Back in Mile High

Its Thursday evening - June 28th.

We left C-Springs yesterday and made the short drive north to Golden,

Colorado - our home for Weds & Thursday nights.

My good friend Frank & his wife Sandy live here and is always the highlight

of our visit.   Frank and I go back almost 40 years and was the reason for my

move to Colorado back in the 70's.

We had dinner at Franks house last night and then today picked him up

for a day of reminiscing and hitting some of my old mountain haunts.

First on the agenda was a trip up Mt. Evans.

Mt. Evans is a scenic mountain about 25 miles west of Denver and rises to over

14,000 feet.  You can drive to the top on the narrow and twisting roads and on 

a clear day be rewarded with views that stretch out to forever.

On the way up it got cloudy and started to rain, snow, and lightning.

Mountain Goats dot the hillsides... and sometimes the roadways!

At the top we posed for some pictures while being snowed upon

You can see the road we took up way down below.

Back in my younger days I used to drive up near the top and then set off across the

high country backpacking for a few days.

I spent many a peaceful night on the slopes of Mt. Evans.

After our visit we decended back down to lower elevations (8,000' or so)

Had a nice lunch in Idaho Springs, then headed over to Central City and Blackhawk.

Central City, an old gold mining town, was to be the capital of Colorado but

soon the wives of the newly rich miners decided that they would rather live

down in Denver where the winters were much less severe.

So...  the money headed down to Denver and the rest is history.

Down a short gulch from Central City is the sister mining town of Blackhawk.

Blackhawk was a sleepy little town until the State in it's infinite wisdom

decided to turn it into a Gambling Destination.

Now it has 30 story hotels and casinos.

It was a culture shock for me.  The last time I was here I would pan for gold in

the stream.   Now all the gold is on the Blackjack table.

Heading back to Denver on I70 you pass the "Jetson House" (my name)

It is a futuristic house built on the side of a mountain overlooking the interstate.

The house was used in the filming of Woody Allens "Sleeper"

Tomorrow Paul arrives and we head out to Yellowstone and points north.

His flight arrives around 3:45pm so I plan on a 3 1/2hr drive to Rawlins, Wy

tomorrow and then 5 1/2hrs to Jackson, Wy on Saturday.

We are looking forward to his return visit and more fun in one of the greatest

places on the planet...

Yellowstone National Park.

See ya there!

Good by Flying W Ranch

Many moons ago, when I was knee high, my father would pack up the station wagon

load up the family, and hit the road for points west.

Our travels each year would last most of the summer and cover many many miles.

Much of those trips have been lost in the fog of the years but one memory that

survived was a night spent in the Garden of the Gods and at the Flying W Ranch.

The Flying W - a Colorado Springs institution  - was a working

 cattle ranch, that for the last 60 years has also worked

at preserving a bit of the old west cowboy heritage.

It was a large complex with dozens of buildings, museums, animals, wagons,

and precious artifacts from the cowboy era.

A visit to the ranch at supper time meant an authentically prepared chuck wagon 

dinner, and a western show by The Wranglers, the second oldest Western singing

Group in the world.

The Wranglers play simple western standards about cattle drives,tumbleweed

 and sagebrush, songs like Rawhide and Ghost Riders in the Sky,

 but they are also accomplished musicians in the bluegrass arena.

During a rendition of Ghost Riders I remember a headless horseman riding past

our tables in the night with a flaming torch.

This was the type of show you could expect at the Flying W.

I looked forward to our current visit to Colorado Springs in no small part due to the

fact that I had wanted to share with Kate a trip to the Flying W.

I had planned to go there for supper last night but it was closed due to smoke

from the Waldo Canyon Fire.

Today, just as we returned from our photo taking of the aircraft fighting the fires

the wind shifted to the worst possible direction, and increased to over 60mph.

This unexpected event turned this bad fire into a monster!

The fire jumped the ridge that we had been photographing and rushed into the valley

taking out everything in its path.

I'm sad to say that tonight the Flying W and all of its buildings

burned to the ground!

As I write this the local news reports are showing images of entire neighborhoods

that are being burned.  The number of homes lost will be high.

Presently over 32,000 people have been evacuated and more subdivision evacuations are 

being announced right now. 

The night sky to the northwest has an eerie reddish tint... 

The air outside of the coach is loaded with thick smoke that irritates the eyes & throat.

 Where the fuel for the flames perviously was pine trees, 

the fuel is now homes.

It's a sad night in Colorado Springs.