denver and we went straight across the Front Range through the lingering snow showers to Leadville, then to Twin Lakes, Colorado where we stayed at the Twin Lakes Inn and Saloon, which has been in some business or another (stagecoach stop, brothel, saloon, hotel) since 1879. This was a worthwhile stop and I would love to stay here again. The owner was friendly, the history was fascinating, the rooms were comfortable, and the food was expensive but excellent. The view was worth the stay by itself.

Some of these photos were taken by Cherie.

In the morning, we woke up to more snow on the ground. It wasn’t a problem, though, and we headed on down the road toward New Mexico.

The next two photos were taken on Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado.

Next stop: Aztec National Monument, New Mexico.

Colorado, Family, Florrisant Fossil Beds National Monument, National Parks and Monuments

Colorado, Part III: Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, etc.

September 21, 2017December 19, 2020 Laurie

That morning we went to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and saw the petrified stumps of ancient redwood trees. We walked the trails a little. They were gentle. It was a gorgeous day. We were disappointed that we couldn’t pick up fossils, but I guess that’s why it is protected with national monument status. There are many great examples of insect and plant fossils in the visitors’ center.

Stopped for scenic photo shoots along the road, including an old mine site. There is still plenty of gold being mined up on those hilltops.

This looks like an oil painting to me:

Those vistas. Those skies.

On the way back we stopped at Manitou Springs again and had coffee and walked through several shops and galleries. A beautiful little town, although the parking situation is extremely frustrating there.

The next morning our flight was delayed and so we went back to Boulder and had brunch at an excellent farm-to-table vegetarian restaurant, Leaf. After we got to the airport, our flight was delayed two more times, and we didn’t get home until 1 a.m. I don’t think that we are going to fly on Frontier any more, although they did give us each a food voucher for $10 at the airport and a $50 credit for flying with them again. Maybe, I don’t know.

Now I’m back home thinking about views like this. But home is good. I like home, too.

Colorado, critters, Family

Colorado, Part II: Cripple Creek

September 21, 2017December 19, 2020 Laurie

Early afternoon saw us on the road to Cripple Creek, Colorado with a stop for Mediterranean food in Manitou Springs. We fed a friendly little squirrel pumpkin seeds and saw an elk doe and two fawns on the way.

Once we got there we checked into Cripple Creek Hospitality House, which turned out not only to be inexpensive and historic but fascinating and beautifully decorated as well. It was the former Teller County Hospital, built in 1901. All the rooms had names of the former use of the room. For example, the room on the left in the photo below had “Quarantine” on the door. Guess I’m glad I didn’t have that room!

Cherie and I drove and walked around Cripple Creek later that evening, but not much was open other than the casinos, and we don’t gamble. We had a light dinner at an Irish pub that had no stout (!!!) and my food was awful so I won’t mention its name. We did go into the Brass Ass Casino, where they had actual human interaction with roulette and blackjack and craps and that was fun to watch. The other casinos seemed to be only machines, which I find very sad. We saw a skunk run into an abandoned building. We loved the colors and styles of the small turn-of-the-century houses.

The big animal highlight was the herd of donkeys wandering around town. They are descendants of the old mine donkeys, and they are very well taken care of. They could be a little aggressive if you had something that they liked to eat.

We ate lunch at the Red Rooster bar in the Imperial Hotel, which is haunted. That is the ghost of Sandy photobombing Aunt Delaine and me. The other ghost, George, was not around. Which was just fine with me.

Colorado

Colorado – Part I, Boulder

September 21, 2017May 20, 2020 Laurie

View of downtown Denver as we flew in

Going to Colorado to see my aunt and cousin and doing a bit of sightseeing has become an annual event for me. I love Colorado and its climate and its beauty and its skies and its mountains and its rivers and its plains. I’ve never been there except in June and September, so I’ll admit that I’ve probably seen it at its best.

This time we came in late on a weeknight so we took a bus to Boulder and stayed at an AirBNB hosted by an astrophysicist who was the most helpful, accommodating, interesting host I’ve ever had. We took her out for a late dinner, ate breakfast with her, and she and I really connected over early morning coffee. She walked with us halfway to downtown, and explained the way that the sun’s image is projected through the leaves in a tree (or other small spaces) onto the sidewalk, much like a pinhole camera. The round spots are images of the sun.

Then we walked down to the Pearl St. Mall and moseyed around the shops. I bought a used copy of Frederick Franck’s Art As a Way: A Return to the Spiritual Roots. We had a drink at Foolish Craig’s, where I got this random photo of the ceiling. The phone camera was on the bar pointing at the ceiling and I happened to notice that it had captured something that I like a lot:

We tried to go back for a meal on Sunday but they were too crowded. Downtown Boulder has lovely gardens, fun statues and shops, and art deco architecture.

I wish that Boulder and the general area was not so expensive…I would move there in a minute if I could afford it.

Later we both had a grilled peach stout at West Flanders Brewing, then we took a bus to Broomfield where we joined our family for dinner for my cousin’s birthday and stayed at my aunt’s apartment that night and the following morning. (See next post.)

Colorado, critters, Family

Visiting family in Colorado

September 28, 2016December 16, 2020 Laurie

^^^My cousin volunteers at a bird of prey rescue and rehabilitation center. It is not open to the public but we were allowed to quietly visit some of the areas and see eagles, hawks, owls, falcons, and one turkey vulture. Adam, the bald eagle in the top photo, is an education bird and whistles and chirps adorably when humans call his name. He wouldn’t pose for me, though! The birds have long enclosures where they can practice flying and hunting safely before they are released to the wild again.

^^^On Friday, my aunt, cousin, and I went to the Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings Museum, where Anasazi cliff dwellings were removed from McElmo Canyon and relocated by train and rebuilt brick by brick between 1904 and 1907. This was just before the 1906 Antiquities Act was passed by Congress and Mesa Verde was protected as a national park. The purpose was to preserve them from destruction.

Before that we ate some of the best Middle Eastern food I’ve ever eaten on Manitou Avenue at the Heart of Jerusalem Cafe.

My cousin drove us home through the mountains near Pike’s Peak which was a beautiful drive. We got to see the incredible destruction of the huge Medano fire in this area which began when Sandy and I visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park on the other side of the range in 2010. I should have taken photos but I didn’t.

^^^On Saturday, Sept. 17 we went to Longmont, Colorado where we ate lunch at this incredible French bistro and shopped at the adjoining shop. They are located in a former power station built in 1931. Beautiful renovation! We enjoyed walking through downtown for a bit and I looked at the different Craftsman style houses in a couple of neighborhoods to get ideas for painting our house.

^^^Saturday night my cousin and I went to hear her husband Kenny Perkins and band play at the 20 Mile Tap House in Parker. This couple got up close and personal – they seriously dug the guitar solo. We danced and had a great time.

^^^Views of the Front Range to help with future artwork. The moon was huge on Saturday night, and hung over the mountains every morning.

art, Art Makers Denver, art retreats, collage, Colorado, Denver

Art Makers Denver

September 23, 2016December 16, 2020 Laurie

^^^McNicols Building

I’ve just returned from a new-to-me art retreat, Art Makers Denver, where I took a paper painting collage class from Elizabeth St. Hilaire. I’ve been following her work online for a while and since I like to visit my family near Denver in September I jumped at the chance to combine that trip with this retreat this year.

The retreat was smaller than most of the ones that I’ve attended elsewhere, which made for smaller classes and more attention (if you like more attention). I had a big table all to myself, which was great since I tend to push into other people’s spaces. The venue was the recently renovated McNicols Building in Civic Center Park, a spacious and light-filled place. Delicious lunches were provided on two days and on the third day we were each given a $10 voucher to use at the food truck festival in the park outside. We got lots of extra goodies such as locally made sodas and juice drinks, healthy snacks, a copy of Uppercase magazine, and various arty thingies.

I was really looking forward to taking one of Leighanna Light‘s book classes because she is, well, AWESOME, and because I learned so much about connecting found objects and working with metal in the class I took from her a few years ago, but her classes were canceled. I looked for Helen Hiebert, who is huge in the papermaking world and I simply wanted to meet her, but her classes didn’t make either. So hopefully this retreat will become more popular as it matures and more people learn about it.

One other note before I get on to the other photos…this was the first time that I took the bus round trip from Westminster, a suburb of Denver, to downtown. It was an easy, clean, flawless experience. I heard good things about Denver’s new light rail system too. Although the train trip to the airport is a bit pricey, it still beats the price of a taxi or renting a car, and costs less than paying for parking downtown.

^^^Since Leighanna’s class was canceled on Sunday, I spent an extra day painting and printing papers in Elizabeth’s class. I didn’t mind, because I love doing this. I went as fast as I could without overthinking. The only things I kept in mind were the colors I might need for the collage and layers. Lots of layers. I used old book pages, dictionary pages, sheet music, map pages from a book about Colorado mining towns, washed and dried coffee filters, handmade papers, and the backs of some of the papers I painted and printed in Albie Smith’s class at An Artful Journey in 2011.

^^^Some of Elizabeth’s demonstration papers using alcohol droppers and spritzing with liquid dish soap on top of wet paint.

^^^Beautiful art installation to which the attendees were asked to decorate a tag and hang.

^^^Because the nearly full moon was huge over the weekend and I could still see it hanging over the mountains each morning, I hoped to do this painting as a collage after my apple. But time ran out. I’ll do it here in North Carolina.

^^^Everyone in class painted an apple before class in acrylic on a firm surface such as a canvas covered mat board or wooden panel. Elizabeth wanted us to work with a simple shape where we would learn about light and shadow. I’ll work a little more on my background, but my apple is done. Even though two people told me they thought it was a pumpkin.

^^^More Denver scenes.

(This post refers to a September trip to Colorado, written much later.) The next day we set out for Dinosaur National Monument, which spans the Colorado/Utah border. The visitor center and the quarry exhibit were on the Utah side so we aimed for the western entrance in Utah, a state that we had not visited yet.

I loved the long straight roads through the sagebrush plains. I could see myself as a ranch woman there, although in reality you wouldn’t catch me on a horse or slaughtering cattle or chickens! Nice fantasy, though, cowgirl hat, leather chaps, lariat in hand and rifle on shoulder. When I came back I subscribed to a classic Western channel on Roku, since that is the closest I’ll ever come to it! After talking with locals, we understood that people who worked in the towns that catered to tourists couldn’t afford to live there. We spent some time in Steamboat Springs, and then drove through smaller towns that seemed very sparse and poor. We saw very few cars on the long road to Utah.

We stopped at Yampa River State Park on the way for a quick nature walk. The colors were beautiful. It would be nice to go back and raft this river. When I just checked the website, it was 16 degrees there, brrr!

It had rained on and off all day, but as we approached the Utah line the clouds grew very dark and became as interesting as the surrounding landscape. Then we were rewarded for the rain.

We got there just after the visitor’s center closed, so we found a cheap motel in Vernal, Utah, had dinner and beers at Vernal Brew Pub (very good!). I recommend the Allosaurus Amber Ale.

Next: Dinosaur National Monument.