It was UP into the mountains headed to the small mining town of Central City. It continues to amaze me the stamina those miners must have had. Just to even get UP there on foot or mule with supplies must have been a feat. Many of the settlers were Welsh & Cornish, great lovers of opera, who built the opera house (lower left) in 1892. The theater has perfect acoustics and continues to offer a full summer opera season with performers from all over the world. We were fortunate to hear the orchestra rehearsing during our tour. The Opera House is original meaning no running water or heat. However, they own the old hotel next door which does have amenities. And a restaurant. And the famous "Face on the Bar Room Floor". (The face is spooky - rather dim in person but clear in photos.) The Opera House also owns 20 of the quaint little Victorian houses in town so performers stay in those. Not a bad gig if you can get it!
And, oh yes, Central City is also a gambling town with lots of casinos. John & Sarah "made me" put some quarters in the slots but I managed to come out ahead by $1.75 (but if you count what they put in...) After a short burro ride for Sarah it was on to the graves of Buffalo Bill Cody and his wife overlooking Denver in the distance. (Some "thoughtful" city planners allowed a huge communications tower to be built just down from the grave site effectively marring the view - go figure.)
Our last stop was Red Rocks, a spectacular theater built into the side of the mountains. Those are the seats with the stage just at the bottom. Sarah & Kenny went there Easter for sunrise service. Spectacular - the theater faces east, a beautiful clear morning, they were there before the sun came up. (No, I didn't climb UP all that way just to take the picture for the blog, I'm not that dedicated/nuts! There's parking at the top.)
Today Sarah & Kenny took us to our Rocky Mountain National Park on the route John had originally planned to take Tillie. Hard to believe you can go from flat Boulder at 5,000+ ft. to a park elevation of 12,000+ ft. in less than two hours. The old Stanley Hotel, upper left, was built by Freeland Stanley (you remember him - he built the Stanley steamer...) The scenery in the park is beautiful, rugged and a bit colder than Boulder down below, much of it above the treeline. At the bottom right is a "bachelor pack" of elk (take note George). Lower left is an elk/moose of a different breed (take note George?). We stopped because there were a bunch of young folks pointing up the bank. They were having a great time suckering folks into pulling over to see more wildlife. The young woman with the headgear was having a great time too. Having now seen the route through the park, I think Tillie was very lucky a less dramatic route is now planned.
Coming out of the park we took a back dirt road to go through the small mountain town of Gold Hill. When Kenny worked the "mountains" for the phone company he often stopped here for lunch where the food is "terrific". If you can see the sign in the window they also offer wireless. Worst luck - the store was closed by the time we got there. The second photo is thanks to Kenny who turned around (in spite of John's protests) and went back for me to take the shot... my first one with both a clothesline (have you put up yours yet?) and an outhouse (this little town is remote). If the air looks a bit hazy that's from the dust in the air from the dirt road. I'm not sure how much cleaner those pants will be at the end of the day.
