"Off the Trail" at School in the Woods

AJ was explaining to me as we walked down to his carpool pick up location at the park... "We're going on a hike today, but today we get to go off the trail. Normally that's not allowed. But today, we're going to see what's going on where the animals and plants don't see much human activity." He described that the trails generally go along the perimeter of the property, so today, they're going deep into the interior! He was ready with a camera. School in the Woods.

Silent Night at the Zoo

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo tried a new event tonight, Silent Night. So Lynn and Jamie checked it out. 5:30pm-7:30pm, about $20 a head, and you have to be quiet, like no talking at all. Like they hand you a notepad and pen at the gate to communicate with. Turned out to be a great experience. The weather was perfect. We rode the Sky Ride, looked out over the city and along the Front Range. Had a fun little deviled eggs, avocado toast, and BBQ Sammie dinner at one of the food places. Pretty small turn out, though; I hope they give it another try. You'll tell from the pictures below that we got up to the Primate World for the first time last night. Which also gave us a glimpse of the new rhino, elephant, penguin, etc. home which is looking like an October opening.

KCME's Jamie and Logan

KCME's favorite donor during today's four o'clock hour was Jamie and Logan. Apparently the DJ couldn't read the handwriting of the person who took our contribution. I've been referring to Lynn as Logan the rest of the day, and probably into tomorrow.... But seriously folks, it is very nice to have such a great, local, classical radio station.

Victor | Mollie Kathleen Mine | Cliff Dwellings

Surprisingly big day in Victor, CO and environs. It's just down the road from Cripple Creek (where we were most of yesterday). We tooled around town a little before most things were open, and eventually visited the Victor Lowell Museum. On our drive back around to the Cripple Creek area, we stopped at an overlook of the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine, owned by Newmont Gold Corp., where we could see all the way down into one of the big open pits. They were drilling to place charges.

Eventually we made it around to the Mollie Kathleen Mine where I took the best mine tour I've ever done. The excellent tour guide was Jack McGee who found a unique occurrence of fluorite in nearby Moffat Tunnel (not to be confused with the other Moffat Tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide). It's referred to as fluorite on quartz on barite after laumontite. Here's one article I found. He gave us all a small specimen while on the tour. Check out this YouTube video of Prospectors, Season 4 Episode 4 (starting about 12:20-19:15, 23:23-27:52, and 32:20-38:10).

On the way home we stopped at the Cliff Dwellings near Manitou Springs.

All the photos are here.

Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine

Victor, CO.

Victor Lowell Museum.

Green fluorite in the Mollie, 1000 feet below ground.
Upper right looks up into a long, upward stope.

Cliff Dwellings, Manitou Springs.

Decompression Anniversary

Tracy: It seems like a life time ago, it seems like yesterday. But exactly a year ago today our brave warrior survived brain surgery. To mark the occasion we had cake and reminded ourselves God is Good - always. #chiariawareness #chiarimalformation #chiarimalformationawareness

Cripple Creek

Nana and Papa took a little anniversary overnighter to Cripple Creek, a mere hour-twenty from our house. We had a late breakfast on the way at our new favorite French spot, La Baguette. We got up in the world by the time we hit Cripple Creek, to 9400 feet or so. A few menu items here start with "2-mile high" (close enough). Upon arrival we went directly to the Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad for a 40-minute round trip out toward the gold mining areas and back. Live steam, coal fired! We're staying at the Hotel St. Nicholas, built in 1898 by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy as the first dedicated general hospital to serve Cripple Creek, Colorado, and the surrounding area at the height of the 1890's gold rush. We love these historic places! Next door to the railroad is the Cripple Creek District Museum, well worth the $8/ea. Three levels of interesting artifacts and three or four out buildings: assay office, miner's cabin, prostitute's cabin, etc. We blew $5 in the Double Eagle Casino as we wandered town, but I'm glad to say we spent over three times that amount on fudge. Lunch/Dinner was at Rudy's (as in Rudolph) in the Christmas Casino and Inn. The casino is small, comparatively, and Rudy's is tiny, 4 tables. But good burgers and dogs. We think there are a couple higher-end food places in town, but they're not open mid-week. We drove through the town's cemetery where the most notable occupant seems to be Dr. Susan Anderson, "Dr. Susie," who was a real-life Dr. Quinn Medicine Women. Definitely a gambling town with a smattering of museums, very few shops, and a train ride. There is the Butte Theatre, generally very active, but nothing we could see while here mid-week. There probably are hikes, tours, etc. out and about from town, but we didn't chase those down. Tomorrow morning is breakfast at the hotel, on to Victor, and work our way home. All the (cellphone) photos are here.

Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad.
Very narrow, less than 2 feet.

Hotel St. Nicholas. That green, second-level porch is off our room!

At the Cripple Creek District Museum

Christmas Casino

Sunset over Cripple Creek

Cripple Creek from the train.

Hotel St. Nicholas

Double Eagle Casino and Hotel. We had a mid-afternoon refresher here.

Labor Day at the Pool

Great family day at the pool for Labor Day. A few glimpses...

Oh, wait. Miniature Golf was a little earlier in the weekend

The crowd gathers to hoot and holler for AJ.

AJ kicking his ducky across the pool

On to the greased watermelon relay with AJ...

and Matteo.

Fina goes for the belly flop championship.

And wins a little, green, rubber lizard!

Nothing like ice cream and accoutrement to end the day.