Letter 30: ASPENS

Letter 30 Aspens!

Sunday, September 21 we enjoyed the Jackson’s. They invited us in for a wonderful breakfast coffee cake like they made in the Student Union Building at North Texas State Univ when we were there many years ago. Charlie and Mary Alice had a Rotary event to help with so we did our Safeway/Wal-Mart/Gas shopping. We also drove to our family friend’s home to see what had happened to her. We didn’t get a Christmas card from her this past year. A neighbor told us Ruby’s son was forced to put her in a home a little over a year ago because she had Alzheimer’s and it wasn’t safe for her to stay alone. The house was empty and we were told it had just sold.

We visited with the Jackson’s, took a nap, then the men went after pizza and we settled in to watch the cowboys. Another win!

Monday, September 22 we said

good bye to the Jackson’s and granddaughter Zeta and headed for the mountains to see yellow and gold aspens. We took the freeway to avoid high elevation and possible snow on Loveland Pass. We drove through Eisenhower tunnel. Going up Freemont pass we noticed dams with no water in them, just filled in land. We stopped at an information pull out and found out the mine above us at Climax was filling in the valley with the talings of the mine creating a huge mountain meadow.

WARNING, WARNING WE HAVE SEEN ASPEN!

After we passed Climax we started seeing lots of aspens. Arriving in Leadville we stopped at the Forest Service Information center to find out about the 11 campgrounds around Turquoise Lake. The cute ranger (she reminded Olivia of Fernita) told us there was only one available because all were closed for the season, but this one didn’t have a gate so they don’t refuse campers. They also don’t charge because there are no hosts, water, potties, or trash pick up. That was ok with us – we are “self-contained”.

This campground is at the far west end of Turquoise Lake and we can see Leadville (about 8 air miles directly across the lake) at the other end.
We were above 10,000’ so we took the remainder of the day to take it easy and get acclimated.

The first night it was 29 degrees, the second and third, it was about 32 degrees. The daytime temperatures have been in the high sixties. This camp is mostly unused. There have been three sites occupied each night. One of the other campers has been here two of the three nights. He was very interesting. The fifty-nine year old retired New York State auditor is traveling alone - his wife still works, his kids are grown. He loves camping and through the years introduced his wife and children to the joys of spending time out-of-doors, but his real passion is hiking. Tuesday he climbed Mt Elbert. His goal is to visit each state and scale the highest point.

Tuesday, September 23, we drove back to Dillon to have the oil changed and on the way we saw

aspen and
aspen! Then we headed west to Vail, which in a few days will be gorgeous. We tried to drive through the town but it is solid hotels, condos and construction! We wonder if they have a hotel motel tax! Then how do they spend it? The mountains of the valley it is in is covered with green aspens. What a site it will be when they turn! We drove south back to Leadville through
Minturn,

An old mine

and the valley around it.

And Gilman

so picturesque built on a point overlooking a river gorge.

At Red cliff and thought of Kathy since her father Dub grew up in this town. It is quaint. The access was via a very narrow two lane mountain hugging road.

It has been discovered, but hasn’t yet grown into a tourist town.

Returning to Leadville we could see Mt Elbert, the highest mountain (second highest in the lower US) in Colorado at 14,446, but not near as pretty as Long’s Peak. In Leadville we found that Baby Doe Tabor and her husband were the famous mine owners, who later lost everything. Baby Doe never gave up the Matchless Mine and froze to death in her cabin at the mine 40 years after having had everything. This is also the area where “Unsinkable” Molly Brown was a seamstress in town and married JJ Brown. She is not as famous in this town as the Tabor’s.
We visited the Cemetery, which made us think of Rockport’s cemetery with Texas wildflowers.

And viewed the campground from the road and

Leadville from the campground.

Thank you God for making this all possible, not only for us but others that are fortunate to be here. Thanks you Fred for taking Olivia to see all this glorious beauty. It surpasses all we expected and then some.
Words can not describe the beauty we have seen today. It’s like driving through Texas bluebonnets except we have mountains behind the aspen. Naturally we aren’t the only one to see them. The roads are crowded with cars following the picturesque sites. It seems everyone has a camera. Driving rules are suspended – you stop in the roadway to look and take pictures!

Glorious,

vibrant,

vivid,

beautiful.

We wish all of you could see this.

Every wiggle in the road brings more beauty.

Fred says they make his eyes hurt they are so brilliant!Wednesday, September 24, we drove to Twin Lakes then up Independence Pass and over to Aspen. Olivia didn’t know the Maroon Bells were hidden so we missed them. The town of Aspen was crowded even in the off season. Very few empty parking spaces. The traffic was constantly on the move. We counted seven ski slopes, no wonder it was crowded. We only saw two filling stations!

The drive back over Independence Pass was a little more interesting.
Narrow, winding road,
Aspens,
Ghost town (gold mine) of Independence started July 4, 1879,
And a steep climb (see the road?)
Coming down the east side gave us great vistas
And more aspen.
We scouted out a lake for Fred to fish and saw these great views of the twin lakes.

and a Blaire picture of a dead aspen.

Thursday, September 25 we moved south to Buena Vista and Cottonwood Lake. The campground was closed so we found a better spot! We camped on a wide spot on the gravel county road 10 feet from the edge of Cottonwood Lake. We thought it was an isolated spot but Aspen watchers streamed in from 7 am to dark.
Probably the prettiest we have had on the whole trip. Jo Atkins eat your heart out!
After settling in and eating one of Paula’s delicious apples from her yard, we drove to the top of Cottonwood pass

And saw the back of Maroon Bells

The road was interesting

Including the white flower on the road

And a great old barn,

windmill,

and tractor.

Again we enjoyed seeing and taking photos of aspen, our pictures can’t do justice to the

Vibrance,

Rich,

And intensity of the colors

With clouds

Beaver Dams

Fences

Wagons.

This is like taking a drive to see bluebonnets. Everyone is out driving around, stopping on the roadside with lots of cameras. Colors are constantly changing, the leaves are fleeting, they shimmer in the wind, then gold dollars fall with the wind. Each new view just takes your breath away.
We have probably taken over 300 pictures and it is a drop in the bucket to what we could have taken.

We went into Buena Vista, browsed around and ate at Jan’s a restaurant where we ate with Muddie and Cecil 40 years ago. Different owners, but food was good.

Back at the lake Olivia walked down to the spillway.

After dark, we think we were the only humans at this location. Privacy Plus!

Olivia is a very happy camper now that she has finally seen the aspen turn gold. And now

YOU HAVE BEEN ASPENED!

As Paula said, "she has decided Fast or Hurry is not in our vocabulary." We have enjoyed every day of our trip, taking one day at a time and the aspens were certainly on the top of our list to recommend to everyone.

For comments please contact:
Olivia@bobheck.com or fredharrington@yahoo.com